We love it when a couple brings their family and friends into their big day in a major way – and that’s exactly what Elsa, who’s preparing to start a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and Adam, currently finishing his PhD researching cell-cultured meat, did. Having known each other since age 11 and been together since they were teenagers, they saw their wedding as a celebration of their shared history and the loved ones who’ve been a part of their circle over the years.
As such, Elsa and Adam took a DIY approach to their wedding, using vintage, second-hand, and reusable items wherever they could and bringing friends and family in every step of the way. Elsa designed and made all of the invitations by hand (in both English and Hebrew); the rings were crafted by one of the bridesmaids; Elsa’s cousin who’s a carpenter built the chuppah; and best of all, Elsa’s mum, a gardener and garden designer, took charge of the florals, foraging local evergreen foliage and lovingly handcrafting masses of gorgeous paper flowers used on the chuppah and in the bouquets! Don’t miss it all in the wonderful documentary-style photos by Connor from Linden Photography.
Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor South Farm in Hertfordshire was the perfect spot for Elsa and Adam to bring together their nearest and dearest. A working farm dating back to the 16th century, with a collection of characterful barns for the ceremonies and plenty of on-site accommodation, it was ideally suited to the duo’s vision for whimsical, laid-back, joyful wedding. Elsa and Adam can’t stop raving about how attentive the events team was – and they also loved South Farm’s sustainability ethos and approach to food, leaning into produce grown on the farm itself!
There’s so much more to say about this very special day – like the fact that Elsa’s mum organized a surprise flash mob of “Hava Nagila” – but we’ll turn you over to Elsa for the rest…
How We Met
Elsa, the bride: We don’t have a single “first meet” story as our paths first crossed when we were just 11! Although we went to separate schools, we had friends in common and would occasionally see each other at parties and school events.
When Elsa moved schools at 16, we ended up in the same form and A-level biology class. We quickly became part of the same friendship group and spent most lunchtimes together- many of those friends are still in our lives today, and some were even part of our bridal party! We officially started dating in our last year of school, when we were 17/18. Since then, we’ve navigated a couple of years of long distance, attended the same university to study Biochemistry (a year apart), and eventually moved in together. Our wedding came almost exactly 10 years after we started dating in 2014!
Adam is now finishing his PhD researching cell-cultured meat, and Elsa is preparing to start a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. We feel unbelievably lucky to have been able to build such a full life together already, it made our decision to get married an incredibly easy and exciting one!
A Countryside Venue
We got married at the wonderful South Farm in Hertfordshire, England. South Farm is a working farm dating back to at least the 16th century, set within 20 acres of beautiful English countryside, and with a collection of characterful barns for the ceremonies and a historic farmhouse where our immediate family and bridal party were able to stay on site. They even have restored Romany wagons, which were impressively warm enough to sleep the bridal party during a very cold and wet English December! Our ceremony, dinner, and evening celebrations took place in their Grade II listed Tudor Barn—a space full of warmth, character, and history. With its generous ceiling height, it was the perfect setting for a lively chair dance!
It was a standout venue for us from the very beginning, not only for its beautiful rural setting, but because of the sustainability ethos behind it. One of the biggest draws for us was South Farm’s approach to food. The venue grows much of their own produce, including rearing their own animals, and we loved knowing that a large portion of what we ate on the day was grown or reared on the farm itself. Being able to walk around the growing produce and animals was a bonus for us too! They were also able to accommodate a kosher menu, which was essential for us and something they handled with great care and respect.
We also have to mention and thank South Farm’s amazing team. Every person we interacted with demonstrated exceptional professionalism, attention to detail, and care, which made the day feel effortless for us. It was clear how hard everyone was working, and we can only imagine how much more they were doing behind the scenes. They handled everything with kindness and efficiency, always prioritising our experience and ensuring it was unique and memorable.
DIY and Sustainability
Having grown up together, we feel incredibly fortunate to share a large circle of loved ones who have not only been part of our lives, but have truly shaped who we are. From the beginning, we wanted our wedding to be a celebration of that shared history — not just of us as a couple, but of the people that surround us and are so intrinsic to our identities.
