Nature meets up-to-the-minute technology in today’s breathtaking Israeli Jewish wedding. Shirin, a teacher, and Shai, an engineer, joined their passions for the outdoors and for the latest in multimedia design. The Tel Aviv-based couple chose to wed at Lago, a gorgeous contemporary venue (named for the beautiful lake on the property) that pairs spectacular outdoor scenery with an indoor space equipped with 3-D video mapping technology.
Designer Hilit Gordon loaded the space with oodles of verdant greens and white florals–we’re talking about some truly massive arrangements here–for a forest chic vibe, with stunning boughs of greenery hanging from the ceiling in a super sophisticated touch.
As if all that weren’t dramatic enough, the venue’s tech capabilities meant that the couple were able to have a fab VJ, Gil Valdman, project a custom-designed image of a forest on the walls with the 360 ° video mapping. What a cool surprise for the guests as they walked into the hall after the ceremony!
This couple’s story really highlights the difference a great planner can make in crafting an amazing day (without making yourself crazy in the process!). Shirin and Shai quickly decided to turn to a wedding planner to help them realize their vision, and they found the perfect match in Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Naama Raicher.
Along with her colleague Yael Kfir Frumkes, Naama helped the couple work out all the details to make their hi-tech forest fantasy come true. According to Shirin, Naama and Yael made the process relaxing and stress-free–how often do you hear a bride use those words to describe wedding planning?!
In addition to their primary photographer, Nitzan Gur of Love Marriage, the couple’s planners encouraged them to bring in a second photographer, Liat Federman, who specializes in shooting interiors to make the most of their breathtaking dà©cor. Yet another point for Naama and Yael–Shirin and Shai are so glad to have Liat’s stunning photos of the venue in all its glory. Rounding things out was videographer Roma Nerom of Nerom, who captured the day in live action.
Beautiful bride Shirin wanted a dress that made her feel like a princess yet was still comfortable to dance all night in, and she found her perfect match in a sparkling rose-gold Berta. And now it’s over to her to fill you in on the details of her exquisite day…
How we met
Shirin, the bride: We met during our military service through a mutual friend. We were together for 6 years prior to the wedding.
A High-Tech Venue
We got married in Lago — a venue defined by its innovative modern design. It offered so many advantages for us: it’s located only 20 minutes from Tel Aviv, so it was easy for our guests to get to. It could accomodate the number of guests that we had. There was the opportunity to hold the ceremony outside in the venue’s spectacular scenery, with a lake and a ferris wheel close by.
Also, the venue is designed with a dazzling combination of multimedia systems with video mapping technology, which uses spectacular 3D projections to create breathtaking interior scenery. We loved that!
Fantastic Planners
We love love love nature and greenery, so we choose to decorate the venue to look like a natural forest. We chose white and green as our colors, since they signify calm and serenity for both of us.
Very wisely, we decided right from the start to hire event planners to assist with all the little details that were so important to us, and we were so happy to find Naama Raicher and her colleague Yael Kfir Frumkes, who were perfect for the job. Thanks to their involvement, the process was incredibly relaxing, fun, and stress-free.
In the nine months of organizing and planning our wedding day, they both made sure that every wish/dream/request we or our families made was fulfilled with a big smile and no strain whatsoever. We were totally certain that everything was taken care of to perfection. They both became such an enormous part of the success of our amazing wedding and became dear and significant to our families and us.
They led us through choosing vendors and emphasized what was important to us in the process. They compared a few proposals from different vendors for us and didn’t let go until we received the best offers. Thanks to them we had a beautiful layout and we choose the best, most reliable and professional vendors. Their super precision leading up to the event is what made our evening so successful.
My parents were also important to the planning process. They advised us, gave us recommendations, and assisted us with every decision we made.
Garden-themed Invitations
We based our invitation on the nature theme. The cover to our invitation looked like a garden gate with two halves of a heart folding into one that had our initials on it — S & S. The square envelope was grey and the invitation was white, so that the overall look was classic, clean, and elegant. We sourced our invitation from Mozart.
