We just might have a new all-time favourite chuppah. Seriously, could you imagine anything more perfect for a sundrenched Spanish seaside wedding than this symphony in white and green? We’re pretty sure we can’t.
Georgia and Joel’s big day is really something, from start to finish. Despite living in London and not being able to get out to Spain as often as they would’ve liked, the wedding was planned perfectly down to the very last detail thanks to the wonderful Dyana of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor optimum weddings. The bride reports that Dyana and her team were “amazing from start to finish” – even sticking around all night until the wedding ended at 3 AM!
This is truly a stunning wedding – you don’t want to miss the gorgeous, luminous photos and trailer from The Love Hunters (recommended by Dyana). And we’re obsessed with Georgia’s stunning dress by Israeli-French designer Liz Martinez.
And whilst we’ve got you, you MUST tune into SmashingTheGlass.com tomorrow, Thursday, for a very special announcement with amazing freebies for every bride-to-be! See you back here, tomorrow, Thursday – same time same place for the big reveal!
How we met
Georgia, the bride: Joel and I went to the same high school but did not know each other during this time. It wasn’t until he left the school that I became friendly with his group of friends! We then met outside of school and dated for 9 years before he proposed!
A Marbella Wedding
We always knew we wanted to get married abroad and somewhere easily accessible for our guests. We hated the idea that London weddings generally only last 1 day and so having it abroad meant our guests would come for a wedding weekend!
After our engagement party we jetted off to Mallorca to look for venues. We loved Mallorca but didn’t find any of the venues really stood out enough for us! We then discussed Marbella – we have both been visiting Marbella from a very young age. Joel’s grandparents moved to Marbella over 30 years ago and my grandma also has a place there. This was a deciding factor for us (as well as the sunshine) and we booked our flights straight away!
We knew we wanted a venue with beautiful beach scenery. We spent a long weekend visiting venue after venue and then we saw Los Monteros, La Cabane. We walked into La Cabane and saw the stunning backdrop of the sea and knew this is what we had been looking for. Having exclusivity was really important for us and the idea of having so many options of areas in the venue to choose from was ideal. We loved the idea of having the ceremony in one area, the dinner in another area and the party in another!
Therefore, La Cabane fit all of our criteria! We decided on a Sunday in September but due to all the Jewish holidays in September, we were very limited to dates (2nd September was one of 2 dates we could have!). On the same day we saw La Cabane, they told us the 2nd September was free and we booked it straight away!
A Fab Planner
The first time we saw La Cabane, we were on the golf buggy, on the way down from Los Monteros. There was another couple on the buggy who over heard us talking about weddings, we began speaking and they had got married there a year ago that day! They immediately recommended their wedding planner, Dyana from optimum weddings. After falling in love with La Cabane we immediately called Dyana. We were leaving to go back to London later that day but arranged to see her in London a couple of weeks later.
Although we know Marbella quite well, we knew we wouldn’t be able to get out to Spain as often as we would have liked so having a wedding planner was really important.
optimum weddings were amazing from start to finish! I was probably one of the fussier brides as I am quite a perfectionist and small details mean so much to me, but this didn’t stop them from doing an amazing job! We are so grateful for all their hard work and for putting up with all the 24/7 Whatsapps! Their professionalism on the day was clear for everyone to see! They even stayed until the 3am finish!
We didn’t have a theme as such but we wanted to keep all the decor quite minimalistic as the venue was so beautiful already. We stuck with the white and neutral colours of the venue.
What ‘Smashing The Glass’ Did For Us
I am a member of the Jewish brides and grooms Smashing The Glass Facebook group and found this SO helpful when planning the wedding. I was able to get in touch with others who have had their wedding abroad and even others who had their wedding in Marbella! I was so grateful for the opinions, recommendations, and just the security to know this was there when I needed!
Laser Cut Invitation
We knew having our wedding abroad meant we had to include lots of information in the invitations including places to stay and pre party information, so we chose a pocket style invite where we could add lots of extra information. We went for white laser cut as I love this style and it looks so pretty!
I loved the idea of having a personalised wax seal, so I ordered a personalised stamp and made these myself to add onto the envelopes to finish off the invitations with a personal touch.
Hair + Makeup
I have long hair and knew I didn’t want my hair up but knew I wanted it out of my face. I was recommended Emma Zamboglou and booked in a trial with her. After meeting with her for an hour, I felt like I had known her a lifetime!
We tried some different styles and in the end I went for something quite subtle but with plaited detail at the back. I didn’t want anything too different to how I usually have my hair. I wanted something in my hair for when I took the veil off so I still felt like a bride and Emma recommended adding some white gypsophila into the plaits, the bridesmaids had this too and they looked so pretty!
Emma was just so lovely to be around on the morning of the wedding and really kept me calm! She is the just nicest person and I couldn’t recommend her enough!
