We love it when a couple goes out of their way to make their guests feel extra loved at their Jewish wedding – especially when they’ve traveled across the world to celebrate together. But today’s couple, Anna, an architect, and Nir, a PhD student in economics with an online tutoring business, Israelis who opted to wed in Scotland, really amped it up to the next level.
With an intimate crew of just 26 guests, who traveled from Israel, the US, and Canada, Anna and Nir went all out, planning not just a wedding weekend but a full wedding week of classic Scottish activities, from Highland games and clay shooting to visits to Loch Ness and distilleries – and castles.
Although given the venue – not only was the wedding held at the majestic Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Cluny Castle, but the guests were also able to stay at the castle for the entire week – it’s hard to see a need to leave the grounds of this stunning spot. Catom Photographers captured the splendid setting in all its glory – not to mention the love and emotion of the big day.
Anna and Nir couldn’t possibly have picked a better place to make their guests all feel like princes and princesses for the week – and in pursuit of this goal, they even hired makeup artists and hairstylists to take care of each and every one of their female guests on the wedding day!
Now over to the groom, who’ll fill you in on all the details…
Theme
Nir, the groom: The theme was a “fairy tale” and Scottish wedding. We tried our best to make sure each guest would feel like a price/princess for the entire week. We planned a schedule for the week so each day would include a classic Scottish activity: Highland games, distilleries, clay shooting, castles, Lochness etc. The guests even saw her majesty the Queen and Prince Charles from a very close range at the highland games.
What ‘Smashing The Glass’ Did For Us
I visited your blog many times! I loved to read it and I know many Israelis who get married aboard using it. All the vendors I mentioned (especially Cluny Castle) are highly recommended by us.
Invitation
My wife handmade a 3D invitation. When you open the invitation, you get a 3D castle.
Flora Dresses
The dress was from Flora, an Israeli famous dress designer. We bought 2 dresses – one for 2 days shooting in the scenery (Loch Muick, lighthouse etc) and one for the wedding day in the castle.
Accessories
Anna had some flowers in her hair and a necklace, but nothing special.
Shoes
Anna had a white classic wedding shoes bought in Israel.
Hair + Makeup
This one is special: we hired 2 makeup artists and 2 hair stylists that took care of ALL the female guests on the wedding day so each one would feel special. Anna is naturally beautiful so she went for light makeup.
The handsome groom
I’m the groom. 🙂 I wore a classic white buttoned shirt, on top of it a blue vest and blue papillon, a white suit, white pants and blue Giorgio Armani shoes.
Bridesmaids
There were 4 bridesmaids. All wore classic elegant purple dresses that matched each other and the theme.
Ceremony
The ceremony was extremely good, mainly because of Rabbi Mark Solomon – he has a great voice.
We had a string quartet during the ceremony. Last, Rabbi Solomon added some personal touches and blessings and we truly loved it. I truly recommend him.
Chuppah
First, the chuppah design was great. It was built by Robin’s Egg, a floral artist. She built the chuppah to match the view behind it (the lake and fields in front of the castle). She made 4 wood branches, with white flower falling from the top-back of the chuppah. I think it’s the most beautiful and unique chuppah I ever saw.
Our music choice
We had a string quartet and pop band. The string quartet played before/during the ceremony, and during the wedding breakfast. The entrance song to the chuppah of me and Anna was ‘For The Love Of The Princess’ from Braveheart.
The pop band were The Sleekit Beasties. They were extremely good. The first dance was ‘Tennessee Whisky’. We gave them a list of some pop songs, but in the middle they thought us traditional celtic dance. At this point, all the guests requested them to show us more traditional dances so most of the time we danced Celtic dances. 🙂
Flowers
The florist was Robin’s Egg who built the chuppah. The bouquets and table centres were matched to the chuppah design. It was beautiful, you’ll see in the pictures.
Photographer
We brought the photographer and videographer from Israel. The photographer is my partner in a business I have.
Food
The catering was Wilde Thyme and they were good. The most important thing is that they were be able to serve non-dairy dishes to the guests who ate kosher and dairy and meat dishes to the guests who didn’t eat kosher. We had a wonderful wedding cake, separated into 3 cheesecakes, each one with a different top. The wedding cake was extremely good.
Entertainment
We had a piper (this is Scotland after all), a string quartet (this is a castle after all) and a pop band (this is 2019 after all).
An International Wedding
This entire production was extremely unique for us, and to our guests, not just because of the wedding day but because of the entire week.
All the guests (except me and Anna) had never been to Scotland before. They slept in a truly amazing and well preserved castle for the entire week, enjoying different Scottish activities in each day. All of them agreed this was the best trip of their lives. We had guests from Israel, US and Canada.
When you have a group of 26 people, you always have interesting stories, like 2 singles who fell in love during this week etc.
DIY
There are also many creative props/decor that my wife hand made: like personal bags (with the name assimilated by hand inside the fabric) with little gifts inside, that Anna made for each guests. Table names made with small tree trunk for the table centres and many other things. You’ll see all in the photos. There were also fireworks at the end.
Generally speaking, me and Anna visited Scotland 5 years ago, we fell in love with it and it was our dream to get married there. We are happy all the close people to us shared that dream with us. Some of the guests even spontaneously decided to stay more at Scotland after the wedding week.
Honeymoon
We did pre-wedding trip of 2 weeks to North of Scotland (the famous North coast 500 and the Orkney Islands). We still haven’t decide where will be our honeymoon.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
I think that if you want to make a wedding aboard , and especially one that will last an entire week and not just one day, the most important thing is to start planning it way before the wedding date. Me and Anna started to plan the wedding 1.5 year before it happened and it gave us the opportunity to do it without many stress.
Anna & Nir’s little white book
Photography and videography – Catom Photographers
Venue – Cluny Castle {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Bride’s dress – Flora
Groom’s shoes – Giorgio Armani
Flowers – Robin’s Egg
String Quarted – The Wedding String
Catering – Wilde Thyme
Band – The Sleekit Beasties
Piper – CS Piping
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