We have the most stunning English garden Jewish wedding to share with you today! Mia, who works in fashion recruitment, and Bradley, a project manager, have been together since the age of 14 after meeting at school, so by the time they celebrated their big day at Down Hall in Essex, there was so much history, love, and family wrapped up in the day.
And speaking of family – Mia is lucky enough to be the daughter of Richard, founder of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Creative Events, so it was basically a given that she was going to have a Jewish wedding for the books.
Creative Events handled planning, production, and floral design, and they brought Mia’s dreams of a rustic English garden in soft pastels to life so perfectly. We’re especially obsessed with the duo’s stunner of a floral chuppah, featuring a mix of seasonal flowers, including hydrangeas, peonies, roses, and dahlias.
Photographer Chloe Delmonte captured the day so exquisitely, while videographer Denee Motion took charge of film in their trademark cinematic style. Now over to Mia…
How We Met
Mia, the bride: We met at school when we were 11 years old. Bradley and I both went to Yavneh College and started going out when we were 14 years old and have been together ever since!
Venue
We got married at Down Hall Hotel, Spa and Estate. We chose this location as we knew we wanted an outside chuppah and the grounds are just beautiful. We were so lucky with the weather as we got married on a sunny bank holiday weekend and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! We literally prayed every day for amazing weather and we were very lucky! No sausage needed to be buried!!!
Theme
I wanted my theme to be rustic English garden vibes. I didn’t have a specific colour palette just all the summer pastels. We chose a mix of different flowers for the chuppah and we chose to have hydrangeas all along the isle on rustic wooden plinths. The flower pots were wrapped in hessian for that extra rustic vibe!
I am lucky that my dad is Richard from Creative Events so he did all of the production. We had Tash from Seventh Detail coordinating on the day and she was absolutely amazing. Wedding planner and production was Creative Events.
Invitation/Stationery
We had beautiful invitations! Eventfully More did our invites and Kristie was amazing. I gave her my vision and she completely got it and brought it to life. We even has rustic bows on our invitations!
Hair + Makeup
I went with Ilana Grossman for my hair, she just got exactly what I wanted spot on and I would definitely reccomend her to any brides getting married and looking for a hair stylist. I had 2 trials with Ilana and she re did my hair over and over until I was completely happy with it.
I went with Rina Steinberg for my makeup, she was also amazing I had two trials with her too, I dont wear that much makeup so I was nervous about wearing lots on the day but she completey got the no make up makeup brief and I was over the moon with my look and it stayed on all day in 30 degree heat!!!
Dress
I chose to go with a beautiful Suzanne Neville dress from her showroom in Knightsbridge. I knew I wanted to feel just like a princess and I definitely did! I tried on so many and the one I had was the first one I tried, everything about it just felt like me from the frills on the shoulder to the satin bow! My veil was also one of my favourite parts of the look, it just complimented the dress perfectly.
Accessories
My veil was one of my favourite parts of my look, it was just so pretty and girly and princessy. It had little flowers all over it and completed my dress in all the right ways!
Shoes
My shoes from Lace and Favour and they were a brand called Rainbow Club who are a bridal shoe brand. They were really comfortable and padded so I would definitely recommend taking a look if your stuck.
Bridesmaids
I had 5 bridesmaids, 2 of which were my sisters, and I let them choose whatever they wanted to wear apart from my sisters were in pink. I didn’t really have a colour scheme since my theme was English Garden so I liked the idea that they were wearing whatever they wanted and whatever colour and it worked perfectly.
Ceremony & Chuppah
I wanted the chuppah to feel wild and full. I didn’t want anything too blocky and I wanted it to feel cozy and not too big either. We also had pink fabric tied in knots around the edges to make it feel more rustic and princess castle-esque! The venue had a wooden canopy already there and we deliberately placed our chuppah in front of it as we thought it added to the whole princess rustic vibe we were going for.
Ketubah
We didn’t do anything special for our ketubah, we went with the original one from our rabbi.
Our music choice
Our band was Club Live, who are absolutely amazing! Dan who is their manager was amazing at guiding us through our playlist and what we should and shouldn’t play! They get the vibes going, they came around the tables and got everyone involved. A highlight song for me was Reach for the Stars S Club 7 it’s my favourite song and just reminds me of being a child! Not a classic I know, but everyone actoully loved it and of course they knew all the words.
