Community Highlights: Meet Sabrina Sabbaghian of The Hanford Garden

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sabrina Sabbaghian.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My path to where I am today has definitely not been linear.
I originally left California to attend school in Hawaii and ended up staying there for eight years. While living there, I fell into the luxury hospitality world almost by accident while working for a luxury yacht charter company. That experience introduced me to high-level service and creating meaningful guest experiences, which ended up shaping how I think about business today. Entrepreneurship was always around me growing up, both of my parents are entrepreneurs, so building something of my own always felt inevitable. During that time, I also started a small clothing brand, which gave me my first real taste of running a business.

In 2023, my now-fiancé received a job opportunity in California, so we packed up and moved. The transition was harder than I expected. I spent nearly a year unemployed during a tough job market and honestly felt a little lost professionally. To reset, I enrolled in a Business Analytics certification through Harvard, hoping it might help me land something stable. It did, and I accepted a role with the State of California. While it wasn’t my dream job, it gave me structure and stability at a time when I really needed both. I made a conscious decision to take a step back, focus on rebuilding my confidence, and give my brain space to dream again instead of constantly trying to force the next big idea.

By Spring-2024, my fiancé and I started talking about investing in something together. Many people around us were buying Airbnbs, but it didn’t excite me creatively or long-term. Around that same time, I noticed more Americans choosing to get married in Europe because it was often more affordable to spend an entire week celebrating abroad than to host a single-day wedding in the U.S. That observation sparked an idea : creating a destination-style wedding experience closer to home, where couples could gather and celebrate for more than just one day.

I spent most of 2024 building a business plan from scratch: searching for land, gathering construction quotes, and designing what I imagined as a European-inspired estate venue. During that process, we came across an existing wedding venue for sale in a small historic town. At first, I dismissed it because it didn’t match my original vision. But after receiving construction estimates for building new, which were far higher than we expected, I decided to tour the property just to rule it out.

The moment I stepped onto the grounds, I knew. The photos hadn’t captured its potential at all, and I could suddenly see exactly what it could become. We connected instantly with the previous owner, negotiated for about a month, and spent three months in escrow before closing — just four weeks before the first scheduled wedding.

From there, everything moved fast. I had no background in the wedding industry, or gardening, yet suddenly found myself responsible for operating a fully booked venue while maintaining a two-acre English garden, rebranding the business, learning weddings on the fly, and managing renovations all at once. It was easily one of the most challenging years of my life, and there were many moments where I felt completely in over my head.

While the original vision I had imagined was a full weekend buyout estate where guests would stay onsite, The Hanford Garden operates as a day-to-day event venue — which, as I quickly learned, is honestly ten times more work. But what makes the property special is its location. The venue sits within walking distance of charming inns, boutique hotels, restaurants, wine rooms, and local shops, which naturally creates the same wedding-weekend experience I had hoped to design, just in a different way. Our couples may not stay directly on property, but they still gather, explore, and celebrate throughout the town, supporting local businesses while turning their wedding into a full destination experience.

Through a lot of learning, long days, and constant problem-solving, we’ve been able to grow quickly. In less than a year, we’ve increased bookings and revenue, expanded our team, and begun transforming the property into the vision we originally imagined.

We’re still very much in the building phase, but that’s also the exciting part, watching something evolve in real time and knowing we’re only at the beginning. 🙂

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Furthest thing from a smooth road for sure! Before even stepping into the business, I struggled with confidence. After moving back to California, I found myself sitting with a degree and experience but unemployed during a difficult job market. I felt creative and ambitious but didn’t have an outlet for it, which was mentally challenging. That period forced me to slow down, reset, and rebuild confidence from the ground up.

When we took over the venue, the challenges multiplied quickly. I had never worked in the wedding industry, and certainly had never gardened, yet suddenly I was responsible for maintaining a two-acre English garden that serves as the backdrop for one of the most important days of people’s lives. That pressure was very real. It wasn’t just landscaping; it was knowing that every detail affected someone’s once-in-a-lifetime memory.

Beyond that, property ownership came with constant surprises. Things broke regularly, logistics didn’t always make sense, and we were learning operations in real time. We’ve dealt with everything from rattlesnakes on the property to a tree literally falling during a wedding. Many days involved setting up and breaking down chairs myself, working long hours, late nights, and temporarily living apart from my fiance while staying with my parents because our home was two hours away.

