We’ve got an absolute stunner of a London Jewish wedding for you today! Zoe, a dance teacher and Pilates instructor, and Josh, who works in tech sales, got married at one of London’s most iconic and elegant destinations: Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Langham, London.
The duo picked The Langham not only for its gorgeous ballroom and top-notch service, but also because it boasts a fabulous perk that’s not always easy to find in central London: a beautiful outdoor courtyard strewn with fairy lights and olive trees, which served as the perfect spot for everyone to enjoy the couple’s roving dessert course at their August wedding!
Music was very important to Zoe and Josh – the bride is a dancer, after all – and the pair found their perfect match in Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Sensation Band. In Zoe’s words, “The singers were brilliant at getting everyone involved and really interacting with the crowd, which created such an amazing atmosphere. They were a huge hit with everyone, and the dance floor was still full right until the very end of the night — exactly what we had hoped for!”
For their ultra-moving chuppah music, Zoe and Josh chose another fantastic Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, Uri Gold, and they can’t stop raving about how wonderful he was to work with from start to finish!
Jo from Chiko Photography captured the day in the most joyous candid images, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Michael Pearl Films created the most stunning wedding video. Zoe and Josh loved his relaxed, unobtrusive presence throughout the day, and they can’t stop watching their wonderful trailer and reliving all those magical memories.
Read on for the full story in Zoe’s own words…
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How We Met
Zoe, the bride: We’re the same age and had a few mutual friends, so we quickly realised that we’d actually been at multiple of the same events and parties over the years — we just never managed to meet!
We eventually matched on Hinge, and the rest is history!
Venue
We got married at The Langham, London. At first, we started looking at countryside venues with beautiful gardens, but I quickly realised that I didn’t love the interiors of the venues we were seeing. I also knew that, when choosing a venue, I had to be just as happy with the Plan B as I was with the outdoor option if it rained.
That led us to start looking at London hotels with beautiful ballrooms. We viewed a few, but The Langham really stood out because of its courtyard. As we were getting married in August, it felt like such a shame to spend the whole day indoors. The Langham gave us the best of both worlds — beautiful, elegant interiors alongside a gorgeous outdoor space.
We also loved the timeless elegance of the hotel itself. And, as if we needed another reason to love it, between booking the hotel and our wedding day, the courtyard had a complete makeover! They added fairy lights, olive trees and beautiful hydrangeas, which transformed the space into the most magical garden. It was exactly the feeling we had been looking for.
Theme
We wanted our wedding to feel elegant and timeless, while still capturing that beautiful outdoor garden feel. Our colour palette was green and pink — green to bring in the garden-inspired feel, and pink as a nod to the Langham’s signature colour.
Food was a big focus for us. We wanted to serve food that we genuinely loved and would actually want to eat at a wedding, alongside great music that would keep everyone on the dance floor all night.
My Mum and I planned the wedding together, and we genuinely loved every minute of it. Our on-the-day coordinator was my friend Amy Sharer, who had coordinated many weddings before, but this was her first time doing one for a friend. Having someone we knew and trusted so well as part of our team made the whole day feel incredibly calm and relaxed.
Invitation/Stationery
We were very lucky that my sister, Ellie, is a graphic designer, so she designed all of our wedding stationery! She also created a beautiful watercolour illustration of Josh and me outside The Langham, which we used for our save-the-dates and thank-you cards.
I’m still trying to convince her to set up a side business designing wedding stationery — hopefully she eventually takes our advice!
Hair + Makeup
For hair, I had Talia Lewis, and my makeup was done by Michal Horry. They were both amazing and helped keep me calm and relaxed on the morning of the wedding.
I’m not a huge makeup person, so it was really important to me that I still felt like myself. Michal did exactly that — I felt like the best version of me, rather than feeling overly made up.
Talia also did an incredible job with my hair. It stayed perfectly in place all day and night, and trust me, I put it through a lot with all the dancing! They were both such an important part of getting me ready and made the morning feel so enjoyable.
Dress
I found my dress at Forever Bridal in Barnet, and it was a Stella York gown. It was actually the second bridal shop we visited, and the dress was completely different from what I had originally imagined myself choosing!
I found the dress shortly after we booked our venue, and as soon as I tried it on, I felt that it perfectly matched the elegance of The Langham. I loved the light, lacy design because it felt stylish and on trend, but the lace was subtle enough that the dress still felt timeless.
Forever Bridal were also amazing throughout the whole process. I became a regular caller in the lead-up to the wedding — sometimes I’d call them that morning and end up popping in for a fitting that same afternoon! They were so helpful and made the whole experience feel really easy and personal.
Shoes
I got my wedding shoes from Charlotte Mills, and they were honestly so comfortable! They were beautifully padded, which made such a difference, especially as I spent most of the night dancing.
Charlotte Mills were also such a lovely company to deal with, which made the whole experience even better.
Bridesmaids
My bridesmaids’ dresses were from JJ’s House. We chose a beautiful chiffon style in the colour Basil, which fitted perfectly with our green and pink colour palette and the overall garden-inspired feel of the wedding.
Ceremony & Chuppah
The chuppah was surprisingly both of our favourite parts of the wedding. In the lead-up to the day, our Rabbi, Rabbi Green, went into so much detail about each part of the ceremony, which made everything feel incredibly meaningful and personal.
