There’s nothing like a good outdoor Jewish wedding. And we’re especially in love with the one Dana, a graduate student in linguistics at Hebrew University, and Chaim, a lawyer, pulled off – no matter that their initial decision to opt for an open air affair was driven by COVID restrictions.
Luckily, Israel is chock full of stunning outdoor venues – and we’re obsessed with Dana and Chaim’s choice of Ein Yael, a breathtaking archaeological park right next to a forest and packed with Jerusalem stone, history and lots of nature. The rustic, outdoorsy vibe was perfect for their day – aside from a few carefully placed flowers, the pair opted to let the natural beauty speak for itself rather than laying on the décor.
And, as always, we’re totally and completely in love with the couple’s exquisite photos from the amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Herschel Gutman. Herschel is such a popular photographer among STG couples getting married in Israel – and between his incredible talent and calming presence on the day, it’s easy to see why! Don’t miss the couple’s post-wedding Old City photoshoot, either – Herschel got some positively magical shots of the newlyweds wandering around Yemin Moshe at 2 AM!
Now over to the couple…
How we met
Dana, the bride: Her version: A mutual friend
His version: I had just gotten back from a 6+ month trip to South America and wasn’t yet looking for a serious relationship. Finding a new job and getting settled again were priorities for me. But then again, man plans and God laughs…
A friend messaged me with a “random question”, which translates to “are you seeing anyone?” when you’re a single religious guy in Jerusalem between the ages of 23 and still alive.
I told my friend that I wasn’t really looking at the moment, but was happy to hear about her friend and maybe grab drinks. She told me about Dana and I was obviously immediately interested. After a few more messages my friend came back with “I know you’re taking it slow, but don’t drag this out… like she knows you have her number”. Great.
So I called her.
“Ken?! MAH?!” (yeah?! WHAT?!)
“Uh, hi…it’s Chaim. Ariella gave me your number….?”
“Oh, uh, hi!”
Apparently I was tenth in line after nine straight spam calls. Not exactly the smooth start I was looking for, but we then spoke for a good few minutes, had some laughs and I asked her out to drinks. That was almost three years ago, and it was the best intro call I’ve ever made.
An Outdoor Venue
We got married at Ein Yael in Jerusalem. It’s an archaeological park right next to a forest so it has an interesting mix of Jerusalem stone, history and lots of nature. It’s also a place where parents take their kids to do fun activities in the summer, so we didn’t even know it was a wedding hall until our friends got married there a couple of years ago. It has a beautiful rustic and outdoorsy vibe and is also laid back with its own unique charm. We both wanted an outdoor kabbalat panim (shmorg) and ceremony and then ended up specifically looking for an all-outdoors venue so we wouldn’t have to worry as much about Corona restrictions, and with that, we found that Ein Yael was very flexible with their Corona clause.
We were worried that our parents wouldn’t be able to get into the country in time for the wedding, in which case we were going to have to postpone. Ein Yael ended up being the most flexible venue we saw in terms of Corona policies, and we decided to go with them because that was really the most important thing to us. We limited our search to outdoor venues in and around Jerusalem so the majority of our guests would have an easy time getting to and from the wedding and we could be near or in the holy city on our special day.
A Fab Planner
We did use a wedding planner – the incredible Shani Falik Roth who was recommended to us by our good friends who actually got married only three days before us! Shani really elevated our wedding on all fronts. She helped us with planning every detail, kept us organized and on schedule in terms of picking vendors and making sure everything was set for the day of. We didn’t have a theme, but we had a color (that changed a million times) before it finally settled on “dusty rose” or muted pink.
Chaim’s request here was that he not just blend in with the bridesmaids, which I get, so the color game began. Chaim (and now me too 🙂 ) is blessed with a bunch of amazing nieces and nephews and we wanted everyone to feel included, so the family wore different shades of muted pink and our moms wore silver/grey and it all meshed together beautifully. We had some flowers (my mom insisted) on the chuppah and the kiseh kallah but otherwise, we let the gorgeous nature of the venue do its work. I guess you could say the theme was sort of Israeli-rustic.
Invitations + stationery
Our invitations were designed by Copymasters of North Miami Beach, Florida. I found a pretty design on the internet with flowers on each corner and a nice script and then asked the lovely ladies at Copymasters to change the colors and types of flowers. We ended up with a gorgeous invitation which went with the colors of the wedding. It was important to us to have paper versions for our families (and some of the less tech savvy types) in America, and we sent out the rest of the invitations with Paperless Post so that we could easily track RSVPs and keep guests updated with Corona news and the livestream link.
