In 1977, years before there was such a thing as a “wedding industry,” Mac and Bev McDonald bought a small piece of property on the outskirts of downtown Fallbrook and began building something that must have seemed a little out place: A Victorian mansion.

She was a high school teacher and he had spent his career building roads for the county; seven years later, The Grand Tradition opened for business, offering brides their mansion and a heart-shaped lake for their wedding day.

Last week, their son and current CEO Don McDougal talked with me about how the family business has changed in 30 years, and where he plans to take it in the next decade.

“When they started this project, it was an old lemon grove,” he told me. “Where the lake is — that was a swamp. My dad was a broker, he had it listed, and nobody wanted to buy it because of the swamp. My dad said, ‘I’ve got this property, can’t sell it,’ so she looked at it and said, ‘Gee, why don’t we just dig that swamp out, make a lake, then we could build a Victorian mansion and do weddings?’

“In those days, you got married in the church, you had a little reception in the church hall,” he recalled. “Only the very wealthy would maybe go to a country club and have a reception. But it just wasn’t even thought of. So having, as she called it, a special place for special events was really quite visionary.”

Today, it can seem like there’s a wedding venue on every corner in North County, but The Grand Tradition remains the original — a spacious enclave with a growing repertoire of attractions.

As the family business marked its 30th year this spring, McDougal had already spent years expanding its gardens, and as we set off for a tour on Thursday, he confessed that his wife, Pat, knows far more about the plants that have taken center stage.

“I know nothing about gardens,” he said. “I love just looking at the beauty of them. But my wife is the gardening expert — she knows all there is to know about the plants. A lot of times, you’ll see her down here, planting beds and working with the crew.”

The Grand Tradition has partnered with a flower breeding company, Proven Winners, to display new varieties, and has built two impressive water features, providing the cascades of white noise that allows you to believe you’re alone, even if there’s a wedding reception in full swing down the path.

“We probably spend close to $100,000 a year just buying flowers for what we call our ‘color beds,’” McDougal said. “We’ve got 12 people on the grounds crew, just taking care of the landscaping and flowers.”

In all, the company employs 75 to 80 staff, around half of which are full time, making it one of the largest employers in Fallbrook.

Weddings are still the bedrock here — six to eight a week, McDougal confirmed — but more and more folks are showing up for lunch, or for cocktails after work, or just to walk through the pristine gardens tucked away off South Mission Road.

Although his parents had built the place in the early 1980s, McDougal wouldn’t become part of the business until 1996, after a career in the restaurant industry and what he termed “meat technology.”

“At that time, the property was 15 acres,” he recalled. “We’ve now expanded it to 35 acres. We have 18 acres totally landscaped, and the rest is all future garden expansion. Eventually, I hope to have all 35 acres part of the public gardens. Possibly a hotel.”

Meanwhile, his parents have retired to a home on the eastern border of the property: “They are totally amazed at how it’s changed over the years,” he said. “Their vision was the mansion and the lake; they had no idea it would evolve into this.”

The property now has three outdoor sites where couples can wed, with another in the works. There are plans to expand the kitchen and possibly add a gift shop.

In 2012, McDougal opened a new restaurant and called it “The Veranda” because it consists entirely of tables on the back porch of the mansion.

This summer, he added the Orchid Bar, which has consistently drawn 200 people every Wednesday night for cocktails and appetizers, McDougal said.

The idea came after building the third and latest garden, planted with Mediterranean species and called the “Compass Garden,” he recalled.

“When we were done, we had this flat area up here, and Mark and I were talking about how this would be a great place to put a patio bar,” McDougal said, referring to his son, who is the director of operations. “It wasn’t one of those things that was designed — it was an evolution.”

The experience encapsulated what McDougal loves about working here — besides the scenery, which makes it easy to come to work every day because, in his words, “It doesn’t seem like work.”

Creating something new and seeing guests enjoy it is the beauty of the job, he said.

“I call it kind of an art project with a bulldozer — you get a dozer in here and start shaping and creating your contours,” he said. “If you don’t like the looks of it, you dig a deeper hole, or build a bigger mound, or turn the pathway.”

Twelve-hour days are not uncommon for McDougal, who also serves on the board of the Fallbrook Public Utility District and volunteers his time promoting Fallbrook as a tourist destination.

“We’re normally here seven days a week,” he said. “You’re building something, you’re creating something — it’s the fun of seeing that happen.”

Get U-T Business in your inbox on Mondays

Get ready for your week with the week’s top business stories from San Diego and California, in your inbox Monday mornings.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Texas law targeting major social media companies like Facebook and Twitter

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has rolled out a framework for fighting climate change that shows his proposed direction on the environment if he wins a second term

The jobless rate in San Diego County has slowly risen over the last few months.

Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Friday: FedEx, General Electric fall; Bowlero, FirstEnergy rise

Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street, leaving the market with another week of sizable losses, as a stark warning from FedEx about rapidly worsening trends in the economy gave investors more to worry about

Uganda’s leader has warned that his government could “find someone else to work with” as French partner TotalEnergies faced mounting pressure to pull out of a partnership to construct a pipeline opposed by climate activists

Privacy Policy Terms of Service Sign Up For Our Newsletters