We’re in love with the magical garden wedding of Ellie and David, both Australian olim in Israel. Filled with greenery, sparkling fairy lights, and sweet rustic touches, this outdoor wedding was nothing short of enchanting.
Ellie and David opted to DIY their stationery – which they loved working on together in the leadup to their Jewish wedding – and we’re obsessed with Ellie’s super cool dress by Adi Hirsch of Adili Studio in Modiin, Israel. The couple’s photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Herschel Gutman, captured the day so beautifully – and we’re not at all surprised to hear that he was a joy to work with from start to finish.
With both the bride and groom being from Australia, lots of friends and family members couldn’t make it to Israel to celebrate in person – and we love the duo’s clever workaround, in the form of a Whatsapp group! Ellie and David sent the link around to those who were unable to attend the wedding, and then on the day they had QR codes that guests could scan to join the group – along with instructions to record, film and photograph parts of the wedding to share to the group!
There’s so much more to say about this very special day – read on for the full story in Ellie’s own words…
How We Met
Ellie, the bride: David and I are currently both students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We went to the same school in Sydney, Australia, and in high school we were part of the same friend group, we became good friends and enjoyed hanging out together on school camps and at social events. In year 12 we started dating and soon after finishing school we went on the same gap year program to Israel with Bnei Akiva.
After outlasting all the relationships on our program, we both independently decided to make aliya and join the army. David served in Tzanchanim and I served in Search and Rescue. Despite the ongoing long distance when our off weekends weren’t in sync and when David returned to Australia to work, we managed to make it work. It only took us 5 years to understand that were made for each other and on a trip together to Australia in 2023, David proposed and the rest is history.
A Garden Venue
We chose to get married at the beautiful ‘Habustan, Gan Iruim Bcfar’ (הבוסתן, גן לעירוים בכפר) in Abu Gosh, just outside of Jerusalem. Just a month before we were engaged we attended the wedding of close friends at the same venue and I remember seeing the place for the first time and promising at that moment that our wedding would be there. I knew from as soon as I saw it that I wanted my guests to feel the same as I had in that moment, astounded by the enchanting and charming gardens and lights.
We felt that the venue fit the exact vibe and vision for what we wanted and definitely resembled my Pinterest board. Outdoors, filled with greenery, sparkling fairy lights and rustic, Habustan Bcfar ticked all our boxes and added a magical atmosphere to the day.
Theme
Like most young girls, I had been planning my wedding since around the age of five but after finally getting engaged after 5 years of dating it was clear to me that Pinterest would be my ultimate wedding planner. Both of us, with an air for style and design, felt that we could make our vision and dream a reality on our own with some helpful guidance from our parents.
I collated Pinterest folders and many collages depicting all things wedding, one for decor and centrepieces, one for the dress, hair and makeup, one for shoes, one for the wedding party and another for general styling of the event. We agreed instantly on a slightly rustic, outdoor, spring garden theme and we wanted things to feel relaxed whilst still emoting an air of sophistication.
These themes were manifested through the natural foliage and greenery all over our venue along with our choice of spring coloured flowers that were littered throughout the space. To help us ensure a smoothly run day with no hiccups our venue provided us with a day of planner at no extra cost so that we could all enjoy and be present during all the festivities.
Invitation
Stationery was very DIY for us and Canva was our best friend. If you are a creative person and have an eye for design, I highly recommend doing it yourself. We really enjoyed working together to create something that we felt was a representation of us and that we were proud of. Designing the invitations ourselves really added an aspect of satisfaction as we got to bring our ideas to life.
Hair + Makeup
I found both my hair and makeup artists on Instagram and they both understood my vision and were able to created exactly what I wanted. Both women not only did my hair and makeup but also my family’s. They were wonderful and professional and allowed the day to run smoothly.
For my hair, I drew inspiration from Sophia Richie and decided I wanted a slick back low bun, so that I could stay looking elegant the whole evening whilst not over heating and keeping my hair well out of my eyes. Also, due to the texture of my hair, attempting to do loose curls, which I would normally go for, would’ve definitely fallen. I knew that there was no hope in having them stay in all night. So instead I opted for pulled back and off my face and neck rather than be fussing with my hair the whole time.
