We love it when a couple works to combine their backgrounds into a totally unique wedding that’s 100% them, so naturally we are so excited to feature today’s beautiful Indian-Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Wendy, who works on HR software, to Nagesh, who works in healthcare data analytics.
Wendy is Jewish, Nagesh is Indian, and the pair made it top priority to ensure both cultures were represented in their celebration. They incorporated Hebrew and Hindi text wherever they could, and used symbols that reflected both cultures throughout their stationery and design. For their rehearsal dinner, they held an Indian sangeet, a musical pre-wedding party, at an Indian restaurant. The couple wore traditional Indian dress and encouraged their guests to follow suit, and they even brought in Indian dancers to help get everyone on the dance floor.
Then, the next day, the pair had the most stunning outdoor chuppah overlooking the Pacific Ocean – seriously, don’t miss the epic imagery from photographer Laurie Bailey and videographer Yours Truly Media – with so many beautiful personal touches, from their cantor, who officiated, including the couple’s own words about their hopes for married life that she’d requested they write in advance, inviting friends and family to read the seven blessings in English after their cantor read them in the original Hebrew, and using Wendy’s great-grandparents’ gold wedding bands.
And did we mention that Wendy looked absolutely stunning in her Romona Keveza gown? Because she most definitely did.
Take it away, STG Brides Club member Wendy! (and if you want to join Brides Club (STG’s members-only community that removes wedstress and indecision, and gives you what you need to plan with confidence, join here. We’re closing the doors to free entry on Thursday so now is the time!).
How We Met
Wendy, the bride: Nagesh and I met in our MBA program at the University of Maryland in 2015. We hit it off as soon as classes started and the rest is history!
California Vibes
Our venue was the beautiful and amazing Bel Air Bay Club – Nagesh and I love the beach, and he proposed on a hike in Malibu not too far from the venue. When we toured it we knew instantly that it would help us create the perfect California vibe we wanted. Although we have only lived in LA for a few years, we wanted our venue and location to reflect that this is where we are building our lives together, rather than hosting in my hometown or his (which would have been very far away!).
An Indian-Jewish Wedding
We did a lot of research and ideation ourselves, and it was very important to us that our wedding reflected us. Once you get into the wedding research, everything begins to look the same. Since Nagesh is Indian, and my family is very traditionally Jewish we wanted to ensure that both cultures were represented.
Our rehearsal dinner, which was a big part of our wedding weekend, was our version of an Indian Sangeet. We wore traditional Indian dress that we purchased on a visit to India and encouraged all our guests to wear Indian dress as well. We hosted the dinner at The Spice Affair, a classy Indian restaurant with delicious food and space for a dancefloor.
We surprised our guests with some Indian dancers, since there is generally dancing at a Sangeet and they got everyone up and dancing to our favorite Bollywood songs. This was super important to us because it set the tone for the wedding the next day – we wanted lots of energy!
Nagesh and I have a pug, Shimi (named after the late Shimon Peres), and we really wanted to include her in our day. We hired Black Tie Pups to bring her to/from the venue so we could take photos with her. A friend of mine did this at her wedding and I loved it!
We included not only our dog, Shimi, but also my parents’ dog, Snoopy, who is a bit of a family mascot. We named our signature drinks after them and got cute signs from Etsy.
A lot of the personalization of the weekend came from incorporating Hebrew and Hindi wherever we could and using symbols that reflected our cultures and us as a couple.
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
The most valuable part of being in Brides Club was the community! I did reference a lot of the resources but I found that having a place I could crowdsource ideas and feedback and sometimes just vent about the frustrations of wedding planning was super helpful!
I got great ideas that I used on our invitations and programs. It also felt great to help other brides with their questions and concerns and have a place for unbiased support!
Invitation
We worked with the most wonderful invitation vendor, Invitation Maven, or Marlene as we now know her, to design a custom invitation that we loved! We had gone through the whole design process only to discover when it came time to place the order that the paper was discontinued. Marlene leapt into action, we met the next day and hammered out the adjustments for the design on new paper.
She created a logo of our names that we used on all our stationary and postage stamps. My favorite personalized touches were that we put my name in Hebrew and Nagesh’s in Hindi underneath our English names, in addition to having a tiny Ganesh and B’H in the top corners nodding to both our cultures. The stationary was simple and elegant with touches of our color scheme throughout. Our programs matched as well.
