We love seeing couples find unique, personal ways to merge their backgrounds in their interfaith Jewish weddings – and did Gabby, a doctor, and Jason, an aircraft engineer, ever pull it off! These two had the most delightful Jewish-Scottish destination wedding in Israel, with the perfect combination of the bride’s Jewish and Israeli identity and the Edinburgh-born groom’s Scottish heritage.
With a hora AND a bagpiper, a groom in a kilt, plentiful use of tartan (we’re obsessed with the tartan kippot!), and a meaningful personalized ceremony combining Jewish and Scottish traditions (officiated by Chen BenBrit Shapira, who the couple found right here on STG), this wedding is pure Scottish-Jewish perfection.
Gabby and Jason’s photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ori Carmi, captured all the emotion and the special details of the day so perfectly – and also made the couple feel completely at ease on camera, plus delivered super quick turnaround after the big day!
Now over to the bride, who looked fantastic in Sassi Holford…
How we met
Gabby, the bride: We met in my favourite pub by the River Thames in Barnes on a beautiful March evening just as the sun was setting over the river, and the rest is history.
A Tel Aviv Wedding
We got married in May 2019 at Bayit Al Hayam in Jaffa. We decided to get married in Israel as I am half Israeli, I spent a lot of my childhood in Tel Aviv and love the city. Jason had already fallen in love with Israel and Tel Aviv after four previous visits, and he proposed in Tel Aviv which made it the perfect meaningful place for us. We also knew we wanted to have an outdoor wedding with high likelihood of sunshine, and it was a fantastic excuse for us to finally bring all our friends over from the UK to experience this amazing country!
A Scottish-Jewish wedding
Our theme was a “Scottish-Jewish” wedding as Jason is from Edinburgh, Scotland, and wanted to show the Jewish crowd something new (as well as introducing the Scots to something most had never seen before). We really made the whole theme about ‘us’ by ensuring it was a massive party without too much predictability!
Our colour scheme was green and tartan, so the bridesmaids wore long forest green dresses and the groomsmen wore kilts with green ties. We had five little page boys (my four nephews and Jason’s cousin) who wore green tartan shorts and a flower girl who wore a white dress with a green tartan sash. The florist used tartan ribbon for the flowers on the roof and we had tartan Kippot made by David Kippot. We had green and white fans made for the women, designed by my brother in law Carmel Cohen, and produced by The Event List.
What ‘Smashing The Glass’ did for us
We found Chen, our officiator, on Smashing the Glass, and without him the day wouldn’t have been what it was. As much as we loved the party, we will never forget the amazing ceremony he gave us. Our friends and family still talk about how unique and refreshing it was to this day.
We also loved reading about all the other interfaith weddings, particularly some of the other Scottish weddings which gave us some of our inspiration for the day. We had already decided on Ori Carmi as our photographer but then to read the wonderful comments and see some of his photos on Smashing the Glass made us even more confident in our decision.
Invitations
The invitations were produced by my cousin Laura Graham, the founder of GG Print. We chose the design with her and then Carmel designed the personalised map which she combined into an amazing invitation. We also used the map design for our welcome tote bags which we filled with some useful info and goodies and then handed out on the Friday night to out of towners.
Hair + Makeup
I had my hair done by Yochai Elmakies. He isn’t very active on social media but is a brilliant hairdresser and you can find him on Kikar Hamedina, Tel Aviv. I was very torn about whether to go hair up or down as I always wear my hair down but was worried about it looking a mess after dancing…In the end I went for half up, half down which I was really pleased with, despite it being hard to keep tidy in the evening wind!
I had my makeup done by Maya Oppeneim and she was fantastic! I went to Israel a few months before the wedding to meet her and must say the makeup trial was a really enjoyable part of wedding planning. We got on so well and I knew Maya had understood the look I was hoping for within minutes.
Along with my family and bridesmaids I wanted natural looking makeup, and she did this perfectly as well as being so calming and relaxed on the day.
A Sassi Holford Dress
My dress came from a shop in Teddington, London called The Dress. The designer is Sassi Holford and the dress is called Amelia. I tried on lots of lovely dresses in different shops but when I got to The Dress I knew I was going to end up buying my dress from them. The owner, Emily, offered such a personal experience and was very helpful and patient with my indecisiveness!
I loved this dress as soon as I put it on; not only did it make me feel like a princess, but it was so comfortable, and I knew I’d be able to dance in it for hours and hours.
Accessories
I had a long veil by The Couture Veil, a Sassi Holford company. I enjoyed wearing it for the photos and a few minutes of the ceremony before the wind blew it off me mid ceremony!
In terms of jewellery, I love everything by Monica Vinader so Jason gave me matching rose gold diamond earrings and a necklace as a wedding gift for the day.
Shoes
I knew I wanted shoes that would look elegant with my dress whilst still being comfortable. I searched in London for months but struggled to find anything I liked. I ended up going shopping with my mum in Paris whilst I was there for a family Bat Mitzva in April and found exactly what I wanted in a shop called Parallele. They were off white with a subtle shimmer and made from a very soft lambskin leather with a small 3 inch heal. I did eventually have to take them off and switch to the flip flops we were handing out to the guests, but I blame the intensity of the Hora rather than the shoes!
The handsome groom
Jason looked very handsome in his Sutherland Tartan Kilt matched with a navy waistcoat and jacket. His Sporran was a gift from his stepfather and has a silver thistle design on the top. The Sgian Dhu (Pronounced: ski-an du) he had in his sock was a gift from his mother and similarly had a silver thistle on the handle. He wore his own red tie to stand out from the groomsmen and when I saw him standing there the first thing I noticed was his huge smile!
