There’s no question that Tuscany is one of the world’s most gorgeous destinations for a Jewish wedding – and Yael and Joel’s special day is just beyond!
After recovering from a serious car accident, the couple knew their top priority was spending quality time together with their loved ones – and so they decided to make a full wedding weekend of it at beautiful Borgo Stomennano, a picturesque historic estate nestled in the rolling hills of Tuscany.
The couple’s photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ronen Boidek, captured the day in all its glory. Yael says that Ronen “has so much talent and has this special capability to catch the essence of people’s personalities in his pictures,” and we couldn’t agree more!
Yael also looked absolutely radiant in her stunner of a gown by beloved Israeli bridal designer Berta – read on for the full story in her words…
How We Met
Yael, the bride: We met at the wedding of our good friends Jenija and Steph in Tel Aviv, in 2017. Jenija and Yael went to kindergarten together and Joel and Steph met playing tennis together as kids while on holiday in Israel, a few decades ago.
Bride and groom thought we’d be a great match and had planned to seat us next to each other on their wedding at the singles table, but we already ‘found’ each other a few days before at their pre-party at the bar and have been inseparable ever since.
A Wedding in Tuscany
We had originally planned our wedding for June 2020 at beautiful Baya’ar in Israel – but then Covid hit and forced us to cancel. Save the dates were long out and all planning had been finalized! We were so devastated that at some point, we gave up on planning another wedding. Then, early 2023, we had a very serious car accident and were painfully reminded that celebrations should not be postponed. When we got out of the hospital, we were ready to give wedding planning a second try!
We inquired at close to 100 venues all over Europe whether they still had a ‘kosher’ weekend available this summer and were super lucky that beautiful Borgo Stomennano in Tuscany had just received a cancellation! Joel had multiple pelvis fractures from the accident and couldn’t travel yet, so I (on crutches) went with Jenija, the matchmaker, to visit Borgo Stomennano. Over there, we were met by an incredibly nice owner family and team. We live streamed everything back to Joel, who fell in love with Stomennano from afar…the deal was sealed!
Theme + Planner
Most important to us, after the accident especially, was to spend quality time with the people we love. So when we searched for locations, we looked for places where we could spend a full weekend with our guests. Also, during the weekend, we wanted to make logistics as easy as possible for our guests. Borgo Stomennano provided all of this: We could host a pool party, different dinners and the wedding itself at the same location but at different areas of the estate, so our guest would not grow tired of it on day 2!
Also, we could have all our guests stay either on the premises (19 rooms) or within a 2 mile radius (we reserved the beautiful Borgo Gallinaio and additionally blocked rooms in a nearby hotel, Il Piccolo Castello) and provided shuttle service during the weekend between these locations and Borgo Stomennano.
We definitely wanted the natural beauty of Stomennano to take the center stage. So, for decorations, including the chuppah, we chose a light and elegant style that would complement the beautiful location and reflect the Tuscan vibe. With the short preparation period, we had to invest a lot of time in the sourcing of vendors, negotiations, and coordination ourselves but were grateful for the helpful support of Stefania Zen, who is a Rome based wedding planner with many years of experience in (Jewish) weddings in Italy.
Invitation
With the short planning period, we did not have enough time for printed invitations and used Appy couple for digital invitations and guest communication. Menu cards, bensher, and matching kippah lining were designed by Yael’s sister, who works as an interior designer but also happens to be a super talented illustrator.
Hair + Makeup
Another risk we took, as Yael could not do a trial in the short period of time. Romina from Romina Pashollari & Team was super pleasant to be around on the big day, was extremely professional and worked with top products. Yael (and the other ladies as well!) was super happy with the results!
A Berta Dress
Back in 2019, when we planned the first wedding, I fell in love with Israeli Designer Berta‘s stunning designs – I just loved how much they flatter everyone, no matter the body shape, and the beautiful detail work on her gowns. When I tried one of her designs in a Munich bridal shop, my mom, aunt, and me all agreed it was ‘the one’.
Ceremony & Chuppah
As unfortunately Joel did not have his parents with him to walk him down the aisle (his dad passed away years ago and his mom was unable to travel for health reasons), he decided it would be great if his brothers, together with his friends, would take him to the chuppah directly from the tisch dancing and singing. A modern orthodox ceremony does not give much space for female honorees, however, our rabbi said that nothing speaks against a female guest introducing the honorees of the sheva brachot, so we had Yael‘s cousin sharing a short personal introduction to everyone who was called to say a bracha.
Our favorite part was seeing each other for the first time (we did not do a ‘first look’ before) and the badecken – it was so emotional! We were also so happy with Chaim Guggenheim, who officiated the ceremony in English with much warmth, humor, and lots of personal touches, drawing from great conversations we had with him before the wedding. For the chuppah design we wanted to go with a very airy design that would block as little as possible of the beautiful backdrop (or any of the many family members we had under chuppah) from view, so we chose a chuppah with plexiglass pillars and only some flowers on top.
Ketubah
We absolutely loved our ketubah from Noa Attias – she is so talented and was super helpful and flexible to integrate all requirements from our rabbi in the text. After the wedding, we had it framed and have reserved a special spot on our living room wall for this beautiful piece of art!
