Happy 2022! We wanted to start off the year with a bang… and how better to do that than with the ultra-chic Jewish wedding of Alex, who works in PR, and Fyodor, who’s in digital marketing – which you’d never guess was planned in just 2.5 weeks!
Due to COVID, the couple – who’d originally planned to wed in Tel Aviv – ended up having to change their plans three times, and by the time they settled on London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, their third venue, they didn’t have much time to pull things together.
But thanks to a fantastic team of vendors – many of whom came recommended through Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club, of which Alex was a member – they pulled it off and then some.
Even after changing countries from Israel to the UK Alex and Fyodor still wanted to include some touches of Tel Aviv – and their florist, Liz Inigo Jones from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Blue Sky Flowers, helped them pull it off, combining palm leaves with bold autumnal colors complementing the Gothic Revival style of the venue.
Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Liam Smith Photography is behind the couple’s gorgeous pics, and we couldn’t be any more obsessed with his non-posed, documentary style shots. And another wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, Matt from York Place Studios, handled videography in a similarly fresh, candid style.
Last but certainly not least, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jam Hot Showband managed the music for the entire wedding – and not only was their performance “phenomenal,” they were a joy to work with from start to finish.
There’s so much more we could say, but we’ll leave the rest to Alex, who looked uber-glam in her Gozde Karadana gown…
How we Met
Alex, the bride: We met in Poland at a Jewish trip called March of the Living.
Change of Plans
We got married at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. It was actually the third venue we chose after having to cancel our wedding at Bait Al Hayam in Tel Aviv (due to Israel not letting tourists into the country because of Covid-19), and then Trinity Buoy Wharf (due to complications with the London marathon route, which was the new date we had chosen – the 3rd of October 2021).
The St Pancras Renaissance hotel holds a special significance for us as Kings Cross St Pancras was the first first place where Fyodor and I met when he came to visit me in London (from Holland) for the first time, rose in hand.
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
I had a fantastic experience with the Brides Club! As we only had about 2.5 weeks to plan our wedding in the end, because of all the venue changes, it was amazing to have access to the vendor recommendations especially – nearly all the vendors we used were recommended by Smashing the Glass and they were absolutely incredible!
Beyond this – it was great to have access to the community and share special moments (and difficult ones) with a group of women going through a similar milestone/experience. It was a fantastic resource for inspiration as well.
Tel Aviv in London
We wanted to bring a bit of Tel Aviv to London, with palm tree details in the decor and Israeli-style sharing platters for the first course of the meal. We wanted to marry this detail and the green colour with deep and bold autumnal colours – burgundy, pinks, purples – to marry with the gothic revival style of the hotel and add a touch of romance.
We did not use a wedding planner, our catering company Philip Small managed all the preparations the 2 weeks ahead of the wedding and the coordination on the day.
Invitations / stationery
Yes, we commissioned our invitations artwork from artist Nikoo Bafti. It featured an illustration of Fyodor and I under a Chuppah with various symbols – the rose that he first gave me when we met in London for the first time at Kings Cross St Pancras, a flower crown to symbolise his Ukrainian origin, and other interesting details. We have a large version of the artwork hanging in our bedroom, and used printed invites featuring this artwork in our first round of invites for the Tel Aviv location, after which we updated guests digitally. As we loved the illustration so much, we ended up printing it on the menus of our London wedding as well.
Hair + Make-up
I was blown away by the hair and make-up artists who assisted me on the day – Lou from Love Hair by Lou and Andrea from Pamela & Andrea Makeup. For hair, I went for a voluminous curly up-do enhancing my natural curls. I used a delicate crystal tiara vine and some crystal hairpins to add some magic to the look from Debbie Carlisle. For makeup, I did not want to go for neutral tones, so opted for a glowy look with a soft and light smokey eye blending pinks and metallics, enhanced eyelashes, fanned out brows and a natural lip.
Dress
I found the dress at Angelica Bridal in Islington, London. It’s by a Turkish designer called Gozde Karadana. I found her dresses to be so beautiful and my style. The dress I ended up choosing was the very last dress of the day that I tried – I was in love with it. The open back, the beautiful details and shimmer of it – I loved that it was sexy, comfortable and elegant at the same time.
Accessories
I used a crystal tiara vine and some crystal hairpins from Debbie Carlisle – I loved the way her jewels looked on curly hair, which is why I went for this designer (as I have naturally curly hair). I also wore a pair of commissioned earrings from jeweller Alex Monroe – they were very special as they feature two stones passed down to me from my grandmother. I decided on a design featuring delicate roses blending yellow and white gold.
Shoes
I wore white leather platform shoes, but they actually broke after 30 minutes of dancing!! It was a funny moment as all the women rushed on the dancefloor to lend me their shoes. I ended up switching to my white sneakers much earlier than expected. People then joked that this was some kind of ‘Cinderella moment’…
The handsome groom
He looked extremely handsome in a dark green suit (Lazio suit from Suit Supply, colour ‘tropical’). We had not seen each other the day before the wedding, and it was magical to be reunited under the Chuppah.
