Stunning venue alert! New Yorkers Danielle, an artist and dress designer (she’s launching her first dress brand early next year!) and Alex, who works in marketing, met during a year abroad in Israel, and they wanted to hold their Jewish wedding in the country that meant so much to them.
We love that they found their venue, the gorgeous Caesar Yam right here on Smashing The Glass, and the fell in love with the look, feel, warmth, and beauty of the natural surroundings right on the Mediterranean. The couple’s chuppah – designed by Danielle – took place just before sunset against the backdrop of the ocean, and it was really something special. Don’t miss it in the wonderful photos by Haim Afriat and video by Avichai Wechsler.
Danielle and Alex chose Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rabbi Naomi Efrat, who is based in Israel, as their officiant, and they couldn’t be more thrilled with their choice. In Danielle’s words, Rabbi Efrat is “the kindest and most wonderful rabbi… She is truly incredible, warm, knowledgeable, an amazing communicator, her English is perfect, and we are so honored to have had her be our rabbi for our magical wedding and Auf Ruf a few days before!!!” It doesn’t get much better than that!
How We Met
Danielle, the bride: In 2013, Alex and I met on a gap year program in Israel, called Young Judaea Year Course, after high school! We started dating while we were living in Jerusalem with only a month left before returning home but even that early on we both knew we were in love! 💕 We complete each other and have been on the most wonderful journey together since! When we returned to the US we both went to college in NYC and have been together ever since!!
Venue
We got married at Caesar Yam in Caesarea, Israel! When we first began researching wedding venues in Israel, we actually found the venue through a Smashing the Glass article and we instantly fell in love with the look, feel, warmth, and beauty of the venue right on the Mediterranean.
We booked a trip to Israel for vacation and to choose and finalize our venue – we had seen several other venues but the moment we set foot in Caesar Yam both of us knew it was the one. The beauty of the venue with the backdrop of the ocean, the ancient stone buildings and pathways, and the whole feeling made the venue feel like it was straight out of a dream. Before we had to fly back home, we booked the venue and were able to join the food tasting – it was out of this world!!! The presentation, the flavor, the variety, and also the number of gluten free options for Danielle, truly took the venue over the top!!!
Avichai, Avi, Eli, and everyone at Caesar Yam brought our dream into a reality and were truly wonderful to work with. We initially considered having a wedding planner but the Caesar Yam team is first class and handled everything wonderfully. We can’t recommend them highly enough!!!
For our getting ready venue we got ready at Hatira (the Castle) – about 20 minutes away. It was a magnificent 11th century castle and the perfect location to setup for the day and to capture our getting ready photos, video, hair and makeup. The castle, garden, pool, and pond really made for incredible photos. The archway of the castle was where we had our first look!!
Theme
Both of us are artists and creatives so we had a very particular aesthetic and color palette. For the visuals, Danielle created a detailed visual document from everything from the floral arrangements and types of flowers, colors, chairs, stage for the chuppah, every single detail was thoughtful and intentional. We did not work with a wedding planner but we didn’t feel it was necessary at all. Alex speaks enough Hebrew and was able to help communicate with some of our vendors but honestly we could have gotten by perfectly fine in English – maybe with a little help from google translate :). For our color theme we went with navy for the dresses and to represent the ocean, then very classic colors for the flowers with a focus on white, pink, blue, and nice dash of lavender and greenery to bring in the natural element. Eli from Caesar Yam was our day of coordinator and was a pleasure to work with and kept the wedding flowing perfectly.
Invitation/Stationery
Our invitations were gorgeous!!! They were a champagne color with debossed flowers and we loved it the moment we saw them. We had gone through dozens of examples until we landed on these!!
Hair + Makeup
Danielle did her own hair and makeup!
Dress
Danielle’s dress was from Nicole Milano – the Gea gown. It was the second dress Danielle ever tried on and she immediately fell in love with it the moment she put it on. She had always dreamed of a princess dress and this was truly the one.
Accessories
Both Alex and Danielle’s rings and Danielle’s engagement ring were custom made by one of Alex’s family friends – he’s Israeli too!
Shoes
Danielle wore her Nicole Milano dress with a pair of white canvas sneakers to make sure she could comfortably dance all night and she’s so glad she decided to wear sneakers (especially since you could rarely see the shoes under the dress)!!
The handsome groom
Alex wore his tuxedo from SuitSupply and his shoes were the Black Lincoln Penny Loafers from Thursday Boot Company (the company Alex works for!). He also wore his Saba’s watch who had recently passed so he was able to have a piece to bring with him to the wedding.
Bridesmaids
Danielle had her maid of honor, Taylor, who wore a navy blue dress to tie in with the theme and to match the dress colors of both Mother of the Bride and Mother of the Groom.
