Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Naomi and Daniel are one seriously lucky couple. Their ridiculously gorgeous Jewish wedding in Israel took place as the COVID-19 crisis was becoming increasingly more serious, just days before the country banned gatherings of more than ten people. And while the bride, a physics teacher, and the groom, an aerospace engineer, didn’t have their big day go untouched by coronavirus – there was plenty of stress about increasing restrictions and whether family and friends from the UK would be able to make it, and in the end many guests weren’t able to make the trip – their close relatives made it out to Israel in time, and most of the wedding went to plan.
And it was an awesome plan! We’re in love with the garden vibes of their gorgeous venue, Giv’at Brenner, and we’re obsessed with the efforts these two made to personalize their day, like making a list together of seven things to pray for and then reading and praying for one item each time Naomi circled Daniel under the chuppah, and finding ways to honor female guests in their Orthodox ceremony.
And how cute is it that the couple got matching personalized Converses to wear for the reception?! The photos from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Herschel Gutman Photography are so full of love and emotion, with each moment captured so beautifully.
Now over to the bride, who looked radiant in her simple David’s Bridal dress (the first she tried on!), which she had altered to add in sleeves and a higher neckline…
How we met
Naomi, the bride: We both grew up in London, with similar social circles, same year group but never knew each other, it wasn’t until we both made aliyah that we met!
We first met at a party in Jerusalem a few days after I had made aliyah, we chatted for about 5 minutes and Daniel wanted to ask me out but felt it wouldn’t be fair on me as I needed time to settle into the country. Over the next couple of months he hadn’t forgotten about me but some friends had told him they knew a girl who they thought would be good for him.
He agreed to meet her at a Purimseudah but thought to himself that if it didn’t go well he would try to find the number of the girl from the party. But when he walked into the Purim seudah he was surprised and delighted to find the girl from the party, me, sitting there. The rest is history! He proposed to me in September and I proposed to him in October.
An Outdoor Wedding
We got married in HaGiva, Giv’at Brenner. A beautiful venue on a kibbutz just outside Rechovot. We fell in love with it as soon as we walked in and it met all of our specification: a large dancefloor, a beautiful outdoors area, lots of greenery inside and out and great staff.
The attention to detail on the day was extraordinary and we got so many compliments on the venue itself. We managed to pick the only sunny day of the month and so we were able to have our chuppah outside just as we had dreamed as well as a lot of our photos.
Focus on Family and Friends
What made our wedding specific to our personalities was not the normal themes, schemes and embellishments but the absence of them. Neither of us are particularly frilly or flamboyant people and we wanted our wedding to be simple and comfortable for all our guests. So there was no colour scheme, no theme or extras. The focus was on us, our friends and our family.
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
I was part of Brides Club and really enjoyed reading through the posts on Facebook and looking at the various lists that you published.
Invitation
I designed the logo for the invitation and the benschers myself. I combined the Hebrew letters of our initials using calligraphy and painted an orangey-red watercolour background. It took a long time to narrow down the design options and to get it perfect but we were really pleased with the final result!
A David’s Bridal Dress
Ever since I was a little girl, my family and I have joked about what kind of wedding dress I would have. Whilst my sister is the stereotypical, glitter loving princess, I generally stay away from anything floofy, embroidered, sparkly, lacey, etc. I like very plain, simple clothes preferably with slightly unusual designs. So the task of finding a dress I would like was a little daunting at first.
We flew to England for our engagement party and I used the time there to shop for a dress. I had already looked at their catalogue online and found only one dress I was interested in. I sent the photo to my sister who immediately said “that’s your dress!”. So we went to David’s Bridal, requested the dress I’d seen and it was perfect! So we bought it. The fastest wedding dress shopping experience!
It was made by David’s Bridal and was a completely plain ivory dress.
I took it back to Israel on the plane. (If you want lots of attention when walking through an airport try carrying a wedding dress!) Thank G-d it made it in one piece!
Back in Israel, I had it altered to make it slightly more modest, we added in sleeves and a neckline in a very light voil with piping around the neck and sleeves. I can’t imagine myself having worn anything else. It was incredibly comfortable as well because it was so lightweight and airy!
Accessories
I wore a special pair of pearl earrings bought for me by my mother in law when we got engaged. I had a hair piece with little pearls in it which I bought from Etsy and was really pleased with!
And my veil was actually the veil my sister wore to her wedding. I said in my speech: “Today, I wore your veil – probably the first and last garment from your wardrobe I will ever wear – but it was a wonderful feeling having my little sister with me at every second.”
Shoes
My shoes were extremely plain, ivory sandals with little block heels. My main criteria for choosing shoes was comfort but as my dress was high-low they had to be something elegant and classic.
However, we got matching Converses made for us and we wore those at the dinner for dancing. They were bright orange (my favourite colour) and had “Team Noops” (our couple name) written across the side.
Hair + Makeup
My hair was done by the incredible Sara’s Hair Salon. I went for a neat half up, half down do with curls. Sara was brilliant, she was so calm on the day and did everything exactly how I had imagined it.
My makeup was done by the very talented Leah Neppe. I had heard about Leah from so many people and it sounded like she was the best… And she was!