Ceremony
I loved it when our Rabbi (Rabbi Mendy Korer), asked us to turn around to look at all the guests who were here for us. It was a very touching moment, especially with all the difficulties in making this wedding happen.
Prior to the Chuppah ceremony, while the Tisch was taking place for the men, we decided to do a spiritual gathering for the women as well – this was led by the Rabbi’s wife (who is also my cousin), Hadassa Korer, and it ended with us humming the 4 bavot song – a song reserved for special occasions. It was an excellent mediation to get prepared for the Chuppah ceremony.
Chuppah
We wanted to go for a very romantic look bending green leaves with lots of bright coloured flowers including lots of roses and Dahlias in pink, burgundy and purple shades.
Our Music Choice
Just before the ceremony, to get people in the mood we played ‘Bigger’ by Beyoncé. We loved the the lyrics of this song, which starts like this:
If you feel insignificant, you better think again
Better wake up because you’re part of something way bigger
You’re part of something way bigger
For the ceremony, Uri from Jam Hot Band sang ‘Erev Shel Shoshanim’, ‘Bereshit Olam’, and ‘Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim’. We still found ourselves humming these tunes long after the wedding as they represent such an important moment to us.
For our first dance, our band played ‘Movement’ by Hozier. It was a new song which they learned especially for us and we loved the way they interpreted it.
Flowers
My bouquet was made up of roses and dahlias in different vibrant pink shades with some purple tones as well. Table centres were in similar tones, and we had palm leaves adorning each plate on the tables. Our florist was Liz Inigo Jones from Blue Sky Flowers. We visited her in her studio in New Covent Garden market where we got to have a flavour of options for the flower arrangement – it was a fantastic place to meet and she was really insightful and flexible to work with.
Photographer and videographer
For photography, we chose Liam Smith Photography as we really liked his non-posed, candid ‘documentary style’ shots, and the way all his pictures seemed to capture a spontaneous, special moment in time. When we spoke to him, we felt that he had a true passion for his work and for weddings specifically which made us eager to work with him. For videography, we worked with Matt from York Place Studios for a very similar reason – we also liked the fact that Matt and Liam had worked together in the past.
Food
Philip Small. We wanted to create a feeling of abundance with the food, and incorporated some Israeli flavours in the menu. We did not have a cake, but our dessert was a delicious trio of lemon tart, passion fruit creme brulee, and fruits. We also had late night churros passed around on the dance floor which we loved!
Entertainment
Jam Hot Showband managed the music for the entire wedding – they were phenomenal! In an industry where a lot of recommendations are word of mouth, we found that a lot of wedding bands had outdated websites and low quality videos (often with nothing recent showcased). Jam Hot Showband were one of the only ones with a really strong social media presence and incredible videos – we were blown away by what we saw.
Melissa, who we spoke to from the beginning, was a joy to speak to – generous with her time, really flexible, and always good humoured! The music was one of the most memorable aspects of the night and nearly all of our guests agreed – the dancefloor was buzzing and the Chuppah singing by Uri gave us goosebumps! We also really appreciated that they learned several new songs for the occasion of our wedding (upon request of course).
Favours
Yes, we actually put these together ourselves. We found cute boxes with our palm tree/green tropical theme and filled them with tea from Fortnum & Masons. As a lot of our guests were from abroad, it was a nice quintessentially British gift for them to take home.
Extra details
I was called on stage to make a ‘speech’, however instead of doing a speech, I actually sang with the band as a surprise. I sang ‘La vie en rose’ as my ‘speech’ to my husband Fyodor as this is the best way that I can express myself (through music). It was a beautiful moment!
Honeymoon
We went to Tanzania for 3 weeks. The first week we climbed Kilimanjaro, the second week we did a 5-day Safari, and then we ended the trip in a beautiful resort in Zanzibar called Zanzibar White Sand Luxury Villas & Spa. Our entire trip (with the exception of Zanzibar) was planned by a travel agent called Tanzania Specialists, who we would definitely recommend. Zanzibar White Sand was the most striking resort we have ever been to! It felt like we landed in heaven. From the service to the food, the private beach, the amazing aesthetics of the place – we couldn’t recommend it more.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Something we learned from organising three weddings, is that a great wedding can be organised in less than 2 weeks. If you are finding yourself having to organise a wedding with very little preparation time – don’t worry about it. Trust the professionals and it can still be the best day of your life! (This was the case for us)
ALEX & FYODOR’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Liam Smith Photography {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Flowers – Blue Sky Flowers {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Band – Jam Hot Showband {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Videography – York Place Studios {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
Bride’s dress – Gozde Karadana found at Angelica Bridal
Bride’s accessories – Alex Monroe, Debbie Carlisle
Groom’s attire – Suit Supply
Hair + Makeup – Love Hair by Lou, Pamela & Andrea Makeup
Catering – Philip Small
Stationery/Invitation – Nikoo Bafti
Rabbi – Mendy Korer
Honeymoon – Tanzania Specialists
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.
