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A Vera Wang bride for a romantic luxe destination Jewish wedding at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, California

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Prepare for a fashion frenzy as the names that make today’s Jewish wedding so gorgeous are Vera Wang, Valentino, Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin … And of course our super stylish bride and groom Natalie & Alexander who married at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, California.

Natalie looks breathtakingly beautiful in her Vera Wang gown and veil — it’s just pure romance. Speaking of which, can you believe that these two first met under the Eiffel Tower in the City of Romance, Paris?! Their whole ‘How We Met’ story is like something out of a fairytale – you simply must read Natalie’s account of it below.

I am a certified super fan of Greg Finck who shot and submitted this wedding to me. Everything he snaps just turns into wedding gold, and you’ll see precisely what I mean when you take a peek at the pretty below.

It’s a wedding of global proportions with guests traveling in from all over the world but it was absolutely worth it: the emotion, the style, the 13 (wow!) beautiful bridesmaids, the mesmerising stationery, the music, the chuppah, the florals… it’s all just filled to the brim with style and grace, and not only are Greg’s images and the bride’s wedding report waiting for you, we also have the wedding film at the foot of the post by Wind Productions too. It’s a very happy Tuesday folks!

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How we met

Natalie, the bride: Alex and I met in Paris under the Eiffel Tower (for real). We were traveling in Europe separately and had some friends in common and  the two groups met in Paris for a few days. The moment I looked at him I knew my life was forever going to change. We started dating right away. We were attending different universities in different cities, then after graudation we moved to different cities (Connecticut for him, and LA for me) and then another move to different cities (New York for him, San Francisco for me). We were long distance for 6 years. I finally moved to New York City and he proposed shortly after that to my surprise.

After he proposed he surprised me with a fully planned trip to Paris to take our engagment pics at the Eiffel Tower with Greg Finck who also photographed our wedding.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Jewish weddings and the importance of the role of parents and family

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A thank you letter

Last week my parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. My sister and I planned a surprise party for them and we decided to decorate the house with photos of their lives together. Sifting through the hundreds of photos made me realise how important my family is to me and also what an incredible relationship my parents have. It got me thinking about what makes a wedding so special. What can possibly make one day something you remember for an entire lifetime? And I realised that the answer is family. Our wedding isn’t just about celebrating our love for each other, but celebrating the love we’ve both been blessed with from the day we were born. Love is what makes the day special, it’s what binds soulmates, families and friends together.

I started to think about our wedding and the role that my family and Gideon’s family have had and will have in our wedding. From dress shopping to checking out the venue; from supplier searches to food tasting our parents have been involved every step of the way. For us it is really important that this wedding celebrates Gid and I just as much as it celebrates our two families coming together as one.

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At our last meeting with Rabbi Miriam Berger who is marrying us, we went through each part of the ceremony. As we are having a reform wedding we are able to choose different components and mix and match traditions. One thing that featured throughout the discussion was the importance of the role our parents and family will play in the ceremony. Gideon and I are walked down the aisle by both our parents. Unlike in other weddings where it is just the father I love the idea that both our parents present their child to everyone and we walk down the aisle as a family unit. Both parents play an equal role in our lives so both parents should be by our sides when we marry each other.

Together with them walking us down the aisle they also stand under the chuppah with us. I love the idea that the chuppah is meant to represent our first home together and I love that we stand under it with our parents. To me it symbolises the importance they have played in helping Gid and I actually get to our wedding day but also the bringing together of both families in our home where both families are always welcome and a central part of the building of it.

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When choosing my bridesmaids I made the decision to have only family members. Just my sister, Gid’s sister and Gid’s cousins who I consider family. Having them as the central people on my wedding day is really important and again symbolises to me the importance of family within our Jewish wedding. Of course I have the most wonderful friends who would make the most amazing bridesmaids but to me keeping it within the theme of family allows for everything to be close and really makes it feel like two families are coming together as one.

As our parents have been at the centre of our wedding planning this has at times caused some conflict and disagreements. As is the case in most Jewish weddings our guest list is split three ways; my family, his family and Gid and my friends. With a maximum capacity of 160, two semi large families this has been a sticking point throughout the process. Despite lists, new lists, and new new lists being produced we know that as long as our nearest and dearest are with us it will be an amazing day and as long as the list is sorted by the time we send the invites out it will be all be wonderful in the end.

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Personalise your wedding with Monica Vinader

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Monica Vinader popped up on my radar four weeks after my first date with Mr STG, when he bought me a stunning, delicate Fiji Chain bracelet  (pictured towards the bottom of the post) for my 36th birthday.

Let’s face it; gift buying that early on in a relationship is dicey territory. It’s a situation that presents umpteen, unseen etiquette hazards.

