We love it when a couple puts fun at the top of their wedding planning agenda. And that’s exactly what STG Brides Club member Sophie and groom David did when planning their interfaith Jewish wedding.
Well, fun AND making sure all of their guests felt included in the big day, regardless of background. Between the non-religious civil ceremony (which included a gospel choir and a poem from ‘Sex and the City’!) and a standard Jewish wedding format including touches like Israeli dancing, we think they hit the balance just right.
Photographers All You Need Is Love were chosen for their relaxed, fun style, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor York Place Studios handled videography in their trademark documentary style, which meant they captured all the couple’s meaningful moments in a totally natural way.
The other thing we love about this wedding is the beautiful DIY touches. First off, how cool is it that Sophie made her own rose petal confetti?! Such a fun project – and it makes those smashing confetti shots that much more special.
Sophie also happens to have a mega-talented dad who crafted the retro illuminated sign over the dance floor (it read ‘Brand New Isaacs’ to match the couple’s #abrandnewisaacs hashtag – the bride’s name was Brand and the groom’s is Isaacs).
Now over to the bride, who looked beautiful in Enzoani…
How we met
Sophie, the bride: We met at work in Leeds, when I joined the big accountancy firm that David had already been at a couple of years. We didn’t get together straight away, with David moving to London soon after we met, but a year or so later I moved to London too and we got together at that point.
After several years having the best time living in London we decided to move back to Yorkshire, where we now both work as private equity investors – in very similar roles but at different companies!
Planning in Six Months
After deciding that we wanted to get married near home and ideally somewhere near enough for the majority of our guests to not have to stay over, we came across Wharfedale Grange, a relatively new venue in our area. It was perfect as nobody we knew had got married there, and they had the upcoming May bank holiday date free. We decided there was no reason why we couldn’t plan a great wedding in 6 months, so we booked the venue and started planning!
When we first saw the venue one of the first things David commented on was how much it resembled the style of our house (which is also a barn conversion). We also loved that it’s a purpose built and exclusive use venue, with a lot of freedom to do your wedding how you wanted (there were no standard packages or menus etc).
An Interfaith Wedding
I didn’t want a strict “theme” for the wedding – I wanted it all to feel more relaxed than that- the only word we kept coming back to was that we knew we wanted it to be “fun” and personal to us.
As 50% of our guests were Jewish and 50% non-Jewish, one of the main things we felt conscious of throughout the planning process was that the day felt completely inclusive of both of our backgrounds and traditions. We had a non-religious civil ceremony which included a gospel choir and a poem from ‘Sex and the City’, but had Israeli dancing and followed the format of a standard Jewish wedding (later start time, intra-course dancing to a band etc).
We were initially worried about how we could make this all work for us as we had never been to an interfaith wedding before, but we were so happy with how it turned out. In fact, we got the most compliments from Jewish guests on the atheist aspects and Christian/atheist guests on the Jewish aspects!
What ‘Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club’ Did For Us
I found it reassuring to hear from others who went through the same stresses and thought processes.
Invitations
My cousin Emily is an artist so I got her to design all of my stationery and we got them printed by the lovely Sid Horner in Knaresborough.
We knew we wanted simple and timeless stationery, with good quality card. The design was our names in calligraphy in gold hot foil on off-white textured card. The highlight of the invites for me were the grey envelopes with addresses written in gold calligraphy, and with a gold wax seal which I stamped with our initials.
Hair + Makeup
My hairdresser Leanne and makeup artist Megan were both brilliant, patient with me trying to make decisions, and made me feel so relaxed on the day.
I was planning to have my hair half up and wear a beautiful bohemian hair vine my sister in law had given me that she got for her own wedding day. But in the 48 hours prior to the wedding I just had an overwhelming feeling that I should just have my hair down and wavy, as I have it all the time.
Likewise, Megan spent ages with me in the run up to the wedding trying to make me feel “me” with my makeup! I consciously wanted to avoid the “bridal makeup” look and instead stuck to how I feel best – no pinks, all golds/bronzes and of course black eyeliner!
An Enzoani Dress
My dress was Lavender by Enzoani, which I bought from The Harrogate Wedding Lounge. As I didn’t have too long to order a dress, I went to 6 shops in the space of a week in both Yorkshire and London! I tried on every style possible but finally worked out what I felt flattered my shape best – something that I don’t think you ever properly consider until dress hunting! The Harrogate Wedding Lounge were really lovely and helpful throughout.
A Cathedral-Length Veil
Despite not having an exact style of dress in mind, I knew from the start exactly the style of veil I wanted – cathedral length with a scalloped lace edge and worn quite high on the head. It’s a very Spanish/Italian bridal style which is the look I was going for, especially as I loved the look of the heavy lace on dark hair.
