Who’s ready to book a flight to Israel as soon as lockdown ends? Team STG definitely is, and you just might be too after you finish drooling over Lauren and Anthony’s stunner of a Jewish wedding.
The London-based pair picked their venue Olmaya, based on its breathtaking views of the Old City of Jerusalem – which just happens to be the place these two became friends AND got engaged. Best chuppah backdrop ever, or best chuppah backdrop ever? We’re pretty sure you’re going to be just as obsessed with the incredible photos by Haim Afriat and video by Avichai Weschsler as we are.
We’re also in love with Lauren’s gorgeous Millanova dress, which she found at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Wedding Club’s Birmingham location. The bride had spotted her dream dress on Instagram three years before the big day – before she even got engaged – but, Millanova not being a widely available brand in the UK, was struggling to track the style down until she found out about a trunk show at The Wedding Club – and the rest is history!
Lauren loved the lace fishtail gown just as much as she hoped she would, and she can’t stop raving about her fab experience working with the team at The Wedding Club. In her own words, “I looked forward to every fitting, and wish I could go there every day as it was honestly the best experience.” Lauren capped her look off with a sleek high ponytail (perfect for that Israeli heat!) styled by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Yonatan Yaeish, who not only totally got the bride’s vision but also made sure her ‘do didn’t budge all day.
Over to you Lauren!
How we met
Lauren, the bride: I work in marketing in a Jewish charity and Anthony is a director of fundraising and development at a Jewish charity. We met at the JLE, but became friends on a trip to Israel. It was on a balcony overlooking the Kotel where the journey began, and the journey is never ending.
We got engaged on a balcony overlooking the Kotel too, and the next day after the wedding, we took all our guests to the Kotel for a special Kotel experience, we had musicians, a hand held chuppah and danced and sung our way to the Kotel, it was very special.
A Wedding in Israel
We got married at Olmaya in Jerusalem, Israel. There was no question that Israel and in particular Jerusalem was going to be where we got married. We became friends on a trip to Israel and then got engaged months later on another trip to Jerusalem. Jerusalem for us is such a special place, so spiritual, and holds so many memories for us, so was a complete no brainer.
We went to look around a few venues in Jerusalem, but I always had one venue in mind and knew it was the one for us. We picked our venue for the view, and my g-d does it have a view! The view to the Old City is incredible, and to be able to stand under our chuppah and look out to the whole of the Old City, all the memories come back to where we first set eyes on each other and then got engaged is something so special.
The venue is also unique because the hall is glass walls, meaning you can see the view all night long, the roof also opens up too, but we definitely needed the air con!
Planning Perfection
We used a wedding planner – Debbie Nussbaum, she had done quite a few friends weddings and after speaking to her, and of course seeing her work, she was the obvious choice for us. I am not quite sure how anyone plans a wedding abroad, especially in a foreign language, without a planner, and if they do hats off to them!
I wanted a very simple all white theme for the wedding, we wanted the focus to be on the location, the venue, our surroundings and us. Our chuppah was designed so that all the guests could see the view all the way through. My favourite flowers are gypsophila, or baby’s breath, my hubby brings them home to me every Friday night and I love their simplicity and how pretty they are.
Invitations
I designed my own invites, I am a designer and have a Jewish greeting cards business myself, so it was a no brainer. The invites were a nod to Jerusalem, with a silver foil illustration of the Kotel on the front and an image of a bride and groom. I absolutely love our invites and the illustration was carried through to various printed items on the day.
Hair + Make-up
When we started planning the wedding I didn’t even research makeup artists, I knew exactly who I wanted. Mel Bueno – MakeupMakeup is not only so talented, but also the nicest person and we loved going to see her for the trial and having her there on the day.
I am not the type of bride who wanted to look natural, I wanted to look like I was wearing makeup and my makeup on the day was so so perfect, I have never looked like that in my life and couldn’t believe it when I looked in the mirror.
My hairdresser Yonatan Yaeish was incredible as well, completely knew what I wanted and it was perfect, and it didn’t move at all and looked perfect the whole day.
A Millanova Dress
My dress story is one not many people have, everyone tells you that you find a dress you never thought you would have – not me! Being a big wedding lover and the biggest Say Yes to the Dress Fan, I obviously see lots of dresses on Instagram and saw my dress I would say at least 3 years ago, whenever I used to see it pop up, I always used to send it to my mum and sister and said this is my dress, never did I think It would be available when I got engaged.
