Jewish weddings are all about the joy… and in today’s gorgeous feature, each and every image positively exudes emotion. Keren and Raanan, both currently studying Nutritional Science at Ariel University in Israel, kept their focus firmly on love and good vibes – and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Herschel Gutman Photography captured it all so perfectly!
In Keren’s words, “After seeing Herschel’s work, we absolutely loved how he captures a couple, and how every detail in every picture is noticed. He has a very calming persona and is exactly who we wanted and needed around on this crazy day.” Doesn’t get much better than that!
There’s so much more to say about this wonderful wedding – like how Keren and Raanan kept the rain on their big day from getting to them, all the involvement from talented friends and family, and fun nods to the bride’s South African heritage – but we’ll turn you over to Keren for the rest…
How We Met
Keren, the bride: We are both currently studying Nutritional Science at Ariel University. We started studying during Corona, so all our classes were on zoom. At the end of the first semester, a mutual friend who is also studying with us organised a small hangout of the English speakers in our degree and this is where we met. This hang out also happened to take place at my house. So whenever anybody asks where we met, the answer is “at my house.” Shortly after that we started hanging out and talking a lot more, until we started dating about 2 months later.
A Wedding in Israel
We got married at Citrus Even Yehuda. We picked this venue because when we went for a meeting, we loved the venue and had a great experience with all those that work there.
Light Blue
We chose light blue as our colour and stuck with this throughout the whole thing. From invitations, to what our bridal party and families wore. Flowers and decor all fit into this theme as well. I even got my nails painted with blue tips and wore blue and white sneakers. We decided not to use a wedding planner.
The main reason for this decision is that we believed we could make our vision come to life better than explaining it and having somebody else do it. The hall did have somebody who was the event manager for the wedding day, he made sure everything ran smoothly and on time.
Invitation
Raanan, the groom, designed our invitation. He used the same blue floral theme that we had been using. He made it simple and elegant.
Hair + Makeup
From the beginning, I knew I wanted very basic hair and makeup, something that really kept me looking like me. I chose Raz, and she was perfect for what I wanted. I went for a trial, told her what I thought and what was important to me, and she totally made that look come to life. I felt so like myself, nothing too much, and it held and stayed so well all night, through dancing and all.
A Mika Bridal Dress
My dress was from Mika Bridal in Ramat Gan. This was the first and only place I went to try on dresses, because I found my dress on day 1. When I put on the first dress, I loved the top part of it, the lace detail was beautiful and the style and the way the dress sat was just right for me.
The bottom material wasn’t quite right, and so I was not 100% satisfied. I tried on a couple more dresses, until one of them had a sparkly mesh bottom part that I loved. They told me that for the same price as buying a dress, I can take the top of the first, the bottom of this one, and combine it, and the excitement I felt then, made me realise that I had found the one, and I couldn’t stop smiling.
Accessories & Shoes
I wore very basic jewellery, and put a few white flowers in the braid in my hair. When it came to shoes, I decided to go for comfort, and knowing I anyway was not going to wear heels, I decided sneakers was the way to go. I found an awesome pair of white and light blue Nike Airs and they fitted the theme and vibe perfectly. You mostly couldn’t see my shoes, but in the few photos that you can, the blue and white sticking out looks super cool!
Bridesmaids
I had 6 friends, and my sisters and cousins. I had asked all my friends and cousins to wear light blue, the exact shade didn’t matter as much, and the different blues came out gorgeous in photos! I asked my sisters to wear white and blue floral, and these dresses really tied all the blues together and made for fabulous pictures.
Ceremony & Chuppah
We had one very special touch to our chuppah, and that was that the groom’s father was the rabbi. Due to the rain, our chuppah was moved inside and was in a much smaller area than planned. Our favourite part of the ceremony was standing in this smaller area and being able to see everyone so close and surrounding us.
Ketubah
My very talented aunt designs ketubot, and from the very first day I saw her website, I picked which ketubah I would one day use at my wedding. When we got engaged, my aunt told me to choose, and she will design and print it for us. I showed Raanan the website, and told him to pick his favourite one, and lucky for me, he chose the same one I had chosen a few years ago. So without much debate, we picked our special ketubah by By Tessa.
Our music choice
We used both a band and DJ. The DJ, DJ Raz Yosef, we booked through the band, Rimonim. Both of these insured that our party was incredible and filled with an electric energy. We had sent special requests which were all met. Walking down the aisle, I managed to combine my Jewish roots with my South African roots and walked down to Boei Kallah to the tune of ‘Can you feel the love tonight’ from The Lion King.
Flowers
As soon as the decision was made that the wedding colour was blue, I knew I wanted to have a few blue flowers in my bouquet. I didn’t want anything too big or over the top. While scrolling through Instagram, somebody who I follow and had recently got married shared photos from her wedding. Her bouquet was gorgeous, white, green and a few blue flowers. I messaged the person she had tagged and asked if I could order that same bouquet for myself.
Sophie from Happiness through Flowers was really great to deal with, and delivered my bouquet on the morning of the wedding, and they were so fresh and beautiful.
The table centres were very simple as we did not want a big tall centre piece that blocks conversation. We organised this through the designer that our hall provided. We did a very basic blue vase with white flowers in, and some candles in vases.
Photographer and videographer
Herschel Gutman Photography was our photographer, and we knew from the beginning that he was who we wanted. After seeing his work, we absolutely loved how he captures a couple, and how every detail in every picture is noticed. He has a very calming persona and is exactly who we wanted and needed around on this crazy day.
He kept everyone smiling, laughing and dry through this rainy day. Our videographer was also booked through Herschel, his name is Pavel and he did such a good job as well, making us laugh, capturing every special moment throughout the day.
Wedding List / Registry
We decided to make 2 wedding registries. The first one was based here in Israel, called La’Bayit. They had so much stuff to chose from and also provided us with great customer service. We also created a second registry on Amazon. Knowing this stuff would all need to be brought to Israel, we used this more for smaller items and fun gadgets that are not always available here in Israel.
Extra Details
My family are South African, so the men in my family used this as an idea to do a “tribal welcome” to the groom. Playing South African music, dancing with sticks and flags and being proudly South African. So many people commented after that this was one of the best parts. After they danced, the whole family joined in for one last South African song. Something so personal like this, even though the main part of it was to be a joke, really made it so special and enjoyable not only for us, but for everyone else as well.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
The best advice is just be happy, remember what this day is about, and that all the planning is done, so nothing can be changed. Be in the moment, enjoy it together, look around you and see how many people are around to celebrate you, and take that high, and make the energy electric.
We totally felt that energy on our wedding day, and the main reason is because all that mattered was us, being happy, dancing, and just being at our absolute happiest that this day had finally come. Don’t stress about things that can’t be changed or are not in your control, rain, sun, wind, none of it matters. It only happens once, and it happens fast, so don’t let it slip away.
KEREN & RAANAN’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Herschel Gutman Photography {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Videography – Pavel
Venue – Citrus Even Yehuda
Bride’s dress – Mika Bridal
Hair + Makeup – Raz Hair and Makeup
Bouquet – Happiness through Flowers
Band – Rimonim
DJ – DJ Raz Yosef
Ketubah – By Tessa
Wedding Registry – La’Bayit,
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