Finding the Perfect Fit
I spent a long time looking for the perfect hair stylist and makeup artist. It was extremely important for me to be the only bride that they worked with on the day, and for them to be there for me mentally and physically throughout that day as well as for the evening itself (after the chuppa and before the dancing).
I chose Ofir and Gali based not only on how beautiful they made me look but also on how calm, relaxed, and happy they were. They listened to me, advised me, and acted upon all my wishes and requests making the most of their knowledge and experience.
The makeup I choose was classic overall, with bold eye makeup that emphasized my green eyes.
I changed my hairstyle during the wedding. At the beginning, I choose a loose hair style with a tiara. For the second hair-do, after the chuppa ceremony, my stylist tied my hair into a low ponytail so I could dance the night away.
A Real Princess Dress
Berta‘s styles attracted me from the beginning of my search for the perfect wedding dress. It became clear that it was the place where I’d find my gown, and as it turned out the second wedding dress I tried at Berta turned out to be the one. I felt that the dress was made especially for me, and it made me feel like a real princess. The color of the dress was cream – vintage pink, and each movement of mine made it glow, shine, and sparkle.
It was also crucial for me to wear a dress that would be comfortable to dance in throughout the wedding.
As I’ve already mentioned, comfort is important to me, but obviously I wanted to have high heels, so I chose shoes that I designed myself according to the look and level of comfort I was looking for, and that matched my dress.
I also ordered a hanger with my new surname and our marriage date for my getting ready. To that I added dà©cor signs for my dressing room, and pink customized robes.
Silver Jewellery
At the beginning of the evening, I chose a loose hair style with a tiara of silver plated flowers. After the chuppah ceremony, my hair stylist tied my hair into a low ponytail with a brooch with silver flowers and white pearls.
I wore delicate silver jewelry: diamond earrings and a tennis bracelet I received from my parents for my engagement.
The handsome groom
Shai wore a black suit and white button-down shirt with silver cuff links, a black bow tie (which we both loved), and Hugo Boss shoes.
Coincidentally Matched Bridesmaids
I had two special and dear bridesmaids — my cousin Joya and my best friend, Dana. I only asked them to wear light-colored dresses, with no other specifications. Amazingly, and only by coincidence, they both wore the same color and shape of dress (long skirt, two pieces). There’s no doubt that the similarity between the two dresses made our pictures from the preparations look outstanding.
A Forest-themed Chuppah
With my amazing event planners, Naama Raicher and Yael Kfir Frumkes, and my fabulous designer, Hilit Gordon, we decided that the chuppah‘s design would match the concept of the event itself — natural forest with lots of white flowers. It was important for us that the chuppah would be impressive, and big enough to contain our families. When we arrived at the venue and saw the chuppah, I felt that all my dreams had come true in the most perfect manner.
A Ceremony Filled with Family
It was important that our parents, siblings and my grandmother were part of the ceremony and stood under the chuppah with us.
We choose Rabbi Bar-On, who was recommended by our event planners, and we connected to him right from the start, on both a spiritual and a personal level.
Young and Beautiful
Our entrance song to the chuppah was River Water by Idan Raichel. For our first dance, we had Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Ray. We started our first dance alone as a married couple and in the middle of the song our parents joined us. By the end of the song most of the guests had joined us, and we felt so much love in the air around us.
A Forest of Flowers
Hilit Gordon, my talented designer, and her amazing team decorated the entire venue with a lot of white flowers and greenery. It was important to us to keep a natural look to the venue. We had different arrangements on the tables — some with large bouquets and some with massive greenery, some with lots of candles and some with a combination of both flowers and candles. We had strands of greenery hanging down from the ceiling, which completed the forest look we were going for. My bouquet was made according to an inspiration that I had, and it matched the general vibe of the design.
Our fabulous photographers
Our photographers Love Marriage were chosen, after lots of research, for their outstanding work and their gentle touch. They were extremely nice and helpful throughout the day and made us feel at ease and joyful.
Since the venue design was so breathtaking, our event planners brought a special photographer, Liat Federman, whose expertise, apart of being a gifted photographer generally, is design work. It was totally worth it and the pictures came out spectacularly.
We also had a magnet photographer, Roy Bar, who made souvenirs for our guests.