As soon as I did get engaged I was on the hunt for the dress, the only problem is that Millanova isn’t a well-known brand and only one shop sells it in the UK, and it wasn’t anywhere near me. I went to SO many shops, always comparing the dresses to my Millanova Instagram dress that I saw 3 years ago and nothing was comparing.
My mum decided she had to try and source the dress for me and starting googling where I could find it. She called me one day at work and told me The Wedding Club had a Millanova trunk show, when I went online the trunk show had ended. I called them straight away and could have cried with happiness, the trunk show had ended but they still had MY dress in Birmingham to try on.
I made an appointment and met my mum in Birmingham which is halfway between London where I am and Leeds where she is. I can only describe myself as a kid in a candy shop, I ran in and ran straight to the dress, as soon as I saw it I fell in love, and then I tried it on, I had FINALLY said yes to my dream dress. The dress is fitted, backless, fishtail, lace all over but I would like to think not just a typical and standard lace fishtail dress, it has 3D flowers, a stunning top and of course amazing train.
The Wedding Club were unbelievable through the whole process and even helped make me a custom veil to match my dress. I looked forward to every fitting, and wish I could go there every day as it was honestly the best experience.
Accessories
I opted for an updo as I personally love my hair in a ponytail anyway. The heat was also a big factor and was told by so many people, DON’T wear your hair down you will regret it. My hair was unbelievable, stayed in till the next day, and I can’t thank Yonatan (my hairdresser) enough!
Because my dress had a lot of detail and jewellery (except my rings of course) isn’t for me, I wanted to keep it very simple. My hubby loves flowers in my hair and whilst I didn’t want to put any real flowers in my hair, I designed my veil in such a way that on the top of the veil was the lace and flowers from my dress, he loved it!
Shoes
My shoes were the Carly shoes from the Rainbow Club, I didn’t go for style or an expensive shoe that I would never wear again, I went for comfort and they lasted me most of the night. Anthony wrote a little note under my shoes which was amazing, and it’s a good job we have a picture as by the end of the night it was well and truly gone.
The handsome groom
So my groom, what can I say… I had already cried at his outfit when he tried everything on together for the first time. He wore a Navy dinner suit, a black buttoned Hugo Boss dinner shirt and textured bow tie. His shoes were a navy blue textured velvet shoe from Russell & Bromley and he looked amazing!
I also bought him his tallit which was a waffle texture, similar to his bow tie, and embroidered his initials in each corner. We did an “Israeli” reveal, which was that we saw each other before the chuppah, so we were able to get pictures in the daylight, I have never felt so anxious before I saw him, that feeling of missing him (we didn’t see each other for 4 days before the wedding), feeling excited to see him and all the wedding day emotions made it so special when I did see him, I fell in love all over again and was such a surreal moment.
I have to say, it made us both feel a lot calmer at the chuppah and I didn’t feel nervous walking down the isle, we also got to spend most of our wedding day together which was amazing.
Bridesmaids
I had 6 bridesmaids, 1 was my sister who was my maid of honour, and the other 5 were friends and then also 2 little flower girls. My sister wore a bow back dress from Coast, the girls wore Jarlo dresses which looked amazing, and the flower girl dresses were bespoke white dresses with big pink bows at the back, all the dresses were pale pink which was exactly what I wanted. This was also the only colour at my wedding.
Ceremony
Our ceremony was so special, to us it was the most important part of the wedding. My favourite part was walking down the isle, and then the moment when I saw his face, it was the best moment of my life. We had my amazing Chazan Alby from Leeds and also Rabbi Benjy Morgan from the JLE officiating and the singing was incredible.
Our chazan brought out his shofar to Israel, and to hear the sound of the shofar before Im Eshkahech facing the old city was one moment we will both never forget. I wanted to have our ketubah displayed at home and so I picked a laser cut one from Ketubata, she was so helpful and we absolutely love it now its framed.
Chuppah
For us both the chuppah was the most important part of the day and we wanted the design to reflect this, it also sets the tone for the whole wedding. I had SO many things I wanted and loved, but as soon as I started thinking about what was important, I realised there was only one way forward.
I wanted everyone to see what was happening under the chuppah and also see the view at all times, so we went with a Perspex chuppah with gypsophila on the top. The Tayelet where we had the ceremony didn’t need much more than this, I had matching flowers on my isle and it was perfect.