I’m not much of a jewellery person, so all I wore was a bangle which my grandparents had it commissioned for me for my 21st birthday. As they were unable to be with me on the day, I decided to wear it as a sentimental touch.
Shoes
My shoes were from The White Company. I was in the shop one day and they caught my eye – just neutral metallic sandals with a medium height block heel, which is exactly what I was looking for.
The handsome groom
David bought two black dinner suits – one from Hackett with a velvet jacket, and a double breasted one from Reiss. We decided on the double breasted one as the fabric was more appropriate for a spring wedding than the velvet – but of course he kept both options as he loves his clothes and has a bigger wardrobe than I do!
He accessorised the suit with gifts I left for him on the wedding morning – a silk pocket square with a (hidden) personalised message embroidered, plus some cufflinks engraved with our initials and wedding date. I also bought him a personalised engraved bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue label for the wedding morning.
Bridesmaids
I am so lucky to have lots of amazing friends and family, so I shortlisted about 14 people I could have had as my adult bridesmaids! However I was conscious that I didn’t want too many, so picked the three oldest friends who I couldn’t get married without. I cannot express how helpful they were, especially on the day itself, and it made me realise that it really is a huge job and a huge help to the bride – most definitely not just about looking pretty!
My bridesmaids wore dresses from ASOS, which they chose between themselves. I was planning on them wearing nude, but they didn’t think any of the nude options they tried were right. I suggested the mauve dress as a total wildcard option and instantly they all said it was the one. Whilst the colour didn’t initially tie to any other aspect of my scheme, I asked the florist to ensure one of the flowers in the bouquets picked out that dusky purple tone, which she did perfectly.
I also had two flower girls, who are both daughters of my cousins, and they both looked so beautiful in the Monsoon Estella dresses.
Our music choice
The gospel choir performed as guests were arriving, including a Bob Marley medley, Etta James and Candi Staton. David and his family entered to ‘Lean On Me’, then Sophie and her party entered to Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ (which I chose as David loves it). The choir also performed ‘Stand by Me’ during the ceremony (a la Meghan Markle), and we asked them to sing ‘Signed Sealed Delivered’ while we signed the register, purely chosen because of how fitting the title was for that moment!
The ceremony recessional was ‘Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher’ sung by the gospel choir – such a uplifting, celebratory song.
After the ceremony, our guests lined up outside the venue whilst David and I downed a glass of champagne together, and as we walked out to everyone throwing confetti, we played ‘Praise You’ by Fatboy Slim as loud as possible – one of my all time favourite songs.
Our dance floor entrance song before the Israeli dancing was ‘You Make Me Feel’ by Sylvester, one of my dad’s favourite songs which we felt had a really fun party vibe, and with a good intro that we could run in to!
Our first dance was ‘Finally’ – Cece Peniston, which the band sang a slower version of before going into the original party version.
Flowers
The flowers were one of the aspects of the wedding that I was most thrilled with on the day. My cousin (who did the stationery) recommended a local florist called Rosebuds and as soon as I met Rosie, the owner, I knew she completely got what I was looking for. She really went over and above and the flowers were even better than I was hoping for.
My brief to Rosie was that I wanted unstructured and informal, with a bohemian spring vibe. I wanted a broadly muted colour palette with lots of loose greenery and dusky coloured roses, but with a ‘pop’ of bright, which we achieved with stunning coral peonies- they were the biggest and most beautiful I have ever seen.
I was so lucky that all of the flowers I loved were in season with our wedding being in May. My house is always full of eucalyptus and hydrangea so they were both a must – and I have since dried both out of my wedding flowers and put them in vases in every room!
Last minute I asked Rosie if she could also try combine freesia (my grandma’s favourite) and myrtle (as a few family members mentioned the symbolism of it). I also had fern (my mum suggested for a vintage look) and ranunculus (because I loved them).
Photographer
Our photographer was All You Need Is Love who we chose for her relaxed, fun style – in fact we barely noticed the photographers there all day which is a credit to how respectful they were of not wanting to get in the way of special moments (but still capturing them on camera). We didn’t want many formal shots as we just wanted to enjoy our day.
Videographer
Our videographer was York Place Studios who was recommended to a friend. We loved their documentary style.
Food
We knew we didn’t want a standard plated 3 course meal. So after our canapes it was all sharing food served on boards in the middle of the table for people to help themselves – we had a mezze starter (falafel, hummus, babaganoush, halloumi etc), Italian mains (chicken or aubergine parmigiana, spinach and pesto ravioli, bolognaise, caprese salad, roast veg etc).
It was also a sharing dessert, with a large summer berries pavlova, which we picked as it just looked SO beautiful with edible flowers and shards of white chocolate.