I do not regret this decision one bit. For makeup, I decided to let Ortal Bastravi, my makeup artist, take the lead, I told her I wanted to look like me but still look like the bride. She seemed to understand this and worked her magic on me.
Dress
My dress was designed and made by Adi Hirsch from Adili Studio in Modiin. The dress I ended up choosing was nothing like what I had originally pictured and didn’t resemble any of the dresses pinned in my phone. But when she pulled the dress over my head and I stood on the pedestal in front of the mirror for the first time, I will never forget the little exclamation that left my mouth of its own accord. I wouldn’t describe myself as a girl who is easily excitable but standing there in that shop I knew just from my reaction that this was the dress for me.
Accessories + Shoes
My earrings I found on Pinterest from an Australian bridal retailer, Amelie George Bridal, a statement piece to contrast my pulled back hair. I wore two different pairs of shoes, the first, a traditional pair of white pointed toe block heels and the second, a cute bright pink pair of kitten heels with a silver bow embellishment.
Ultimately I would recommend to choose shoes based on comfort, something I didn’t do. I ended up changing into my Birkenstock sandles afterwards anyways… but at least I got photos in my nice shoes.
Bridesmaids
For my bridesmaids I wanted to a mismatched look. I chose some inspirational colours and dresses and put them together in a collage and then sent it to my bridesmaids. I wanted them to have something to reference when shopping and I thought that a collage would best depict my vision. It was most important to me that my friends felt comfortable in their dresses so I let them choose which part of the theme they wanted to base their look off.
My collage being a guideline and suggestion rather than a rule book. The idea was different colours ranging from burnt oranges to minty greens and baby pinks to pastel yellows over many different patterns, florals and styles. It all came together in the end and they looked absolutely stunning standing next to each other.
Ceremony & Chuppah
We decided to go for a rather simple chuppah design, with just plain wooden branches and white curtain surrounded by the greenery of the venue, helped our chuppah stand out against the backdrop of a beautiful sun set. There were so many special parts of our chuppah that I can’t mention just one. Firstly, nothing will be cuter then watching my little nieces and nephews walk down the aisle before me to the tune of a ‘Moana’ song as everyone cooed and awed at them.
Afterwards, we honoured the fallen soldiers and those still fighting for our home in Gaza along with the hostages yet to be released with two prayers said by my friends who served beside me in the army. Even at the height of happiness, we must always remember the battle we are fighting for our homeland. This was extremely meaningful.
The last part of the chuppah ceremony, which was especially moving to me, was listening to our grandfathers bless us during the Sheva Brachot, having them there on our special day will be something we will treasure forever. Our ketubah was given to us through Tzohar.
Our music choice
Stand out songs at our wedding include the Moana theme for the flower girls and page boys to walk down the aisle and ‘Bereishit Olam’ whilst I walked down the aisle and circled David. Other than that we trusted our band Rimonim to sing Jewish folk songs and traditional wedding songs along with a blend of English pop songs during the dance brackets. David and I also created a playlist with songs we wanted to played during Kabbalat Panim and dinner, that we felt would create the vibe we were hoping for.
Our band, Rimonim Band, was truly amazing, they brought so much ruach and flowed well with our guests, we can’t recommend them enough. We had a DJ at the end of the night who also did a great job and ensured that the party continued on into the morning, our DJ was arranged through our band.
Flowers
We found our event designer, Noa Barashi, through our venue. She was amazing at understanding our vision and bringing exactly what we had imagined to life. After briefly explaining to her what we wanted she knew exactly how to create the atmosphere through the use of locally sourced flowers in different shades of blue, orange and pink hues.
We had a very minimal table design with glass bottles, candles and single flowers places in the middle, which allowed the natural green foliage of the venue to shine through, I held a beautiful spring themed bouquet which matched Davids Boutonnière perfectly. She also littered flower petals down the aisle in front of the chuppah and each chair at the end of the row had a small bouquet attached. Altogether the venue looked amazing.
