We love seeing a couple plan their Jewish wedding, their way – and that’s exactly what today’s lovely couple Talia and Mike did! Combining their religions and backgrounds into one beautiful day was top priority for these two – Talia is Jewish and Mike is Christian – and that’s exactly what they did.
The pair opted to work with a celebrant, rather than have a civil wedding, so that they could mix their cultures and faiths into a one-of-a-kind ceremony that truly reflected their partnership. We’re also obsessed with their gorgeous interfaith ketubah by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush – and naturally the couple loved the experience of working with artist Rachelle. Don’t miss it – and all the other gorgeous touches – in the luminous photos from Chris Milner.
For music, Talia and Mike went for Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Shir – who’d played at Talia’s bat mitzvah years earlier! The couple wanted Israeli dancing but were worried that their mostly non-Jewish guests might not be into it. With Shir in charge, those worries were totally unfounded – the band led three amazing dance sets that got everyone dancing, and afterward guests couldn’t stop raving about how much fun it was!
Now over to the bride, who looked effortlessly chic in Laure de Sagazan…
How we Met
Talia, the bride: We met at the University of Manchester where we both studied medicine. We actually initially met 10 years ago in our first tutorial group in first year but only became a couple at the start of our third year. We now both work as doctors, and have moved to Leeds, and now London since then.
Venue
We got married at Newburgh Priory in North Yorkshire, which is just 10 minutes away from where Michael grew up. We wanted the wedding to be near one of our families as it would be less travelling for everyone involved.
Initially we looked at some London venues, but that plan was scrapped once we saw Newburgh Priory. The building and grounds really spoke for themselves, and we thought it would make for beautiful photos (which it did!). We also liked that it was exclusive and our guests would be able to roam the grounds on the day. They were really great to work with, and very helpful amongst all of the rapidly changing covid restrictions. It ended up being the perfect choice for a summer wedding.
Our marquee was provided by Your Marquee, who were really great. Henry was incredibly patient with us as we changed our minds upwards of 10 times about which furniture we needed! On the day we had all of the sides up, so that we could see the amazing grounds, and to make it more covid safe.
Summer Vibes
We planned the wedding ourselves which ended up being a lot more work and emailing than we had anticipated. We just chose things that we liked the look of – we liked the idea of an outdoors summer wedding but we never really had a clear colour scheme or theme!
Invitations / stationery
Michael’s sister in law is a graphic designer, and she very kindly designed and created all of our beautiful stationery for us. We weren’t sure about what we wanted, except that we wanted a bee on them somewhere to symbolise Manchester, where we met. Despite that very broad brief she created really lovely stationery, with green foliage with yellow flowers as a theme throughout.
Hair + Make-up
Rebecca Anderton did the hair and makeup for myself and my bridesmaids. She was a very relaxed and fun presence on the morning of the wedding. I wanted to look like myself, so went for a natural makeup look and a braided bun, which she did beautifully. Despite it being the hottest day of the year, our hair and makeup stayed intact throughout the full day even with lots of dancing!
A Laure de Sagazan Dress
My dress was Bukowski by Laure de Sagazan which I bought from The Mews Bridal in Notting Hill.
Initially I wasn’t very clear on what I wanted when I went dress shopping, and couldn’t really find anything that felt very ‘me’. When I tried on the dress, it was comfortable, and felt like something that I would actually wear. The material was such high quality with beautiful lace and silk, but it wasn’t too structured or fussy. The staff at Mews were so nice and helpful, and gave me lots of time to think it through. It was definitely the right choice- I felt amazing in the dress on the day!
Accessories
I wore a cathedral length veil with lace trim which I got from The Mews Bridal which worked perfectly with the lace on the dress. My necklace was a birthday present from Michael from Maya Magal. My earrings were an old purchase from & Other Stories, as I thought that they would go well with the dress and the necklace.
Shoes
My biggest priority with my shoes was something that I could walk and dance in comfortably as I usually don’t wear heels. I also wanted to be able to wear them again in the future. In the end I went for a pair of pale pink block heels from John Lewis, which fit the bill perfectly.
The handsome groom
Michael wore a mid blue suit from Suit Supply. The tie was made from Katie & Millie Liberty fabric, which he got online from Van Buck. The groomsmen all wore blue suits of their own choosing.
Bridesmaids
I had two bridesmaids, both old friends who I have known for many years. I wanted them to feel comfortable and nice on the day, so I didn’t want to dictate what they wore. I gave them a colour I liked and they picked out their own dresses from ASOS in that colour.
An Interfaith Ceremony
We put a lot of thought into our ceremony. As Michael is Christian and I am Jewish we knew that we wanted to mix our cultures and faiths in our ceremony. We didn’t really like the idea of a civil wedding as it seemed impersonal and we couldn’t have included any religious aspects at all. We ended up looking for celebrants so that we could create something more personal, which is how we found Charlotte.
We had a couple of meetings with Charlotte over Zoom, and chatted about our relationship and which cultural aspects we wanted to include in our ceremony. It was really lovely on the day, the ceremony was really unique to us, and we wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Ketubah
We had an interfaith ketubah, and the design was by Rachelle from The Delicate Brush who we found on Etsy. We loved her designs, and knew it would look good displayed in our house afterwards. She was really great to work with, and incredibly responsive and quick despite us ordering it fairly last minute. The text was in English and Hebrew, and both of our fathers read out the text in the ceremony.