Hair + Makeup
For hair and makeup for both my Sangeet look and my wedding look, I used Celina from Design Vissage. She was such a pleasure to work with and we really bonded during my trial. She let me experiment with a few looks and encouraged me to vocalize exactly what I wanted. After a lot of research for hair and makeup artists, I chose them because they were within my budget and seemed easy to work with with lots of positive reviews. I would highly recommend them to any SoCal Bride!
A Romona Keveza Dress
While we live in LA, my family lives in Dallas and so I went to try on dresses with my mom, grandmother and MOH on a trip home. I found a Romona Keveza dress that I loved and felt comfortable wearing. I looked at a few others back in LA and ultimately nothing compared to that one.
I found a small boutique in Santa Monica, En Blanc, that was able to order the sample for me to try on again before ordering and ultimately ordered from them. The dress was perfect and I loved every minute of wearing it. It was measured for me so required no alterations, which eliminated stress and additional errands!
Accessories
My parents had gifted me some special earrings to wear and I also wore several family heirlooms; my grandmother lent me a diamond bracelet watch that was my great grandmothers, my mother gave me a diamond Star of David necklace that was passed down from her grandmother and these items were so special to wear, not to mention added a bunch of sparkle!
I wore a veil I purchased from Wedding Veil and a hairpieces I purchased on Etsy. I had an idea of what I wanted and didn’t want to spend a lot of money so I found budget friendly options. I had tried on a veil with Swarovski crystals at the boutique and loved it, just not the price tag. So I was excited to find one within budget online and loved how the crystals showed up in the photos!
Jimmy Choos
I knew I wanted designer shoes, which I don’t typically wear, but I wanted to mark the occasion with some sparkle! I tried on Jimmy Choo Romy heels so I got the sizing right and kept an eye out for sales, ultimately buying them from Poshmark at half the retail price, very gently used! This was a win for me, and I can’t wait to wear them again. Even with the broken in 60mm heel, I got uncomfortable at the end of the night and took them off.
The handsome groom
We rented Nagesh’s Tux from BLK Tux. He looked wonderful and felt like a million bucks! My dad and our groomsmen all rented from them as well and had excellent experiences! We got their pocket squares to match our burgundy/blush color scheme.
Bridesmaids
I had three bridesmaids, my closest girlfriends from near and far! I asked them to pick a long burgundy colored dress that they felt beautiful in, so they each had different styles and all looked lovely!
Ceremony
As our guests entered the ceremony, we had a table for them to take a kippah with our logo on the inside and a program which matched our invitations, carrying the Hebrew / Hindi theme throughout. We also decorated the table with photos from other members of our family at their weddings which is a fun way to include extended family. Our cantor, Emma Lutz, conducted the most beautiful ceremony.
She has gotten to know us during our years in LA and I think that made the ceremony that much more personal and special. She had us write to each other our hopes for married life that she read and intertwined in her remarks, so we didn’t have to speak, which we liked. Our simple gold wedding bands were from my great grandparents that we used during the ceremony, and we used a kiddish cup gifted to us from a close friend in Israel who couldn’t be present.
While our cantor sang the seven blessings in Hebrew, we had friends and family come to the chuppah to read them in English. We loved being able to include people who mean a lot to us and our family.
Ketubah
Our ketubah was designed by an Etsy artist, Jerise. We were drawn to her because all of her ketubahs are custom made and can reflect the personality of the couple. I had a vision of a beach scene with an image of Nagesh and I and our pug, Shimi, resembling the area where we got engaged. I sent her some photos and she made it a reality! She was even able to put Ani L’dodi in Hebrew and Hindi within the papercut. It looks amazing and Nagesh was particularly excited about it.
Chuppah
The chuppah design was very simple, florals at the top and fabric down the sides. We used my father’s tallit on the top, and my grandfather’s tallit during the ceremony. We felt it was best to keep the chuppah simple as we had the pacific ocean behind us and were lucky it was a beautiful warm and sunny day in November!
Our music choice
I spent hours and hours picking out songs to use for the ceremony and first dance. It was hard to find something I felt was unique, represented us, and also recognizable.
