We’re obsessed with this Jewish wedding. Why? Because Aliza, who runs online bar and bat mitzvah tutoring business Hebrew Hangout, and Michael, who works in digital marketing, had the brilliant idea to wear light up sneakers when they were introduced as husband and wife!
We knew this idea was a winner as soon as Aliza shared it in Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club shortly before her big day – and so did the couple’s parents, who got in on the action themselves. They all had their shoes blinking during the hora, and it was INCREDIBLE – don’t miss the photos and video from Miami Wedding Center.
And how gorgeous is Aliza and Michael’s copper chuppah? We’re loving the understated modern look, with just some light floral accents. And then there’s the couple’s gorgeous paper cut ketubah by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Noa Attias! It’s a true piece of art – and it also happens to coordinate perfectly with the breathtaking blue sky and ocean in some of the pair’s dreamy outdoor portraits.
We’ll leave it to Aliza, who looked so elegant in Allure Bridals, to tell you the rest…
A Blank Canvas
Aliza, the bride: Our venue was Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus in Aventura, FL. Originally we didn’t want this venue. My sister got married there and it was important to me to do things very differently than she did but in the end, after looking at some other venues, we decided that financially it just made the most sense. We’d get what we knew would be really delicious catering. Eric, the event planner and caterer there, has been doing this for years and KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!
He is so busy and for good reason. We love that the event space there is already set up with all the lighting you would ever need and it’s got a white floor and the entire room is draped in white so it’s really a blank canvas. You can do so much with the space.
Light Up Shoes
We did not use a wedding planner. I knew that I was going to do pretty much everything by myself from the start. I wanted it to be simple, elegant, and fun. All of our stationary was black and white, minimalistic. For fun, we decided a couple weeks before the wedding that we would both wear light up shoes when they introduced us as husband and wife. Our parents liked them so much that they joined in.
For the hora, we all had them blinking. It was pretty awesome! Huge hit. We also had planned to have my nephew come down the aisle in a remote controlled blue Maserati. He enjoyed playing in it leading up to the ceremony and then right when it was time for him to come down the aisle, he just wasn’t having it, so he walked! That’s how it goes! haha.
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
I joined Brides Club a few months before the wedding and it was helpful in a lot of ways. I found that it was most useful when I needed quick advice or opinions about something. For example, I needed input on which font to use for our programs. I was making myself crazy about it but Brides Club pulled through and gave me all their feedback. I loved it! I also found some great inspiration for our chuppah through some of the other girls’ posts. I didn’t use any vendors only because mostly everything was complete by the time I joined.
Invitation
I created all of our stationery on Photoshop myself. It was a labor of love. I spent hours on end working on it and even printed a lot of it myself but totally worth it. It’s exactly what I wanted. Black and White, two fonts.
Hair + Makeup
I found my make up artist on Instagram. Her name is Stephani Sanchez and her company is Lips to Lashes. I really liked how all of her brides just looked SO NATURAL. I knew I wanted my makeup to be more than just a normal day’s makeup but I still wanted to look natural and mature and elegant. Plus, she was SO sweet! I loved her.
For hair, I used my cousin’s hair stylist Debbie at Rock Paper Scissors. She goes to her regularly and for special occasions. She also did my hair for my sisters wedding a few years ago. We needed someone last minute for the bridesmaids and I really liked her so decided to give it a go. I was going to use someone else first but our trial went so badly so I figured I’d give Debbie a shot and she got it exactly how I wanted it.
I LOVE my hair down and am not usually a fan of it up for special events or nights out but I knew I wanted it up because the back of my dress was simply stunning. So we went with something up but low and had some pieces hanging around my face to soften it up a bit.
An Allure Bridals Dress
I bought my dress from a shop down here in Hallandale, FL called Happy Bride. We know the owner. She’s a family friend for years. I found the dress in Orlando though when I was at a trunk show. I had never been to one before and I saw that Allure Bridals was having a trunk show at this shop in Orlando. My sisters both lived up there at the time so I decided to make a weekend out of it, visited them, and we went to look. I found what I thought was my dress. A week later, after a lot of nudging, I convinced my mom to take a trip back to Orlando with me to see this dress I wanted so badly.