Choose a gift too ostentatious and you risk overwhelming, give something modest or lacking in sophistication and you’re running the chance of a huge underwhelm. But wow! The future Mr STG got it so right. I was incredibly touched by the thought he’d put into choosing just the right piece (there are a lot of options) and I immediately fell for the – now iconic – classy, yet cool Fiji friendship bracelet.

Luckily for me and Mr STG, it was love at first sight and I would have married him regardless but the fact that he unveiled himself to be a master present buyer so early on in the relationship certainly didn’t hurt.

Since then, I have bought myself, friends and family a host of individually selected and engraved Monica Vinader pieces and I just love seeing their reaction when they open up the box.

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A present for my  friend who set me up with  Mr STG

My first meeting with Mr STG was a blind date, set up by an old school friend. She’ll forever be our matchmaker, our Yenta and so for her birthday this year I sealed the deal with a mink cord, silver Havana bracelet with her nickname YENTA engraved on it (see it below). She was totally thrilled. It’s our in-joke and the gift was received with the warmth in which it was meant. No matter how old you get, there’s nothing like a friendship bracelet to make you feel special.

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A Suzanne Neville Bride for an uber chic elegant Jewish wedding at New London Synagogue and Claridges, London, UK

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Be still, my beating heart. Philippa Bloom’s Suzanne Neville dress is simply DIVINE. As are her metallic Jimmy Choo’s for that matter… But are you surprised when she’s one half of We Are Twinset one of the biggest fashion influencer accounts on Instagram?

Yes folks, we are in for a HUGE treat today with Philippa & Alex’s super chic Jewish wedding at the elegant New London Synagogue followed by their reception at one of my favourite luxury London venues — the one and only Claridges.

And their big day is every bit as glamorous and romantic as you’d expect. An emotionally-charged badeken having not seeing each other for one week prior (wait till you see the moment in the wedding film — it’s goosebumps all around), a gigantic floral chuppah surrounded by pillar candles, the coolest bridesmaids in gold sequinned gowns, exquisite stationery with calligraphy by one of my wedding supplier crushes, Lamplighter London, and crazy jewish wedding dancing thanks to entertainment from the legendary Gilev Show Band.

It’s a truly stylish, luxe wedding and not only do we have the dreamy images from Polly Alexandre, but we also have the film from Gorgeous Films who actually filmed my own London wedding back in 2013 as well!

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A Jewish wedding at the New West End Synagogue and Claridges

Philippa, the bride: Our ceremony was at the New West End Synagogue — we loved how ornate and traditional this synagogue is compared to others in central London. It’s got a beautiful intimate feel and has a strong spiritual vibe which we loved too.

We had our reception and party at Claridges. From an early age, Claridges has always been my all-time favourite hotel in London. I was really conscious of not having a very large Jewish wedding and because of Claridge’s ballroom size it meant that we could control this. We also love its art deco super sophisticated style. Although in general it’s quite a large hotel, it feels really homely and the staff are incredible — there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do!

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Real Jewish Brides: Choosing Our Wedding Stationery

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Right now, Alex and I are in that really fun stage of wedding planning. Meaning, our invitations have been mailed out (phew!) and we’re just now starting to receive our guests RSVP’s back in the mail. Which for whatever reason, makes wedding planning  that  much more exciting. (what is it about snail mail that’s so deliciously appealing?)

Currently, coming home to check the mail is my favorite part of the afternoon, and because of that, I thought I’d talk about the process of choosing our wedding stationary.  

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Save The Dates

This is essentially a piece of postage that formally alerts your friends and family, that at some point in the not-so-distant-future, they will be receiving an actual wedding invitation. An invitation for an invitation, if you will. Alex didn’t care much about it (or think it was necessary) so he let me take the lead on the design and the entire process. Which I was more than happy to do. The save-the-date is the first piece of tangible evidence that shows we are going to be wed (minus my engagement ring, of course)!  

I booked a quick 30 minute engagement shoot with a local DC photographer, and scheduled our shoot in Georgetown. It was a ridiculously cold morning in March, but at the end of the shoot, we had nearly 200 photos to choose from before we settled on the one we ended up using.  

I loved the various save-the-date options I found online, however the price and lack of flexibility of the designs offered was enough to steer me towards a DIY project. And that’s exactly what we did.

I browsed Etsy until I found something similar to my vision. I worked 1-on-1 with a designer who tweaked everything to my liking. She emailed me a template, which I then uploaded and printed it locally at a shop. 100 copies for just about $50 (not including postage or addressing labels).  

I was thrilled with how they came out. They were in the mail in the very beginning of April. Providing our guests with a full eight months of notice – which for destination weddings seems to be standard etiquette. Fast forward through the summer…

Save The Date

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