Hair + Make-up
So the lovely Elianna Gasner did both my hair and makeup (and the hair and makeup for my mom and sisters). I ended up going for a natural look in terms of makeup – I really wanted to make sure I looked like myself and that is exactly what Elianna did. For hair, I did a half-up and half-down look – this is actually how I used to wear my hair all the time before I got married and I felt it was the most “me.” Elianna did exactly that and I felt like a princess but also like myself which was the most important thing for me.
Dress
The dress I ended up with is from Lotus Bridal in Brooklyn. Chaim and I were in NY for a few weeks and my mom and sister took me wedding dress shopping. I actually didn’t end up finding the dress until right before we were supposed to go back to Israel and at first, I didn’t even want to try it on! I had been looking for more bohemian styles and this dress was anything but that. However, the second I put it on I knew it was going to be THE dress. I was really lucky and ended up getting the dress off-the-rack since I was leaving for Israel that weekend (because of that, the dress was 4 sizes too big on me).
I also had to take it on the plane with me which was super stressful because the airline couldn’t hang it up for me, so I folded it neatly in the overhead compartment the second I got on the plane and watched like a hawk to make sure no one tried to put anything on top of it. I think the dress flew back with a couple of black hats neatly sitting next to it, but that’s it! Once I got back to Israel I had some alterations done including making it less poofy, making it smaller, and adding lace sleeves with the material from the bottom of the dress. The final product was a beautiful princess-ballgown type of dress with gorgeous lace sleeves and a silver rhinestone belt attached to the dress. The lace was my favorite part.
Accessories
My hair accessories were just some pins I found on Amazon. I wasn’t sure what I wanted so I ordered a few things to my mom who brought them with her when she flew in for the wedding and the day of, I picked out the best ones with Elianna.
Now the jewelry. My grandmother passed away last year. She was my last living grandparent and we were very close, I was her eldest grandchild. My grandmother had the most gorgeous jewelry. She used to go to auctions and would get great deals on stunning pieces. For the wedding, I ended up wearing my grandmother’s drop pearl earrings with a pearl center and diamonds that spread out around it in the shape of a flower. I also had her matching bracelet. Wearing her jewelry made me feel very close to her and made the day that much more special. I will say though, that those earrings were so hard to get into my ear! They have these old fashioned screw backs that really hurt but at the end of the day, it was so worth it and so special.
Shoes
For the ceremony I wore these sparkly sandals from Jildor that had a tiny bit of a block heel. They were sort of a mix between silver and gold, I’m honestly not positive what color they are, but they were so comfortable and something I can actually wear again which was really important to me. After the ceremony I changed into slip-on sneakers that were also a mix between gold and silver and wore those to dance in! They were so comfortable, and I wear them all the time now.
The handsome groom
Chaim looked so handsome in a rich blue suit with a grey vest and a maroon bow tie from Macy’s. He is actually very stylish and picked out his own suit and the color of the bow tie (though he’ll be the first to tell you I was very against it at first). However, I think the look came together beautifully. He looked amazing and stood out in the best way possible.
Bridesmaids
I had 4 friends and my 2 sisters as bridesmaids, so 6 altogether. I decided to let my friends choose if they wanted to wear the wedding color or not. I know being a bridesmaid can get expensive so I wanted them to decide for themselves and not feel pressured about spending a ton of money on a dress. In the end they actually discussed it amongst themselves and did wear the same muted pink colors as the rest of the family which looked lovely! The bridesmaids didn’t walk down the aisle (except my sisters) but we did a couple of awesome photos together which was nice. Most importantly, they were there with me getting ready the day of the wedding which was so fun and calmed me down considerably!
Ceremony
Dana, the bride: The kisseh kallah is something I will never forget. Surrounded by our friends and family, I have never felt so much love and happiness. And then as Chaim got closer to me, he stopped for a minute and began to jump and sing along with the music. He brought this amazing energy to the wedding that was infectious and soon everyone was jumping and singing and dancing with him. That moment and the amazing energy stayed with me the entire wedding!
The rest of the ceremony was also beautiful, I just felt like there was so much happiness radiating from everyone. Also Rav Ari Kahn married us and not only is he Chaim’s rabbi, but he is also a family friend of both of our families and he had us cracking up from start to finish. Sometimes weddings can be emotional and a bit sad, and I felt like ours was the opposite – we couldn’t stop smiling and laughing the entire time.
Chaim, the groom: The tisch (signing of the ketubah and other formalities accompanied by some good whiskies for the guests), which was located on the far side of the kabbalat panim, was filled with smiles and laughs. Our dads escorted me through the crowds of our friends and family at the kabbalat panim up to my amazing and beautiful future wife. The energy only built and built. Walking through the crowd both on the way to Dana and then on the way to the chuppah made the whole ceremony all the more special. We didn’t feel stuffy or overly formal, but felt like we were actually celebrating WITH everyone there and not just in front of them. The badeken and chuppah obviously included some tears here and there, but this type of ceremony made me feel especially easy about exploding with excitement to marry Dana. No containment.