Chuppah
Initially our plan with the chuppah was to rent one, but as it turned out it was near impossible to do that in North Yorkshire! This ended up being a blessing in disguise, as Michael’s dad very kindly built one for us. The wood was painted white, and we used a white canvas that we attached to the chuppah with gold ribbon. It looked absolutely beautiful in the ruin where we had the ceremony and we decided that it didn’t need any more decoration.
Our Music Choice
Our wedding band was Shir, who I knew from many years ago, when they played at my bat mitzvah and my brother’s bar mitzvah.
They played ‘Erev Shel Shoshanim’ for my bridesmaids and ‘Boi B Shalom’ to the tune of ‘Hallelujah’ for my processional. For the smashing of the glass they played ‘Siman Tov’. They also played Jewish folk music during the reception and the meal, which was really lovely.
We really wanted Israeli dancing at the wedding, but we were a little worried that as many of the guests weren’t Jewish, that participation would be low. Shir stepped up and did three amazing lead dance sets outside on the lawns in between the meal courses. It created such a great atmosphere and got absolutely everyone dancing and in the party spirit. It was absolutely fantastic and so many of our guests have told us how much they enjoyed the dancing.
For the evening, our DJ was Marcus from Max Marcus Events, who we booked through Shir. He played great songs and had the dance floor packed all night.
Flowers
We got our flowers from Rachel at Ducks and Daffodils, a York based florist. We were keen to have very natural and informal looking seasonal flowers, which she created perfectly. We mixed DIY arrangements on the tables with the more formally arranged flowers. We popped round to her house the day before the wedding and got some buckets of cut flowers, which we arranged into jars for the tables. On the day of the wedding, the bouquets, buttonholes & some arrangements in milk churns were delivered.
We were very vague with what we wanted and just said that we wanted seasonal flowers, preferably not in red, and given the very little information she created incredibly beautiful arrangements!
Photographer
Our photographer was Chris Milner. We found him online, as we wanted someone local to the area, and we really liked the style of his photography. We had a meeting over zoom to get to know him, and did an engagement shoot before the wedding, so that we could feel a little more comfortable in front of the camera.
On the day, he did such an amazing job and we really felt that he captured the spirit of the day. Even now, a couple of months later, we are constantly looking through the photos.
Food and Cake
Our caterer was Dom’s Kitchen, who are a lovely husband and wife catering team based in Malton, North Yorkshire. We went for a tasting before the wedding, which was a great evening out, and were able to choose our perfect meal.
The food was absolutely fantastic, from the canapes to the evening food, and so many of our guests told us how much they enjoyed the food. The beef for the main course was unbelievable. They were also incredibly accommodating to our guests with specific dietary restrictions, even serving up separate canapes. Their staff on the day were very professional and the service was excellent.
Jules from Fusion Event Bars supplied the drinks for the whole day. The whole team were very friendly and kept us all hydrated in the scorching heat. We also chose a couple of cocktails, which went down well.
Our cake was made by The Flamingo Bakery in Northallerton. Due to covid restrictions we couldn’t meet them in person so we were sent cake samples in the post and had a fun evening picking our favourite (lemon drizzle cake). The cake on the day looked stunning and luckily we had lots of leftovers, which we polished off quickly.
Favours
Given the pandemic, we felt that some of our guests may not be comfortable dancing, so we wanted a plan B. We both really love board games and card games, so we bought a pack of cards with our wedding date on for each table, and put a game on each table so that guests could play games in the evening if they didn’t want to dance.
Extra details
Instead of a traditional guest book, we bought a polaroid camera and asked guests to take a picture and write a message then pin it on a board. I’m so glad we did this, as we now have so many fun (& messy) photos!
Our wedding was just as covid restrictions were ending, which meant that throughout the planning process everything was constantly up in the air and we had to do quite a few last minute changes. We just want to particularly note that without exception every single one of our vendors and venue were accommodating and responsive to the changes. We really couldn’t recommend them enough.
Honeymoon
We haven’t been on honeymoon yet due to a combination of covid related travel restrictions and a lack of annual leave. However, we plan to do a road trip across the west coast of America visiting the national parks next year. In the meantime, we’re going to use that as an excuse to treat ourselves and have plenty of ‘mini-moons’! Our first holiday is one booked soon, where we will walk the Dales Way from Ilkley to Windermere over 6 days.
TALIA & MIKE’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Chris Milner Photography
Band – Shir {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Ketubah – The Delicate Brush {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Newburgh Priory
Bride’s dress – Bukowski by Laure de Sagazan found at The Mews Bridal
Bride’s shoes – John Lewis
Bride’s accessories – Maya Magal, & Other Stories
Groom’s attire – Suit Supply
Bridesmaids – ASOS
Hair + Makeup – Rebecca Anderton
Flowers – Ducks and Daffodils
DJ – Max Marcus Events
Catering – Dom’s Kitchen
Drinks – Fusion Event Bars
Cake – The Flamingo Bakery
Officiant – CP Celebrant
Marquee – Your Marquee
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.