Ceremony & Chuppah
Our chuppah was set with the ocean just steps behind it. Haim, our photographer, recommended the timing for the ceremony to take place just before the sun began to set so we had the full array of beautiful blue tones that transitioned into the gorgeous sunset colors throughout the chuppah ceremony. We arranged the chuppah to be set on a white stage with the line of flowers that ran down the aisle and up to the chuppah. Every detail of the chuppah was designed by Danielle and having her design come to life made both of us so happy and excited to see it and get married beneath the chuppah!!! We can’t choose just one favorite part because everything was so special – from the beautiful view and decor, being surrounded by our family and friends, our favorite song, Mazal, being sung live as Danielle walked down the aisle, the music and violin softly playing live, to the feeling being married in our favorite country in the world, our wonderful Rabbi, Rabbi Naomi Efrat, who we have come to love and know so very well (and we still keep in touch!), the sun setting and releasing the beautiful warm colors, there was nothing as magical as our ceremony!!
Rabbi Naomi Efrat is the kindest and most wonderful rabbi!! We worked with Rabbi Naomi for a couple of years leading up to the wedding and we frequently met on zoom calls to prepare so we got to know each other very well! She is truly incredible, warm, knowledgeable, an amazing communicator, her English is perfect, and we are so honored to have had her be our rabbi for our magical wedding and Auf Ruf a few days before!!! We can’t recommend her highly enough!!
Ketubah
We loved the light blue and dash of green in the ketubah – we loved the design the moment we saw it and realized it felt like the physical representation of our wedding and the beautiful Mediterranean water. Coincidentally the ketubah design is very similar to Alex’s parent’s ketubah design which we hadn’t realized when we originally chose the ketubah – that added an extra layer of warmth. Danielle’s maid of honor, Taylor, and one of Alex’s closest friends, Avraham, signed the ketubah. Our ketubah was designed by “KetubaLove” on Etsy and they did such an amazing job and were wonderful to communicate with. We love the beauty and vibrancy of the colors and could not be happier!! It looks so wonderful in our home.
Our music choice
DJ Shimi from Mayo Music is the best DJ!!! He is incredibly talented, superb with communication, and one of the kindest people we’ve ever worked with!! He’s truly the number one DJ in Israel!!! He brought all of our music to life, created an amazing energy the whole night that kept people dancing the entire time, and he found us the perfect singer, violinist, and saxophone player!!
Flowers
Danielle had a very particular and detailed vision for all the flowers and all the details to include for the decor and floral arrangements for the wedding. Shira from Hoana Events was the florist and she has an exquisite level of detail and brought Danielle’s vision to life so wonderfully. Her flowers and designs were truly stunning!!!
Photographer and videographer
Haim Afriat was our photographer and Avichai Wechsler was our videographer. They are truly world class. Haim went above and beyond as our photographer and helped guide us with the selection of Hatira for the getting ready venue, he built the schedule for the day to ensure we had enough time to capture all the moments and details from morning to night. He not only captured the beauty and feeling of the wedding but also the took so many stunning detail shots of the decor so every time we look back at the photos we feel like we’re right back in those moments!! The photos are stunning and like works of art. Avichai is an incredible videographer and did such an amazing job capturing every moment from getting ready, to the first look and reveal, to the chuppah, and party – we often rewatch our wedding video with such joy!! Haim and Avichai work very well together and are a remarkable duo, they’re incredibly kind, hyper detailed, and we can’t recommend them highly enough!!
Food and cake
Caesar Yam catered the event and their food is out of this world!!
Our cake was the most gorgeous cake we have ever seen and most delicious cake we’ve ever tasted!!! And it was all gluten free by our request and you would never know!!! Mariana of Mariana Cakes Designer is such a talented artist and brought our vision of the cake to life so incredibly!!! The cake was all white and each layer was a different flavor: rich chocolate, pecan carrot cake with vanilla cream, and pistachio cake with pistachio cream and raspberry coulis. It was truly out of this world!!!
Wedding List/Registry
We used The Knot for our wedding list and registry and Paperless Post to send our Save the Date emails. One tip we learned: we focused our registry on items from Bloomingdales since on most remaining items not gifted you can receive a discount for 6 months!
Honeymoon
We spent a week in Israel leading up to the wedding and then we flew to Italy for 2 weeks! We spent a week in Puglia and a week in Sicily. We had a wonderful honeymoon but the moment we left Israel we had a yearning to get back as soon as possible!!!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Everyone always told us to just stop and enjoy the moments of the day because it goes by so quickly. They were absolutely right!!! We started the day early, we blinked, and then suddenly the last song was playing.
Also a very big recommendation: eat the food!!! Before the wedding we told ourselves we need to ensure we eat the food and we are so glad we did. It was the best meal we ever ate and we often think back about that wonderful meal!!
DANIELLE & ALEX’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Haim Afriat
Videography – Avichai Wechsler
Rabbi – Rabbi Naomi Efrat
Ketubah – KetubaLove
Venue – Caesar Yam
Getting ready venue – Hatira (the Castle)
Bride’s dress – Nicole Milano
Groom’s attire – SuitSupply and Thursday Boot Company
Flowers – Hoana Events
DJ – Mayo Music
Cake – Mariana Cakes Designer
Wedding List/Registry – The Knot
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.
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