We love a country house Jewish wedding – and Natalie and Josh’s big day at Sopwell House in St Albans is really something special! Natalie and Josh loved the gorgeous grounds and the private, remote feel – all while being an easy trip from London.
We’re obsessed with the couple’s super cool Lucite chuppah, adorned with gypsophila and hanging white roses – don’t miss it in the wonderful photos by MIKI Studios.
To make sure everything ran to plan on the day, Natalie and Josh turned to Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Toastmaster Jango. He made sure everything went smoothly so the bride and groom could relax and enjoy their day stress-free, and the couple give him lots of credit for making the day of their dreams a reality.
Now over to the bride, who’ll fill you in on all the details…
How We Met
Natalie, the bride: We met on Hinge back in October 2020, when the covid lockdown curfew was 10pm!
A Country House Wedding
We got married at Sopwell House in St Albans, which we chose due to the gorgeous grounds for our reception (thank goodness the sun was shining). We loved how Sopwell House had a really private and remote feel to it, and the land is gorgeous outside.
Theme + Toastmaster
We didn’t have a planner, however, we did have Toastmaster Jango who made sure that the running of the day was smooth – we couldn’t have done it without Jango!! We managed to do a few special touches for the wedding, such as, for the table numbers, we included a picture of us at each age of that table.
Invitation
We used Invitation London, who helped design our invites, tables numbers, menus, and stickers for the escort bottles.
Hair + Makeup
Ayelet Garson is THE BEST!! I’ve never felt more comfortable, reassured and beautiful with booking Ayelet for both hair and makeup. Ayelet is a creative genius, always wanting to make sure that you’re happy with your look. Ayelet was with me from 8am – 6pm, not only does she make you feel your absolute best before the chuppah / during pictures, but her energy is infectious. She made me feel so calm throughout the whole morning, she is just the best!
Dress
My dress was from What Alice Wore in St Albans. I originally had two dresses that were totally different that I saw myself wearing. Someone said to me, if you can dye your dress black and wear it to someone else’s wedding, then it’s not your dress. When I tried on the dress that I ended up wearing, even thought it’s not what I envisioned myself in for my wedding day, I knew that it was the one! It had a gorgeous neckline, wispy off the shoulder arms, and a lovely pattern spreading to the bottom of the dress.
Bridesmaids
My bridesmaids wore an olive green dress to tie into the natural white/green theme from Joyce Young.
Ceremony & Chuppah
We had a private badeken, with only parents, grandparents, siblings and bridesmaids, which was incredibly intimate and special after not seeing each other for 1 week – a real highlight of the day!
For the chuppah, we had the amazing Jonny Turgel. What an amazing voice he has! We knew as soon as we heard him that we wanted him to be our chazan, he’s a power house!
Jonny Turgel’s voice is mesmerising. For the chuppah, the groom and family procession came down to ‘Riboin’, ‘Ani Le Dodi’ for the 7 circles, and ‘Mi Adir‘ to the tune of ‘Halev Sheli‘ by Ishay Ribo, before ‘Im Eshkachech‘. Jonny also did his own melody in between, which everyone in the room joined in too – it was incredibly powerful. The chuppah was one of our favourite parts of the day, due to how intimate Jonny was able to make the ceremony, even in front of 200 people.
Ketubah
We got in contact with Yolanda, who lives in Israel, as she created my sisters ketubah from scratch. Yolanda is an extremely talented artist, and there was a lot of meaning behind our ketubah. The tree drawn on our ketubah is a special tree to both of us, and we had roots with images in it symbolising things that are personal to the both of us, representing that this is what makes us.
Our music choice
We had Creation for our band! They were amazing, they played a mixture of 80s music all the way up to current music – they really know what to play to engage all the guests, and they keep the energy so high!
Flowers
Our florist was Flowers by Alina. We had white roses and gypsophila, a very light summery wedding look, with candles in water surrounding them.
Photographer and videographer
I knew that MIKI would be the best fit for both photography and videography, once I saw their profile and saw how different they were to anyone else out there in the game. They truly bring your story to life, and portray your wedding day as a Hollywood style film, which was up our street!
Food and sweet treats
Itzik did all of our catering – it was immaculate! We had a shwarma and salt beef station at the station which was apparently phenomenal (we didn’t have time to try it)! We also had Waffle Me Up at the end of the night, who brought around a ton of sweet treats onto the dance floor which was PHENOMENAL! We had popcorn, cookie dough, waffle sticks… you name it! Waffle Me Up were the best end to the night!
Honeymoon
We went on a mini-moon the weekend after the wedding to Paris, which was so special to stay in our little bubble together and reminisce on the wedding! We are travelling around Malaysia in February time, going to Singapore, Borneo, Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi – which is super exiting!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Everything that you stress about in the run up to the wedding does not even cross your mind on the actual day. Make sure that you spend the day with your partner – you will remember it forever!
NATALIE & JOSH’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography + Videography – MIKI
Toastmaster – Toastmaster Jango
Venue – Sopwell House
Ketubah – Yolanda
Bride’s dress – What Alice Wore
Bridesmaids – Joyce Young
Hair + Makeup – Ayelet Garson
Flowers – Flowers by Alina
Band – Creation
Chazzan – Jonny Turgel
Catering – Itzik
Evening desserts – Waffle Me Up
Stationery/Invitation – Invitation London
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
