When two design pros get married, you can bet their big day is going to be something special – and that’s absolutely the case when it comes to the fabulous Jewish wedding of NYC couple Steph and Brett.
These two put their own stamp on their Riviera Maya destination wedding by designing and building everything from the event programs to welcome bags to table assignments – and their choice of ultra-stylish boutique hotel Chablé Maroma set the perfect backdrop.
Naturally, when it came to choosing a ketubah, only the best would do – and when Steph and Brett stumbled onto Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Brit Yudell of BritColors, they knew they’d found just the artist to craft their magical embroidered ketubah.
We’re also in love with the couple’s chuppah, crafted from locally sourced wood and covered in sea moss – don’t miss it in Amanda Young’s exquisite, artistic photos.
We’ll let Steph – who looked positively radiant in her gown by Israeli designer Mira Zwillinger – take it from here…
How We Met
Steph, the bride: We met through work! Brett was a producer at a fabrication shop, and I was looking to hire someone to build my company a booth for a trade show. Given the small scale of the project, we never would have needed to meet if not for my pushy creative direction—I figured if I lived a few blocks from the shop, why not go in person and explain my vision? I’m so glad I did, because once I locked eyes with Brett, it was on.
A Wedding on the Beach
We got married in Riviera Maya, at the most beautiful boutique hotel – Chablé Maroma. The hotel is relaxed, spiritual, intimate, private, and located on one of Mexico’s most prized beaches. Brett and I are happiest with our toes in the sand and a saltwater breeze kissing our skin, so it was really a no brainer when it came to envisioning the setting for the wedding. We eventually landed on Chablé for its aesthetic, accessibility, and knowing that our guests would feel pampered during their entire vacation.
Perfectly Planned
It’s funny to say, but had we produced our wedding ourselves without our wedding planning team, the weekend surely would not have been as “us” as it was. We partnered with the unstoppable duo behind Wright & Co who not only understood our creative vision but encouraged us to participate in a lot of the ways we could. Brett and I are both designers, so we got to put our special mark on the weekend by designing and building a lot of the elements ourselves, everything from event programs to welcome bags to table assignment arrangements.
We are at our best when we’re creating something together, so this was the best pre-wedding project. We had some hilarious moments hauling 2 80lb bags of event goods from NYC to Mexico, which will now always be a wedding story we tell. I don’t recommend bringing your own travertine tiles on an international vacation, but at least now we know it can be done!
A Mira Zwillinger Dress
There’s just something that happens when you put on a Mira Zwillinger gown. I can’t explain it, but it had me feeling like Cinderella. I went to Mark Ingram looking for a nontraditional/unique wedding dress and picked the most wedding-y wedding dress they had. It was light but enormous. It was feminine and cool. It had lace, but the most unique lace I’d ever seen! It fit my body perfectly and yet transformed me into something I had never seen before when I looked at the mirror. The dress was a strapless version of Mira’s Jordi gown, which the team made exclusively for Mark Ingram. Shoutout to Tammy at Mark Ingram for pulling this stunning work of art out of a hat from my extremely poor direction.
Ceremony & Chuppah
We used my father’s tallit as the cover of the chuppah, which was used at my stepsister’s wedding the weekend before ours, and my step-cousin’s wedding a month later (suffice to say our family had a very busy wedding season this year). Our kiddush cup came from my great-great-grandmother on my mom’s side. And I never even saw this because I was so overwhelmed with emotions, but we had a pianist playing piano on the beach for the processional! She agreed to learn (in secret) Brett’s favorite song — ‘This must be the place’ by Talking Heads — which he walked down the aisle to.
As I watched him from behind, I could see in his body language the moment he realized what song it was. We put the chuppah design in our planner’s extremely capable hands. We opted for a more sustainable option than flowers, so the structure was made from locally sourced wood and covered in a beautiful sea moss, I’ve never seen anything like it. I was so happy we entrusted our planner, Danielle, to create this magic, it’s really nice to have a few surprises on your wedding day.
Ketubah
We had the most magical embroidered ketubah made by Brit Yudell from BritColors. I’ll share what I wrote to Brit when we found her work: Brett and I are both creatives too—he does custom fabrication and I am a creative director, and it’s actually how we met. Design is absolutely our love language. It has put a lot of pressure on the visual decisions for the wedding, but the ketubah was our easiest decision. We saw the Desert embroidered ketubah and knew it was it. We took our first trip together to Marrakech and fell in love with the Sahara desert and Moorish architecture. It’s been thematic in our 6 years together, and clearly no different in our choice of ketubah.
On a less design-y note, you may have noticed from Brett’s Hebrew name that he is a Jew by choice. We are so lucky to have him. Well, timing is everything, because Brett became a Jew on Oct 5. Oct 6 we went to synagogue to celebrate. And then woke up Oct 7 to a forever changed reality of being Jewish. Not the best introduction, but there’s something especially beautiful in choosing Judaism despite the impossible challenges. Speaking of choices, Brett also chose the name Moshe after his father, Mark z”l, who passed away 10 days prior to his conversion, on Yom Kippur. The ketubah is the first document we’ll actually see Brett named in this way, so it will be very meaningful for that reason, too. So yeah, it was something special.
Our music choice
We had so much music at the wedding! A pianist for the ceremony, a trumpet and drum duo for dinner, and a DJ with accompanying saxophone and keytar players for the party! The music ranged from songs that have significance to our relationship (lots of Queen), throwback jams (Spice Girls), music that fit the beach vibes (Buena Vista Social Club) and then some tunes I’ve been calling Jungle House (check out Coconut Grove by Deep Chills). Our first dance song was ‘You’ve Got me Running in Circles’ by Sonny Cleveland and Brett did in fact, spin me in circles on the dance “floor” (a bunch of Berber-style rugs on the sand under the stars—an homage to our time camping in the Sahara).
Flowers
I totally left the florals up to our planning team, Danielle is a real visionary for this. She partnered with La Musa de las Flores to create sculptural, ikebana-inspired dreamscapes with insanely cool florals + local ingredients that were used in the meal. The only thing more beautiful than the original moodboards were the finished tablescapes.
Photographer
I didn’t even entertain another option other than Amanda Young. Her work is poetry. Every shot tells a story, and an interesting story at that. When I quickly made the connection that she had also photographed my two nieces as newborns in rural Vermont a few years earlier, I knew it was meant to be. In fact, we had Amanda selected before we had a date, a venue, a planning team, or even a country selected! We opted to forego a videographer because we wanted to have certain moments that were just memories. A moment in time and space that happened once and never relived again. And with Amanda’s photos you really don’t need any live footage or audio. There’s great power in suggestion.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Instead of bachelor/bachelorette parties, we opted for a Friendsmoon with 15 of our closest friends immediately after the wedding. On Monday morning we all hopped into a sprinter van and drove 3 hours into the Yucatan peninsula to a gorgeous hacienda in the middle of the jungle.
My two childhood best friends planned 3 days of MAGIC. It was the best way to decompress from the whirlwind weekend and simultaneously keep the party going. That was a real treasure of a trip that connected the dots between different circles of friends, something we’ll remember forever. 15/10 would do again.
STEPH & BRETT’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Amanda Young
Ketubah – BritColors {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Chablé Maroma
Planner – Wright & Co
Bride’s dress – Mira Zwillinger found at Mark Ingram
Flowers – La Musa de las Flores
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