Ketubah
We actually decided not to do anything with the ketubah. We have the standard ketubah the rabbanut gives out and we currently have it sitting in a drawer.
This was important to us because the content of the ketubah describes duties and divorce and we hope to keep it safe and locked away without ever needing to look at it again. We had heard that the custom of beautiful ketubahs which hang on living room walls popped up in our parents’ generation or sometime around then, but it just didn’t speak to us.
Chuppah
To be honest, our wedding planner sent a few pictures for me to get inspiration since I had no idea what I wanted, and I just chose one. Funnily enough, we didn’t even end up going with that picture because the chuppah ended up being too big and it looked a bit weird with our original choice. In the end we had some flowers hang down over the chuppah in an effortless way that really worked so well with the natural beauty of the venue. To add to the effect, there is a huge tree that actually grows out of the middle of the chuppah and adds so much to the beauty! The natural spring for which Ein Yael is named runs around and in front of the chuppah, right by our feet. It was truly magical.
Our Music Choice
We had a really hard time picking songs to walk down to. We wanted something a bit different but that still felt like us. Chaim ended up walking down the aisle to ‘You & Me’ by Dave Matthews and I walked down to ‘Cowboy Take Me Away’ by the Dixie Chicks. Our siblings and nieces and nephews walked down to ‘Stand by Me’ by the Temptations. Even though these aren’t classic Israeli songs to walk down to, we felt it made our wedding a bit unique and really felt like they embodied our personalities. All the songs were instrumental versions on the guitar and violin.
Flowers
I know nothing about flowers so I wouldn’t be able to tell you the names of them. Our planner, Shani, picked the florist, Liat Nachmani, for us and everything was taken care of through her. I can tell you that my bouquet was a really pretty mix of white, light pink, green and maroon but I don’t know what types of flowers they were. For our families, we actually picked up a handful of white flowers and baby’s breath (that one I know!) and Chaim’s amazing older sister put together bouquets for everyone at the venue before the wedding began. The tables had a mix of herbs and other plants that people were able to take home and plant instead of actual flowers, alongside rustic decor.
Photographer
The photographer we went with was the amazing Herschel Gutman. Ultimately, we went with him because his photos are simply unmatched by any other photographer. He and his team are so talented and we are so happy we went with him! Also, the second we spoke to Herschel we felt that his presence was so calming – it put us entirely at ease and we knew that was the type of personality we needed with us the day of. We love our photos so much!
Herschel has an option to do an old city photoshoot after the wedding and we took him up on it. It was truly magical taking photos together in the quiet Yemin Moshe neighborhood at 2:00 in the morning after the wedding and the photos that came out of that shoot are breathtaking! We used a videographer who works with Herschel, and we actually haven’t gotten the video yet (but that’s our own fault because we haven’t chosen a song!) Hopefully we will get to that soon!
Magnet photographers have become a must in Israel. It’s an age-old question: were you really at a wedding if you don’t have magnet showing you were there? Our magnet guy, Michael Laurence, is the best. It’s as simple as that. Michael and Herschel worked really well together to capture all different angles of our special moments and the amazing vibes. Michael also happened to be the magnet photographer at two other smachot in Chaim’s family in the days leading up to our wedding, just by chance, so he actually already knew most of the family by name in time for our wedding! We’ve kind of adopted him.
Food and Cake
Our catering was Adama catering who works with the venue Ein Yael. We didn’t have a cake because we figured no one really eats it anyway. We did have what they call an “afterparty,” where at around 12 am they bring out burgers and fries for everyone who is left on the dance floor. Chaim and I made a beeline for those burgers the second they came out, and while we may have been biased considering we hadn’t eaten much in hours, those were some amazing burgers! We also had some plated desserts, but the dancing and burgers were much better.
Entertainment
Our band was the amazing Rimonim Band . We chose them because well, first of all, they are a great band, but also, they were so flexible. The band learned songs for us that they don’t usually play and were so nice about it. We loved their laid-back vibe and they were so good at reading the floor and picking up the energy. They also had a great selection of English and Hebrew songs and a really easy to navigate website to manage our song list.
We also hired an incredible violinist, Ariella Zeitlin to play violin with the band. She played during the kabbalat panim and when we walked down the aisle. But even cooler than that, when people were eating, she went out into the crowd and played violin with songs you would never expect. It was so cool!