Our music choice
We are both obsessed with chuppah music and I think this was the first thing we discussed when we got engaged.
“Boi Kallah Hallelujah” is our favourite song and even appears on our wedding video! I walked around 7 times to “Vehi Sheamda” which is a very special song to us, the night he says he fell for me was at a private Yonatan Razel concert at the kotel, and this was our favourite song from the night, so to be walking round Anthony to this song was a dream come true.
Our first dance was one thing we couldn’t decide on, it was something I guess we thought we just had to do as it is tradition, but still wanted to throw a little Israeli twist in there, so we picked “All of me” by John Legend and had half of the song “Lecha Dodi” in Hebrew.
Flowers
As I said earlier, all our flowers by Olla Designs were gypsophila, the tables were big balls of gyp, as well as arches made from gyp, candles and also glass hanging balls. We had clear under plates and personalised plate settings for everyone there. The theme was white and clear around the whole wedding.
Photographer and videographer
When picking our photographer, our wedding planner sent us a list of around 8. Haim Afriat was the one we wanted and as soon as we met him we fell in love with his work even more. His images are incredible, he is not only a photographer but an artist and he captures everything. We couldn’t be happier with our final images.
Our photographer and videographer both work together a lot, so they were great to have around on the day. We also loved going back to see Haim to pick up our pictures when we were in Israel recently, and just wish we could do it all again with them both.
When picking our videographer we only had one person in mind when looking through our options, we loved Avichai Weschsler‘s style, he is so creative and his videos really stand out, and so, we didn’t want to even speak to anyone else. When we spoke to him and then met with him, we loved him even more.
You know when you receive your video and sit and sob for 2 and half hours, cheeks hurting from smiling so much and feeling like you relived the best day of your life again, that you picked the right videographer!
Entertainment
Our band was Mebereshit, I had heard them before at a wedding previously, they got the whole crowd going, played all the songs we wanted and the singers are amazing. They even let the bride sing on stage (and I definitely can’t sing)
Details
I am all about the details and this was important to make our wedding personal to us, I searched high and low and also made a lot of my personal touches, from personal gifts for all my bridesmaids to handmade signs.
I personalised our fans with a cute quote “a fan-tastic treat to help with the heat” cute confetti bags with “when the new mr & mrs shaw come your way, throw in the air and shout hooray”, personalised activity books for my flower girls with individual crayons spelling their name, a personalised acrylic bar sign with our cocktails on, personalised dressing gowns and of course presents for the groom.
I gave him a present each day I didn’t see him before the wedding and then on the day I gave him personalised cufflinks, a clip with a picture of his late grandparents on, personalised collar stiffeners and much more, all his presents came in photo wrapping paper which I had printed.
Etsy was my best friend during the wedding and I found some amazing stuff on there. I spent a lot of time making things, sourcing stuff, but this is something I enjoy and gave me a lot of happiness seeing it all come together on the day.
Honeymoon
We went on a mini moon to the Beresheet Hotel in Mitzpe Ramon. No one tells you how overwhelming and emotional you are after your wedding, I cried for a good 2 days, but as soon as we stepped away from the wedding bubble and into the desert, I have never been more relaxed.
You definitely need time to digest the wedding and enjoy time together. The Beresheet is the most unbelievable place, the service is incredible, food on another level – we defiantly put back on all the wedding weight that we lost.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Everyone tells you to step back and enjoy the day. I personally think you should live the wedding as it happens, nothing can take away from the fact that it goes by so quick, never happens again and wedding blues are an actual thing!
LAUREN & ANTHONY’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Haim Afriat
Videography – Avichai Weschsler
Bride’s dress – Millanova found and fitted at The Wedding Club {Appointment fee waived (normally £30) for a weekday bridal styling appointment for the bride and two guests}
Hair + Makeup – Yonatan Yaeish , Mel Bueno – MakeupMakeup
Wedding planner – Debbie Nussbaum
Venue – Olmaya
Bride’s shoes – Rainbow Club
Groom’s attire – Hugo Boss and Russell & Bromley
Bridesmaids – Jarlo
Flowers – Olla Designs
Band – Mebereshit
Ketubah – Ketubata
Stationery – Mazeltov Greetings
Rabbi – Rabbi Benjy Morgan
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
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A very elegant wedding. Beautifully captured.