For the processional: we had a string trio do the music – they were wonderful! I had to make some special requests from them ahead of time to learn some of my unconventional song choices, and they did great. The bridal party walked to the strings version of ‘You and Me’ By Dave Matthews Band. I love Dave, and although it’s not a traditional choice, it’s a lovely song! Especially with strings. Plus my friends who have gone to DMB concerts with me definitely got a kick out of it.
The song changed to a strings cover of ‘Rewrite the Stars’ from the Greatest Showman. I love the film, the music, and what that song represents. Our recessional was simply, ‘Simon Tov / Mazal tov’! The best way to conclude the ceremony!
Our first dance song was also such a challenge. Again, searching for something meaningful, iconic, and representative of us and our cultures was key. We landed on an updated version of ‘Erev shel Shoshanim’ by Jane Bordeaux and Israel Gurion which was jazzy and fun which then transitioned to a well-known Bollywood wedding song ‘Sadi Gadi’ by Lehmber Hussainpuri which was extremely upbeat.
We performed a choreographed dance that was so much fun for us to learn and perform. Once our dance concluded we had our wedding party rush everyone to the dance floor to finish up the song and go straight into the horah!
Our dance teachers, Your Night Choreo, were amazing!!
Flowers
Our florist was great, they are Unique Floral Designs and I gave them minimal direction, a budget, and just trusted it would be great as they had worked at our venue frequently, and I had stalked them on Instagram to view their work.
Photographer and videographer
Laurie Bailey was our photographer and she was beyond amazing. Her partner Elizabeth shot our Sangeet and captured everything we wanted! Laurie came for the wedding itself and I never worried as I could tell from her portfolios and Instagram we were in the best hands. I was drawn to the emotion her photos captured.
I also wanted someone who knew our venue and was comfortable capturing Jewish weddings and knew which moments were important and how to capture them. I interviewed a few photographers who had maybe done one or two Jewish weddings and sent me examples from years ago, but I wasn’t comfortable with that. Laurie was wonderful not only at capturing our day, but was a pleasure to work with and speak with. I cannot recommend her enough.
We used a videographer, Yours Truly Media and I was so glad we did! The day goes by so fast and I love watching the footage and seeing the parts of the day that we worked so hard to create but didn’t get to see and also relive the moments we did! They were amazing.
Food and cake
Our catering was provided by our venue, and since many of our guests were kosher style, we opted for a fish option and a vegetarian option, both were delish! Our cake was simple, from Susiecakes, which we both love and we did 4 tiers with 4 flavors. Their cake is delicious and we topped it off with an “Ahavah” topper from Etsy for extra flare.
Entertainment
We had a live band, the Republic of Music. There were some songs we wanted them to play pre-recorded but otherwise we left it to them. I was nervous because we couldn’t see them in person but I had researched and watched tons of videos. They were wonderful and kept the energy going the whole night.
Favors
We went back and forth on the favors – was it too extra? Would people even appreciate them? Was it worth the cost? We were fortunate that a family friend of ours, LSG Honey, was kind enough to gift us some adorable bottles of honey he infused with saffron and cinnamon. We loved the honey as it added a bit to our tablescape, and the flavor we felt made it unique.
If you are in southern California and looking for honey jars check them out – they come out beautiful and our guests were very impressed and definitely enjoyed them.
Honeymoon
We are going to take a delayed honeymoon in December 2020, destination TBD !
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Once the day starts, just have fun. Little things will go wrong, and it won’t matter. You’ve worked so hard to make this day fun and special and nothing is worth getting upset over. Also practice walking with your veil, mine got tangled during the circling and in some photos but everything ended up just fine!
WENDY & NAGESH’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Laurie Bailey
Videography – Yours Truly Media
Venue – Bel Air Bay Club
Bride’s dress – Romona Keveza found and fitted at En Blanc
Bride’s shoes – Jimmy Choo
Bride’s accessories – Wedding Veil, Etsy
Groom’s attire – BLK Tux
Hair + Makeup – Design Vissage
Flowers – Unique Floral Designs
Band – Republic of Music
Catering – Bel Air Bay Club
Cake – Susiecakes
Ketubah – Jerise
Stationery/Invitation – Invitation Maven
Favours – LSG Honey
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.