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A Summery Jewish Wedding with Lots of DIY Touches at South Hampstead Shul, London, UK

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Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK

We love it when a couple brings their personalities to their Jewish wedding – which is exactly what Londoners Eloise and Eytan did! Both arts and crafts fans, the pair opted to design all of the wedding stationery themselves, from the invitations and seating chart to thank you cards and place names.

The couple’s photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kate Swerdlow Photography, “captured every moment in just the right way and made us feel comfortable from the beginning of the process which started with our engagement shoot and gave us constant updates whilst editing our photos.”

We also love that Eloise and Eytan chose Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Noa Davies, a mega-talented harpist, to play at their wedding – first accompanying their band Neshama, and then as a duet with violinist Miriam Kramer during the reception.

Read on for all the other details of this very special day – including a live wedding painter and an adorable wedding post box decorated by the bride and groom!

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
How We Met

Eloise, the bride: We met on the Taglit trip Birthright in Israel on the coach from the airport to our first hotel. There were over 40 of us on the trip and somehow we found ourselves sat across the aisle from one another.

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Venue

We got married in beautiful South Hampstead Shul. We picked this venue because we loved the amphitheatre style layout of the shul and how inclusive and intimate it felt. We also loved that it was purpose built for weddings and that there seemed to be a designated space for everything we needed! To top it all off, the white canvas style meant that we could personalise it to our hearts content. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Summer Vibes

Our colour scheme was a mix of summery colours. We had blush pink, mauve, navy blue, ivory and gold. These were brought out in different ways through the flowers, bridal party dresses, room decor and stationery. We wanted to bring out the summery theme, embrace our Judaism and add our personalities to certain elements of the day.

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Invitation

We have both always been into arts and crafts and decided to design all the stationery ourselves! We designed all the invitations/seating chat/welcome sign/thank you cards/place names/benchers and post box for cards. We loved adding that personalisation to our day and it was amazing to see it all put together in one place.

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Hair + Makeup

Because I have very curly hair, I knew I needed a curly hair specialist to help me look my best on our special day. My regular hair stylist Charlotte at Charlotte Butler Hair has been doing my hair for just over a year and she always does an excellent job that as soon as we set a date, I booked her in almost immediately. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
My makeup artist Rebecca at Rebecca Robinson did my makeup exactly how I imagined. We met a few times to figure out exactly what I was after and my makeup lasted all night! 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Dress

My mum and I visited a few bridal stores but our favourite store, and the store we found my dress was in Camden Passage. It’s the most gorgeous bridal store and everyone there was so lovely. I had seen the dress online and immediately fell in love with it. I tried on so many different dresses but always came back to this one. Before trying on the dress, I had dreamt that I was at our wedding wearing this dress, and when I tried it on in person, we both knew it was the one. Everything from the cut, to the lace and the colouring, was exactly how I imagined.

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Accessories + Shoes

We found my jewellery from Lace and Favour and my hair accessory from an Etsy shop. We had it shipped all the way from the States and is was so worth it! My veil was also from Angelica Bridal, and it was perfect, like it was made for the dress.

For our rings, we knew we wanted something special. We worked with Moish at London Jeweller, based in Hatton Garden. Their bespoke service allowed us to design our rings to our hearts content and we couldn’t be happier with them

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
My gorgeous shoes were made bespoke from BellaRose UK. They had asked for pictures of my dress to see what would go best and it turned out they had matching lace to my dress which they overlaid onto the shoes. It was meant to be! 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Bridesmaids

I had 3 bridesmaids, 1 chief bridesmaid, 1 shomeret, a flower girl and a ring bearer. My chief bridesmaid and shomeret shared the role of ‘maid of honour’ and made sure I had nothing to worry about. A shomeret, in context of a wedding, is to make sure the bride is looked after and has everything she needs, sort of like a ‘female guardian’ or a ‘protector’. We had themes of blush pink, mauve, navy blue and ivory in the bridal party and the bridemaids dresses tied in perfectly. We looked for months and must have sent back at least 20 different dresses! However, the right dresses were in front of our eyes the whole time, from NEXT! 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Ceremony & Chuppah

Our chuppah was perfect. Walking down the aisle surrounded by our closest family and friends, some of who travelled from so far away. We did our badeken during our ceremony and it was a moment we’ll never forget. Our chuppah design was simple but beautiful- The shul had a gorgeous bamboo style chuppah and it fit our vision perfectly.

