Over the past months, it’s been so beautiful to see big, festive Jewish weddings coming back. And for so many couples, it’s been all that much sweeter getting to celebrate together with loved ones after spending so much time apart.
That was very much Ilana and Sam’s experience – from day one, their vision included a big, fun party for their nearest and dearest, and while the pandemic certainly added stress and uncertainty to their planning, it made the end result – just three weeks after UK COVID restrictions had been lifted! – that much more meaningful.
To make the most of having everyone gathered together after so long, Ilana and Sam opted to turn their Sunday wedding into a full-on wedding weekend, renting out a nearby house with both their families to host Saturday welcome drinks and generally get in some extra bonding time.
We also love Ilana and Sam’s “summer colors” theme, beautifully shown in the photos by James Davidson – complete with vibrant pink and orange florals in the bouquets, on the tables, and adorning their beautiful birch chuppah rented from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Happy Chuppah People. Speaking of which – note how Ilana and Sam went for flowers just on two corners of the chuppah. This is a great example of how doable it is to incorporate gorgeous florals into your chuppah design without breaking the bank.
There’s so much more to say, but we’ll leave the rest to Ilana, who looked so glam in her gown by Watters…
How we Met
Ilana, the bride and Sam, the groom: We met seven years ago at a house party on a crowded ‘dance floor’ – Sam took Ilana’s number, didn’t text her for a week, then cancelled their first date because he’d started dating someone else. Ilana proposed a friendly coffee instead; Sam upped that with a trip to the Tate Modern. One seven-hour “non-date” later, Sam decided he might want to organise a real date, and the rest is history.
A Country House Venue
We started looking at venues in early 2020. Size was a key factor with a 200 person guest list – at the start, we looked at a whole range, from the DIY end to the highly formal. Ilana visited Elmore Court for the first time with her parents and in-laws (Sam couldn’t get the time off work). It was the perfect combination of fun & beautiful. We love a party and the venue was set up perfectly for that; but we also love history, and were wowed by the beautiful house & the Guise history. We were flying to Vietnam the next day, so Ilana made a call without Sam having visited at all. We got to go back during lockdown where Sam saw Elmore for the first time, which was a real treat.
Summer Vibes
Ilana pitched hard for ‘Tropical Disco’ but Sam was nervous about excessive Hawaiian shirts, so we went for ‘summer colours’. The guests duly complied! We wanted everyone to have a really good time – to eat delicious food, to dance the night away and meet brilliant people. Because we were getting married on a Sunday (as Jewish weddings tend to be), we wanted to make a weekend of it, and so both families rented a house nearby, Drakestone Manor, hosted Saturday welcome drinks there and spent the weekend together.
We’d been relatively laissez-faire about planning elements of the wedding, as with COVID, we hadn’t been confident it would actually go ahead – then as it got nearer the time, panicked with the amount we had to do. Thank goodness we had Kat on hand for some expert advice!
Invitation
Sam’s dad made us the seating plan board. Ilana and her bridesmaids did the table signs at the last minute the morning of the wedding! We used a beautiful stationery designer to create personalised invites and menu cards – Pingle Pie.
Hair + Makeup
Beth McKendrick, who did hair and beauty on the photoshoots for the company I work for. She doesn’t normally do weddings, so she spent quite a bit of time making sure I felt comfortable. I thought she did a sensational job.
A Watters Dress
Because it was COVID, the shops had only began to open again. I booked in an appointment at Angelica Bridal in Angel (because it was local). The dress I ended up going with (Sunday Bouquet, by Watters) I hadn’t even picked up off the rail – the very helpful shop assistant suggested I try it on. It was much…bigger than I’d expected I’d go for, but the pattern was so beautiful and unusual I was smitten.
It was very heavy so as part of the alteration I added straps – which I was very grateful for on the night, as it made the dress comfortable. I’d bought an Alice & Olivia white jumpsuit for the party, but was having too much fun in the wedding dress to change into it. I got full use out of the wedding dress – I even managed to skip in it on the dancefloor.
The handsome groom
Ilana and I had been to Vietnam – fortunately just before COVID struck – where I had had a suit made, pale grey with a hot pink lining. Since lockdowns meant I hadn’t had any weddings to wear it to, it became my wedding suit, which I was delighted about! It felt brilliant having a suit tailored for me and with colours I liked. It also matched perfectly with a light pink kippah, which I was set on, and our pink and orange flowers.
Ceremony
Given all the uncertainty of COVID, I couldn’t quite believe it was actually happening (restrictions had lifted three weeks earlier). The bedecken was a really special moment for me. I felt almost Victorian, draped in my dress in a beautiful Elmore room, and I remember the thrill of hearing Sam – with the Rabbi and various other men – coming up the stairs in joyous song.
One thing I really liked about the bedecken was that it brought together people from different generations and from both mine and Sam’s families and friends. My sister Zavi had also brought some playing cards to keep me distracted before Sam arrived.
I remember the wind whistling in the trees, our friends singing a traditional piece of music, and all our friends smiling.