Cheese Cake
We both have a more savoury tooth, and I am cheese obsessed (which actually got mentioned in 2 of our speeches!) so naturally we had a cheese cake. This got cut up and made into a grazing table of snacks (cheese, crackers, bread, fruit, mini brownies, mini flapjacks) for our end of night food.
Entertainment
Our band was One Entertainment. They were fantastic and we would recommend to anyone, and their manager Lauren was really helpful throughout the planning process. They had everyone up dancing all day and night and were really interactive with the guests, which was really important to us.
Favours
We initially decided we wouldn’t have favours as we have been to lots of weddings where we haven’t remembered them/forgotten to take them home. However, we kept talking about how we wanted the wedding to be fun, so we decided to have mini bottles of Jagermeister on the tables so everyone could do a shot in the toasts. Then only a couple of weeks before the wedding my mum and I saw some cute little “Wedding Day” candles when were out shopping so I bought one of those for each of the female guests too.
Retro personalised sign
I was desperate for a huge retro personalised sign to illuminate the dance floor, and asked my dad if he could make one. He worked on it for months and we were so pleased when we saw it for the first time a couple of days before the wedding. It read ‘Brand New Isaacs’ (to match our #abrandnewisaacs hashtag – my name was Brand and my husbands Isaacs).
A good friend of mine has a signs company Ashleigh Signs so he offered to make a welcome sign, which was really thoughtful of him. He turned our stationery designs and logo into a beautiful wooden sign that we had in the entrance to the venue.
I also made my own confetti. A good friend bought me the amazing Sarah Haywood Wedding Bible book as an engagement gift, in which Sarah recommends making your own confetti. I always have fresh roses in my house anyway, so for the whole 6 months I was engaged I saved the petals and dried them out. Not only did I enjoy doing it but it looked incredible and ended up being sentimental too, as the confetti that got thrown on us as newlyweds included our engagement roses, and roses that my mum, grandma, aunties, sister in law and friends had all dried out for me.
Honeymoon
We did two weeks in Mexico – not somewhere we had considered going before, but we initially thought of it whilst researching where is good weather at that time of year. However, it soon became apparent that it was the perfect trip for us – we love travelling and adventures, but wanted a little bit of honeymoon luxury too.
We spent the first 4 days at the Viceroy in Riviera Maya which was very luxurious and the most “honeymoony” part of our trip. We knew we would want to relax the first few days so did all inclusive.
We then went to Isla Holbox for a few days – the coolest island where no cars are allowed. Every night we went to a little beach bar for margaritas at sunset. Great atmosphere everywhere and the most beautiful beaches I have ever visited- we would definitely go back.
We ended the trip with a week in Tulum, where we stayed at Nomade, one of my favourite hotels I have ever been to. The whole town is a perfect balance of cool and fancy, and every meal was fantastic.
As well as beaches and exceptional food and drinks, the trip also had culture/activities to offer which we like to fit into any holiday. We visited Chichen Itza (one of the wonders of the world), went paddle boarding, saw the bioluminescent lights and did a tour floating around the canals of Sian Ka’an nature reserve.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
The best bit of advice I could give would be to go on honeymoon as soon as you can after the wedding. We flew out two days after which we felt was perfect, as this meant we could spend the day after the wedding with family and friends talking about the day, we opened cards and gifts in the evening, and then went away the next morning whilst still on a wedding-high!
By going quite soon after the big day it really felt like a special trip, rather than just any other holiday. We still had the newlywed excitement and spent the whole time reminiscing and looking through photos! We really felt that we needed the break too as we had been so busy in the run up to the wedding. I appreciate many brides are put off going away immediately for financial reasons too – but I would say go somewhere cheaper or cut back on other aspects of the wedding – just get away, you won’t regret it!
Aside from that, my main bit advice would be to ignore convention and do it your way. For example, we decided not to “do the rounds” saying hello and thank you to our guests during dinner, as we wanted to spend time at the top table enjoying our food and spending time with each other and our parents, having a moment to take it all in. We did however ensure we spoke to everyone at some point during the day, and also had a big BBQ at home for our guests the following day, so we got to speak to everyone properly then.
In terms of spending, I definitely recommend working out what is and isn’t important to you. For example, a great band, free bar and amazing honeymoon were top of our list, but then I managed to make savings along the way such as by buying my own candles and vases for the tables, rather than going via a planner or venue decorator.
Sophie & David’s little white book
Photography – All You Need Is Love
Videography – York Place Studios {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Wharfedale Grange
Bride’s dress – Enzoani found and fitted at The Harrogate Wedding Lounge
Bride’s shoes – The White Company
Groom’s attire – Hackett and Reiss
Bridesmaids – ASOS and Monsoon
Band – One Entertainment
Invitation – Mister Charles Worth and Sid Horner
Welcome sign – Ashleigh Signs
