When a bride who’s a design talent in her own right joins forces with a fantastic wedding planner to create an ultra-personalized destination wedding at one of Israel’s most gorgeous venues… well, you know you’re in for something special.
Designer bride Amy and groom Richard, who works in technology finance (#AmyGetsRich), opted to theme their big day around their shared love of music and festivals, and while festival-inspired weddings are by no means uncommon, these two really took theirs to the next level. They combined the basics – candles, gentle lighting, greenery – with some unexpected touches – Amy designed festival wristbands for guests, as well as making over 200 personalised mini dream catchers to use as the table plan/seating cards! And in true boho chic style, the couple’s chuppah was styled like a tent with lace dream-catchers hanging at the back.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the lovely details incorporated into this Jewish wedding, and the couple’s photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si, captured each and every one of them – not to mention the love between Amy and Richard and the action-packed party following their beautiful ceremony – in his trademark artistic style. As always, we’re obsessed with his stunning work. And videographer Guy Siman Tov’s trailer makes us feel as if we were right there experiencing it all alongside the guests.
Amy and Richard knew it wouldn’t be easy implementing their creative ideas all the way from their home in England, and so they decided to work with beloved wedding planner and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Vicki Rosen (described by Amy as “the most organised lady you will ever meet”) to make sure everything went to plan, as well as to source the perfect vendors to make the day a success.
Now over to the bride, who looked stunning in her gown by Israeli designer Limor Rosen…
How We Met
Amy, the bride: Our lives have been intertwined for many years – unbeknownst to either of us we went to Leeds University and graduated on the same day. We even stayed in the same halls of residence in first year. It’s extremely likely we had been in each other’s flat at some point.
However, our paths didn’t quite cross. In our mid 20s we both lived opposite each other in West Hampstead without realising it. But most bizarrely, about four years ago Richard made an offer for a small flat in Kilburn. It turned out someone else had already been successful and had trumped him. Guess who that was? We were in each others lives all along, the world was just waiting for the right time.
A Wedding in Israel
Why Israel? We wanted to do something a little different where we could put our own spin on things and really make it feel personalised. My dad is Israeli and my family and I lived in Israel when I was younger. My parents got married in Israel and Richard and I both have a spiritual connection with the country. We also wanted to make sure if we had a destination wedding, we didn’t have to have a civil ceremony beforehand and by doing it through the Rabbinate everything was done on the day.
At the beginning we both wanted to get married by the sea, but there are not many venues near Tel Aviv where you can get married by the sea without onlookers and with a sense of privacy. We really wanted all of the wedding to be outdoors and take place in a natural setting. In Israel you can’t have bands in many of the venues because of noise restrictions, but that was very important to us.
When we went to see The Q in Glil Yam we were blown away. The Q is simply a magical, incredibly beautiful space and it didn’t feel like the noisy busy Tel Aviv. It’s hard not to fall in love with a place that brings such a great feeling and energy. We recommend when possible going back to the venue at night when an event is happening, it was a no brainer for us once we saw it in situ and got a little sneaky taste of the brilliant food!
Festival Chic
We both love music and festivals so wanted to play on a natural style that would go with the rustic vibe of the venue. The theme was ‘summer swagger/festival chic’. We decorated the venue with a combination of different candles, gentle lighting and dream catchers, to achieve a clean but boho – hippie atmosphere. We also used greenery, natural pampas, and feathers to add gentle elegance and a soft look using a color palette of shades of cream, blush, mint and peach.
As a designer I really love to personalise everything and wanted to be hands on with all design elements.
I designed festival wristbands for guests to wear as they arrived at the venue. I made over 200 personalised dream catchers from recyclable bottle caps to use as the table plan/seating cards – alphabetised and hung from a big frame.
I created festival lanyard packs for guests which included details on the lineup, a breakdown of the wedding ceremony, food menu and map of venue with things not to miss during the day. For us it was also important to customize the guests place settings and wrote names in Hebrew and English on a similar themed designed tag.
