We love a good winter wedding – and the fabulous London celebration of Kirsty, a Pilates instructor, and Dean, who works in technology recruitment, ticks ALL our boxes!
Opting to wed in November, the duo knew they didn’t want a typical all-white winter wedding, so they went for a soft color palette featuring nudes, blush pink, and gold, and warmed the room with candles everywhere. Their stunning venue, the Rosewood London, made for the perfect backdrop for this elegantly cozy day.
To make the day of their dreams a reality, Kirsty and Dean turned to Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elegante by Michelle J’s Piccolo premium coordination service, which brought all the suppliers together in the leadup and on the day, so that everything ran seamlessly and the bride and groom could enjoy their wedding stress-free.
Another Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, Big Day Designs, created Kirsty and Dean’s wonderful invitations. They wanted something relatively simple and minimalistic but that didn’t look the same as everyone else’s – and did Big Day ever come through: many of the guests reported that it was the nicest invitation they’d received!
Photographer Lynn Shapiro captured all the details of the day so beautifully, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion handled the videography with their usual aplomb – don’t miss their fabulous trailer!
We also love that Kirsty and Dean set up their chuppah canopy such that it was rigged to the ceiling, so that after the ceremony they could remove the poles and repurpose it as a fabulous floral chandelier to enjoy all night long!
Read on for more on this very special day in the bride’s own words…
How We Met
Kirsty, the bride: We met at a golf club in Chigwell, watching the Champions League final in May, 2021. Dean moved to Chigwell from Australia around eight years ago and quickly slotted in with his English cousin’s group of friends – the same group of friends that Kirsty grew up with. They started speaking, saw each other a few times within the crowd over the next two weeks, went on a date and the rest is history!
A London Wedding
We opted for a London-based venue so that local guests didn’t have too far to travel and didn’t feel obligated to stay overnight. The Rosewood London in Holborn was the fifth of five venues that we looked at and I knew it was the one the second I entered the courtyard.
This feeling only grew when we stepped inside. The Rosewood is STUNNING It’s decadent and extravagant without feeling ostentatious and has a New York art-deco vibe that was perfect for us, with New York being my favourite place in the world and also one of the first big trips we took together.
Theme + Wedding Planner
I have always dreamed of getting married under a chuppah so we had a Jewish interfaith wedding with a Reform rabbi. We were conscious that we didn’t want a typical all-white winter wedding, despite getting married in November, so softened the colour palette by adding nudes, blush pink, gold and warming the room with candles everywhere.
More than anything, we wanted the wedding to be an amazing party and our band Creation were truly incredibly in bringing that to life. We could not have got through the day or the final month of planning without the help and expertise of Michelle and her team at Elegante by Michelle J. We used the Piccolo service (their premium coordination service) which brought all the suppliers together and the team coordinated on the day, allowing everything to run seamlessly and us to enjoy every second without stress or worry.
Invitation
Big Day Designs designed our invitations for us. I had a really distinct and clear vision for everything, including invitations, so poor Trudi had to deal with me sending over pantone samples to get the blush pink of our invitations absolutely correct. We wanted something relatively simple and minimalistic but that didn’t look the same as everyone else’s.
Our invitations and on-the-day stationery were pearlescent blush pink on arched card with a combination of cursive and straighter fonts. My favourite part was that the invitations came in a vellum jacket embellished with pearls, and so many of our guests said it was the nicest invitation they’d received – I couldn’t argue!
Hair + Makeup
My hair and makeup were easy choices. Sarah-Louis Okin and Kourtney Hammett were both an absolute dream to work with. It felt like having friends in the room. They kept everyone so calm and my hair and makeup didn’t budge all night.
We also had Alanna and Alishea who worked alongside Sarah-Louise and Kourtney to make my beautiful bridesmaids even more beautiful.
I could not say a bad word about any of the wonderful women that helped us get ready. My mum, sister and bridesmaids all looked absolutely STUNNING and I know they felt it too. I feel so grateful to have had such a lovely team who made the morning even more enjoyable.