Turned out, as I was coming out of the dressing room, I saw another dress hanging outside someone else’s dressing room and knew I had to try it on. This one had an off the shoulder sleeve. I put it on and my mom and I both started crying. I knew it was the one. My dress was the Allure Bridals 9474T in Champagne/Ivory/Nude. I just adored the lace. I always knew I wanted lace. The back was so pretty and it ended up not being too heavy at all! I will say by the end of the night, it was destroyed and the bottom was FILTHY!
Accessories
My jewelry I bought off Amazon and loved it. It looked real but was very inexpensive. I had planned to wear pearl bobby pins in my hair but the ones I originally made were with the wrong color pearl and I never got around to making them again with the right colored pearls so ended up wearing nothing in my hair.
I did however have the most amazing veil. At first, I ordered some off of amazon but they were not very nice. When we went for one of my fittings, we tried on a veil just to “get the full effect” and I fell in love with it. It was cathedral length and had lace trim that went so well with the lace in my dress. My mom bought it on the spot!
Shoes
Shoes were from Nina. I knew I wanted something with a bow because to me that screams GIRLY! I found them in Macys but they didn’t have my size. When I went to search for them online, I realized it was an older style and they were no longer available anywhere so I decided to try Poshmark for the first time.
I figured if I found a pair of used shoes, they’d be broken in, only worn for one night, and cheaper. I got so lucky. I found them for like $50 and they fit perfectly! For the ceremony I had the light up shoes which we all got on Amazon! I feel like the light up shoes were the biggest touch.
The handsome groom
Michael wore a navy tux from Ike Behar with black lapels, black bow tie, black shoes, and cufflinks I had made from Etsy. He looked SO SEXY!
Bridesmaids
I decided to have just my two sisters as my matron and maid of honor. It was really nice. My girlfriends were still involved but not nearly as crazy as it could have been. My sisters wore dresses by Morilee. They were different styles but similar and both in navy. They both work black shoes they had already. I also bought them each a short cape to wear for the ceremony. They were from amazon. So pretty and perfect to take off later for the reception. I bought them jewelry from Francescas.
Since their style is so different from one another and from mine, I knew it would be jewelry that they wouldn’t really wear again or very often so instead of spending the money there, I took them for foot massages and dinner the night before my bachelorette cruise with all of my girlfriends. It was a really nice way for the three of us to get some quality time and just relax. It was perfect.
Ceremony
We used Michael’s grandfathers tallit for the chuppah and then we used Michael’s from his bar mitzvah to wrap around ourselves. I sometimes think we should have switched it because his fathers was small and the larger one would have looked nicer above us but it was definitely special to have that there since he passed a few years ago. We had my cousin sing as I walked down the aisle.
It was AMAZING and so special to us. He sang ‘Lecha Dodi’ to the tune of ‘All of Me’. I thought it would be a nice way to incorporate Hebrew but to a tune that everyone would know. We had a very mixed guest list (Israeli-Hebrew speaking, Jewish-non-Hebrew speaking, non Jewish).
Ketubah
The ketubah was tough. Michael and I had very different ideas of what we wanted and we went through hundreds before we found one we both loved. I will say that he wasn’t even sure he loved it but I think he wanted me to be happy to we eventually ordered from Noa Attias. I found her on Etsy and she was amazing. Let me tell you that when it showed up in the mail, Michael LOST HIS MIND! He is not the kind of guy to react really and he was amazed.
Chuppah
For the chuppah we got really lucky. I did not want to spend a ton of money on something that would only be seen for an hour of the evening, yet I did want it to be pretty because I knew we’d be taking so many pictures underneath it. When we found our florist, she told me she could have her dad build what we wanted since he does that on the side.
