Hummingbird Nest Ranch wedding venue Archives - Smashing the Glass

Real Jewish Brides: Jaime’s Pre-Wedding Photoshoot and Wedding Planning Update

07/05/2019 by Smashing The Glass Leave a Comment

Jaime will be marrying Varun on 26th October 2019 at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, California, USA. Click here to read all Jaime’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Jaime and Varun will be having a Jewish ceremony AND a Hindu ceremony – on the same day! (2) They’re planning a swanky but not stuffy wedding at one of our fave California venues, Hummingbird Nest Ranch! (3) Jaime is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!

A pre-wedding photo shoot in a natural wonder

It’s been a little while since I’ve blogged but so much has been happening and I can’t wait to share it with you!

I am literally writing this as I’m at the airport coming from our amazing pre-wedding photo shoot that we did with our photographer, Clane Gessel.

When we signed up with Clane, he told us we could do a pre wedding photoshoot to anywhere in the US and when we saw the photos he had done at White Sands Beach NM – we knew we had to do it there.

White Sands Beach is a sight to be seen – there is nothing like it as it is a true natural wonder. We got the most amazing shots and had the best time shooting with Clane and his assistant Chloe.

Here is a sneak peek from the shoot…

Image by Clane Gessel from Jaime and Varun’s pre-wedding photo shoot

A Meaningful Family-Forward Jewish Wedding at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, Santa Susana, California, USA

03/04/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

What a treat to be blogging a beautiful Jewish wedding at one of our very favorite venues: SoCal’s stunning, Spanish-style Hummingbird Nest Ranch.

We’re obviously smitten with the lovely visuals Jessica, who works in entertainment marketing, and Michael, a high school statistics teacher, pulled together to make their big day pop – see the exquisite photos from One Love Photography and video from Fancy Fox for evidence -but we’re even more in love with all the wonderful meaning they brought to their wedding.

First off, the ketubah: sure, these two chose a gorgeous, fresh floral design from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent. But that’s just the beginning – to make the ketubah ultra-meaningful, the couple decided to write their own personal vows into their custom text (which they translated into Hebrew with some help from their families). Then, under the chuppah, Jessica and Michael read their own ketubah aloud together – isn’t that beautiful?!

We also love that – inspired by the memories of their late grandparents – the bride and groom worked with charity Petals for Patients to donate their wedding flowers to a local hospice at the end of the day. Such a wonderful way to make your wedding give back!

Jessica will fill you in on the rest of the details of this fab day…

How we met

Jessica, the bride: We probably met way back in 2009 at a youth group convention that we both attended. Of course, there are pictures of Jessica with Michael’s friends and Michael with Jessica’s friends, but unfortunately none of us together. High school Jessica and Michael must not have made a good enough impression on each other but luckily, the universe had other plans and decided to give us one more shot at getting to know each other.

We reconnected online in 2013, after Jessica graduated from UCLA and Michael from the University of Michigan. Michael took Jessica out on their first date on December 5th, 2013 where we really hit it off. A few amazing dates, and less than a month later, we decided to kick off 2014 as an official couple.

An Idan Cohen Bride for a Colorful Modern Rustic Jewish Wedding at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

04/03/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

What. A. Wedding. We’re honestly STILL busy picking our jaws up off the floor from this one. One of our very favorite California venues, a truly breathtaking floral chuppah, colored smoke bombs, a magical, glittering gown from a fab Israeli designer… Jewish weddings don’t get much chicer than this.

Shaina and Shahab hit the bullseye when it came to combining their affinity for bold, bright, statement-making colors with the rustic-luxe vibes of the wonderful Hummingbird Nest Ranch. Their vibrant aesthetic really stands out from the pack — this is seriously one for the books! Photographer Katie Beverley did an epic job capturing all the gorgeous details and emotion of the big day.

Lucky Shaina just happens to be BFFs with mega-talented wedding planner Leora Soleymani of Best Bride (who did double duty as a bridesmaid on the day!), and we are totally blown away by how perfectly she pulled the vision for the day together.

Oh, and did we mention they picked the coolest ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com? They chose the beautiful papercut design because it features a gate that reminds them of the one at their venue! Love that.

There’s so much more we could say about this exquisite day, but we’ll leave it to the bride — who looked oh-so-stunning in the custom sparkly princess gown she worked with Israeli designer Idan Cohen to design — to fill you in on the rest.

Hummingbird Nest Ranch

Shaina, the bride: We got married at Hummingbird Nest Ranch in Simi Valley. From long before I was even engaged, I knew I wanted to get married there. I wanted something different, something magical, something natural. The ambiance and surroundings made me feel at peace, it had so much to offer.

I had also never been to a wedding there so it was exciting and unique to me. I wanted a blank canvas where I could design from scratch, and that’s exactly what Hummingbird gave me the opportunity to do. The entire property is breathtaking, from the mansion to the field, you can create whatever you dream. Shahab knew it would be a lot of work, but wanted a happy bride and went with the idea!

2019 Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Jaime + Varun: How They Met To The Present Day…

08/01/2019 by Smashing The Glass

Today on the blog we’re introducing our 5th gorgeous bride from our crop of 2019 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Jaime, who will be marrying Varun on 26th October 2019 at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, California, USA.

About Us

Varun and I are former Silicon Valley techies turned entrepreneurs. I own an online weight loss coaching and personal training and holistic nutrition business – and Varun started a mobile ordering app. We ditched our jobs in Silicon Valley back in 2016 to pursue our dreams and V’s job took us to Boston for the time being!

We have a passion for larger than life experiences and believe deeply in the power of manifestation and the fact that the universe always has our back. I guess you could say we are woo-driven hustlers (but truth is – I’m more woo than him).

My mom is Jewish and my dad was raised Italian Catholic – I was raised Jewish but have always been more spiritual than anything. Varun is Hindu. We feel so blessed that our families have grown so close with each other and we already feel like one big family!

His parents literally feel like my second set of parents and vice versa. We will be having wedding celebrations that bring together all parts of who we are are a couple!

So basically lots of cannolis, falafel, and ladoo – with colors, sparkle and a whole lot of fun!

A Monique Lhuillier Bride for an Outdoor SoCal Jewish Wedding at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, California, USA

27/08/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Jewish Wedding Hummingbird Nest Ranch, CA, USA_0049
You know who sometimes doesn’t get enough love around here? Child wedding attendants. Flower girls, ring bearers, and the like bring so much joy (not to mention just plain cuteness) to so many of the Jewish weddings we feature here on STG.

So today we’re putting them front and center where they belong. I mean, it’s hard not to when Jessica and Matthew’s sweet little ring boys drove a mini purple Porsche(!) with strings of tin cans down the aisle!!! So adorable, right?

But not so adorable as to overshadow Jessica’s stunning two-piece gown from Monique Lhuillier. Featuring a silk Chantilly lace beaded corset top (with a beaded shrug the bride wore for the chuppah) and a gorgeous trumpet skirt, it’s an absolute stunner. And Jessica’s made the most of it, saving the bolero to wear on her one-year anniversary and the top for the big ten-year! Such a cool idea, especially if you’re going with separates that can easily be dressed down.

There’s so much more to say about this fab wedding — we haven’t even gotten to how fantastically Armen Asadorian and Eric Film captured the day, or the gorgeous SoCal surroundings, or the fabulous Harutyunyan Events planning the whole thing to perfection!

Let’s hand over to beautiful Jessica to tell you about all the rest…

A Ranch Wedding

Jessica, the bride: We got married at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, CA. We wanted to get married somewhere different and pretty low key — kind of like us.