Our music choice
Our DJ Dennis Smith from Frankfurt was perfect at the pre-party and at the wedding after-party, playing our crowd’s favorite songs. Plus he is an absolute sweetheart and a pleasure to work with! For the ceremony and wedding party, we had Your Dream Band from Paris playing. It was the biggest risk we took (as we had never heard them live) but also the most rewarding!
Especially, after we did have a rather bad experience with a well-known band from Israel when we planned our first wedding, we were a bit hesitant whether we should make the investment once more… It was the best decision ever! With their incredibly talented artists and their great energy, they were absolutely amazing for the ceremony, hora, and everything else and our celebration would not have been the same without them. In terms of special songs we chose ‘Mi Adir’ for Yael‘s walk to the Chuppah and the beautiful ‘Lev Tahor’ by Zusha for the circling (both sung by Jerome Gallo).
Flowers
For the flowers, we worked with the lovely Ariana and her company Biancospino Flowers Atelier. With her positive attitude and creative ideas she was an absolute pleasure to work with! We had different design concepts for the different events of the weekend (Kabalat Shabatt, Pool Party, Italian Night, and Wedding) and she went out of her way to realize unique designs within the budgets given. We particularly loved how the design for the Kabalat Shabat turned out, with lots of blue and white design elements, lemons, and white and yellow flowers.
The night was originally planned to be outside, but we had to change plans last minute, when the weather did not play along, and Ariana was super flexible and creative to make our Plan B look like a plan A. On the wedding, we were super happy with how Ariana translated our design briefing; we loved everything, from the beautiful chuppah to all the little details and beautiful flower arrangements in shades of white, pink and red. Ariana combined classical flowers, such as peonies and roses and added pink anthuria for that special modern touch.
Photographer and videographer
We fell in love with the work of our photographer Ronen Boidek already in 2019, when we were planning our wedding for the first time in Israel. He has so much talent and has this special capability to catch the essence of people’s personalities in his pictures. We then met him in person (highly recommend to meet your photographer in advance, if possible!) and found him to be not only talented but also calm and incredibly kind – just the person you want to have around on your special day!
When we asked Ronen to come to Tuscany for our second attempt he did not hesitate a second. As expected, the pictures turned out to be everything we hoped for (and more!). Ronen works with both digital and analogue cameras, so as a bonus you will get some pictures who have a different, very artistic and cool style on top of your other photos. We also highly recommend to take a photographer who is familiar with Jewish weddings – Ronen of course knew which moments in the ceremony had special significance and captured them perfectly! For our video, we worked with a very professional local videographer, Fulvio Greco.
Food and cake
We were beyond happy with the wonderful Luisa and Carlo Spagnuolo, their partner/Chef de Cuisine Mimmo, and their great team from Milan who catered all of our wedding events. They are the most wonderful and professional people, who went above and beyond to make our vision for the weekend come true. They even prepared Yael’s family’s Friday night staple dish (chopped eggs and onion) according to her recipe for that special touch on Kabalat Shabbat.
All, but their Italian dishes in particular (Risotto! Pasta! Ossobucco!), are excellent and the range of what they are able to do (well) did not seize to amaze us over the course of the weekend (from Middle Eastern/Israeli, to BBQ, to modern…). And: the tasting at their office/kitchen in Milano might have been Yael‘s favorite part of the wedding planning process!
Extra Details
We loved all the special surprises our friends and families had prepared for us, from a wedding magazine, to wishes written on Yael’s wedding shoes, to shows with songs and choreographies worthy of broadway (one choreography included about 50 guests who came from 10 different cities).
Our kippot were produced by LUX Kippot. Debbie was so kind and extremely helpful in realizing our vision of kippot with a custom lining designed by my sister. The kippot were produced really fast and arrived on time and in beautiful quality
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
1) You don’t need 2 years to plan a great wedding – for our second time planning we had less than 4 months. 4 stressful months but everything still turned out great!
2) Listen to your gut feeling when you pick your vendors – if you get along on a personal level it will make everything so much better!
3) On the day of your wedding, surround yourself with the people you love/who love you and your party will be amazing. Our original wedding was supposed to have 350 guests; the second time around we just invited our family and closest friends – their love and happiness for us (and 100% commitment to party hard) made our weekend unforgettable!
4) Don’t beat yourself up over details that don’t work out as planned. The chandeliers I really wanted for the dinner setting were too heavy (one smashed on the table before guests arrived) and had to be removed last minute – but the decoration was great without them and we saved money, as the vendor reimbursed us.
5) Always have a plan B for bad weather. Our wedding took place in Tuscany in July – and still there was rain. Luckily, Stomennano also had a beautiful hall to use inside, so we could switch from our outdoor plan A to our plan B when it rained in the morning of our Kabalat Shabat without (or at least with only slightly) breaking a sweat.
YAEL & JOEL’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Ronen Boidek
Ketubah – Noa Attias {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Videography – Fulvio Greco
Venue – Borgo Stomennano
Planner – Stefania Zen
Bride’s dress – Berta
Bride’s accessories – Berta, Stuart Weitzman
Hair + Makeup – Romina Pashollari & Team
Flowers – Biancospino Flowers Atelier
DJ – DJ Dennis Smith
Band – Your Dream Band
Catering – Milano Catering
Kippot – LUX Kippot
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
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What a beautiful and inspiring love story. The dress is exquisite and the wedding photo’s are the best I have ever seen.