As such, we chose to plan and deliver as much of the wedding ourselves as possible, embracing a very DIY approach. We tried to use vintage, second-hand, and reusable items wherever we could, and gratefully accepted the many generous offers of help from our friends and family. This also aligned with our desire to plan the day in a more sustainably conscious way.
Aesthetically, we were inspired by the colours of nature in winter, incorporating varying tones of green throughout the bridal party and decorations. This also referenced Elsa’s engagement ring, which features an emerald-cut green sapphire. Overall, we wanted the day to feel relaxed, joyful, and a little whimsical — with everything feeling natural, organic, and unforced. In the end, the wedding felt like a true expression of who we are and the life we’ve built together, infused with the love we share for one another and for our nearest and dearest.
Invitation/Stationery
Leaning into our DIY approach, Elsa designed and made all of our invitations by hand. We chose a minimalistic design printed on recycled paper, sealed with a green wax seal, and featuring a simple stamp of a sprig of Lunaria as the main motif. This element, inspired by the bouquet, was carried throughout the wedding—from the wax seal to the website, seating plan, menus, and order of ceremony.
Elsa created all of the stationery in both English and Hebrew, so Adam’s Israeli friends and family could feel equally connected to the day. She also hand-calligraphed each place name and other details in the stationary, all on the same recycled paper used for the invites.
Hair + Makeup
I chose to do my own wedding makeup, aiming for something minimal and natural. My twin sister and maid-of-honour, Martha, who is a hairdresser, created the most whimsical and elegant updo, with delicate tendrils and Gypsophila flowers to complement the bouquet and wedding florals. Bridal hair isn’t her usual specialty, so I was both incredibly grateful and amazed at how effortlessly she produced a style that was so beautiful, perfectly suited to me, and lasted all day, even in high winds and rain!
Inspired by Vintage
I definitely had quite the journey when it came to finding my dress! Throughout the entire process, including a few unexpected ups and downs, Grace of Grace Lane London was absolutely incredible and went above and beyond to ensure the final dress was even better than I could have imagined.
I had always envisioned wearing a vintage or second-hand dress, not only for the style and sustainability, but because I love the idea of giving new sentimental value to a piece that may otherwise have remained stored away for decades. Grace has an amazing collection of vintage wedding dresses, and I had so much fun trying on a wide range of styles and fabrics. I would wholeheartedly recommend that anyone dress-hunting tries on silhouettes well beyond what they’ve pictured themselves in, if only for the joy of the experience!
After many try-ons across multiple boutiques, I fell completely in love with a beautiful wildflower lace dress. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, some unforeseen circumstances (entirely outside of anyone’s control) meant that I was no longer able to use the original lace overlay.
Thankfully, Grace is not only exceptionally kind but also incredibly talented. She worked closely with me to create an entirely bespoke dress inspired by the original design I’d fallen in love with. We were able to reuse the original satin slip, which Grace reworked to include a hidden corset, and she sourced closely matching wildflower lace to create a new overlay. The final result was truly beyond anything I could have imagined, and brought together everything I had been searching for: the structure and support with the original satin slip; the whimsy of the wildflower lace with hand-placed appliqué motifs for shape and movement; and the combination of something old and something new that made the overall look feel timeless.
Accessories
We had some very special accessories for the day. All of our rings were handmade by our wonderful friend, Elsa’s bridesmaid. She had previously made Elsa’s engagement ring—a stunning emerald-cut green sapphire surrounded by a diamond halo, with intricate milgrain detailing for a vintage feel. For our wedding rings, Adam chose a classic gold band, while Elsa opted for a scalloped-edge eternity-style ring also with milgrain details, keeping the vintage-inspired look consistent.
A particularly meaningful addition came from Adam’s mum, who lent Elsa her own veil to wear. Including it was an incredibly special touch that added another layer of sentiment to the day.
Bridesmaids
Elsa/ Bride’s answer:
My bridesmaids (and bridesman!) were formed of my two amazing sisters, and my longest and dearest friends whom I have known for between 10-26 years! They all contributed so much to our day, from playing and signing in the ceremony and Hava Nagila, to making bouquets and boutonnières, signing our Ketubah, doing my wedding hair, even making our wedding rings- to name a few! I am so grateful for their presence in my life.