The Life of the Party
Our band was Glory Band. They had 5 singers and 5 musicians who performed music in different styles and made our guests totally excited. Glory played till midnight and then we had DJ Gil fux and his live musicians, who did fantastic work and add more fun vibe to the wedding .
We weren’t sure that the party would go on after the band left, but Gil Fux has a magic touch. Our guests couldn’t resist and ended up staying way after midnight . His contribution to the event was enormous.
We also had the Shmulikim, a group of professional dancers that blended with our guests and made sure that our dance floor was the life of the party. They also assisted guests who had no partners or needed some moral assistance reaching the dance floor.
Color-changing LED Bracelets
We had kippot for the men and white hand-held fans for the women.
We made a special canvas with two kissing figures holding a bouquet of balloons – but with the balloons missing – and our names and the date of our wedding, so that our guests could use their fingerprints to create our balloon bouquet. At the end of the event we had a beautiful memory on our canvas.
As the party went on we handed LED bracelets to our guests that changed color according to the rhythm of the music and added so much energy to the party.
We also had white flip-flops in several sizes for guests with tired feet to help keep the party going.
At the end of the evening each guest received a blue or red magnet prepared by Alut – a voluntary association of people with special needs. It was important for us to make this donation to Alut. Inside the gift box there was also was a ‘thank you’ note, graphically designed according to our style and with our initials, to everyone that participated in our wedding.
360 ° of Forest
Going with out nature theme, a very gifted VJ, Gil Valdman, screened a custom-made picture of a forest on the venue’s 360 ° video mapping. It was a gift from our event planners and truly created a “wow” impact as the guests entered the hall after the ceremony. It was breathtaking!
After our slow dance, the pictures on the screens changed according to the party and the vibe as the evening went on.
Another important part of the decoration of the venue was the lay out which was interesting and made of few levels and seating areas that were built in a manner that there was no similarity between one area to the other and the whole venue looked magnificent.
We also made menus, seating cards, and table numbers with a unique graphic design- again, matching our concept.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
I have a few pieces of advice to new brides, so you can fully enjoy your wedding day stress-free:
- Take a few days off from work before the wedding so you can totally relax and enjoy those special days with your family and friends.
- Have a party before the wedding with your girlfriends and close family members — I invited my dear friends and family members two days before the wedding to an evening of good food, wine, laughs, and belly dancing. The party made me so happy and I totally recommend such an evening.
- Set your preparation in a big and sunny place — it is so comfortable to have enough space for your close friends and yourself. That way you can feel you have your privacy on the one hand, yet have your comfort zone of beloved friends with you.
- Take two best friends/siblings/family members that you feel most comfortable with. Let them know that they are majorly important for you in the event, and in return they will be there for you and support you with everything you need throughout the day.
- Eat a large breakfast! After that there’s hardly any chance that you will eat anything in a proper way.
- Drink tons of water – gives shine to your skin.
- Choose your vendors not only according to their work and reputation, but after meeting each one of them make sure you have a good connection, especially those that will accompany you on person the day of the wedding. It makes your day so much more relaxed and fun.
- Choose the perfect wedding planners- they will listen to you, guide you, and assist you. After getting to know you, they will direct you toward what is right for you according to your budget and dreams. Thanks to my event planners, Naama Raicher and Yael Kfir Frumkes, everything was more than perfect.
- You are the bride! You shine! So dance like there’s no tomorrow!! Don’t step off the dance floor! When you are there — your guests will be there – for you and with you.
- Plan the wedding that is right for your husband and you!
- Enjoy every moment from the beginning of planning the wedding til the end of it! This day passes so fast that you won’t believe it!
Shirin & Shai’s little white book
Photography – Love Marriage and Liat Federman
Videography – Nerom
Wedding planner – Naama Raicher
Venue – Lago
Bride’s dress – Berta
Bride’s jewellery – Esperans
Groom’s attire – Hugo Boss
Hair + Makeup – Ofir Elias and Gali Fax
Designer – Hilit Gordon
Band – Glory Band
DJ – Gil Fux
VJ – Gil Valdman
Magnets photographer – Roy Bar
Favours – Alut
Dancers – The Shmulikim
Invitations – Mozart