Josh wore my late grandfather’s tallis, which made the moment even more special. We also had Uri Gold singing under the chuppah, and he was so helpful in the lead-up to the wedding. We had a Zoom call with him where he actually sang different parts of the songs to us, allowing us to choose the tunes we liked best. It meant that every part of the ceremony felt really personal to us.
Ketubah
I wanted our ketubah to feel connected to our chuppah, so I started researching artists on Instagram and came across Leenoy, who is behind Flowers and Ink. She is an Israeli artist who specialises in watercolours, and I immediately fell in love with her work.
She was fantastic throughout the whole process. We had a consultation where I shared lots of floral inspiration, and together we created a design that felt completely personal to us. Our ketubah was 50 x 50cm and featured beautiful gold leaf details.
Leenoy was incredibly careful with the wording and made sure every detail of the text was correct before shipping it to us very quickly. I also loved that she hand-paints each piece rather than simply producing prints. Her ketubahs have such a modern, artistic feel, with lots of florals and a beautiful use of colour. She isn’t afraid of bold shades, but always balances them with a sense of harmony and softness, so even the most colourful pieces still feel elegant and timeless.
Our music choice
We booked Sensation Band purely on recommendation, and they were absolutely fantastic. As a dancer myself, music was really important to me, and Jason and his team did an amazing job bringing everything together.
I wanted the music to be full of songs that everyone knew the words to, so that the dance floor stayed packed all night. The singers were brilliant at getting everyone involved and really interacting with the crowd, which created such an amazing atmosphere.
They were a huge hit with everyone, and the dance floor was still full right until the very end of the night — exactly what we had hoped for!
Flowers
For our florals, we used Alexandra’s Flowers, and Alexandra completely understood our vision from the beginning. She transformed the room and created exactly the atmosphere we had hoped for.
One of my favourite details was the taller table centrepieces, which had flowers and greenery that looked as though they were climbing upwards like vines, with the flowers spilling over the edges. We also had floating candles throughout the room, which added such a beautiful, romantic glow.
I was so happy with how everything came together. Alexandra was incredibly helpful throughout the whole process and made bringing our floral vision to life so easy.
Photographer and videographer
Our main photographer was Jo from Chiko Photography, alongside her assistant, Peter. From the beginning, I told Jo that I wasn’t a fan of overly formal shots and wanted our photos to feel relaxed, candid and reflective of our personalities. They completely understood the brief and captured so many amazing moments throughout the day.
One of Josh’s highlights was when Peter took all the groomsmen down to Oxford Circus, stopped the traffic on all sides and captured an incredible shot of them walking down the middle of the road. It was such a fun, spontaneous moment and resulted in one of our favourite photos from the day.
Jo and Peter stayed right until the very end and made us feel so comfortable and confident in front of the camera, which really comes across in the photos.
Our videographer was Michael Pearl Films, who was equally fantastic. He was so relaxed and unobtrusive throughout the day, capturing everything without ever feeling like he was in the way. We are obsessed with our one-minute teaser trailer and honestly can’t get over how he has made our wedding look like a movie. He is incredibly creative and talented, and we’ll treasure the film forever.
Food and cake
Marc Sharer took care of our catering and production, and he was incredibly helpful throughout the entire process, from the initial planning right through to the wedding day. He was always on hand with advice and ideas, not just about the food, but across so many different aspects of the wedding.
He came up with some really creative ideas for the catering. Instead of having traditional plated starters, we had a mezze-style sharing spread, which was perfect for us as Israeli food is one of my favourites. Our guests absolutely loved it — so many people told us afterwards how much they ate!
We also chose to have roving desserts rather than a traditional sit-down dessert, and again, our guests kept telling us how much more they ate than they usually would at weddings. It made the whole dining experience feel much more relaxed and social.
One of my favourite ideas came from Marc and Amy, who suggested taking dessert back outside into the courtyard. During the reception it was still light outside, but by the evening, the fairy lights and candles had completely transformed the space. It gave everyone the chance to mingle, get some fresh air and enjoy dessert in a really relaxed setting.
It was honestly one of my favourite parts of the whole evening, and something I never would have thought of myself. It just goes to show how valuable it was having people around us who could bring ideas to the table that we hadn’t even considered!
Honeymoon
We’re saving our honeymoon for next April, giving us something really exciting to look forward to after the wedding! We’re heading to South Africa for a safari before finishing the trip in Mauritius for some well-deserved relaxation.
It feels like the perfect combination of adventure and downtime — we can’t wait!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
As Josh kept reminding me in the lead-up to the wedding, “It’s the imperfections that make a wedding perfect.”
Of course, when you’re planning a wedding, you’re not exactly striving for imperfections! But it’s so important to take a step back every now and then and remember why you’re actually getting married in the first place.
The day goes by unbelievably quickly, so whenever you can, pause, look around and take a mental snapshot of the moment. Take it all in, soak up the atmosphere, and don’t worry about every little detail being perfect.
And most importantly, just have fun!
ZOE & JOSH’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Chiko Photography
Videography – Michael Pearl Films
Hazzan – Uri Gold
Music – Sensation Band
Ketubah – Flowers and Ink
Venue – The Langham, London
Bride’s dress – Stella York found at Forever Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Charlotte Mills
Bridesmaids – JJ’s House
Hair – Talia Lewis
Makeup – Michal Horry
Flowers – Alexandra’s Flowers
Catering – Marc Sharer
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.
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