What made it especially challenging was that nearly every role I stepped into was completely new to me — operator, gardener, project manager, renovator, and problem-solver all at once. There were also difficult moments navigating renovations and learning hard lessons after trusting the wrong people along the way.

At times it felt like one challenge after another, but those experiences ultimately forced rapid growth. I learned resilience, adaptability, and how to stay calm under pressure.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Hanford Garden is a garden wedding venue in the historic town of Sutter Creek, California, but what people notice first is the feeling of discovering it. It feels like a hidden escape, almost like stepping into a storybook. The reaction we hear most often is, “I can’t believe this is real,” or “How is this here?” and that sense of surprise has really become part of our identity.

The property is centered around a two acre English style garden filled with mature trees, layered greenery, and natural pathways, so weddings unfold through the landscape rather than inside a traditional venue setting. Guests move through different areas of the garden as the day progresses, which creates an experience that feels immersive and personal instead of staged.

We specialize in outdoor weddings that feel intentional yet relaxed. Couples have the freedom to design their day in a way that reflects who they are through our open vendor approach, rather than choosing from a preset formula. We guide and support behind the scenes so everything runs smoothly, but the celebration still feels uniquely theirs.

The original vision behind the brand was inspired by weddings in Europe, where celebrations extend beyond a single event. While weddings themselves take place onsite for the day, The Hanford Garden sits within walking distance of charming inns, restaurants, wine tasting rooms, and local shops. Because of this, couples naturally create a full wedding weekend experience throughout the town. Guests explore together, reconnect, and celebrate beyond the venue while supporting the local community that surrounds us.

What I am most proud of brand wise is that we have protected the soul of the property while elevating it. Every improvement is intentional. We are not trying to turn it into something overly polished or manufactured. The goal is to enhance what already makes the space special so it continues to feel authentic and a little unexpected.

We stepped into ownership just weeks before hosting our first wedding, so the brand has grown alongside us in real time. What I want readers to know is that The Hanford Garden is still evolving, but the heart of it remains the same. It is a place that feels almost unreal when you arrive, yet deeply personal once you are there. Our focus has always been creating an environment where couples and their guests feel fully present, connected, and part of something memorable.

If you have ever imagined getting married somewhere that feels pulled from a story rather than built, that is the feeling we hope people find here. I have always loved fictional worlds, especially romantasy stories that stay with you long after you close the book. The places that feel impossible but somehow familiar, like they have lived in your imagination forever. That is the emotion we chase at The Hanford Garden. The moment when you arrive and catch yourself thinking, where am I? It is that tugging feeling in your chest when something is so beautiful it almost does not feel real.

In many ways, this garden is our attempt to give people that feeling in real life. A place where, even for a moment, the world feels suspended and something you once only imagined suddenly exists around you.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I have always believed that nothing great comes without some level of risk. It is scary, and it is supposed to be. Putting your energy, your time, and your savings into something you care deeply about will always feel uncertain. There are no guarantees when you decide to build something of your own.

Starting this business was a huge risk for us. We have invested 2 million dollars into this as two people with very normal day jobs. This risk is not just financial, but emotional. There were many moments where staying comfortable would have been easier, where choosing stability would have made more logical sense. To me, choosing this path or not choosing it felt risky either way. Taking the leap meant facing uncertainty, but staying where I was carried its own kind of risk too. There is a quiet risk in ignoring something you feel pulled toward. In its own way, staying still felt just as uncertain as moving forward.

Sure, there is the fear that comes with stepping into the unknown and trying something bigger than yourself, and then there is the quieter fear of sitting still, holding onto dreams but never actually moving toward them. Both are uncomfortable. Both are scary and risky in their own way. I just decided I would rather live with the uncertainty of trying than the regret of not knowing what could have been.

If you want something beyond the ordinary rhythm of day to day life, risk becomes non negotiable. Every dream worth chasing asks something of you first. Taking risks is about trusting that growth only happens when you are willing to step forward before you feel fully ready.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thehanfordgarden.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehanfordgarden
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehanfordgarden
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thehanfordgarden