Here at Smashing The Glass, we don’t use the word “luxe” lightly, but that is the only way to describe Della and Benjamin’s divine and decadent colorful Jewish wedding.
Not many brides can say they met the dress before they met the man, but that’s exactly what happened to bride Della, who fell in love with her Pnina Tornai gown five years before the pair actually met! It was totally worth the wait – Della looked simply incredible.
And her wedding was as extraordinary as her dress! The celebration was held at the glamorous Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, and was brought together by incredible planner, L’Amour Event,
We’ve seen many a stunning chuppah in our time, but Della and Benjamin went all out, with a show-stopping garden-themed and foliage-rich chuppah, bursting with pops of color in the couple’s ‘shades of pink’ color palette. Butterfly Floral displayed ridiculous levels of talent in creating the absolute vision, and the complementary arrangements around the venue.
The fabulous floristry was echoed in the couple’s sensational seven-tier cake by Joanie and Leigh’s Cakes, also an absolute work of art.
All of the magic and dà©cor details were captured with aplomb by photographer John Solano, and in the beautiful, cinematic wedding video below, provided by David Medill.
It’s time to pass you over to Della for the full story on her and Ben’s magical day – we just know you’ll love it as much as we do!
A venue with a beautiful ballroom
Della, the bride: We got married at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA. We choose this place because of the ballroom layout. I liked that it was three levels and everyone was on a higher level than the dance floor, so they would all have a good seat at our wedding.
Bright colors and chandeliers
I love colors and I was tired of the same old classic white wedding, so I wanted mine to be different, happy, loud, exciting. I choose the colors for my flowers as shades of pinks and I wanted my chuppah to have the same colors, but to look like a garden, hence the greens.
I also love chandeliers, so I made sure our aisle had four chandeliers and on top of our dance floor we had fives large ones. We had a planner, L’Amour Event.
Meeting the dress before the husband
My dress was Pnina Tornai. Five years before I met Ben, I saw this dress and took a picture of it. When we got engaged, I tried to find the dress in LA, but realized the only place I can try it on is at Kleinfeld in NYC.
Ben’s family lives in NYC, so for Rosh Hashana we went to NYC and I made an appointment to try on the dress. I loved it but it was out of our budget and it was the first dress I tried on as a bride. We came back to LA and I must have tried on 50-100 more wedding gowns but I couldn’t get my mind off this dress. Ben then surprised me by ordering the dress for me. I loved the lace and pearls on the gown.
Bridesmaids in hunter green
I had all my bridesmaids wear hunter green dresses to go with the garden look.
A spectacular floral chuppah
I wanted our chuppah to be very garden like, but still filled with colors. So Inna, the owner of Butterfly Floral helped me design it.
Private vows
Our Ketubah was hand made by Ketubah’s by Melody.
My favorite part of the ceremony was when my parents gave me away to Ben. I am the youngest of four children and the last one living at home with my parents. It was a very special moment for me. Our ceremony had a special touch by having chandeliers on our aisle.
Ben and I decided to give our vows to each other privately and not under the chuppah. It was something we wanted to keep for ourselves.
Our fabulous photographer…
Our photographer was John Solano. I met with a few and John had the best attitude. He was very happy and I loved his work. I decided I wanted to work with someone happy and positive, espcially on the day of our wedding. I had heard stories of others having demanding a negative photographers and I didnt want to experience that on my day.
…and videographer
David Medill was our videographer.
A packed dance floor
Special touches were the menus, I didn’t want people to sit down, I wanted them around us and having a good time, so our menus read: “Your seat is here, but your place is on the dance floor.” then described the food. Our dance floor was packed the entire night. We were having such a good time that we were on the stage 30% of the time dancing with our guests.
A maid of honor speech
My best friend of 20 years gave a speech at my wedding. She was my maid of honor.
A seven-tier cake
We had three types of French fries instead of having salad prior to dinner, which was a blast.
Our cake was seven tiers and open faced, it was filled with the same flowers as our chuppah. Made by Joanie and Leigh’s Cakes.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Have fun, enjoy the process, be positive and don’t let anything negatively affect this sweet period of your life. Everything comes together in the end! Lastly, make sure to appreciate everyone around you, especially your partner and the love you have for one another.
Della & Ben’s little white book
Photography – John Solano
Videography – David Medill
Wedding planner – L’Amour Event
Venue – Beverly Hilton
Bride’s dress – Pnina Tornai purchased at Kleinfield
Hair + Makeup – Seanara Salon and Make up by Marine M
Flowers – Butterfly Floral
Cake – Joanie and Leigh’s Cakes
Ketubah – Ketubah’s by Melody
Lighting – Amber Events
What a great wedding video really enjoyed watching it!