We always love featuring the weddings of our beloved STG Brides Club members, and the beautiful outdoor Jewish wedding of Mica, an otolaryngologist, and Gabriel, a general surgeon, is no exception.
And we’re so touched to hear that Mica found Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club a huge help in planning her big day, appreciating the supportive community and the ability to bounce ideas off other brides going through the same thing without having to bother her non-bride friends about wedding minutia!
If you want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club too, you can do so here. It’s the place to be for Jewish and Jew-ish brides-to-be!
And onto Mica’s wedding, there’s not much that sounds more romantic than a wedding in a butterfly garden, and Mica and Gabriel’s gorgeous wedding doesn’t disappoint. Their venue provided such a stunning setting, especially for the glorious outdoor chuppah, and we love how the couple works butterflies in as a motif for their day, with everything from butterfly-shaped paper napkin ring holders to laser cut butterfly table cards. Maegan Rachelle Photography captured everything so perfectly!
Now over to the bride, who looked ever so romantic in Winnie Couture…
HOW WE MET
Mica, the bride: We met almost 11 years ago on March of the Living (MOL). I am originally from Dallas and Gabriel is originally from Boca Raton. We were grouped together for MOL as the Southern region of the United States. We started dating near to the start of college though Gabriel was in college at Florida State University and I was in California at Stanford.
We both continued on to medical school – still long distance between New York and Florida. Finally for surgical residency, we both made it to Houston- the city that finally brought us together!
Gardens and Butterflies
We got married at the Texas Discovery Gardens and Butterfly House! We wanted an outdoor ceremony and an indoor reception that still had an outdoor feel and this was an absolutely perfect setup! The tish and bedeken setup was absolutely amazing here!
Gabriel’s tish room whose back wall was a window to the Butterfly House and I was at the bottom of the Butterfly House’s canopy walkway with all of the mothers, sisters, and bridesmaids. As he, the fathers, the rabbis, and groomsmen came into the Butterfly House, their chanting could be heard throughout and it was absolutely magical to come together!
The ceremony was on a beautiful lawn with trees on both sides and a fountain at the back. Our reception was in a lovely room made mainly of windows and the bars and food were all hosted outside in the gardens. We had string lights to welcome those into the garden as well!
All about the Love
We had a number of elements that we personalized. ‘Ahava’ was a big part of our theme as were proteas and butterflies. A sunset photo of us alongside the Ahava sculpture in Jerusalem at the Israel Museum was on our Save the Date.
We made gift bags with this and a number of other phrases in Hebrew, Spanish, English, and South African slang – one side with ‘ahava/love’ and the other side with ‘howdy/howzit’. The protea is special to us because of Gabriel’s roots from South Africa – they were in all the bouquets and all along the chuppah.
We had the bedeken in a butterfly garden and we had napkin ring holders made of golden paper butterflies with our names engraved on the bottom. The table cards were butterfly laser cut cards wedged in two cork doors that the bride made with her sister so they wouldn’t fly away in the wind!
WHAT ‘SMASHING THE GLASS BRIDES CLUB’ DID FOR US
I loved being able to bounce ideas off of the Brides Club members! Having support during this time and not annoying my non-bride friends was so wonderful. There was no detail too small for the Brides Clubs members – they were all so creative and wonderfully supportive!
I love helping brides now as well in my post-wedding time!
Invitation
We designed and put together our invitations completely. The invitations had both English and Hebrew with proteas and butterflies featured. In addition, our details cards were printed on eco-friendly Lokta paper with pressed flowers.
Hair + Makeup
A group of ladies part of the Styling Stewardess did the hair and makeup for me as well as most of my bridesmaids and all of the sisters and mothers. They did a lovely job and allowed everyone to personalize their look. I went for light eyeshadow and a natural hair style.
A Winnie Couture Dress
Winnie Couture was the dress designer. The process of wedding dress shopping was really a pain. I liked how this dress was very romantic and went along with the butterfly and garden theme. It was a very romantic fairy type of dress. It all felt like it was out of a dream!
Accessories
My jewellery was the most special part of the day’s outfit. This was a Carrera y Carrera set that my Abuelo (grandfather) gifted to my Abuela (grandmother) on a past anniversary. Their union has always been an amazing example for me of a healthy marriage and it was such a special touch to be able to honor their amazing marriage on the day of our wedding. This included a ring, necklace, and earring set.
Shoes
Hello dancing flats! We aimed to party the night away and that is exactly what we did! I bought a pair of light pink Birdies which had embroidered flowers with blue petals. Something blue! They were wonderfully comfortable and no dance moves were spared! We even ended the night by having a push up challenge!
The handsome groom
My wonderful groom wore a black Ted Baker tuxedo and purple as his inside lining. He had a mini-protea boutonnière which didn’t even last one hour thanks to his rowdy groomsmen 🙂 All of his groomsmen wore black tuxedos as well. He and all of his groomsmen wore USA hockey socks.
He has played hockey throughout his life and in particular loves the Miracle of Ice story. ‘Great moments are born from great opportunities’ from Herb Brooks was the inspiration for the socks.