I wanted a subtle look, not too much colour or sparkle, but at the same time I wanted to have big eyelashes. Leah was patient and listened to everything I wanted. Both my hair and makeup was perfect throughout the wedding and survived all of the sweat, years, dancing and hugging.
The handsome groom
He wore a dashing three piece navy suit from London with a burnt orange tie and an orange any navy pocket square to complete the look. His shoes were brown brogues from Ted Baker and he was wearing his late Grandfather’s cufflinks.
Daniel felt confident in his outfit and felt he’d made the right choice. It was traditional but had a unique flare – which reflected the entire wedding.
Bridesmaids
We did not have bridesmaids but we did have two gorgeous little flower girls: Our niece and Naomi’s best friend’s daughter. They wore little white dresses with fluffy boleros and matching white bows. They definitely stole the show!
We also had two maids of honour and a best man who were with us all day and kept everyone happy, hydrated and sane!
ceremony
We tried to make our ceremony as unique and personal as possible whilst also keeping to the traditional structure and customs.
To begin with we had our MC (Rafi, Naomi’s brother in law) make an announcement requesting everyone to put their phones away before the procession began. We wanted to see the faces of our family and friends and not their phones. We’re really glad we did because it made the atmosphere much more emotional.
Before the wedding we sat down and wrote a list of seven things we wanted to pray for for our future. As I walked around Daniel seven times we each read the list and prayed for the same thing at each revolution.
We wanted to give the women in our life as much kavod (honour) as the men, but being an orthodox wedding we could only ask men to recite the Sheva Brachot, so every sheva brachot introduction was addressed to the couple not just the man. (“Naomi and Daniel would like to honour their (relation) *woman and man* by inviting *man* to give the 5th bracha.”)
Im Eshkachech was sung to us by Daniel’s brother in law Jacob who has an amazing voice!
Our favourite moment of the chuppah was a serendipitous moment when the lights suddenly went out due to some electric fault. So for about 5 minutes we were in complete darkness except for the fairy lights around the chuppah. It was magically intense and made us feel like we were the only people in the world!
Chuppah
We wanted a simple design where we would be visible to everyone and our designer at the venue created the perfect chuppah for us: white fabric twisted around the wooden poles with an accent of orangey-red flowers on one side.
Our music choice
Daniel walked down the aisle to ‘Ani L’dodi’ by Eitan Katz.
I walked down to ‘Boyee V’Shalom’ by Shimon Craimer (who used to teach her zemirot in Primary School!).
Our first dance was to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Best Part of Me’.
However, the best song of the night was unquestionably the song written and performed by Daniel’s sister and brother in law, Lizzy and Jacob.
Flowers
I never pictured myself having a bouquet at my wedding. My logic is I’ve never walked anywhere in my life holding a bunch of flowers so I’m not going to start when I’m walking down the aisle.
In general we didn’t want to spend money on flowers when we could use that money to invite more people, it just wasn’t a priority for us. Our table centres were a combination of pots of herbs that people could take home with them, candles, some little flowers and jars with fairy lights. Oh and not forgetting the bottle of hand sanitiser on every table courtesy of Corona.
Photographer and videographer
Both our photographer Herschel Gutman Photography and our videographer Daniel Malchi came highly recommended and we were further convinced by looking at their work online. We are so pleased with the work they did and they were both a dream to work with on the day!
Food
The venue did the catering and were excellent.
Entertainment
We had a slideshow of photos of us two as children and as a couple as guests walked in to the hall.
Unprecedented Times
One of the things that made our wedding particularly unusual and memorable was its timing within the COVID-19 crisis. In the lead up to the wedding there was a lot of stress about what would happen, what restrictions we’d have to comply with, how many people would be allowed to come, and if our families would make it to Israel from the UK or not.
In the end our families flew out early, just in case the borders were shut so thank G-d they were all there and most of the wedding went ahead as planned. Unfortunately, quite a few of our friends and family members were not able to come because of the health implications or because flights were cancelled and we did have to cut down the numbers in a slightly nightmarish emergency family meeting on the night before the wedding.
The whole experience made us feel so incredibly grateful for what we had, for having our family and friends there to celebrate with us and to be healthy. Everyone was very understanding and kind about the situation and considering the circumstances we couldn’t have been luckier with the result. The craziest part is that just a couple of days later a new rule came out that weddings could have no more than 10 people. So we got there just in time!
Honeymoon
Well, we had planned on going to Italy for a romantic getaway but unfortunately Corona had better ideas. So, instead, we’ve had a slightly unusual honeymoon of staying in our small flat for weeks together in quarantine. Not quite Rome but romantic nonetheless!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Don’t get caught up by the details – it’s getting married that is the most important thing.
NAOMI & DANIEL’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Herschel Gutman Photography {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Videography – Daniel Malchi
Venue – HaGiva
Bride’s dress – David’s Bridal
Bride’s accessories – Etsy
Groom’s shoes – Ted Baker
Hair + Makeup – Sara’s Hair Salon, Leah Neppe
Band – Rimonim Band
Catering – HaGiva
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
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.
This is very wonderful and attractive blog. love to see you both . have a great life god bless you. and thank for sharing this blog.