Photographer and videographer
We chose our photographer, Herschel Gutman, because we had seen him work at a few other events including my brother’s wedding and had instantly been impressed. We knew he was professional and talented and were sure he would do an amazing job. It was through our photographer that we discovered the perfect videographer.
In the lead up to the wedding we had many phone calls with our photographer ensuring that no element or moment would be missed, we discussed which things were important to us and made a plan for the day to make sure everything ran smoothly. We couldn’t be happier with the final products, the photos were superb and captured the wedding entirely. The video was edited perfectly and every time I watch it I’m brought back to the most amazing day of my life. We love getting to relive our wedding through the photos and video whenever we desire.
Food
Our catering was done by Cezanne, a catering company which was introduced to us by our venue. They were great and the food was tasty and delicious.
Extra Details
I feel like our wedding was filled with special touches that made it quintessentially our own. With the Gaza-Israel war well under way we wanted to honour the fallen and the taken hostage on our special day, we made special prayer cards with names of hostages for each of our guests which were laid on the chairs at the beginning of our ceremony so that all our guests, whilst taking part in our special day could use the extra holiness of the chuppah to keep in mind and pray for those taken away from their families.
Another thing we did on our day that made it different, was our special WhatsApp group, both of us being from Australia meant that we had many family members and close friends that were unable to join in in person. To combat this, we created a WhatsApp group and sent the link around to those who were unable to attend to join, at the wedding we had QR codes that our guests could scan to join the group, these codes were accompanied by instructions that they were to record, film and photograph parts of the wedding to share to the group for our friends from overseas to see and access.
Thus enabling all those around the world to take part in our special day without having to pay someone to livestream. A special speech given at our wedding was by our rabbi, Rabbi Ben David from Raanana. He drew on the highs and lows of getting married in a time of war, surrounded by our friends with guns slung over their shoulders as they had been released from reserve duty for the night just to attend our wedding.
He noted the miracle that we were all standing there untouched by the mass bombing attempted by Iran on Israel just 2 days earlier and he highlighted how incredibly lucky we all were to be alive and well. His uplifting speech, along with the prayers for the soldiers and hostages by our army mates, ensured that though the day so happy and full of life, we were unable to take for granted the sacrifices others had made for our country.
Other fun details included my youngest nephew being pushed down the aisle by my oldest nephew in a tiny shiny red Mercedes toy car with a sign reading “here comes the bride” stuck on the handles and two incredible performances by our friends and family where they sang hilarious lyrics to popular songs accompanied with some very creative dance moves, along with my brother riding a unicycle through the dance floor and some very niche Australian shtick as well (two giant floppy koala blown up jumpsuits).
Honeymoon
We have yet to plan our honeymoon but are looking forward to getting on a plane and landing at a sunny beach side destination in Europe over the summer.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
I think the key lesson I learnt during the whole process is simply don’t stress the small stuff. I can recall sitting at home crying as I scrolled through my laptop searching for the perfect Hebrew font for our invitations, something so totally insignificant in comparison to other things and something that no one except you will notice that it isn’t worth worrying over. This is also important in the lead up to the big day and on the day itself.
So many things are going on around you with the potential to go awry and there are so many moving parts to the day that if you start trying to focus on keeping things in check you wont be able to enjoy it. You’ve been planning everything for the last few months so when the day finally arrives, let others worry about the schedule, the payments, and the bridal party. It’s your time to relax and enjoy. Stay clam, don’t stress and live in the moment.
ELLIE & DAVID’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Herschel Gutman {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Videographer – Tal Herman
Venue – Habustan, Gan Iruim Bcfar
Bride’s dress – Adili Studio
Bride’s shoes – Republic Store, Amazon
Bride’s accessories – Amelie George Bridal
Hair + Makeup – Bracha Hair, Ortal Bastravi
Flowers / event designer – Noa Barashi
Ketubah – Tzohar
Band – Rimonim Band
Catering – Cezanne
Wedding Registry – 4ugifts, Labayit Gifts
Rabbi – Rabbi Ben David from Raanana
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