It’s always a special day when we get to blog the real Jewish wedding of one of our wonderful Brides Club members, and today it’s Sami’s turn!.
Sami and Toby (#happilywebberafter) had the most wonderful big day, and we’re so thrilled to be able to share it with you. We’re also totally blushing at Sami’s kind words about the club:
“It was so heart-warming to have lots of lovely ladies around you sharing the build up and excitement. I feel like it is one big family and everyone wants the best for everyone else and their wedding!”
We think Brides Club is pretty special too – and the doors are open for new members to join (we now have almost 200 members!). Do come on in and join us too! If you’re planning a Jewish or Jew-ish wedding, it’s truly an incredible resource and community and we are offering 30 free days to every bride-to-be if you join before this Monday 11 June!
But back to Sami’s wonderful wedding – we’re pretty jazzed that she and Toby worked with so many of our very favourite UK-based Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors, from the amazing Jonny Mosesson, who sang during the chuppah (and we totally agree with Sami’s description of him as having the voice of an angel!) to The Function Band, who created an electric atmosphere that kept everyone dancing from start to finish, and videographer Denee Motion, who not only captured the emotion and energy of the wedding so perfectly (don’t miss their trailer!) but also developed a wonderful friendship with the couple over the buildup to their wedding.
We’re thrilled that Sami had a fantastic experience shopping for her Monique Lhuillier gown at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Wedding Club – she’d had a preventative double mastectomy prior to the wedding, so it wasn’t a given that wedding dress shopping would be smooth sailing. In fact, Sami’s experience was so wonderful that since the big day she’s left her old job in fashion buying to work for The Wedding Club, where she’s now store manager and runs operations for both of their London boutiques!
As joyful as this wedding was, the fact that Sami’s mum tragically passed away from cancer 5 and a half years prior cast a bittersweet shadow. We love that Toby bought Sami a locket with a photo of her mum to attach to her bouquet so they could still walk down the aisle together – what a meaningful touch.
There’s so much more to this fab celebration, but you’ll have to read Sami’s beautiful writeup (and immerse yourself in Paul Toeman’s wonderful photos) for the rest…
How we met
Sami, the bride: Toby and I met in a club in Birmingham, he was in his first year of university and I was on my gap year. We got on straight away, although at the time I was with somebody else. It started as an incredibly strong friendship, and after a year and a half (by which time my other relationship had ended), it turned into love, and we haven’t looked back since.
A Modern Classic Venue
We decided to get married at The Grove Hotel in Chandler’s Cross. From the moment we arrived we really did fall in love, from the drive up to the hotel overseeing all of the grounds, the beautiful modern yet classic decor in the hotel and the warm feel that the Amber Suite gave us.
Burgundy and Gold
We did not use a wedding planner, Toby and I along with our parents’ help organised the wedding, of course with advice from all of the vendors that we sourced along the way – my dad was pretty much our wedding planner with his huge file (as referenced by Toby in his speech as ‘Mr David wedding file Burack’!). On the day we had a co-ordinator provided by our caterer who along with our toastmaster helped to tie everything together.
Burgundy is one of Toby’s favourite colours, and gold is already used a lot around the The Grove, so we chose burgundy and gold as our colour scheme. We had burgundy bow ties for the ushers and burgundy dresses for the bridesmaids. The page boy also wore a burgundy velvet blazer!
The Grove also shouted forest vibes to us with that wall in the room, so we used a lot of wooden decoration. All flowers were white/ivory with a lot of gypsophila and foliage in them, we fell in love with the mini tree slabs that we placed down the aisle with white rose petals and tall candles, and on the tables we had a mixture of candles and trees with wooden hearts surrounding them. It really tied the room together when you mixed the white/ivory, the foliage and the wood, along with the subtle hints of burgundy and gold.
WHY I LOVED BEING A MEMBER OF ‘SMASHING THE GLASS’ BRIDES CLUB
Being a member of the Smashing the Glass Brides Club has been so special, although I sadly discovered this quite late on in my wedding journey, it was still so interesting and heart-warming to have lots of lovely ladies around you sharing the build up and excitement. It has also been incredibly useful to hear other people’s opinions on certain topics – I feel like it is one big family and everyone wants the best for everyone else and their wedding!
Invitation
We decided to keep the invitations in line with the colour scheme for the wedding, therefore burgundy text and a burgundy trim were incorporated into our final design. Toby and I discussed that we wanted an element of the invitation to be ‘unique’. We decided to tie a piece of brown string around the middle of each one with a bow on the front to ‘tie in’ with the rustic wooden vibe of the venue.
