We are loving the tropical vibes of today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding – Shahar and Or really pulled off the perfect carefree outdoor Israeli wedding at beautiful Ronit Farm. The bright colors, unconventional florals, lanterns, and colorful glassware all come together to create a serious party vibe.
The couple knew they wanted their wedding photos in natural daylight, so they opted to marry on a Friday at noon – love that these two knew what they wanted and went for it!
And that chuppah! With natural wooden poles wound with tropical vines, greenery, and exuberant flowers, we’re totally transported to an island paradise. Asaf Kliger’s colorful, warm photos capture it all so perfectly, and videographer Nir Tenenbaum’s fantastic trailer makes us feel like we were there for the big day.
There’s so much more to say about this fun wedding – like the top-secret performance by a famous Israeli rock star that the couple surprised their guests with! – but for that we’ll turn you over to Shahar, who looked radiant in her boho chic dress by Israel designer Lihi Hod…
How we met
Shahar, the bride: Our story is the story of two highschool lovers. We met back in high-school 11 years ago, where Shahar had the guts to send Or the first text message.
Since then we have been through everything together. Army service, travelling South America for 7 months and many vacations in Europe. We’ve been through university together – both bachelors and masters. 2 rental apartments in Tel-Aviv and the list goes on and on.
Nowadays, Shahar is a MA student for clinical psychology at IDC Herzliya, whereas Or is finishing med school at TAU university.
We live at a small and cozy apartment in central Tel-Aviv, and are thinking about adopting a new doggy friend for our family soon!
An Outdoor Wedding
We got married at Ronit Farm. It’s the place where Or’s two older brother and sister got married. Since we wanted our photos in daylight we had 2 requirements: Friday noon wedding, and an outdoor venue, with green surroundings and not inside a closed hall. Ronit Farm is the best place for that!
Tropical Vibes
We wanted the wedding to be full of tropical colors! For that reason we hired Shiran Atad for the event branding. We came up with the scheme from scratch. Starting from the wedding invitations, through welcome sign, underplates, cocktails menus, and even the ketubah design – everything was coordinated in the same style.
The person behind all this is the AMAZING Moran Goldstein – owner of Moran Goldstein Creative Event. She was our wedding producer and planner, and we owe her everything!
Invitation
We did it in the same style as the wedding flowers and and wedding branding.
We wanted our guest to get ready for a festival, a carnival! So we mentioned only the starting time (12:30PM), and “till the small hours of the night”. Without mentioning the times for every part of the wedding.
Hair + Makeup
Makeup was made by leading Naor Appel. Shahar liked his style both for professional models and brides, especially his makeup for the eyes – delicate and natural, and still firm and strong.
Shahar’s hair (and also her mother’s and sister’s) was done by Dana Braids. She is the Israeli braids professional for brides. Shahar liked her creativity, talent, unique style and personal kindness.
A Lihi Hod dress
Shahar’s dress was personally designed and tailored to fit her by the talented Israeli designer Lihi Hod. The dress was boho-chic style. The veil, designed to match the dress, was long enough to give Shahar a princessy look.
Accessories
Shahar’s jewellry (earings, engagement and wedding ring, and also Or’s wedding ring) were by the Israeli designers Shay and Adi Lahover. They are the designers Shahar loves the most, and happen to be her uncle and aunt 🙂 (Shay is the brother of Shahar’s mother).
Worth mentioning is that Shay’s 59th birthday was THE WEDDING DATE. To honour him, the couple had him read one of the alternative chuppah blessings, and got a big cake to celebrate during the dancing.
Shoes
Shoes were personally assembled by U Shoe designers. They make special bridal shoes, giving attention to looks, comfort and professional dancing!
The handsome groom
Or was dressed in a forest green suit by Bamoss Square, an Israeli boutique suit designer. It was always a given that he wouldn’t choose a boring dark blue or black suit. He needed something crazy like his personality. So he got it!
Fun fact – Or and his family liked the suit style so much that his father and brother got the same suit in different colors!
Bridesmaids
Shahar’s family is a feminine family – she has two sisters. Her father waited for Or for years – someone to talk about basketball 🙂 Hence, her bridesmaids were her mom and sisters. Mom’s dress was bought at New York Halston designer store, middle sister Yael wore a tailor made dress by Israeli store 1937, and little sister Lihi’s dress was made by Israeli designer Betty Levy.
Chuppah
We wanted a one of a kind chuppah design, that’s why we choose Lihi and Ido Frid from Ido Frid Event Design. Lihi made us the best chuppah ever! A natural wooden structure with natural design combined with vine, green and tropical flowers.
Ceremony
The whole ceremony was made specially for us. It was conducted by Asaf Zamir and his wife Maya Wertheimer. Asaf is the deputy mayor of Tel-Aviv Yafo, a family friend. Maya is a famous Israeli actress/model/comedian.
It was important to us that ceremony be egalitarian. Asaf met with us during our wedding week to hear more about us and how we wanted the ceremony to be. Moreover, he took some phone numbers of friends and family to get the gossip on us – that we didn’t realize until the ceremony itself.
We wrote each other speeches for the chuppah.
The 7 blessings were read by our families and close friends, including a visitor from Los Angeles, USA.
The ketubah text included a short sentence from a song we like, and some promises we made for each other – equally. It was designed by Shiran Atad.