A Veni Infantino Dress
My wedding dress was a strapless, A-line gown in a heavy lace fabric that looked like it could have come straight from a Dior catwalk. It was designed by Veni Infantino, who is also the mother of one of my bridesmaids and very best friends. I have told Claudia since the day we met that Veni would design my wedding dress and it was so special to have that experience with her. I had the unique and incredibly special experience of going directly to Veni’s home showroom (quite possibly my favourite room in the world) and tried on almost every dress she had.
I kept going back to the third dress I tried on, which was different to anything I’d pictured myself in but I truly felt like a princess, especially when we added the veil which had cuffs that matched the fabric of the dress. We added extra sparkles to both the top and under layer of the dress so it sparkled under the light.
My second dress was the Amelie mini dress from Rosie Etienne Bridal. It had the most beautiful sequinned floral detailing and was a very similar shape to my first dress, so they complemented each other perfectly.
Accessories + Shoes
I didn’t want to go overboard with jewellery and take away from my dress. My cuffed veil felt so unique and elegant and I had so many compliments, even from the men! My mum and dad bought me a pair of Monica Vinader gold pearl hoop earrings, which matched the invitations and pearls that embellished the stationery, and I wore the Chai necklace that my maternal grandparents bought for me when I was a baby. It was without a doubt the most special accessory I could have worn as it means more to me than anything else I own.
I wore a beautiful pair of white Jimmy Choo heels with diamond buckle detail. I lasted about 45 minutes in them before swapping to a pair of Asos heels that were far more comfortable but I made it down the aisle and through our photographs in them!
Bridesmaids
My bridesmaids all chose their own black dresses because I wanted them to feel as comfortable and gorgeous as possible and I knew that would be easier if they choose their own. I quite cheekily asked that none of the female guests wore black so that my bridesmaids felt extra special and stood out and it was really lovely to have a winter wedding that wasn’t just a sea of black dresses.
Ceremony & Chuppah
Our chuppah was something I have dreamt about for as long as I can remember and our florist, Miri, understood my vision immediately – romantic and ethereal. Our gold-framed chuppah was adorned with clouds of gypsophila and roses that blended seamless into a gypsophila ceiling.
The chuppah was rigged to the ceiling and the legs removed after the ceremony so we danced all night under a floral chandelier which was just sensational. Our 18-month-old son Maddox walked down the gold-mirrored aisle with my mum, holding a sign that said ‘Daddy, it’s time to give Mummy our last name’ and you could hear the ‘AWWW’s from outside.
Walking down the aisle with my Dad was as special as I could have imagined and his only request was that he be able to walk me the entire length of the aisle rather than ‘hand me over’ to Dean in the middle. He says his only regret of the whole wedding is that we didn’t make the aisle longer so that he could have walked with me for longer.
Rather than the traditional seven circles, Dean and I decided to do one circle around each other to symbolise our equality and commitment to each other. We also had my mum read a poem, which was important to me as she was such a huge part of the planning process so it felt criminal to not give her a speaking role. We also wanted to involve Dean’s mum and sister, so they read the seven blessings.
As we had a Reform ceremony, our ketubah was more for symbolic purposes – it also allowed us to have two of our closest friends act as witnesses on the day. We found a beautiful floral one on Etsy with the wording sent to us by our rabbi and will have this framed for our home.
Our music choice
We chose Creation as our band after seeing them at our friends’ wedding a few weeks after getting engaged. Simon was incredible throughout the planning process – he worked through song lists with us, listened intently to my ‘absolutely not’ list and also did our production. I walked down the aisle to a cover of ‘Still into You’ by Paramore, which the musicians played and sung beautifully.
I decided against walking to a Hebrew song as the words mean so much to me and I wanted everyone to understand them. Our first dance was to ‘Wondering Why’ by The Red Clay Strays, which we chose because again, the words felt truly meaningful to us and our relationship, with Dean coming from a country town in Australia and me being a Jewish, definitely not-country girl from Chigwell – a coupling that wouldn’t always ‘add up on paper’ but we really are each other’s biggest fans.
The band got every song right during the party and the dance floor was full until the very end. I think almost every person in the room asked who the band was and said how incredible they were so we can’t thank them enough for creating such an amazing atmosphere for us.