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Ketubah

Our beautiful ketubah was designed bespoke by the very talented Dana at The Pink Quill. We met with her multiple times to discuss the themes and how she was going to make it personal for us and she really brought our vision to life. Dana was recommended to us by a family friend and now we have a beautiful piece of artwork as just one of our many reminders of the day. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Our music choice

We knew from the get go we were after live music for our wedding. We chose Neshama to play for our wedding. They tailored their setlist perfectly and kept everyone on the dance floor! Our singers from Neshama, Jonathan and Danny Shine, were also accompanied by the very talented harpist Noa Davies and violinist Miriam Kramer during our chuppah and later on Noa and Miriam played as a duo in our reception. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Flowers

We chose a mixture of our favourite flowers in shades of blush pink, mauve and cream with lots of greenery, brought to life by Alina at Flowers by Alina. We met with her a number of times to look at samples and discuss our vision. She also decorated our chuppah perfectly, not too busy, simple and beautiful. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Photographer and videographer

Our photographer was Kate Swerdlow Photography. She captured every moment in just the right way and made us feel comfortable from the beginning of the process which started with our engagement shoot and gave us constant updates whilst editing our photos. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
We can’t wait to have our photos framed. Our videographer was Gavin at Your Moving Memories and we can’t wait to see how he captured the day. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Food and cake

Our wedding was catered by Reich’s and they delivered! We loved our meal and would absolutely use them again. Our cake was made by Coco Bakery at and it was delicious.  We had it personalised with a copy of our invitation design on the top of the cake. They made for us a chocolate sponge cake with a creamy fudge frosting.. not too rich and not too sugary. It was just right and we are still enjoying the leftovers!

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Extra Details

There were a few thoughtful gifts on our wedding day which were brilliant, including matching water bottles which had our names on, and ‘bride’ and ‘groom’. This was exactly what we needed. We were able to dance all night and stay hydrated! We also had matching personalised champagne flutes and Mr & Mrs aprons with our new shared last name to wear for dinner.

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
One of our favourite things we are so glad we organised for our wedding was our live wedding painter. We had Leena at Art by Leena  paint our chuppah for us. She painted live during the ceremony and then continued until the end of the evening and is currently working on the touch ups at home. We had many meeting with Leena to discuss what was important to us in the painting and she wanted to know what we’d like her to capture so she can personalise it. We are so excited to see the finished piece! We also decided to have the shards from our chuppah glass made into glass art by Eva Edery. Eva really took the time to talk with us about what we were after and we can’t wait to see it and frame it in our home.

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Some other things we had arranged for the wedding were wedding themed activity books for our flower girl and ring bearer which had their names on it and digital art on the front cover which was personalised to look like them. It had various games and drawings to colour in and came with a small pack of colouring pencils. We also arranged for a small briefcase for our ring bearer to guard the rings in. It had his name on and the date of the wedding with ‘ring security’ on the front. It came with personalised sunglasses and hand cuffs which he absolutely loved! He was our ring bearer so it’s only right he looked after the rings!

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
During the celebrations, there was a moment where we used an umbrella from Eloise’s parents wedding, which was then used at Eloise’s sister’s wedding and then at ours. It has sort of become a family tradition! It’s where the bride stands up on a chair and holds an umbrella up and the women all take the other ends of a piece ribbons each and walk round the bride whilst she turns the handle. Eloise’s parents have been married over 30 years so we’ve looked after it well! The ribbons have been apricot coloured, then ivory, then a dusky pink colour for our wedding, to tie in with our theme. It was a little bit of fun for a few moments and a lovely reminder of those two weddings it had been used at before ours. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
We all really enjoyed decorating our wedding post box. We had found one from hobby craft, spray painted it an ivory colour and glued flowers down to tie in with our florals for the wedding. Continuing the floral theme, we were able to source a lovely A5 guest book for messages throughout the day. We had it personalised to have our new shared last name and the date of our wedding and we loved reading through all the messages afterwards. 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
For our drinks we had signature cocktails made. We had the obvious ‘bride’ and ‘groom’ for some classic cocktails and then we had some fun inventing new names for our favourite drinks to do with our last names. They were definitely a success and Eloise designed all the graphics for the signature drinks menu! 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
We were also able to find personalised cufflinks for our dads. They said father of the bride & father of the groom with the date engraved on them. Eloise also arranged for her bridesmaids to have matching bracelets, dressing gowns and slippers and Eytan arranged for his groomsmen to have personalised cufflinks with their initials on. We really enjoyed personalising these and how they will act as keepsakes for our family and friends. Due to Eytan’s love of space and the moon, Eloise made it her mission to find cufflinks and a watch with these themes and it was definitely a bonus that they happened to tie in with the colour scheme! 

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding

Our advice would be to enjoy the process and and try not to stress about the little things. Everything comes together in the end. And if you’re a bride.. DELEGATE! The less you have to worry about, the better. That’s what bridesmaids are for!

Eloise and Eytan, South Hampstead Shul, London, UK
ELOISE & EYTAN’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK

Photography – Kate Swerdlow Photography {offers 15% discount on an engagement shoot to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Harpist – Noa Davies {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – South Hampstead Shul
Videography – Your Moving Memories
Bride’s shoes – BellaRose UK
Bride’s accessories – Lace and Favour, Angelica Bridal
Bridesmaids – NEXT
Ketubah – The Pink Quill
Hair + Makeup – Charlotte Butler Hair, Rebecca Robinson
Flowers – Flowers by Alina
Live Music – Neshama
Violinist – Miriam Kramer
Catering – Reich’s
Cake – Coco Bakery
Live Painter – Art by Leena
Chuppah Glass Art – Eva Edery
Rings – Moish at London Jeweller

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.