Our music choice
At first, Or’s brother and sister, followed by Shahar’s two sisters, walked into to chuppah along with an instrumental version of Train – ‘Hey, Soul Sister’. After that, Or entered with his parents with a live version of ‘Bryan Adams – Heaven’. And lastly, Shahar entered with her parents. The playing song was Barry White – ‘My First My Last My Everything’. Shahar knew it would be “her song” since high school. We’ve been together for 11 years, you can only guess the relevancy of this song. 🙂
After smashing the glass, the DJ played a classic Israeli song by the Israeli Navy Band. During the party we performed our first dance to the sounds of The Rembrandts – ‘I’ll Be There For You’ – the Friends theme song. Because that’s what we are, friends, forever.
Photographer
Now it’s time to mention the vendor we knew would be at our wedding even before the proposal. When we sat down to sign the contract with Ronit Farm, we texted Asaf Kliger to make sure he was available. Not an easy feat since now he lives with his wife abroad, working as the official photographer of Icehotel in Sweden. We first met Asaf at Rom’s wedding (Or’s big brother). Since then we became friends.
Asaf was like a second wedding planner for us. He helped us find the videographer, plan the wedding line-up, and even decide the foods we want for the after-party.
Asaf’s photos are incredible! He gives each and every photo his own personal touch, makes them colorful and warm. We deeply believe that the phrase “One picture is worth a thousand words” was written for him – so just check his website or Instagram page to be amazed yourselves. We can’t wait to visit him in Lapland and take some pictures under the northern lights.
Videographer
And for video we picked Nir Tenenbaum. A talented videographer who we knew we wanted from the second we saw his work. His films are so special and unique, and they make you feel almost like you were there.
Magnets
Of course we wanted to give a little gift for our guests so they’d have something to remember the wedding, so had the amazing Roy Bar who was in charge of making magnet photos for everybody!
Roy is Shahar’s good friend. As you can see from his website and social media, he is a professional photographer (and not only weddings…). In the last few years he decided to transform his great talent for fun magnet pics, so guests can enjoy his work right away, and take it home as well!
Entertainment
In charge of the 10 hour party was DJ Tomer Maizner. He had the skills to read our guests’ vibe throughout the whole event. Starting with chilled Friday noon intro music, to classic Israeli and international hits after “smashing the glass”, to heavy techno and house music for those who stayed until the end.
We believe the DJ is the most important factor in a wedding. No matter if you have the best food, or the most stylish flowers – no DJ = no party = no wedding!
Tomer is not like any other DJ; he is a musician, an artist. He is a professional drummer who served in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) official band, and is still in the reserves. He know Shahar in person, so when we got engaged we called him and booked him for the wedding! He was so happy for us and joined the mission without any hesitation. He also helped us with the arrangements, and one day raised the idea of adding some spice to the party – THE SECRET SHOW!
Right before sunset, Ivri Lider (a famous international Israeli rock-star) came up the stage. Together with DJ Maizner they rocked the party for a whole hour!
A DIY wedding
We did a lot of DIY for our guests.
For example, we got small tissue packs and printed stickers reading “For your (happy) tears” to put on them. We assembled refreshment toilets kits: wet wipes, deodorant, female hygiene garments, chewing gums and so on. On the bar we out out – what the Israeli crowd likes the best – gummy-bears and nuts and seeds snack. We ordered personalized hand fans from AliExpress with “Shahar & Or 12/10/2018”. And – for the the hot Israeli sun, white stylish straw hats.
For flowers and design we focused on tropical colors and unconventional bouquets (less white-pink and more strong and bright). We added Indonesian lanterns, Buddha statues, ceramics and colorful glassware. With the help of Shiran Atad, we added to every table matching underplates and cutlery clasps in the same design and colors.
Family
Our families helped us along the way with the wedding arrangements. And yet we kept some surprises from them – such as the Ivri Lider show. We also surprised our brother and sister when we chose them an entry song to the chuppah (they entered together before we did).
Honeymoon
WOW – we couldn’t get any sleep the night of the wedding. Our brothers and sisters got us a honeymooners suit down at the Hilton in Tel Aviv for the first two nights.
The following weekend we went on a quick honeymoon in Paris, the city of lights. Because what’s better than a fresh French croissant and red wine?
As for the “official honeymoon”, we’re just planning it right now. We are going to discover Africa in October 2019: South Ethiopia, safari in Tanzania and some fun-in-the-sun in Zanzibar.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Breathe in, breathe out. DON’T PANIC! Some things won’t go to plan in the leadup to the big day. But, and here is a big but, if the whole process was well planned, just let it be. It WILL be the best day of your life. Screw ups before the wedding mean you are all set for the perfect wedding.
At some point you’ll probably be mad and angry at the groom. Once you realise that, it is time to chill a bit and remember that it is easier (and more fun) to work together. We planned the wedding as a team, an atypically involved groom, and not an angry-stressed-obsessed bridezilla.
Do exactly what your heart tells you, and do not surrender to pressures/demands of others, or the the boring norms. Be yourself. In the day – chill. Let it go. Be devoted to your happiness. It’s your day, everybody you love and important it your life is right there next to you, for you and your chosen one.
Shahar & Or’s little white book
Photography – Asaf Kliger
Videography – Nir Tenenbaum
Wedding planner – Moran Goldstein
Branding – Shiran Atad
Venue – Ronit Farm
Bride’s dress – Lihi Hod
Bride’s shoes – U Shoe
Groom’s attire – Bamoss Square
Jewellery – Shay and Adi Lahover
Hair + Makeup – Dana Braids and Naor Appel
Entertainment – DJ Tomer Maizner and Ivri Lider
Chuppah – Ido Frid Event Design
Magnets – Roy Bar
Hotel – Hilton
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