A Monique Lhuillier Dress
I have been obsessed with wedding dress design since I was at school! So when it came to looking for my dress, I really thought that I knew exactly what I wanted. I thought I wanted a form fitting dress with long sleeves and all over lace. I ended up buying a Monique Lhuillier gown through The Wedding Club, I was right with the form fitting shape, a mermaid shape, but instead it was sleeveless with a subtle v-front, a deep v-back and completely plain satin all over! I couldn’t believe how much I prefered the simplistic look, but when I put it on it simply took my breath away. I’d been to 3 other shops before this so tried quite a few, and this was the first time when I looked in the mirror that I could picture myself walking down the aisle towards Toby. The Wedding Club and Tess from Chalk White Bridal who tailored my dress were both fantastic in making my dress perfect for me .
I had a preventative double mastectomy last June, so for me fitting into my dress was a huge relief and I hadn’t felt so beautiful since I’d had the op – actually ever! So that was special for me and Toby also.
Accessories
For my hair, I found a beautiful pearl and silver hair piece on Etsy and used this at the back of my hair where half of it was pinned up. For my jewellery, I wanted to keep things really simple so that my dress was the focus, especially as the hair piece matched the belt on my dress. I wore my wedding and engagement bands and also the pearl earrings that my mum wore on her wedding day. I lost my beautiful mum 5 and a half years ago to cancer, so this was one of a few things we did to make sure she was a part of our special day.
Sophia Webster Shoes
The problem with this… is that I am so tall! So shoes was quite a difficult task for me because I am quite literally shoe obsessed and anything of a much smaller height was not appealing to me. So I decided to stop caring about my height, Toby loves me for who I am and will not care if I’m slightly taller than him on our wedding day.
Therefore, when I found my dream pair of shoes from Sophia Webster, I jumped at the chance to buy them. They are closed toe stiletto’s, the body of the shoe is all over white lace, and the heel is silver crystal beads. Considering my dress was so plain I had set my mind on a lace shoe to jazz it up a bit and mix up the textures, so I had died and gone to heaven when I saw these! Although the tall issue did end up bothering me a little on the day, they are still my dream shoes and I don’t regret buying or wearing them. Dreamy!
Hair + Makeup
It was incredibly important to me to choose people for hair and make up who not only came well recommended and were trustworthy, but who was also were lovely people as they were going to spend my entire morning getting ready with me.
For hair, I decided to book Kym Mullem. I know her through Toby’s mum, and therefore knew just how fantastic at her job she was as well as would never let me down! I wanted to make sure that I still looked like myself on my wedding day, so I decided against an up-do. After having a trial with Kym we went with subtle curls, half up half down, a little volume at the top, and subtle hairs on my hair line falling on my face. It really did suit me perfectly, it stopped me from playing with my hair all night, and it did not move! She also talked my sister through taking my veil out to ensure we knew what to do which was super helpful.
For makeup, Allie Sharp came recommended to me from my aunty. I asked her to hold the date for me before we had a trial, and from the moment we met we got on like a house on fire, she is just the sweetest person in the world. We decided on a subtle look (considering Toby prefers me with as little makeup on as possible!), but with a pink cheek to lift the face and with a subtle smokey look on the eyelid also. On the day she was the calmest I’ve ever seen anyone in life! Which was super helpful in keeping me calm too. She gave me a little kit to have at the wedding party to top up my face if needed, and she stayed until we went into the party also to top me up post-ceremony crying! I used ‘Penelope Pink’ from Charlotte Tilbury as my choice of lipstick, I had this in my little kit to top up through the night. Both my hair and make up quite literally lasted me until the next morning, they are both absolute superstars.
The handsome groom
I’m sure every wife says this about their husband, but Toby looked SO dapper, so so handsome. He was wearing from head to toe:
- bow tie, Mrs Bow Tie
- jacket, Hugo Boss
- waistcoat, Dobell
- shirt, Suit Supply
- trousers and shoes, Moss Bros
He simply looked so gorgeous.
Bridesmaids in Burgundy
I had 8 bridesmaids, including my maid of honour, who was my sister. I know 8 is a lot and I was regularly laughed at for it, but it meant a lot to me to not only have my sister and now sister in law included, but to have my 6 girlfriends that have been with me since my childhood. I wanted them to share my special day with me. It was the best decision I ever made, and they all made my day extra special.