Adam/ Groom’s answer:
My brother was my best man, and I had a group of long-term friends as my groomsmen. Asides from being the kind, supportive, and funny people they are, they made sure the celebrations stayed lively, and that plenty of drinks were had! My brother also gave a speech that had everyone almost crying with laughter.
Ceremony & Chuppah
Adam is Israeli Jewish, and I am secular English, so we had a Jew-ish ceremony to incorporate both cultures!
We had two ceremonies on our wedding day: a legal marriage in the morning with just immediate family, and our main “Jew-ish” ceremony in the afternoon with all our guests. It was really important for us to honour Adam’s Jewish heritage during the main ceremony, as those elements couldn’t be included in the legal ceremony.
The Jew-ish ceremony was made extra special by the contributions of family and friends. It was led by a family friend, who wrote a wonderfully personal ceremony script that introduced each of the elements. The chuppah was crafted by Elsa’s cousin, a carpenter. We chose a simple pine structure to complement the barn’s wooden beams and to align with our preference for natural, seasonal materials. A simple white tallit covered the structure, and we decorated it with garlands of foraged evergreen foliage and handmade flowers created by Elsa’s mum, creating a minimalist, natural, and seasonal look.
We also had music and readings from family and friends, including a modernised version of the Sheva Brachot with explanations for our non-Jewish guests. And, of course, the ceremony ended with one of our favourite moments: Adam smashing the glass, which perfectly capped a very personal and emotional celebration.
Ketubah
Our ketubah was created by Shiri Lanzer, and it’s truly beautiful. The design features pomegranate flowers around the border with two peacocks perched on top, and is full of rich reds, greens, and golds, with text in both Hebrew and English.
To make it even more special, Adam’s brother and his wife gifted us a handmade frame by Eva Edery. The frame is custom-made and even incorporates the smashed glass from our ceremony, creating a unique keepsake that preserves such a memorable moment. It’s a constant and cherished reminder of the day.
Our music choice
Music is a huge part of Elsa’s life, and was a key element of making the day special for us. One particularly meaningful piece was “This Marriage,” a poem set to choral music by Eric Whitacre. Elsa had discovered it at school shortly after we started dating, and knew that she would include it in the wedding if we ever got married. The piece felt like a balance of both of us: it reflected Elsa’s connection to classical music, while the words drew on elements of Adam’s Moroccan/Libyan heritage. For our Jew-ish ceremony, we gathered a chamber choir of family and friends to perform it, and it became one of Elsa’s favourite (and most tearful!) moments of the day.
Also special to us was Elsa being played down the aisle by a quartet of family and friends. Her aunt arranged the opening section of the first movement of Borodin String Quartet II, one of the first pieces Elsa had ever performed in a quartet. Walking down the aisle to this piece, played by people we love, was truly magical.
The biggest surprise of the day was a flash mob of the “Hava Nagila,” organised by Elsa’s mum and performed by herself along with a group of family and friends. We had absolutely no idea it was happening, and hearing those opening notes during the drinks reception was unforgettable. Somehow, Elsa’s “bridesman” even managed to sneak his double bass into the venue without us noticing! The same musicians later squeezed onto the dance floor to play the piece live for our chair dance, creating one of the most fun and memorable moments of the evening. We are so unbelievably thankful for our wonderful friends and family for making it all happen. It truly made our day feel so special.
Flowers
We opted to not use a florist, and instead were incredibly fortunate to have the knowledge, creativity, and support of Elsa’s mum, who is a gardener and garden designer. Since it was a winter wedding, and in keeping with our DIY/ sustainability conscious approach, we wanted to lean heavily into sourcing the local evergreen foliage for the wedding decoration, and didn’t want to use large quantities of florals that would end up being thrown away. Elsa’s mum actually foraged all of the greenery used in the wedding from the areas surrounding her home in Kent!