Our music at the ceremony was really special to us, and we have wonderful memories of it (as well as a couple of shaky – but treasured – videos filmed by guests). Ilana has a super talented friend called Lauren, who incredibly kindly arranged the music for the ceremony and organised a group of other very talented friends to sing for us. We had chosen a selection of traditional Jewish songs which we found particularly beautiful, for when we walked up the aisle, and when we came to the part of the ceremony where we walked around each other.
We also had a sing-along during the ceremony, where all our guests sang Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’, led again by Lauren & co… We had been inspired by singalongs at previous weddings so were very keen to make it a part of ours – and it lived up to expectations!
For the seven blessings, we allocated ones to our friends to read in Hebrew and English. Sam’s mum did a lovely reading from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
We also felt extremely lucky that we were married by our Rabbi, who we have known for many years, and who has seen us at all the stages of our relationship. This made the ceremony hugely personal – it left a number of (non-Jewish) friends asking if he would be available for their weddings!
Ketubah
Our Ketubah was hand painted specially for us by Noam Shargorodsky, at Ketubah Home.
Our music choice
Ilana’s brother-in-law is a brilliant jazz pianist, and along with his bassist friend, provided some gorgeous jazz backdrop.
We chose a swing band called Schwing for the live set – and they were absolutely awesome. So many wedding bands are quite inflexible, but they worked with us all the way through lockdown to curate a set that was personal to us. We kicked off with traditional Jewish dancing before dinner – an incredibly sweaty and joyous affair, where the guests were so involved in the dancing that the band overran by 15 minutes.
After dinner, they performed a jazz / funk set, with some of Sam and Ilana’s favourites. Particularly memorable was when the band played ‘Baby’ by Bakermat (a Dutch DJ) – Ilana’s favourite song – which they had arranged specially for us.
We then had 2 DJs – Ilana’s cousin Gideon, who did an old school garage set, where the crowd went wild, and Ilana’s friend James, who did an epic house set. Out of nowhere, Schwing’s saxophonist came on to support James – literally Ilana’s dream.
Flowers
Sam wanted pink; Ilana wanted orange – and the two came together beautifully. We wanted our flowers to be a little bit wild – inspired by the monbretia, a beautiful flower that grows wild in the West of Ireland, where Ilana spent her childhood summers, and in the West of Wales, where Sam spent his. We trusted the brilliant Amber Persia to bring our vision to life – and people have been talking about the flowers long after.
Gorgeous dahlias, late-season peonies, roses, crocosmia, snap dragon and grasses – when we walked into the Gillyflower, we were blown away. Amber had arranged them with orange candlesticks – it looks sensational. We didn’t fully realise how amazing flowers could be, and how important they were to the overall feel of the place. Our house was full of flowers for weeks after!
Photographer
The staged photographs, were, very gratefully brief. Our photographer James Davidson is less about the staged shots & more about catching people in action having fun, and we loved how he managed to capture amazing magical moments (he whipped us outside during a sunset for some beautiful shots in the meadow) while being completely inobtrusive. The reception was a chance to catch up with many people we hadn’t seen in a long time.
Food and Cake
Elmore Court chef Matt was a total superstar, and did the most amazing bespoke menu for us. Ilana loves pasta, so we had a ravioli starter with lemon & chervil; for main, we had sea bass with burnt aubergine & fennel, with polenta chips, and for dessert we had a trio of puddings – we couldn’t decide what was best.
We’d done the tasting in the middle of lockdown, and it felt like such a treat to be served food – it was almost like being at a restaurant. Unfortunately for her, Ilana was designated driver so Sam got drunk on the wedding wine by himself!
We love Elmore’s flexibility around alcohol and so we ‘shopped’ around – taste testing different bottles of wine all the way through the various lockdowns. We ordered Charles de Fere Blanc de Blancs for the reception from D’Arcy Wines, a Triebaumer Blaufrankisch from Elmore’s wine merchants and a Gavi de Gavi from Highbury Vintners. We also served Sauternes after dinner, from a vineyard Sam and I had visited the previous summer.
We also served espresso martinis after dinner.
Izzy, Sam’s sister, extremely kindly made our cake for us – which she has promised is the last one she will do. It was utterly delicious (fortunately, we still have some in the freezer). There were 3 layers – sticky toffee pudding cake, tahini and coffee, and elderflower and courgette – and it looked beautiful.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
- Bring comfortable shoes and plasters!
- Start a bit earlier! (we started at 3 and everything overran a bit)
- We spent a long time on the table plan, and it was worth it.
- It goes so quickly – I wish I’d managed to speak to everyone ! we were really grateful that we had a whole weekend of it!
ILANA AND SAM’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – James Davidson
Chuppah – Happy Chuppah People {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Elmore Court
Bride’s dress – Watters found at Angelica Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Kat Maconie
Groom’s attire – A Dong Silk Tailors, Marwood
Flowers – Amber Persia
Band – Schwing
Catering – Elmore Court
Ketubah – Ketubah Home
Stationery/Invitation – Pingle Pie
Kippot – Hebrewear
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