He was going to be building all of our centerpiece bases so we wanted it to match. I knew I wanted something simple but still different. I did not want wood or birch – so not my style – I wanted something modern but soft. We saw a few copper ones that we liked and thought we could make it work. I went back and forth about how I wanted the flowers – whether just on top, one side not the other, etc. I really trusted my florist, sent her a few pictures of things I liked, and told her to do her thing! I was very happy with it in the end.
Our music choice
For everyone except me we played the instrumental version of ‘I can’t help falling in love’
For me, my cousin sang ‘Lecha Dodi’ to the tune of ‘All of Me’ and the violinist we had played along with him.
For entering the reception they played ‘I Can’t Stop the Feeling’ by Justin Timberlake.
For our first dance we played ‘I Get to Love You’ by Ruelle. I found this song when we first started dating and knew right away that when I marry this man, we’d dance to it at our wedding. It was so special.
For Father/Daughter we danced to ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’ by Michael Bolton – I had this picked out for probably 20 years 😉
For Mother/Son they danced to ‘What a Wonderful World’ by Louis Armstrong
Last Song of the Night was ‘Dirty Bit’ by Black Eyed Peas
Flowers
So flowers I struggled with mostly because I knew NOTHING about them, I had no clue what I wanted, I refused too much money on something that would be thrown away at the end of the evening (which ultimately killed me in the end) and yet I knew that it is what makes or breaks the room. I searched and searched, got quote after quote, phone calls on end, but in the end we got SO LUCKY! This was probably one of the best finds.
Really, we got lucky with all of our vendors but this was a true find! I found her on Instagram. Her name is Aynsley and her company is Palm Trees to Peonies. At the time, she was still working out of her house and just finding a warehouse. She was at the very beginning stages of this floral journey (she was a flight attendant before). We met with her and told her what we liked (really what I liked because Michael didn’t care).
I showed her a few pictures of some things I found online and she sent us a quote. I love her so much we ended up convincing Michael’s parents to use her for the welcome dinner the night before as well. Her work is beautiful.
Photographer and videographer
This was another tough one because I knew that I’d rather spend more money on something we knew would be amazing than half the money on something we would hate but again, we were paying for a lot of this wedding ourselves and so we were trying to keep it reasonable. One night in bed I was searching for the word “photographer” on some local Facebook groups and this one name, Miami Wedding Center, came up a couple times.
At this point, I had already spoken with a number of photographers and videographers and was losing hope. I called this guy, heard he was Israeli (so am I) and so we set up a meeting. I liked him. He seemed easy to work with, to the point, and willing to work with us. I also found later that I knew someone else whose wedding he had done. This couple is very wealthy and so the fact that they chose him, made me feel good.
What really caught my attention was his teaser videos – they were like music videos – not the typically, slow styled, romantic videos you see. We really wanted our wedding to be fun above all else and this fit the script. I was sooooo happy with the result. We just got the 4 min and 12 min videos two nights ago and we love them!
Food and cake
So catering by Events by Executive Caterers was part of the synagogue. Really – that’s why we did it there. Eric, the guy who runs the whole show, is a friend for many years. I knew him from when I nannied for his daughter probably 15 years ago. Over the years, we’ve been too many simchas at the shul, my sister had her wedding there and we just knew he would put on the wedding we wanted. Food was awesome. Originally we wanted sit down because it’s more elegant but decided to go with stations instead so there’d be more variety and we could have a little more fun with it.
We had a carving station with meats, a pasta station with 3 different types of pasta, a branzino station with black rice, and a short rib station with mashed potatoes. YUM! We did a 3 layer cake as well – bottom was carrot (our favorite), middle was lemon, top was funfetti! We ate half the funfetti layer the week following the wedding lol and then dumped the other half before we ate it. Figured I’d do us both a favor and just buy a new cake on our one year anniversary – can’t do the whole frozen cake a year later thing.
Funny story – we were originally booked for 2-9-2020 (this would have been 1 year to the day that we got engaged). We hadn’t put our deposit down yet but Eric told us the date was ours. A couple weeks later, he called my mom to tell her that he had accidentally double booked and couldn’t change the other bride. We worked it out and ended up moving the date back to 1-26-2020.