Flowers
There are no words to describe how perfectly Miri from Flowers by Miri and her team executed the vision I had for the room – to the point that I burst into tears when I walked in. The combination of white gypsophila and nude and blush pink roses was pure perfection, coupled with what looked like floating candles throughout. My bouquet was a combination of gypsophila and roses, with my bridesmaids’ bouqets made up of just gypsophila.
The groomsmen had a single rose each for their buttonholes and Dean’s was a rose surrounded by some gypsophila so they all complemented each other. Our table centres were a mixture of low and high, the higher ones made to look like clouds with roses falling from them. The low centre pieces looked like candles floating in a pool of flowers and our three long tables had floral runners, again with candles placed in the arrangement.
Our floral chandelier took everyone’s breath away and I made sure to take moments throughout the night to just look up and around and take everything in. One particular highlight was coming down from the hora with a piece of gypsophila stuck in my hair!
Photographer and videographer
We found our photographer, Lynn Shapiro, on Instagram and instantly loved her style. It was beautiful, candid and captured the true essence of the weddings she had photographed. I wanted a photographer to focus on the small details, emotions, joy + love in the room and she did exactly that. We clicked instantly from our first FaceTime and she was a pleasure to be around, putting us so at ease from the moment she arrived.
We used Denee Motion for the videography. They work at so many Jewish weddings and it’s clear to see why so this was an incredibly easy decision to make!
Food
We used Philip Small and his fabulous team to cater the wedding and they did an amazing job. Our food and drinks were largely just reflections of what we love ourselves! Our three signature cocktails were the lychee martini, a gin fizz and passionfruit mojitos and we also had a trio of dessert, including a sticky toffee pudding which neither of us can ever say no to!
Extra Details
We have been to so many weddings where the couple provide flip flops for female guests to change into when their feet get sore. I loved this idea but wanted to be a little different and being a November wedding, it was the perfect opportunity to give everyone fluffy slippers instead!
Our decor and floral chandelier were definitely the show stopper of the night – I think I’ve mentioned it four or five times already but it really was spectacular. I cried when I first saw it because it was exactly how I imagined it.
My sister had been told that her toast to the King was to be a toast only, and so, she proceeded to make a wonderful toast and detail all the things she would say ‘if it were a speech… But it isn’t’. It ended up being my favourite speech of the night and I’m so glad she didn’t abide by my 90-second time limit!
Honeymoon
As many of Dean’s Australian friends couldn’t make it over to the wedding, we decided the best choice for our honeymoon was to take a trip to Australia. We travelled around before heading to the Gold Coast where we had another wedding party in the beautiful Australian sunshine. This was even more special as I too have family there.
Of course my parents couldn’t possibly miss out, so they came too, which worked well for us as we were able to leave our little boy with his doting Nana and Poppa for a few days and jet off to Fiji. We absolutely loved Fiji – we stayed in the Marriott Resort in Momi Bay. The resort and island were stunning and the staff and people there were so lovely. We can’t wait to go back.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
My biggest piece of advice is to just enjoy every second of the planning because it’s such a huge part of the wedding. I was so lucky to have my mum helping with me everything and taking every bit of pressure and stress off of me so I could also focus on being a new mum. I made a conscious decision throughout the night to stop, look around and take everything in and I’m so glad I did.
Dean and I also decided to go into our reception and get through as many hellos as we could before dinner so we didn’t spend the evening greeting people. During the party, we were on the dance floor the whole night and made sure to enjoy time with our friends and family but to keep coming back to each other. I feel like it can be so easy to get swept up in entertaining guests but just remember it’s yours and your partner’s day and you don’t want to end the night having barely spent time together.
KIRSTY AND DEAN’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Lynn Shapiro
Planner – Elegante by Michelle J {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Videography – Denee Motion {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Stationery/Invitation – Big Day Designs {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Rosewood London
Bride’s dresses – Veni Infantino, Rosie Etienne Bridal
Bride’s accessories – Monica Vinader
Bride’s shoes – Jimmy Choo
Hair + Makeup – Sarah-Louis Okin, Kourtney Hammett
Flowers – Flowers by Miri
Band – Creation
Catering – Philip Small
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.