Flowers
We chose a mix of different flowers that were in season as the time! We had hydrangeas, peonies, roses, dahlias all in different pastel colours and sizes. For the bouquets I chose to have a mix of different flowers that were in the chuppah and button holes we chose to have a dusty pink rose with a raffia bow to coincide with our rustic theme. Creative Designsz (Creative Events) did the flowers.
Photographer and videographer
We chose Chloe Delmonte as our photographer, I really couldn’t recommend her enough. She went above and beyond to make sure all our photos were perfect. She even knew the angles she didn’t think I would like and told me to change position!! I had given her lots of pinterest boards before hand and she really brought my vision to life. She is also genuinely the nicest person ever!!! For our videographer we went with Denee Motion who are also absolutely amazing. Max and his team were there on the day and they were just amazing and captured our whole day so beautifully!
We used Jess Caplin from Your Wedding Edit for all of our wedding day content, and she was honestly one of the best decisions I made!
Jess captures SO much throughout the entire day and then turns it into different Instagram Reels within 24 hours, which is amazing because you get to relive your day literally the next day!
Not only was she incredible at capturing all the raw, candid moments that a photographer wouldn’t necessarily have time to photograph, but she was basically my best friend for the whole day, touching up my makeup, bustling my dress, fanning me down and making sure I was okay throughout!
I really couldn’t recommend Jess enough. She’s so lovely, and bubbly, makes you feel completely comfortable and will guide you through everything if you’re unsure what types of videos you want.
Food and cake
Marc Sharer was our caterer. He was just amazing the food was absolutely delicious and came out hot!!! We went to him for a tasting a few months prior too. I can’t thank him enough everyone loved the food! We went for Duck and Watermelon salad to start, medallion or beef for main and desert had to be something chocolate because who doesn’t love a chocolate desert?! We went for a chocolate tort and it was yummy.
Extra Details
We chose to do a sparkler photo towards the end of the night which was such a cool idea of Chloe’s. We gathered our best friends outside once it was dark and they all had a sparkler and Bradley and I stood in the middle whilst they waved them all around us. We got some epic pictures!
Another stand out moment for me was just before I walked down the aisle with my dad I was getting nervous so Ilana who did my hair put on S Club 7 Reach for the Stars and me and my dad just danced and did a sing song together and it really felt special, a moment I will treasure forever for sure!
I also did a dress reveal to all of my grandparents and my sisters and bridesmaids and it was the most special moment seeing all of their reactions some were very unexpected which made it even more special! My grandpa just looked at me and cried and then he went and sat down on the bed and just stared at me, he couldn’t believe it!
I also recommend a really good song for the groom to go up to before he does his speech. Bradley went up to Hey Baby and everyone was singing along!
Honeymoon
We chose to go on our honeymoon straight after the wedding, which if you haven’t booked your honeymoon already I would really recommend! We went to Japan which was absolutely amazing, we then flew to Singapore and got a ferry to Bintan which is a remote island in Indonesia and honestly it was fabulous. The people were amazing and the beaches are beautiful with white sand!
We stayed at Hotel Indigo in Bintan and we will definitely be going back. The service, the food, the rooms, the pool the beach…. just everything was 5 star and the service was top notch. We then got the ferry back to Singapore and stayed there for 2 days and sadly flew home. All in all we were away for just under 3 weeks and it was the perfect way to end the best month of our lives. I wish we could do it all over again and again. We used Sharron Bennett as our travel agent and she was just amazing. We didn’t know anything about Japan but she guided us through and put together a fabulous itinerary, you are welcome to message me if you want it!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
All I can say is that it flies by so quickly. Take a minute at some point during the day to just take it all in – have a look around the room, everyone is there to celebrate you and your now husband so just really take that moment to take it all in. Make sure you eat and drink before walking down the aisle, you probably won’t be hungry but just try and eat something even if it’s a little chocolate rougelah (that’s what i had!!). Don’t hold your bouquet too high when you’re walking down the aisle and smile as much as you can even if you are really nervous. One final piece of advice is do what you want to do and don’t let anyone pressure you into doing anything that doesn’t feel right, you only get married once so have no regrets! Mazel Tov!!!
MIA & BRADLEY’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Chloe Delmonte
Videography – Denee Motion
Planner & florist – Creative Events
Venue – Down Hall Hotel, Spa and Estate
Day-of coordinator – Seventh Detail
Bride’s dress – Suzanne Neville
Bride’s shoes – Lace and Favour
Hair – Ilana Grossman
Makeup – Rina Steinberg
DJ – Club Live
Catering – Marc Sharer
Stationery/Invitation – Eventfully More
Content creator – Your Wedding Edit
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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