All our guests keep telling us how amazing she was! She then played the rest of the night right alongside the band as if she was already a part of it. At the end of the night, we had a DJ that works with the Rimonim Band to change up the style of music. The DJ was incredible and we got so many compliments! He did an upbeat remix of ‘Take me Home Country Roads’ by John Denver and people couldn’t get enough of it. Rimonim made all of this happen for a really good price which was the icing on the cake for us.
Favours
We had bottle opener keychains made with our names on it and the date of the wedding that we gave out to family and friends, and small foldable benchers that we put on the tables for people to take. Also, since part of our décor was plants as center-pieces, people took those home as well (and I guess people liked them since we didn’t have any left for ourselves!).
Extra details
I think the part that really stands out the most is the energy Chaim brought to the kisseh kallah. I mentioned it already earlier, but it was just this amazing moment that words can’t do justice. Another thing that happened which is a bit funnier is that right after the yichud room, when Chaim and I were about to go up and start the first dance with everybody, we realized that somehow my dress was too long on me. After tons of fittings (and moving and even jumping around during those fittings), I could no longer walk without stepping on the bottom of my dress and falling.
After a quick deliberation with our wedding planner, we realized the only thing we could do was cut the dress. My mom came out with a pair of scissors (which we thankfully had because of the earlier bouquet making), and she sat there cutting each layer of my dress. The entire process took quite some time and while it was a little crazy that we were just cutting my wedding dress at the wedding, I am so grateful we did it because I definitely would have fallen!
Another really incredible part of the wedding was that Chaim surprised me by singing Eshet Chayil to me. I had no idea that he had apparently been planning this with the band and suddenly he took the microphone and started singing and it was amazing! (Also it finally made sense why he was so worried about losing his voice in the days leading up to the wedding!) Later on, after my dad made me smile even more with a father-daughter dance, Chaim also got his other wish granted, which was to have a dance, just the two of us, surrounded by our friends and family. He got me twice!
Sidenote – we are so thankful that our parents not only helped us make this magical wedding, but were all able to get into the country in time. It took a miracle and some standing in line by Chaim at 5-something in the morning outside of Misrad Hapnim, but it happened. We were sad that the majority of our cousins, Chaim’s grandmother, aunts, uncles and some of our closest friends couldn’t make it in due to restrictions, but we are extremely grateful for the amazing wedding we had and the memories that will last a lifetime.
Honeymoon
We haven’t gone on our honeymoon yet and honestly we aren’t sure where we are going! Chaim has travelled to so many places and I’ve only been to a few so it’s important for us to go somewhere new where neither of us have been before! We’d love to do a big trip and try heading for Australia or New Zealand but with Corona it’s a bit hard to plan stuff like that. We are hoping that next year when things are hopefully a bit better, we will be able to fly somewhere amazing.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
There’s no point in telling brides and grooms not to be stressed before the wedding, you are going to be stressed. But let the stress flow through you, accept that it is going to happen and its going to be hard but that the most important part is that you are going to have the most amazing day and spend the rest of your life with your partner. Try to keep focused on that to get through the hard stuff.
A few other pieces of advice:
1) Try to be present the day of. I felt so lucky to really be fully present in each and every moment of the wedding, it allowed me to enjoy on another level and even though people told me it would be a blur, I actually remember almost everything and I am so grateful for that!
2) A piece of advice we were given is to spend 2 days wherever you are going to stay after the wedding. Don’t force yourself to get to the hotel breakfast, let your body and mind recuperate and enjoy every minute! (P.S. our first breakfast as a married couple took place at around 5 pm at the pool and may have involved a burger, a steak salad, a glass of wine and a beer. But I can’t confirm.)
3) While of course not everyone will need a wedding planner, we highly recommend hiring one for a wedding that needs to be planned in a short amount of time (3 months in our case, one of which we were abroad). Also, some brides and grooms really love to be involved in every aspect of planning from research to negotiations etc. We are less that type, and loved that our planner came to us with choices based on our preferences and discussions and we were able to narrow down the options that way… (neither one of us are great at decision making so the less choices the better). If that sounds like you too, Shani is a great choice!
DANA & CHAIM’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Herschel Gutman Photography {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Wedding planner – Shani Falik Roth
Live Stream – Donny Wetzler
Venue – Ein Yael
Bride’s dress – Lotus Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Jildor
Groom’s attire – Macy’s
Hair + Makeup – Elianna Gasner
Flowers – Liat Nachmani
Band + DJ – Rimonim Band
Violinist – Ariella Zeitlin
Catering – Adama Catering
Stationery/Invitation – Copymasters, Paperless Post
Rabbi – Rav Ari Kahn
Magnet Guy – Michael Laurence
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.