An Interfaith Ceremony
We had a personalised and modern style wedding ceremony. Jason really wanted to have a Jewish ceremony and we were so pleased when we came across Chen BenBrit Shapira. He had only ever officiated one interfaith wedding before but after hearing our story, he said he’d love to be involved. He encouraged and embraced all the personal touches as well as the Scottish traditions we discussed during our FaceTime sessions over the year leading up to the wedding. When we finally got to meet him in person for a beer a few days before the wedding it felt like we’d known each other for years!
We combined our traditions by using the kiddush cup my grandparents received for their 25th wedding anniversary for the betrothal blessing, alongside a Quaich (a Scottish love cup) which was given to us by Jason’s best man John, and later used for the Sheva Brachot.
My favourite part of the ceremony was when Jason met me half way up the aisle. All my nerves disappeared when he took my hand and we walked to the chuppah together. His favourite part was exchanging rings as that, from his reading about Jewish ceremonies, is the moment that we were married in the eyes of Judaism. We both really enjoyed the smashing of the glass as our DJ immediately played ‘Levels’ by Avicii which then marked the beginning of the party.
Chuppah
We chose a solid chuppah and left our florist, Vlada Trugman to design it for us. All we asked was that it followed the theme of green and white and that it was simple. On the day it looked absolutely stunning.
Ketubah
We chose the text for our ketubah and Chen then designed it for us. Rather than signing it beforehand behind hidden doors, we decided to incorporate it into the ceremony. Whilst we signed it along with our witnesses, we had an Israeli bagpiper playing and dressed in full highland gear, which was really magical.
Our music choice
For the procession, Jason walked down the aisle to Bruno Mars ‘Marry You’ and I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of ‘Can’t Help Fallin’ In Love With You’ by Hayley Reinhart. When Jason smashed the glass, ‘Levels’ by Avicii started playing which felt so surreal as our friends and family ran up to the chuppah to congratulate us.
For our first dance our DJ combined an acoustic version of Sigala’s ‘Came Here For Love’ with the well-known dance version so we had about 40 seconds of slow dance before everyone joined us on the dance floor for the dance version.
Flowers
Our florist was Vlada Trugman and she really was fantastic. We told her we wanted white and green to continue our theme, low flowers on the tables so people could interact easily, and then left the rest to her. Both the tables and the roof top looked incredible, and the chuppah was exactly what we had imagined.
Photographer
Our photographer was Ori Carmi and we couldn’t have been happier with our decision. He photographed my cousin’s wedding in Tel Aviv last year where Jason had a chat with him and immediately knew we should use him for our wedding!
He was so easy to talk to from day one and made us feel completely at ease behind the camera. He captured the whole day perfectly and was so quick to send us all the photos. He and his assistant photographer were incredible.
Food
Mazal Talle were the caterers, provided to us by the venue. All the food was delicious and plentiful. We were so busy talking to friends and family and dancing that we didn’t get to try much of it on the day but thankfully we got to sample everything at the food tasting a few months before. Also, many people complemented us on the reception food served on the roof as well as the quality and quantity of all the food we had during dinner!
We decided not to have a cake after we realised how much food there was going to be and how many delicious deserts were on offer. We did however have veal hot dogs for the after party which were a big hit to soak up all the rum and Jager!
Entertainment
We decided we wanted a band for our wedding in order to have some live musicians but also wanted to make sure we had a great DJ. The main aim was that we wanted a massive party and to keep everyone on the dance floor with us into the early hours. We had DJ Shai with his live on DJ band Party Toura until midnight and then DJ Jeremy who kept the party going until 4am (Jeremy works with Shai and is also fantastic!).
Shai also surprised us with a live singer for the hora dancing which we weren’t expecting, and what an amazing experience it was to be in the centre of the ‘action’. A lot of Jason’s Scottish friends and family as well as my friends and family from all over the world got stuck in and really made the hora for us both. Jason’s top tip for the hora as a man wearing a kilt is to wear underwear!!
As an additional Scottish touch, we had Alon the bagpiper playing as everyone arrived on the roof before the ceremony.
Honeymoon
We looked at a map of the world to narrow our choices down to the Galapagos, Argentina, Australia and a safari/beach combo. We wanted to plan something that we would not have done for a regular holiday. We did some research and eventually decided on a three-week trip to the Galapagos Islands and Peru, mainly because we are both nature lovers and saw this as a perfect opportunity to have an adventure. We are going in November so will let you know how it goes!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Make sure you stand back and soak everything in from time to time and take mental photographs. I spent most of the night on the dance floor but occasionally just stood back and watched – not only had I just married the man of my dreams, but I could barely believe all the people that had come all the way to Israel for us, and how much fun everyone was having. It felt very surreal! If you can, make sure you have a videographer, as every time we watch back our video, we see new faces and details we missed on the night.
Gabby & Jason’s little white book
Photography – Ori Carmi {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Videography – Adam Shimshi
Venue – Bayit Al Hayam
Bride’s dress – Sassi Holford found and fitted at The Dress
Bride’s shoes – Parallele
Bride’s accessories – The Couture Veil and Monica Vinader
Makeup – Maya Oppeneim
Flowers – Vlada Trugman
DJ Band – Party Toura
Catering – Mazal Talle
Kippot – David Kippot
Fans – The Event List
Officiant – Chen BenBrit Shapira
Invitation – GG Print
