It’s quite a feat planning a Jewish wedding when you’re living between two countries – which is exactly what jet setting couple Meital, a software engineer, and Gilad, a strategy and technology consultant, did. The pair live between London and Tel Aviv – and to add some extra international flair, Meital’s family is from Brazil.
Despite not being on site in Israel full-time, Meital and Gilad opted to plan their day themselves – and they ended up with the perfect laid-back Israeli wedding, drawing on the gorgeous natural surroundings of their outdoor venue, Mata’im.
Meital and Gilad are both passionate about gender equality, and from the beginning they knew they wanted an egalitarian ceremony. Working with Rabbi Dr. Avital Hochstein, an officiating Rabbi at Chuppot, a Liberal-Orthodox organization that challenges the monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel on religious services, the pair crafted the perfect ceremony to reflect their values. Both bride and groom signed an equal rights ketubah and exchanged rings, and the duo received the traditional seven blessing from female and male family members.
Above and beyond all this, Meital and Gilad’s wedding was just plain fun – you can tell from Shani Zadiakario’s photos that everyone was having a blast from start to finish. And we love that the couple opted to work with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Dana from Colorfool for videography. In the couple’s words, “Throughout the day, Dana demonstrated professionalism, creativity, and a keen eye for detail. In addition, she was easy going and very open to our ideas and edits. In just a few minutes, her video captures important moments from start to end.”
Read on for the full story of this fabulous day!
How We Met
Meital, the bride and Gilad, the groom: It was another long Yom Kippur in Jerusalem. I sat outside and Gilad, wondering too outside the Shul, came along and approached me. We started chatting and got through some of the hardest hours of the fast. A few days later, Gilad texted me and we started dating.
A Natural Venue
We looked for a natural and simple feel. We started considering self-organising our wedding in a farm or open in the nature. We ended up finding Mata’im, situated in Yad Hanadiv National Park. The whole event took place outdoors, starting just before sunset with a Chuppa within an olive grove and later dinner and dancing under the stars.
Theme
We planned the wedding ourselves, with help from family and friends. The wedding got a natural style, sitting in the nature, with plants and herbs on the tables as giveaways. Another aspect of the wedding was catering it for an international and multifaith crowd. Meital’s family is from Brazil and spent many months visiting, living and working in Rio de Janeiro.
My family is from the UK and both Meital and I worked and lived in London and in Cambridge. Family members and friends from our travels and time at Cambridge University flew in from all over the world. Therefore, the Chuppa and speeches were given in Hebrew, English and Portuguese.
Makeup
Make up is by Ayelet Weissman. Ayelet listened attentively to my vision and preferences, ensuring that my makeup perfectly complemented my wedding gown and overall theme. From our initial consultation to the final touch-ups on the big day, Ayelet demonstrated a remarkable level of skill and artistry as well as a calm, good-vibes approach throughout the day.
Dress
I looked for something chic but comfortable, with clean, modern lines and a minimalist vibe. I came across Nolé by Noga, an Israeli designer located in Tel Aviv and fell in love with her beautiful collection. The fitting process with Noga was professional and pleasant, and she managed to work on a tight schedule despite the fact that I was in London most of the time.
Ceremony & Chuppah
As gender equality is an important value for both of us, we imagined an egalitarian ceremony whilst sticking to the Jewish traditional Chuppa. Together with Rabbi Dr. Avital Hochstein who taught Meital at Mechon Hada, we planned the perfect ceremony matching our values. Avital is an officiating Rabbi at Chuppot, a Liberal-Orthodox organization that challenges the monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel on religious services.
The Chuppa was facilitated by Gilad’s brother and led by Avital. We both signed an equal-rights Ketubah, exchanged rings and received the traditional seven blessing from female and male family members. Even though synthesizing religious traditions with our values took some effort, our favourite aspect of the ceremony was actually its simplicity and togetherness taking place in an olive grove under the traditional Tallit covering. The Ketubah was traditional-egalitarian provided by Chuppot.
Our music choice
We had the incredible Elisha Levinson, known as ‘DJ Balaboosta’, at our wedding! He was able to address the Jewish traditional dances and later maneuver between Israeli, British and Brazilian funk, pop and hip-hop. Friends, parents, nephews and nieces, aunts and uncles and even grandmothers danced nearly non-stop until 2 a.m.
Flowers
The venue, Mata’im, has its beauty within the natural park and therefore we did not feel that flowers are necessary. We did however decorate the tables with herb plants from Yagurgan and our guests took them as souvenirs.
Photographer and videographer
We got an excellent recommendation from a close friend who is a professional wildlife photographer. Despite our love for animals, we looked for someone who could capture our moments with great sensitivity to our complex families and social relationships. On the first meeting with Shani Zadiakario we already knew it was a match.
Her photos are very colourful and vibrant and she immediately understood our story and became part of the scene. The result was perfect, she captured all the right moments and was able to convey how much fun we had with excellent quality and lots of colour.
We also used a videographer, Dana from Colorfool, one of Shani’s close colleagues. Throughout the day, Dana demonstrated professionalism, creativity, and a keen eye for detail. In addition, she was easy going and very open to our ideas and edits. In just a few minutes, her video captures important moments from start to end.
Honeymoon
We chose Tanzania as our Honeymoon destination, as It provided a combination of all our favourite things: Hiking, culture, wildlife and beautiful beaches. We started by climbing the Kilimanjaro, went on to Safari at Tanzania’s amazing national parks and finished with diving and chilling on the beaches of Zanzibar. The highlight of the trip was visiting Jane Goddall’s Chimpanze’s research center, located on Lake Tanganyka. We spent 3 full days observing their communities, fascinated by how similar to us they are.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
We planned only one wedding, but we can still think of two pieces of advice that definitely helped us. The first is to make sure you prioritise together the elements you very much want in your wedding. Then focus on those and make them happen, the rest is the rest and it will get sorted. The second is to make sure you actually enjoy this day as a couple. This sounds obvious but it can easily get forgotten. So mark yourselves a few moments you would definitely enjoy, whether the music, the right people surrounding you in a specific moment or an after party.
MEITAL & GILAD’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Shani Zadiakario
Videography – Colorfool {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Mata’im
Bride’s dress – Nolé by Noga
Makeup – Ayelet Weissman
Little plants – Yagurgan
DJ – DJ Balaboosta
Rabbi – Rabbi Dr. Avital Hochstein at Chuppot
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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