We throw the word “magical” around a lot when talking about the beautiful Jewish wedding we’re privileged to feature… but this one brings it to another level! You see, the groom, Eric Wilzig, is a professional magician and illusionist, and the big day took its cues from his background – with some fun inspired by Eliana’s career as a gymnast, gymnastics coach, and manager at a gymnastics gym.
The couple’s “floating” chuppah (thanks to lucite columns) is pretty cool, but there’s no question that the piece de resistance was the couple’s wedding cake, which was actually levitating – no strings or wires involved.
Not many bakers could pull off a cake like this, but luckily Eric and Eliana found the dream team at Peboryon, lead by Christine and and Phil Jenson, and they worked out a design that would allow the top tier of the cake to float and spin. The couple were so taken with their concept and craftsmanship they ended up flying the Peboryon team out to New York from the UK to make it happen… and 228 (no, that’s not a typo) hours of work later, they did! Don’t miss the incredible pics from White Light Photo!
There were plenty of other magical touches to this one-of-a-kind wedding, but we’ll let Eliana, who looked ravishing in Eve of Milady, tell you about all of that…
How we met
Eliana, the bride: We met through a mutual friend in NYC. A few minutes after Eric met Eliana, he did a magic trick to get her phone number…true story!
A Thanksgiving Wedding
We chose Temple Beth El of Cedarhurst, as it is a beautiful and local venue. As our wedding was Thanksgiving Eve, we wanted our guests to be able to stay late and didn’t want them to have to travel far to get to and from the wedding. The venue also has a beautiful sanctuary where we had the chuppah.
A Magical Wedding
Eric is a full time professional magician/illusionist as seen on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and across the world so we wanted to definitely add many magical influences to the décor. Not wanting it to be cheesy but subtle and cool magical ideas. Eliana is a gymnast that has competed internationally…so between a magician and gymnast, we knew we wanted our wedding to be unique and magical. Everyone expected that!
So for example the orchids on our chuppah had the “magically floating” look. Our incredible wedding cake was actually floating (no strings or wires)…more on that later. During our first dance, Eric made a red rose appear from fire to give to Eliana. The centerpieces had the “floating candles”. We had a flip book photo booth (not an ordinary photo booth) that made individual custom flip books for our guests which look pretty magical.
Our wedding gift to all our guests was a mug that when liquid is poured into it, would “magically” change from black to a cute picture to remember our wedding with the slogan “All you need is love”. The color scheme was sparkly silver and purple with lots of flowers. We planned the entire wedding ourselves. With Eric having performed at hundreds of weddings and other special occasions, he had an eye for some really creative ideas to apply to this wedding. He really took charge with some crazy ideas!
Invitation
We has a really cool and magical pop-up wedding invitation. As you can see in the picture, a bride and groom pop out from the card when opened. A really memorable invitation that guests didn’t throw out event after the wedding. It was custom designed by us and printed from Lovepop. Our Save the Date, was a scratch off card. We included a penny with a heart engraved in the middle. When the card was scratched, the wedding date to save appeared. Another magical element.
Hair + Makeup
I wanted a bridely look. Wanted to bring out my eyes. Wanted long wavy hair. I found on Instagram and then hired Batya Reyz for makeup and hair by Tzivi Kluger. Went in for a consultation a few months before the wedding and knew I wanted them! Both great! Instagram is great for this!
An Eve of Milady Dress
My dress was Eve of Milady from Kleinfeld Bridal in NYC. I loved the tighter fit and was very me. Loved the beading and the train! Also it had removable sleeves…for the ceremony it had sleeves and then after for the dancing it was taken off. It really made it look like I had 2 separate dresses! Also allowed me to do some gymnastics flips during the dancing! Ever seen a bride do that?!
Accessories
I had beautiful diamond earrings, necklace and bracelet custom designed by Jeremey Wiener at East Coast Diamond Buyers in NYC. Eric worked with Jeremy to create these custom one of a kind pieces.
Shoes
Shoes were from Jessica Simpson. Heels with White with silver sparkles.
The handsome groom
Eric wore a Hugo Boss black tuxedo along with Hugo boss bowtie. Calvin Klein Tuxedo shirt. White pocket square. A Black tie formal look.
Bridesmaids
All the bridesmaids wore silver sequined dresses to match the color theme. All slightly different styles but looked beautiful together.
Ceremony
We had Israeli singing superstar Avi Perets sing as we walked down the aisle. Amazing! The white aisle had roses projected onto it from Highline Productions. Many of our family members were called up to say blessings under thechuppah which was nice. Eric’s favorite part was watching Eliana walk down the aisle…he cried.
Eliana loved walking down and seeing Eric and all the guests standing for her…really an unforgettable moment and one she dreamt of all her life.
The Ketubah we think is something very special. It has Swarovski crystals all over it (yes!) and a gold metallic leaf finish. Enya Keshet is the designer via ketubah.com. Amazing!
Chuppah
We knew we wanted the chuppah to have magicial elements. JoAnna Stefan from Stefan’s Florists worked with me for all the wedding décor….they are magicians with flowers! So we had the orchids on the chupah “float down the sides and behind. The columns were lucite, so the top of the chuppah would appear to be floating.