I was recommended Nicola McGeorge for makeup from Dyana. I quickly booked in a trial with her, not knowing how I wanted my makeup, but Nicola made the whole process so easy! I told her the things I liked and left it to her, and I absolutely loved my makeup! I also booked her for all the bridesmaids and mums.
She was the most calming person to be around and she is so knowledgeable and listens to exactly what you like/dislike. The humidity on the day was unbearable but my makeup didn’t move all day! We absolutely loved our make-up and we all had so many compliments. I highly recommend Nicola to anyone looking for wedding make up in Marbella.
A Liz Martinez Dress
I visited many wedding dress shops all over London before I found ‘the dress’. I had NO idea which style I was after. After visiting many shops I almost gave up! I then made an appointment at Angelica Bridal in Islington and finally found my dream dress. My dress was from the amazing Isreali/French designer Liz Martinez – who definitely focuses on using beautiful fabrics and amazing attention to detail.
I knew I wanted something quite flowy as It was going to be very hot, it had a low V front and open at the back, it was fitted on the body but flowy at the skirt with a loose floaty sleeve, it was ivory with a nude underlay and was full of beautiful hand sewn beading all over the bodice which I knew would glisten in the sun!
Accessories
I chose not to have any hair pieces and decided to have white gypsophila put into the back of the plaits in my hair instead.
Ivory Platforms
Shoes were not really a big thing for me, I knew I needed height as I’m short so anything was going to be uncomfortable to wear all day. I went for an ivory shoe with a small platform (for comfort) and they were quite high, I also bought a back up pair to change into when those felt uncomfortable!
The handsome groom
Joel wanted to wear a a lightweight suit and a light colour (being in peak of the summer and very hot) but struggled to find any as he left this very late and all the sales were on!! We were then recommended to visit Suit Supply in Vigo Street, London which is where he finally bought his gorgeous suit, he wore blue suede shoes to match, from Dune). Joel loved the idea of the best man, usher and dads to be in something similar but not entirely the same so they also found some suits in Suit Supply which were a lighter blue, Joel bought the contrasting waistcoat to match their suits and they all looked great together and tied in so well.
Bridesmaids in White
I really wanted the bridesmaid dresses to be white! I ordered many dresses and finally found the one they all loved, they were from ASOS! I had some spare beaded fabric from my dress , so I took my bridesmaids dresses to a seamstress and we had some of my beading sewn into their dresses. They looked a lot like my wedding dress which is the thing I loved most about them! Our bridesmaids were a big part of our special day so why not!
A Breathtaking Chuppah
We changed our minds many times with our chuppah, I had made so many Pinterest boards and emailed back and forth with the florists before we finally decided!
Our chuppah was so breathtaking, We chose lots of unstructured gypsophila,with white wisteria and lots of greenery. It really did look beautiful with the backdrop of the sea behind!
An Aisle Badeken
We decided to do the badeken on the aisle, this was my favourite moment as Joel and I hadn’t seen each other since the morning of the day before and seeing him standing in front of our chuppah for the first time on our wedding day was truly special and emotional! Even Joel cried!!
Our wedding was just before Rosh Hashana so our rabbi blew the shofar which was really special!
Our music choice
We had Quike Navarro to play the violin at the ceremony, we wanted something really emotional for the walk down the aisle and the violin really set the mood. We chose a song for the groom and his parents (‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran), another for the rest of the wedding party (‘How Long Will I Love You’ – Ellie Goulding) and then one for myself and my parents (‘A Thousand Year’ – Christina Perri). At the end of the ceremony we had the Simone and Mike from 2 True Band singing ‘This Will Be’ by Natalie Cole as Joel and I exited back down the aisle.
For our first dance we had ‘All my life’ by KC and Jojo.
Fantastic Flowers
We used Unique By Roverto Silvosa as our florist and wow! They are more than just florists! They are so creative and their work is more like a piece of art! After changing our minds so many times they were very patient with us and we chose the most beautiful chuppah and bouquets! I knew I didn’t want anything structured and loved the loose messy look and I love wild flowers but didn’t quite have in mind what yet! Berta and Roberto were just so so helpful and together we came up with our beautiful flowers.
All the flowers we chose were unstructured looking without being too over the top, our bouquets had twigs and real berries in them! We also decided to have lots of candles as the dinner was going to be outside and we knew when it became dark, the candles would sparkle. This looked so effective and created such a lovely romantic atmosphere, It really gave it the wow factor!
For our table centres we decided to keep the unstructured theme of white gypsophila, greenery, twigs and added a dusty pink roses to add a touch of colour, we had tall centrepieces on half the tables and the same but lower centrepieces on the other half with glass teardrop balls hanging from them with more candles in! They really did look so pretty!
