We love a London winter wedding, and Claudia and Aaron’s is really something special! Claudia, a wellness coach and personal trainer, and Aaron, a consultant, had the chicest December Jewish wedding at the iconic Banking Hall. The character-packed venue was the perfect spot for their classic black tie affair – and we’re obsessed with the stunner of a staircase!
Featuring a simple, chic chuppah adorned with white florals and greenery, an absolutely breathtaking Gemy Maalouf gown, and the most wonderful personal touches (Claudia and Aaron wrote personal notes to each of their 175 guests, which they placed on the tables as place cards!), there’s so much to love about this gorgeous day. Don’t miss all the magical details in the photos by Pippa Mackenzie and video by Lewis of Lightbulb Films.
When it came to music, Claudia and Aaron opted for Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband, and they couldn’t be any more thrilled with their choice. In Claudia’s words, “They were just unbelievable. Every meeting with Fran and her team was perfect and they also did our production too which made the process feel really seamless. The band absolutely smashed it and our guests still reminisce how amazing they were.” They even brought Claudia’s grandad on stage to sing “New York, New York,” one of the highlights of the whole evening!
Read on for the rest of the story in Claudia’s own words…
How We Met
Claudia, the bride: Aaron and I grew up in the same area, lots of mutual friends, same parties, rival schools but never crossed paths until our early 20s when we were both on JSwipe and matched. The rest is history.
A London Winter Wedding
Banking Hall, City of London. We knew we wanted a December wedding in London but knew we didn’t want a hotel. We wanted a venue with a bit of character, it held the right amount of people and loved the fact that this venue used to be the old Lloyds Building. The venue itself and the staircase was a real wow factor. Staying at the Ned before and after where we’ve shared many date nights tied it all in together.
Classic Black and White
Susannah Raye was our wedding planner from the start of the planning and she was just out of this world fantastic. A true guardian angel and was there for us whatever we needed, which did involve lengthy bi weekly calls from Claudia. She had amazing advice and was unbelievably calm, collected and trusting. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without her. I didn’t feel an ounce of stress really the whole build up, I trusted her and knew we were in safe hands.
With the theme, we are quite simple people and just liked classic black and white. Elegant, perfect for a smart winter wedding in the city so black tie with black and white theme was pretty much the idea from the get go. We wanted the venue and the vibe and style of the day to all tie in together.
Invitation/Stationery
Aaron’s cousin Lucinda K is an amazing interior design and also calligraphist. She has done friends weddings and her style is so sophisticated. It was her gift to us and it all came out incredible. She created a statement logo of our initials which we used quite a lot in our theme and everything matched perfectly.
Hair + Makeup
My amazing dress stylist – Andrea Elsby – also did hair and because she made my dress, I really wanted her with me on the day. It was a no brainer to have her do my hair. She knew the story, she knew the dress so well so deciding on a hair style and have her do it for me on the day was perfect. She also got me dressed which felt special as she had created my dress for me.
Jennifer Oliver was my make up artist and wow. No words can describe how happy I was with my make up. She made my skin FLAWLESS. Her energy, aura and vibe was truly unbelievable, a literal white light on the day and couldn’t have been happier with how my make up stayed all night long! She was just incredible. A calming presence to have on the day and just was the biggest hype girl.
A Gemy Maalouf Dress
The dress was from Mirror Mirror London in Islington. I just was researching London dress boutiques and I came across Mirror Mirror via Instagram. The designer of the dress was Gemy Maalouf, a designer I hadn’t heard of before.
From my first appointment, Andrea, the stylist was truly incredible. I had found the dress shopping to that point quite confusing and overwhelming but she was amazing at asking all the right questions, getting to know me and the vibe of the day. She showed me a slim gown and straight away it resonated with me. The shape, and tone and type of lace was so original like nothing I’d seen.
I’d always had the idea that I wanted my wedding dress to transform across my wedding day with several looks rather than changing outfit. So with her unbelievable styling suggestions we added a tulle Pronovias skirt, which made it really romantic and soft. We then played around with ideas, and a custom lace sleeve was created along with a tulle drape across the top, all of which were detachable!
Andrea and the team at Mirror Mirror truly customised the dress of dreams!
Accessories
For jewellery I kept it super simple and just wore 1 pair of hoop/pearl earrings that my mum actually wore on her wedding day. Same with my veil, it was hers from 1992. I had a few pearl pins in my hair that my hair stylist put in so kept it pretty simple.
Jimmy Choos
We got married in both of our 30th birthday years, and I wanted to buy myself a 30th birthday gift that I could keep forever which were my wedding shoes. I went with a classic pair of Jimmy Choo. The Ixia 80 Ivory Satin Pumps which I actually kept on all night long! The heel is so different which makes it very comfortable. I am looking at dying them black this year so I will have them forever.
Bridesmaids
We had 4 young bridesmaids who are our cousins. They wore ivory mesh dresses from Next which were great for the age ranges (7-14). We paired the dresses with cute white trainers with satin laces from Next too.
Ceremony & Chuppah
Aaron always said he wanted a simple chuppah. Given that he let me pretty much sort the rest of the day, I deserved to have his request granted. Mary Jane Vaughan and The Happy Chuppah People worked together to create a simple and chic design. Minimal so that everyone could see what was going on was so important to us, and incorporating the candles and matching florals used during the day.
We had Rabbi Yanky Abrams, who knows Aaron and his family well, conduct our ceremony which made it all the more personal. He also included a translation of the reading of the ketubah which meant our close friend could read it in English to us. We hadn’t seen that done before which was a special moment. I think our favourite part of the ceremony was Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim sung by Imri from XS Showband which was beautiful as well as of course smashing the glass. We were very much in our own little world, talking to each other pretty much the whole ceremony!