A beautiful crown of hydrangea and white roses were across the top. Was uplighted with lights. The aisle had roses projected onto it leading up to the chuppah tying it all together. Really came together exactly how we wanted.
Our music choice
We had a mix of Israeli music sung by Avi Perets and an 8 piece band and then DJ house music by Nissim Balassiano. A band and then DJ combination really made the evening really fun. The DJ coming on after the band was really unexpected. Our first dance was to ‘One call away’ by Charlie Puth.
Several years ago at a Charlie Puth concert is when Eric asked Eliana to be his girlfriend, so it was only fitting to choose a Charlie Puth song for the first dance. Eric walked down the aisle to a Hebrew jewish song but sung by Avi Perets to the tune of The Greatest Showman’s ‘A Million Dreams’.
Flowers
JoAnna Stefan from Stefans Florist worked with us to create all the flower décor. The centerpieces, chupa, bouquets, etc were all a mix hydrangeas, white roses, purple vanda orchids (to tie into the purple and silver color theme), white hydrangea, white matholia, white dendrobium orchids, white spray roses, vandella roses, variegated pittesporem and lemon leaf.
Photographer and videographer
White Light Photo was the company that shot our wedding. We knew we wanted a videographer friend of ours John Casolaro from PM Photography and Video to video the wedding and he recommend White Light to capture it all along with him. White Light are a group of young photographers and videographers that know how to create unique and fun shots. Super easy and nice to work with.
Food and cake
Our catering was by Seaview Caterers. They are the in house caterer at Temple Beth El. Amazing food. For the cocktail hour they set up 6 stations including an Israeli food station with shawarma and falafel…wanted to tie into Eliana’s Israeli roots. For desert we had a desert parade…waiters walked around to the dance floor and tables with really cool trays and deserts that had smoke and sparklers coming out of them. We also had jello shots on the dance floor.
HIGHLIGHT!! Who would think that the wedding cake would be one of the most incredible and memorable and magical aspects of our wedding!!! It started 6 months before the wedding when Eric, as a magician, had a crazy idea to want the wedding cake to float in the air. NOT with strings, wires, or rods like he’s seen done in the past. But actually floating where one can put their hand above and below the levitating cake!
After lots of research, he knew the only people in the WORLD that could pull this off was Peboryon lead by Christine and and Phil Jenson based in England! They have been on many TV shows in England including “Extreme Cake Makers”. After a few discussions with Eric and Eliana on elements to tie into the wedding theme, Peboryon sketched out an insane wedding cake design with a “secret sauce” that would allow the top tier of the cake to float and spin!
We knew for a cake this size, we would need the Peboryon team to fly to New York to make this cake happen. They flew in several days before the wedding to finish creating the cake. EVERYTHING you see on the cake it 100% REAL cake and handmade sugar flowers/leaves/butterflies. You can see all the details in the pictures. The only cake in the world like this.
Some amazing facts about the cake:
Hours of work – 228, Sugar Leaves – 543, Sugar Flowers – 2057, 50lbs of icing, 3 team members, 3850 mile delivery from Penzance, England!
Entertainment
As mentioned above, we had an 8 piece band led by singing sensation Avi Perets followed by DJ Nissim Balassiano from Highline Productions. We also had a flip book photo booth from Coco Events NYC.
Favours
We created a custom mug that is black but when liquid is poured into it, it would magically change to a cute design of a King of Hearts and Queen of Hearts (symbolizing love of husband and wife) and a phrase on top of “All you need is love”. We packed it in a custom purple box and it was a really unique favor.
Honeymoon
If you stayed at a fantastic hotel or used a wonderful travel agent you’d recommend to other couples, tell us about it! We went to Hawaii for our Honeymoon. Eliana always wanted to go to Hawaii so it was a no brainer. We also went on a 7 day Hawaii cruise (Norwegian’s Pride of America) as part of the trip which took us to many parts of Hawaii in a convenient and fun way.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
We made sure to take care of all the wedding planning and last minute touches several days before the wedding. We wanted to make sure the days before the wedding and wedding day were all set in stone so we could enjoy those days stress free with all our friends and family. Just know the night (or day) will fly by and to try to enjoy every minute of it in the moment. Not everything may go as YOU planned, but your guests don’t know that, and everyone is having the time of their lives!
Also try to acknowledge all your guests…dance with them, take a picture, say hello. In the moment, there are so many things going on as the bride, but even one second of acknowledging a friend or family member that made the trip to share this occasion with you, will be very memorable for them.
ELIANA & ERIC’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – White Light Photo
Videography – PM Photography and Video
Ketubah – Enya Keshet via ketubah.com {ketubah.com offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Temple Beth El of Cedarhurst
Bride’s dress – Eve of Milady found and fitted at Kleinfeld Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Jessica Simpson
Bride’s accessories – Jeremey Wiener at East Coast Diamond Buyers
Groom’s attire – Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein
Hair + Makeup – Batya Reyz , Tzivi Kluger
Flowers – Stefans Florist
Singer – Avi Perets
DJ – Nissim Balassiano, Highline Productions
Catering – Seaview Caterers
Cake – Peboryon
Stationery/Invitation – Lovepop
Flip book photo booth – Coco Events NYC
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.