Bridesmaids
I had 8 lovely bridesmaids dressed in Charcoal. They were all free to choose their dresses with beading and shine encouraged! Most purchased from BHLDN or Adrianna Papell.
Ceremony
We had two amazing rabbis – one from March of the Living which is where we met. Rabbi Josh Broide was the rabbi on our bus during March of the Living and has known us for 10 years!
It was so special to have him. Rabbi Dov Greenberg was our second rabbi – he was the Chabad rabbi at my university and has also known us for many years. Our ketubah was alongside the chuppah and featured a beautiful Jerusalem scene with the 7 species and a tribute to how we met – our March of the Living bus!
Chuppah
Our designer really led the way and was so helpful. We had fresh flowers and greenery all along including proteas. We wanted a big chuppah to fit our families. Our outdoor ceremony was really beautiful so there was not too much that needed to be done!
Under the chuppah, I had Gabriel’s talit handmade in Jerusalem from the Tallis Man with green and gold and the quote ‘ani le dodi’. It is said that in Ashkenazi culture the tallit given as a gift to the groom is akin to the engagement ring gift from to the bride. It was so special to gift him his first talit.
We did my Sephardic custom of covering ourselves underneath at the end of the ceremony. The bride’s grandfathers talit was on the table to honor his memory and the two kiddush cups were used were from Gabriel’s bar mitzvah (a gift from his maternal grandparents who were at the wedding!) and Gabriel’s father’s bar mitzvah kiddush cup (a gift from the fraternal grandparents may they rest in peace).
Our music choice
We had Goga, a wonderful wedding singer, for our ceremony and for our simcha dancing. We were able to customize our entire ceremony with different Hebrew songs.
Gabriel walked in to ‘Erev Shel Shoshanim’. I walked in to ‘Ahava Kazo’ by Idan Raichel- a testament to our long distance relationship which finally is not long distance 🙂
Right before Gabriel stepped on the glass, ‘Od Yavo Shalom Aleynu’ began to play and after he smashed it the song bellowed out so beautifully with a drum to accompany! We had a drummer scheduled for the ceremony but he was in an accident last minute. Our main band was kind enough to surprise me with a drummer last minute for the ceremony! It was so fun.
We have so many songs! First dance for us – ‘Tiny Dancer’ by Elton John – goes back to our meeting on a bus trip – a tip to Almost Famous bus scene.
Flowers
Protea love! On our wedding logo, invitation, bags, chuppah, and bouquets!
Photographer
We so loved our photographer – Maegan Rachelle Photography. She is so stress free, quick to get amazing shots, and flexible.
Food and cake
We used Culinary Arts Catering which provided a lovely kosher dinner.
Entertainment
Goga Music – our ceremony singer and our simcha dancing singer. He is an amazing one man band.
We used an 11 piece band for the party as well as DJ. This was provided by the Ray Colao Band which was able to provide both Spanish and English music to cater to our multicultural group!
WEEKEND OF FUN
What was really special to us was that the entire weekend was coordinated for fun. Friday night was a beautiful Shabbat at the Hotel Fairmont coordinated by Eric Weiner. We had challah covers that my father and I made out of bandanas to add a Texas flare with our wedding logo embroidered on the challah covers!
Saturday night we had a Cheers with the Bride and Groom at TacoLingo – a night with margaritas, mules, and tacos! Around midnight we started to head back to the hotel but our parents had moved on to another bar – The Henry rooftop bar with fireplaces!
We all ended up staying out with a huge group of family and friends until 2am.
Honeymoon
We took the time after our wedding to have a traditional shevah berachot. We had the first at the bride’s family’s ranch with a Texas BBQ! Then we travelled with the groom’s family including grandparents from Cape Town for a beautiful time in his home town in Florida.
MICA & GABRIEL’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Maegan Rachelle Photography
Wedding planner – Kristin Thompson with Weddings by Wendy
Venue – Texas Discovery Gardens
Bride’s dress – Winnie Couture
Bride’s shoes –Birdies
Groom’s attire – Ted Baker
Bridesmaids – BHLDN, Adrianna Papell.
Hair + Makeup – Styling Stewardess
Band – Ray Colao Band
Ceremony Singer – Goga Music
Catering – Culinary Arts Catering
Ketubah – Woodland Papercuts
Decoration Supplier – Alpha Decor & Events
Talit – Tallis Man
Rabbi – Rabbi Josh Broide and Rabbi Dov Greenberg
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club for step-by-step guides, handpicked wedding vendor discounts, Jewish wedding action plans, a free smash glass pouch, Jewish wedding checklists and templates, and SO much more!
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 minimizes wedstress and overwhelm and maximises your budget. Join our Brides Club here.
Mica and Gabriel, gorgeous couple inside out! It was our pleasure to serve you as the Wedding Decorator!! Thanks to Smashing the glass for featuring.
Future bride to bees:) You know who to go to.
– Team at Alpha Events and Decor Dallas Texas