As my sister was the maid of honour I wanted her to feel that little bit more special than the rest, her dress was actually from Fonthill Road! Highly recommend going there to look around. The rest of the bridesmaids wore the same dress and these were from TFNC. All were in burgundy to match the colour scheme.
Badeken
Toby is quite traditional, so he really wanted us to be separated for a week before the wedding to make the moment we saw each other on the wedding day even more special. So for a whole week Toby moved back to his mum’s and we didn’t see or speak to each other the entire week.
The moment that he walked through the door into the badeken room was a moment I will remember for the rest of our lives. He burst into tears and came straight over to me and hugged me, then told me I looked so incredibly beautiful and that he was so proud to be becoming my husband. I had a preventative double mastectomy last June, so he also commented about how incredible I looked following on from this, considering he knew it was quite a complex of mine which made me feel even more special. In our true Sami and Toby style, the minute I entered the room and we locked eyes on each other down the aisle, we started laughing and our faces were beaming! We were just so excited and couldn’t wait to become husband and wife.
Rustic Flowers
Alexandra is just amazing, hence why we decided to proceed with booking her. She is patient, she shows you so many different styles, and she is good at giving advice for the type of wedding you want. We liked a few different chuppah designs, but when we decided to take the wedding down the route of the rustic vibe, we wanted to ensure it tied in with this. Therefore we decided against anything ultra modern such as perspex, and wanting to stick with the twig and floral look. She executed it so perfectly!
Voice of an Angel
We got our ketubah through our synagogue as we again wanted the traditional document. But we included special moments or touches into our wedding in other ways. When Jonny sung ‘Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim’, it gave me goosebumps and would probably have been our favourite part of the actual chuppah ceremony along with Toby smashing the glass! Jonny Mosesson has the voice of an angel, he brought tears to both of our eyes the whole way through.
Our music choice
- We spent so much time going back and forth on music, we wanted to make sure that all the songs suited us! We chose the following:
- Groom and procession down the aisle – ‘Meheira’
- Me walking down the aisle – ‘Boi Kala’ to the tune of ‘Hallelujah’
- Entrance to the party – ‘This Girl’ by Kungs vs. Cookin’ on 3 Burners – we wanted something upbeat that everybody could really clap along to
- First dance – ‘A Million Dreams’ from The Greatest Showman (acoustic version) – we love this film and song so much, it really is one of our most special songs
- Last song – ‘Hey Jude’ by The Beatles (ended up having an encore with ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers) – in our opinion the ONLY way to end a great night!
Flowers
As mentioned above for our chuppah, Alexandra really is a magician with flowers, everything looked perfect. We ended up choosing roses, gypsophila and foliage for the bouquets, mine included the additional of calla lillies as I love calla lillies! For the buttonholes, we decided on a single calla lilly with foliage behind it. Down the aisle there were round tree slabs with tall candles in them and scattered rose petals. Table centres included a mixture of three styles including flowers and candles, wrought iron stands with floating candles and taller trees! We chose these to vary the heights around the room. We also scattered mini wooden hearts on the tables to enhance our ‘rustic’ theme.
Photographer
Our photographer was Paul Toeman. Before we’d even met him I had seen his work and told Toby how beautiful I thought his photos were. I put an appointment in the diary with him pretty soon after getting engaged, we got on like a house on fire with him when he came over, and we booked! We saw him a lot following on from that at other friend’s weddings or events, and we formed an amazing bond with him and the team! By the time our day came around it felt to Toby and I like actual friends of ours were photographing our special day and that meant so much to us. Paul and his team helped to capture incredible photos, and we will cherish them forever.
Videography
For video, we chose Denee Motion. Not only because they had been recommended to me by Paul, but because I had also seen their work before and they looked amazing! Similar story to Paul, our bond with Denis and Max grew over the year after we’d booked them at other weddings or events and we have a great friendship with them too. It’s nice to know that the people you’ve hired are trustworthy and super friendly! They moved around the room so subtly, and perfectly captured the best moments of our special day. We are obsessed with our trailer and cannot stop watching it!
Pizza
Entertainment
When it came to choosing a band, all we cared about was talent and atmosphere. And my goodness The Function Band most certainly have both incredible talent and also the capability to create an absolutely ELECTRIC atmosphere! We had to trust our gut instinct after seeing them at a soundcheck, but it was the best decision we ever made. They were insane, everybody was smiling and dancing from start to finish as well as playing special songs to us such as ‘Dancing Queen’ (made me think of mum!), they even learnt the acoustic version of ‘A Million Dreams’ for us for our first dance and they partied hard with us from start to finish.