As we were planning the day from England we worked with wedding planner Vicki Rosen (the most organised lady you will ever meet). Vicki helped to bring my ideas to life and incorporated them into the day and went above and beyond to make sure my designs were featured correctly. She also helped us to land the perfect venue, the BEST band, choosing AMAZING food and helping with all the logistic nightmares.
What ‘Smashing The Glass’ Did For Us
My husband and I loved reading other people’s stories before we planned our wedding. It was a great support.
Invitation
I created festival inspired ticket invitation with perforated stubs with a genuine hologram containing the hashtag #AmyGetsRich. The invitation included bespoke illustrations of the Q’s famous food truck and the draped tent chuppah style. It also provided guests with visual hints to things that we had planned to implement on the wedding day like a guitar case chalkboard, dream catchers, all you need is love sign, heart paper shaped hearts along the aisle. Of course, everyone’s ticket was VIP!
Hair + Makeup
For hair and make up I had a team of legends.
Mel Atias Bueno from Make Up Make Up was pure magic. My makeup stayed in place the whole night as did my mum’s and 3 bridesmaids’! Mel helped me with tips on how to improve my skin for the big day and it paid off! I cannot recommend anyone more highly for makeup.
I absolutely loved my wedding hair and this is all down to Noa hair design and her amazing skills. My hair featured a boho style waterfall braid. My mum and 3 bridesmaids’ hair also looked so elegant and Noa made them all feel so comfortable.
A Limor Rosen Dress
My dress was designed by Israeli designer Limor Rosen: Iris gown, the skirt is very floaty with a side split which revealed my mint green shoes. The top had amazing intricate beading and lace off the shoulder bodice and open back. I always wanted something not too over the top and light for a summer wedding. Having seen it on Instagram I saw that there was a Limor Rosen trunk show in Luella’s Bridal in Wimbledon. It was the first one I tried on. I bought it straight after my mum and sister forced me to try on 10 other styles first, just to make sure!
Veil
My veil was designed by an Australian designer and was a bespoke 2 tier with decorative lace.
The handsome groom
Richard looked incredible, and as always handsome. He wore a summer sky blue suit incl. waistcoat from French Connection but customised elements to make it his own. He accessorised with Hugo Boss tie, pocket square and cufflinks, Ted Baker shoes. Luckily he prepared a second shirt to change into after the hora dancing!
Bridesmaids and Groomsmen
I had 3 bridesmaids and a bridesman, 3 flower girls and page boys. Continuing with a festival/boho natural style they wore mint green embellished ‘Pippa’ Maxi dresses and my bridesman mint green trousers. As a gift we gave them all customised mint Ray Ban sunglasses.
Richard’s bestmen and groomsmen all wore blue trousers with blue braces and mint green bow ties and as a gift we gave them Israel flagged Havaianas.
Chuppah
We wanted the chuppah to feel festival boho chic and had the chuppah styled like a tent structure. From the background we hanged lace dream-catchers with bits of greenery and flowers in shades of cream, blush, mint and peach with the help of Dushka Design Studio. All the guests were amazed by the beauty and the decoration. We had scattered colorful paper hearts along the aisle and provided bubbles for people to blow best wishes.
Ceremony
Glory Band were absolutely phenomenal before and during the chuppah in fact they were so good people thought it was a recording until they saw them when they turned around.
We also had a public badeken down the aisle with our parents giving us blessings in Hebrew and English. It was very emotional.
Rabbi Gideon Sylvester did an incredible job of explaining the ceremony and what was going to many of our guests who were not Jewish. He kindly presented us with a glass box full of different things which symbolised the different parts of family life. There were a few little coins in there to represent charity, a candle so our home would always feel warm, and a little prayer book, so we should always be blessed.
Our music choice
We had the most amazing band Glory Band they were absolutely phenomenal, Adam Lahav and the band learnt our first dance ‘The Wonder Of You’ with a limited time and it was perfect! His voice was outstanding throughout the day.
Flowers
Keeping with a musical and festival inspired theme, my bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquets were in the style of tambourins with blending greenery and flowers in shades of cream, blush, mint and peach.