MANY MONTHS later, I met Jessica Wolff and Naomi Myerson, two brides down here who also were getting married at Beth Torah! We all met for a lunch that lasted over 3 hours. It was then that I learned Jessica was the other bride who put a deposit down for 2-9-2020! We laughed about it but til this day I tease her for “Stealing my wedding date!” haha
Entertainment
Our entertainment, Samba Entertainment, was the very first thing booked. Back in November 2018 we went to a wedding down here in Bal Harbor. The DJ/Band was UNREAL! He’s an Israel DJ, Efi, and he brings musicians. So Efi was the DJ and then he had a violinist, trumpet, and MANDY – The Bongo Playing Pirate! lol He’s not a pirate but he wears a patch in real life and does dress like a pirate at some of the parties, so – yeah! He stole the show!
We danced all night and had the best time that I told Michael long before we were ever engaged that when we get married, we would be calling them. Before we got engaged (when I kind of knew it was coming) I emailed them to make sure they had some dates available still! They seriously made the party!! We will definitely be using him in the future!
Michael used to DJ in college so someone had asked the DJ to call him up to let him DJ – well it was adorable! A total mess but awesome haha. We have a couple pictures of him on the turn tables and he was totally loving it. Also, Michael was in AEPi in college and a lot of his fraternity brothers were at our wedding. At one point, they all got in a circle and started singing some song – it was the sweetest moment. I cried! Just so wonderful to see the love and camaraderie.
Favors
Favors was another tricky one – it get so expensive so quickly but we knew we had to have something. Now, I have always been that girl who puts scratch off tickets in birthday cards! I mean, who doesn’t love the opportunity to win some money on someone else’s dime?!
I wasn’t sure if it was tacky but when I was looking at a girlfriend’s wedding photos I saw that she had given scratch offs and so that was it! I ordered small gold envelopes that served as everyone’s seat/place card but inside I put 1 or 2 scratch offs and then sealed them with a sticker that said “For Richer or Poorer – Aliza & Michael” They were awesome!
Honeymoon
Originally we were looking at Costa Rica or Spain. We wanted something that would be relaxing/beachy but also somewhere cool to explore. Michael’s parents were extremely generous with the wedding and then again with the honeymoon. They offered a set amount for us to take a trip and we didn’t really want to spend any more than that. When we started looking at different places, we realized that everything would be way more than we were willing to spend at the time.
We knew it was our honeymoon BUT we had just come back from the most incredible trip to Italy about 6 months prior. We had gone there for one of my student’s bar mitzvahs and made a trip out of it for about 12 days. That was really our honeymoon – just pre-wedding! So we decided in the end that we really just wanted a week of relaxation and knew that a cruise would be the way to do it. I am a HUGE cruiser.
I’ve been on a lot and Michael is new to it and loves it. We took the MSC Meraviglia out of Miami to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Ocean Cay. It was SO relaxing and simply perfect. Exactly what we needed for a week.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Try to be as organized as possible. I think that’s truly what saved me. I had spreadsheets, folders and more. Any time I had a thought or idea, I wrote it down so that when I had time, I could go back and work on it without forgetting. I took about a year to plan and it was a little more time than we needed.
Enjoy the day and don’t overthink it. Having our DJ, venue, and photo/video go all know each other was nice too because they’d worked together many times and I believe it helped the night run a bit more smoothly.
ALIZA AND MICHAEL’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography and Videography – Miami Wedding Center
Ketubah – Noa Attias {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus
Bride’s dress – Allure Bridals fitted at Happy Bride
Bride’s shoes – Poshmark
Bride’s accessories – Amazon
Groom’s attire – Ike Behar, Etsy
Bridesmaids – Morilee
Hair + Makeup – Rock Paper Scissors, Lips to Lashes
Flowers – Palm Trees to Peonies
DJ – Samba Entertainment
Catering – Events by Executive Caterers
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, 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.