Photographer
We used the amazing The Love Hunters for our photography and videography. We were recommended by Dyana and we arranged a meeting with them, We saw their work and we loved it and booked them straight away! It wasn’t until I received the paper work from them that I noticed they lived in the apartment above my grandma in Marbella! Small world!! My grandma already knew Marcos but didn’t realise he was a photographer! This was great as everytime we visited Spain and stayed at my grandmas apartment, we were able to meet Marcos very easily to run through things.
On the day, during the cocktail reception we had our photos in the beautiful grounds of La Cabane and lots of photos on the beach! The setting was just so stunning and at that point we realised how lucky we were to be able to be having our wedding abroad.
Our photos arrived and they are just perfect. We love every single one of them and are finding it very hard to choose for the album! Marcos and his wife Kasia were a pleasure to deal with and Marcos made us feel very comfortable on the day.
Spanish Food
We put a lot of planning into the food, the food at Los Monteros is amazing so we knew it was all going to be great. We wanted to keep the Spanish theme so we chose lots of tapas type canapés for the reception including patatas alioli, gazpacho, croquettes and tortilla. For the sit down meal we chose a smoked salmon salad to start, we then chose Roteña (local fish) for main, on a bed of dauphinoise potatoes and for dessert we had chocolate fondant and ice cream!
During the dancing later on we had late night food too! We had mini hot dogs and mini pizzas! Everyone is still raving about the food!
Entertainment
The music was amazing, we chose 2 true Entertainment as our band , they are a soul and Motown band and who doesn’t love soul and Motown! We met with Mike and Simone quite a few times on our trips to Spain and they are just the nicest/coolest couple ever! They were so helpful and let us come and watch them playing at different venues before playing at our wedding! We also had the lovely Quike playing violin for the crazy Jewish music and for in between Mike and Simone’s sets and he ready did keep the party going all night! We definitely danced the night away until the early hours!
We chose 2 True and Quike separately and we weren’t quite sure how this would work as this isn’t something people would usually do with bands at home but we soon found that they had played at lots of venues together before and therefore knew each other’s sets! They worked amazingly together and I highly recommend anyone looking for music in Spain, to book these two, they were a great combo and provided the perfect balance for the day!
Fan Favours
I love making personalised things. For the ceremony I made mini tissue boxes with our names on which said ‘for your happy tears’.
I also made fans for all the guests with our logo on which were also put on the chairs for the ceremony. I also had mini packets of polos with our names to put on all the tables for after dinner. We had white suede couples printed for the men to cover their heads during the ceremony and for the ladies I had flip flops on the tables, I personalised them by adding a hand written tag onto each of them with a little personal message for each guest. Little details like this mean so much to me so I wanted to add in as many as possible!
I had spent months researching place names and ended up choosing beautiful laser cut, silver, mirrored place names. These really added the final touches to the tables
Los Monteros also added mini bottles of balsamic vinegar and olive oil on the tables for each person to have with the bread which looked so lovely!
Pre-wedding party
We wanted to make the weekend special so we organised a pre-wedding party so all the guests could meet before the wedding and we could see everyone together before the big day. We decided to have this in the beautiful beach club South Beach Marbella, this was perfect as we wanted a private venue and this also had a private beach we could use! We provided lots of sangria and paella to our guests to start the weekend in an authentic Spanish style.
We really wanted our guests to feel relaxed and have the best day! We decided very last minute we wanted small shots of Jaegermeister for each person and when the welcome speech was made, everyone took a Jaeger shot! This really set the mood and was so much fun for our guests!
A Minimoon and a Honeymoon
As we got married abroad, we decided to have a little mini moon after the wedding and drove from Marbella to Seville for a few days. This was a lovely little break. We knew we weren’t sure about honeymoon destinations yet so we have held off for a while whist we decide and plan. We have decided to visit Thailand and Malaysia in a couple of months. We are so happy we held off as now we have this to look forward to 6 months after our wedding!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
My advice would be to try not to stress too much whilst planning and try and enjoy it! Keep on top of everything and stay organised.
So many of our friends who had recently got married told us, on the day, to take a minute and look at your surroundings and try and take everything in, and we did just that. The day goes by SO quickly and its SO hard to take everything in at once, It really feels like a dream but try and be in the moment!
Georgia & Joel’s little white book
Photography and videography – The Love Hunters
Wedding planner – optimum weddings {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue and cake – La Cabane
Bride’s dress – Liz Martinez found and fitted at Angelica Bridal
Groom’s attire – Suit Supply and Dune
Bridesmaid – ASOS
Hair + Makeup – Emma Zamboglou and Nicola McGeorge
Flowers – Unique By Roverto Silvosa
Entertainment – Quike Navarro and 2 True Band
Stationery – Cartalia and Minted
Kippot – Yarmamulka
This looks like a dream wedding. Everything is perfect and wow.