Hashtag Favours
Because of the number of guests invited we decided not to purchase favours for every guest. However, we gifted extra things to our parents, the groomsmen and bridal party. We ordered mini packs of love hearts that had our wedding date and hashtag on them. I ordered additional photo cards for my bridesmaids and had the caterer place them at their place setting. The ushers were gifted a set of golf balls with our hashtag on them. We made personalised hangers for the parents and the bridesmaids that had their name, wedding date and their role in the wedding on. All of these little details meant so much to them and it’s a nice keepsake for them all to have!
Remembering my mum
Unfortunately 5 and a half years ago my beautiful mum passed away from cancer, so from day one it’s always been a little bit bitter sweet for us. To ensure mum was not left out or forgotten, she was not only mentioned numerous times in speeches throughout the day, but Toby bought me a beautiful locket with a photo of her in it that I attached to my bouquet so that she walked down the aisle with me. It meant the world to me and I will cherish both that moment and the locket forever. For any bride who has lost a parent, it really is such a beautiful touch.
A Whole New World
We are massive Disney and musical theatre lovers, so we wanted to make sure that our band got a few of these songs in but not in a cringey way. So we had the band playing some acoustic versions of songs in between their sets whilst guests were eating, even my cousin who led grace after meals started it to the tune of ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin as a surprise to us! Our first dance was an acoustic version of ‘A Million Dreams’ from The Greatest Showman, it was an incredibly special moment for both of us.
Involving family and friends
We made sure that friends or family that we wanted involved in the wedding were involved in every single part of our wedding day, so whether that was the groomsmen or bridal party, witnessing, or speeches/Sheva Brachot, they were all involved. It made everyone happy, including Toby and I.
Bride’s speech
I did a speech at the end of the night, just the usual thank you’s and expressing my absolute high of happiness to the world! But as I am a singer, everyone was shouting at me to sing a song which was so hilarious! Sadly I didn’t give in though, I was too nervous!
Honeymoon in Thailand
5 and a half years ago Toby and I had booked Thailand in the summer and had so been looking forward to it. Unfortunately, when my mum became severely unwell we felt it was best to cancel it. Therefore when it came to choosing our honeymoon, this really was a no brainer. We decided to go straight after the wedding! We booked our own flights with British Airways and all of the hotels and transfers were organised by Sharron at Abbott’s Travel. She was incredible and everything ran so seamlessly whilst we were away. We stayed in some of the most gorgeous hotels, our favourites being:
- The Village Resort & Spa, Phuket
- Elephant Hills experience in Khao Sok – the most incredible experience ever!
- Santhiya, Koh Yao Yai
- X2 Resort, Koh Samui
- Banyan Tree, Bangkok
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
The day just comes and goes, I would do it all over again a million times if I could. The best advice that I could give is that at least once (maybe twice) during the night, take a good minute or two with your new husband to stop and look around the room, look at the decor, the tables and all of your guests and take it in. You want to remember those moments for the rest of your life, you don’t want to look back and just see a blur!
Sami & Toby’s little white book
Photography – Paul Toeman Photographers
Videography – Denee Motion {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Chazzan – Jonny Mosesson {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Bride’s dress – Monique Lhuillier purchased at The Wedding Club {waives appointment fee and offers 10% discount off accessories to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club} and tailored with Chalk White Bridal (through The Wedding Club)
Band – The Function Band
Venue – The Grove Hotel
Production – Just Smile
Bride’s shoes – Sophia Webster
Groom’s attire – Mrs Bow Tie, Hugo Boss, Moss Bros, Suit Supply, Dobell
Bridesmaids – TFNC
Hair + Makeup – Kym Mullem and Allie Sharp
Bridesmaids Hair + Makeup – Keely Acton-Bloom and Sasha Keene
Flowers – Alexandra’s Florist
Catering – Philip Small
Toastmaster – Jango Gazdar
Welcome sign – Penguins and Cheese
Light up letters – Bespoke Light Up Letters
Invitations – Suzie Andrews
Honeymoon – The Village Resort & Spa, Elephant Hills, Santhiya, X2 Resort, Banyan Tree organised by Abbott’s Travel
Thank you Karen for featuring us ✨✨✨