Today’s couple, Angela and Jesse, are busy people. They’re both registered nurses, each working in different critical care specialties – and on top of that, they also run their own farm!
So when it came time to plan their Massachusetts Jewish wedding, they wanted a day of nonstop fun – and that’s exactly what they got! From a wedding trolley party bus to transport the wedding party, to a black tie dress code as a counterpoint to Angela and Jesse’s usual scrubs and farm clothes, to DIY artificial flowers by the bride herself, this day was chock full of wonderful touches – don’t miss them all in the beautiful photos and trailer by Zach and Ava from Woodside Productions!
One of our very favorite special touches is the couple’s ketubah, designed by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Nava Shoham. Angela and Jesse adored Nava’s River of Dreams ketubah from the moment they set eyes on it, and they can’t stop raving about the process of working with Nava.
Now over to Angela…
How We Met
Although they are both are in the medical field, they did not meet on the job. They met through a shared love for farming and farm animals and mutual friends within the farming community. The friendship effortlessly blossomed while they both served on the Agricultural Commission in the town they lived in previously. Jesse served as Vice Chair and Angela served as the secretary.
Angela had always dreamed of raising alpaca and Jesse was able to make her dreams come true when he found her a seller that needed to rehome five lovely alpaca. The alpaca became her first farm animals! Soon there were goats and chickens and ducks and more! Today, they play out their farm dreams together!
They currently own and solely operate Moonlight Run Farm, LLC in Barre, Massachusetts and have expanded to raising many types of animals such as llamas, Nigerian Dwarf goats, and Scottish Highland Cattle (just to name a few). They also provide an array of farm services and educational workshops for community.
A Park Wedding
Angela and Jesse got married at Institute Park in Worcester, Massachusetts. This peaceful and picturesque park has always been one of Angela’s favorite places to visit to escape the hustle and bustle of life. The park also houses a gorgeous gazebo that made for a perfect backdrop for the chuppah ceremony. Imperio Decor and Event Rentals of Worcester added the finishing touches to make a dreamy whimsical park wedding come to life.
The reception took place at Nuovo Restaurant in Worcester. They chose Nuovo not only for their fantastic food and menu options but especially for its intimate and elegant venue space on the second floor of the building. The space needed not much more than simple table adornments as it sports a style all its own with the comfy leather nailhead chairs and natural brick wall backdrops.
Black Tie Elegance
As most of Angela and Jesse’s days are spent either in scrubs or in farm clothes, the goal for the wedding was to be simple yet elegant, but most of all…PURE FUN! This was accomplished by requesting black tie dress of the guests so that everyone would feel and look fabulous. Then the day was riddled with not only ceremony, but also degrees of “fun” in between (as to not make things too stuffy). A wedding planner was not utilized. Just lots of preplanning by the bride and groom and great friends and family to keep them on time. Jesse’s day began with his 9am tisch at Far Shot in Worcester while Angela and the ladies prepped for the day getting hair and makeup done in really neat silk jammies (that they later did a photoshoot in).
Jesse and Angela then did a “first look” before the ketubah signing in the lobby of the host hotel (Homewood Suites by Hilton in Worcester) and then all the wedding party boarded the wedding trolly party bus to be escorted first to photos at the beautiful Union Station in Worcester and then ultimately to the park for the chuppah ceremony. Immediately following the chuppah ceremony, the recessional was executed “Second Line New Orleans style”! The saxophonist followed along and played fun tunes while the bridal party and guests paraded around the park. Cars going by honking and waving added to the energy!
With parasols in hand and handkerchiefs swirling overhead by the guests making the way back to the trolley for a symbolic yichud. There the bride and groom got to share their first private moments alone as man and wife and enjoyed a first married drink together! For fun and further photo-ops, two of the groomsmen were assigned to stand “guard” outside the trolly for yichud- they were equipped with official security hats and all!
The fun continued onto the wedding trolley where the bridal party got to have some fun and even made a pitstop at Angela and Jesse’s favorite Starbucks on Goldstar Blvd. while the guests moved on to the venue (Nuovo) for Cocktail hour. Announcements were made special by allowing the bridal party to chose their entrance song and they “danced in and onto the dance floor”. The bride and groom were introduced FIRST so as to not miss all the fun seeing what the friends had in store for us! That was a great unregrettable last minute change!