Ketubah
We knew we wanted something special for this special document. Claudia’s parents had theirs framed in the office at home growing up which was almost laser cut and was like a piece of art. We wanted to do similar and found an amazing shop on Etsy, Happy Project Shop, and Emma was amazing. So helpful and even sent a few drafts across so we could check with the Rabbi on spellings to make sure it was all legitimate.
Our music choice
XS Showband was our band and wow, they were just unbelievable. Every meeting with Fran and her team was perfect and they also did our production too which made the process feel really seamless. We had a real mixture of songs that played from Coldplay for a first dance, to Raye Where is My Husband, Freed From Desire as we entered to Signed Sealed Delivered. The band absolutely smashed it and our guests still reminisce how amazing they were.
Flowers
Mary Jane Vaughn was always a bucket list florist to work with. I’ve followed her on Instagram for maybe 10 years, always seeing her work on the red carpets and film premieres. Susannah, our planner had worked with her before and from our very first meeting we clicked instantly. She was incredible, so sweet and knew exactly what we wanted. We wanted to create a simple white roses, hints of gypsophila and winter green foliage winter wonderland with lots of lights and candles.
Photographer and videographer
Susannah recommended Lewis at Lightbulb Films and his work speaks for itself. He was amazing to work with.
For our photographer, I found Pippa Mackenzie on Instagram and her work was truly special. Not only that but she was just a gorgeous soul. She also offers as part of her package an unbelievable wedding album ‘Life by Pippa Mackenzie’. This is a luxury heirloom coffee table books which she creates with us. A thoughtfully designed and beautifully crafted bespoke books preserves our day in a timeless form. Quite literally our day preserved in art. That alone, and Pippa’s general vibe from our initial calls with her meant that she was perfect.
We also had Hannah from The Bride Diaries as our content creator who was also just as magnificent. Her calm, creative vibe was the perfect combination with Lewis and Pippa and we received incredibly special footage from Hannah. She was anywhere and everywhere getting the action from all angles but never felt in the way at all.
Food and cake
Eat Me did our catering and they were just phenomenal. The food on the day was insane. The presentation, the plate choices and John who works for them was just unbelievable on the night! We aren’t really cake people, but we had brownies on the dance floor as well as Pic n Mix bags towards the end of the night because the bride loves sweets and treats which felt more personal to them.
Wedding List/Registry
We used the The Wedding Shop. They were amazing! We went to their townhouse in Chelsea which was a cute little date morning to get some inspiration for our list. Couldn’t recommend that experience enough!
Extra Details
We tried to include lots of different little things that were special touches/details to us on the day and included our nearest and dearest. I love that it’s becoming more common for brides to talk, so I had to do that too. It was important to me to be able to thank everyone.
We had personalised napkins from House of Evangeline with our logo and wedding date on them, some guests took them home as a keepsake too! That was a really nice touch. We now use them when we host.
We wrote notes for all of our guests to open as their place cards on the table, everyone absolutely loved them. Don’t get me wrong it took months to write 175 cards, but so worth it when everyone read them! Our logo wax seals on our thank yous and these notes really tied everything together which was a lovely touch.
We managed to get our Guinness on tap and the foam personalised with our logo which is what they do at the Guinness factory in Ireland. That was an amazing touch especially as the groom loves Guinness.
I had my closest friends as my something blue which meant they all wore a blue dress too. A little unconventional but we also sat with friends on our top table. We wanted to be around our closest friends.
My grandad performed ‘New York, New York’ which was a surprise to the guests and honestly bought the house down! The band had asked if any family had any talents so we said he did! It definitely was a defining moment of the day for sure.
Honeymoon
We did a few days in Seville after the wedding just before Christmas which we loved just reminiscing over the day and looking back at all our friends photos/videos in our own little bubble. Down time post wedding was so needed, we were both exhausted. We are going on our honeymoon to South Korea and Japan. We both have always wanted to go, so it was a no brainer when discussing honeymoons.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
We had so much advice from other friends who had got married as well as our suppliers throughout the wedding build up. I think the best advice was to not leave each other. We literally spent 90% of the day together after the ceremony which was important to both of us. If we were having a good time everyone would be.
Also having trust in your suppliers was key. As a perfectionist type A control freak, I thought this would be tough, but honestly our suppliers made everything so seamless as well as Susannah. I genuinely didn’t have to worry about anything which meant I didn’t feel stressed and could enjoy our day.
One of our highlights was our room reveal. If there was one thing I’d say to future brides, do this.
Seeing the set up empty before everyone else and having a dance with the band and just feel very present together before the chaos that was both of our highlights of the entire day. So much so, that the song the band played as we entered is now one of our favourites.
CLAUDIA & AARON’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Pippa Mackenzie
Videography – Lightbulb Films
Content creation – The Bride Diaries
Ketubah – Happy Project Shop
Venue – Banking Hall
Planner – Susannah Raye
Bride’s dress – Gemy Maalouf + Pronovias found at Mirror Mirror London
Bride’s shoes – Jimmy Choo
Bridesmaids – Next
Hair – Andrea Elsby
Makeup – Jennifer Oliver
Chuppah – Mary Jane Vaughan and The Happy Chuppah People
Flowers – Mary Jane Vaughan
Music – XS Showband
Catering – Eat Me
Stationery/Invitation – Lucinda K Design
Emroidery – House of Evangeline
Rabbi – Rabbi Yanky Abrams
Wedding List/Registry – The Wedding Shop
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