Photographer
We wanted a photographer who was more artistic than traditional. Jossef Si is not only a supremely skilled photographer; what makes him exceptional is his ability to capture the feeling of the moment in every picture. When we look at our wedding pictures we relive the best day of our lives all over again. The pictures are simply beautiful and natural. We couldn’t be happier, and highly recommend him and his magical touch.
Videographer
Guy Siman Tov was our videographer and really captured the fun atmosphere and vibe of the event. We wanted the video not to feel dated and have a cinematic approach. From the moment Guy started until the second the wedding ended we felt in safe hands. There were plenty of moments full of creativity and excitement, and he even captured the event space with footage on a drone. The final trailer is incredible and again each time we watch we relive the best day of our lives all over again.
Food
The food in Israel is incredible and we wanted our guests who had never been in Israel to be blown away. The food was exceptional and very tasty (Taam VTzeva), We had one of the food stations in the receptions being served by a food truck. If anything there was too much food by the time the after party sabich came out to play. Our friends still rave about the food. We also had a candy shop near the dance floor.
Entertainment
Having a band was really important to us, we love live music and believe it really can change the atmosphere of an event. Glory Band were unbelievable. We had them play at the chuppah, reception, the hora and the party. They have so much energy and they get the crowd pumped and dancing all night! Everyone was so energetic during the Israeli/hora. All our guests keep mentioning how spectacular they were and the best wedding band they had ever seen.
During the chuppah, Adam Lahav didn’t disappoint – what an incredible voice. All our guests commented on his amazing voice and it made the chuppah service so emotional and breathtaking. The band were so accommodating learning our first dance ‘The Wonder Of You’ and playing the drums with me unrehearsed.
Our DJ Roi Tochner was absolutely amazing and kept the party going. He listened to all of our requests and people told us how much they loved the music. He seamlessly weaved our music tastes and still found a balance that the crowd enjoyed.
During the DJ set we had a glitter station which helped carry on the part vibe by Bling Bling Israel.
Speech
Richard’s speech was amazing, people came up to him and said he should be a writer.
Musical surprises
I surprised Richard by playing the drums with Glory Band. I play a few instruments and he always said he’d never heard me play anything and questioned if I could even play. I didn’t want it to be too cheesy and play along to something with lyrics so played ‘Wipe Out’ by the Surfaris. We only had a 3 minute practice as I arrived at the venue!
Our parents rewrote lyrics to a song and performed to Frankie Valli’s – ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’.
“Ludwig” is my husbands surname, but fittingly it is also drum make made famous by the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. I myself play the drums, as well as Richard’s dad and younger brother. I tracked down a vintage Ludwig cymbal and made it into a guest book “cymbal of love” for guests to sign throughout the day.
We also placed a guitar case at the top of the aisle, used as a chalkboard with artwork from the invitation entwined with photos of our adventures inside the green velvet case.
We also had Photomobil, this car is a perfect attraction that leaves a stunning memory for guests and us, that there is no one who has not been excited about the photography experience inside the vintage car.
Honeymoon
We booked the honeymoon the Monday before the wedding (nothing like last minute planning!). We booked through Trailfinders who were extremely helpful and created the best honeymoon for us. We went to Tanzania and Zanzibar and stayed in the middle of the Serengeti. We were lucky enough to see the “Big 5” and the tail end of the wildebeest migration.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Things will inevitably go wrong, but no one will know that, so relax and enjoy the day.
Take a step back with your husband during the night and watch the room from the sideline, everyone you love has made the effort to come and celebrate this special milestone.
Amy & Richard’s little white book
Photography – Jossef Si {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Wedding planner – Victoria Rosen
Design – Design With Sunshine
Videography – Guy Siman Tov
Venue – The Q
Bride’s dress – Limor Rosen found and fitted at Luella’s Bridal
Groom’s attire – French Connection, Hugo Boss and Ted Baker
Makeup – Make Up Make Up
Flowers – Dushka Design Studio
Band – Glory Band
Singer – Adam Lahav
DJ – Roi Tochner
Glitter station – Bling Bling Israel
Honeymoon – Trailfinders
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