A Dorota Dress
Angela, the bride: I found my dress designer Dorota – Ador Couture while attending a bridal expo in Connecticut. Dorota designs all of her own dresses and can make one specific to any requests. She is honest about what will look good on you and about suggesting any adaptations to make your dress fit like a glove. She also provides such a lovely bridal fitting party suitable for a princess with complementary champagne and macarons for your first dress fitting.
I drove two hours back and forth for my fittings and it was worth every second of every mile driven! My dress was perfect! She even made last second alterations on my dress when I realized I wouldn’t be able to dance with the fit of the petticoat. Dorota is a rare gem that I was blessed to find to make my special day that much more special. I highly recommend her!
Ceremony & Chuppah
We have an amazing rabbi (Aviva Fellman) that made our ceremony special all on her own with her wonderful personality and ability to lead an audience. She is a wonderful light that truly choreographed the best version of our ceremony for us, even better than we could have ever dreamed up. For the chuppah design, I confess…I stalked Smashing the Glass for ideas! As well as YouTube, and Pinterest! We ended up going for a more airy and whimsical feel with all white flowers and the natural greens.
The chuppah was the most difficult part for us because there are not many places here that will come and build and take down a chuppah in a park all in the few hours you have a permit for, and we didn’t consider all this before choosing and purchasing a 10×10 frame! Thank goodness we found Imperio Decor and Event Rentals. They were so wonderful to work with and they were able to take our frame and linens and build it before the ceremony and add all the flowers and decor in addition to all the chairs, etc. and made it all disappear the moment we were off to the venue. They truly made magic happen!
Ketubah
Nava Shoham is the designer of our ketubah. When I saw the ketubah River of Dreams (circle) on her website, I knew that was the one for us. The ketubah art has an abstract of flowers and musical notes in beautiful soothing blue colors. But what really struck me was the saying on it: “From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to Heaven. When two souls that are destined to be together find each other, their streams of light flow together and a single, brighter light goes forth from their united being.”
This truly embodies the essence of my relationship with my now husband and I couldn’t even continue looking for any other choice in a ketubah. Nava made the process of getting the ketubah to us so much easier than I ever thought it would be and it arrived so quickly and beautifully packaged! We have yet to find a proper frame to even do it justice.
Our music choice
We chose to have a DJ Charles Borowy for the reception and an amazing saxophonist for the chuppah ceremony, Hans Betancourth. Our DJ was amazing! He took the lead on making the announcements perfectly and communicated with us throughout and although it was his first Jewish wedding, he was able to conduct our hora dance with perfection! Our first dance was to ‘Nobody but You’ by Blake Shelton and Gwen Stephani and I walked down the isle to the saxophone instrumental to ‘XO’ which there are versions sung by Beyoncé and John Mayer.
Flowers
All the flowers were a DIY by me, the bride. I was able to score some really beautiful artificial flowers at TJMaxx in the exact pink rosey color I wanted for the tables and for the bridesmaids bouquet I wanted to make. For the groomsmen and fathers, I did a single artificial rose in the exact color. The groom got a white rose. For myself, I really wanted a brooch bouquet for some bling because by dress was plane satin so I mixed brooches with satin roses and orchids all in white and it came out perfect.
For the mothers, I wasn’t quite able to find exactly what I needed so I ordered wristlets from Ling’s Moment online and they were perfect. On the wedding day, we added fresh babies breath to the prearranged artificial vased arrangement to give them a real wedding feel and they were perfect! I saw guests touching them, they couldn’t figure out if it was real or not! Having the artificial flowers was also a nice keepsakes to all those of our wedding party and for those who wanted a centerpiece to take home.
Photographer and videographer
We chose Zach and Ava from Woodside Productions to be both our photographer and videographer. We met them at a bridal show in Connecticut and instantly loved their energy. We really felt a connection with them and felt that they would really be able to make our pictures and video depict the fun and amazing day we had, and we were NOT wrong. They listened to every word of what we wanted for our highlights video and made it even that much better. They truly LOVE what they do.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Have fun and do what YOU want! It’s YOUR day! Invite those who will bring joy to your day.
ANGELA & JESSE’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Woodside Productions
Ketubah – Nava Shoham {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Institute Park, Nuovo Restaurant
Bride’s dress – Dorota – Ador Couture
DJ – DJ Charles Borowy
Saxophonist – Hans Betancourth
Rabbi – Rabbi Aviva Fellman
Decor & Rentals – Imperio Decor and Event Rentals
Wristlets – Ling’s Moment
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.