By far the stars of the show, however, were the masses of paper flowers Elsa’s mum lovingly and painstakingly HAND MADE to use on the chuppah and bouquets! Each petal was individually stained with ink, cut, shaped, dried, and assembled to make the full flower. The paper flowers were inspired by Japanese anemones, cosmos’, giant poppies, wild roses, and more sentimentally the ‘dainty Bess’ rose, sharing a name with Elsa’s little sister, and hellebores- which were a favourite of Elsa’s late grandmother. The purple accents in the flowers are a nod to Adam’s mum, whose favourite colour is purple. Added to these were some dried flowers such as lunaria and gypsophila.
Elsa tied all these elements together to make her own bouquet. Some of her favourite memories of the day involve finishing making the garlands for the chuppah the day before the wedding, and staying up with her Bridesmaids in the bridal suite as they made their own bouquets and the groomsmen’s boutonnières. One of the many upsides of using these flowers, is that we and the bridesmaids kept all the bouquets, and have them as decoration in our homes.
Photographer and videographer
We had Connor from Linden Photography to capture the day. His documentary style of photography really attracted us- we knew we didn’t want to spend the whole day doing posed photos, and instead opted for someone who could give us the balance of some posed, but mainly natural moments. He was so kind and calm throughout the day, which was exactly the energy we needed to stay relaxed and in the moment. We are so happy with the moments he captured.
The lovely Rhodri Spearing captured our day in video. Though we will keep the videos for ourselves, he not only captured the best moments of the day, but also managed to get so many moments that we otherwise would have missed- from the rehearsals of family and friends, to fleeting interaction between loved ones, and so many more delightful in-between moments. We decided to wait until our 1 year anniversary to watch the full videos, and they were well worth the wait, quickly bringing us to tears of joy.
Food and cake
Our wedding cake was absolutely delicious and made by Kelly Da Silva Fernandes of Kelly’s Kitchen. To make it extra special, Kelly incorporated the paper flowers that Elsa’s mum had made into the decoration, tying it beautifully into the rest of our wedding florals. We have to thank Adam’s lovely Nana for gifting it to us!
Extra Details
As part of Adam’s Moroccan Jewish heritage, we had a Henna party before a few days before the wedding. We hired out the Greenwich Yacht Club to welcome in the Israeli guests with its impressive views of London across the Thames, draping it with classic burgundy, deep reds, and gold. During the ceremony, our parents put henna on our palms, and those of guests, to stain a circle symbolising many things including prosperity, and protection from the evil eye. We spent the night eating, celebrating, and dancing (shoutout to music from the Lehakat Sfataim!) until the early hours.
The defining feature of our wedding day was how truly loved and supported we felt, thanks to the incredible contributions from our family and friends. Having been together for so long before getting married, it felt like a celebration of a decade of love, shared experiences, friendships, family, and heritage. We have never felt such overwhelming gratitude for the relationship we’ve built and for the people who have supported us along the way.
Standing under the open canopy of the chuppah reminded us of its symbolism: the new home a couple builds, the four open sides encouraging the welcoming of guests and loved ones, and the couple’s shared life supported by family and friends. This resonated deeply with us—it reflects what has been so important to us in and out of our relationship leading up to marriage, what was essential in making our day so special, and what we will continue to hold most dear.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Elsa/ Bride’s answer:
Planning a wedding, as we all know, can be quite stressful, if only for the sheer number of decisions you have to make. With that in mind, if there is something you know that you really want to do- just do it. As much as you can, don’t ask for or worry about expectations or outside opinions; as long as you and your partner are happy, that’s all that matters!
Adam/ Groom’s answer:
If you get stuck in deciding where to start with planning, find the key cornerstones or moments you want to happen in the wedding, and work from there outwards. It well help the day stay grounded in what is important to you both!
ELSA & ADAM’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Linden Photography
Videography – Rhodri Spearing
Venue – South Farm
Ketubah – Shiri Lanzer
Ketubah frame – Eva Edery
Bride’s dress – Grace Lane London
Hair – Martha
Cake – Kelly’s Kitchen
Yacht for Henna party – Greenwich Yacht Club
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.
