Get ready for a fabulous interfaith Jewish wedding! We love everything about the way Nicole, a client manager for a technology company, and Pedro, a data analyst, built their relationship with Judaism as a couple, and how that shaped their plans for the big day.
When Nicole, who’s Jewish, got together with Pedro, who isn’t, she knew she’d need to find an open-minded and inclusive Jewish community that would welcome the two of them as a couple. She found exactly that in West London Synagogue, where the couple attended classes and an interfaith marriage workshop together, in addition to celebrating Shabbats and holidays.
Given the important role West London Synagogue plays in the couple’s lives – not to mention the fact that it’s absolutely stunning – getting married there was a no-brainer. We love the personal significance of the venue – as well as the other wonderful personal touches Nicole and Pedro included, like having Pedro’s sister hand paint their ketubah, and assigning close friends to give them original blessings rather than the traditional sheva brachot.
The day was captured so beautifully by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claire Jonas, who not only captured the Jewish traditions fabulously but also took some knockout portraits of Nicole and Pedro on the streets of Marylebone. We’ll let Nicole take it from here…
How We Met
Nicole, the bride: We are both Brazilians, and we met at a bar while we still lived in Rio, back in 2017. It’s a funny story actually – I was about to leave the bar because his friend was being too loud. On top of that, when he approached me he told me he was an airplane pilot, and I thought he was just showing off. But he was cute, and when he asked for my number I thought “why not? If I don’t want to speak with him, I don’t have to answer!”. Nevertheless, on his first message he actually apologized for his friend, so I ended replying – and here we are 6 years later! We currently live in London.
West London Synagogue
Oh well, this is a long one. We had our civil ceremony over Zoom! It was done in Brazil, with the help of my parents. We had already planned for a “religious” ceremony, and this is actually what we consider our wedding day. We had an interfaith ceremony at the West London Synagogue. It’s a beautiful place that didn’t require any decorations – it’s already breathtaking on its own.
Although we only started attending WLS a couple of years ago, the synagogue turned out to be a very important place for me. Pedro is not Jewish, so I knew I had to find an open minded and inclusive place if I wanted to keep following my traditions. West London Synagogue was super helpful and inclusive – and now Pedro probably has more friends there than I do. We attended classes there, so Pedro could learn more, and even an Interfaith Marriage workshop – aside from drinks, dinners, and of course shabbat and several holidays. They have a busy calendar!
As we had already planned for a separate reception on Saturday, we only had a few drinks after the ceremony at a nearby pub, The Duke of Wellington. The food there is amazing and they have a good selection of beers – we are pub lovers. I must say we ended up inviting more people than we should, and the upstairs room was very snug… But we had a blast anyways.
Keeping It Simple
I never had a theme in mind, this is not my thing. And I didn’t want to “fight” the decorations already in place in the sanctuary. So I opted for not decorating the Synagogue. The only place that was decorated was the venue where we later had our reception on a separate day.
Invitations
I did everything online as most of my friends were coming from abroad.
Makeup
For the ceremony I only had a blowout, but the makeup was done by Babi Campos. She’s also Brazilian and that made it easier for me as styles and tastes are very different from one place to the other.
Dress
It was hard for me to find a dress. I don’t like anything too traditional; basically, I wanted something different. Although I still wanted to feel like a bride, like I couldn’t wear the dress somewhere else on another date. I ended up going for something more modern for the ceremony, and something more romantic for the reception.
Some people might be puzzled, asking why not the other way around, but for me it made total sense and matched the places better. I ended up with two different styles and it was a complete success. People were obsessed with the first dress and they couldn’t wait to see the second one – and I think I didn’t disappoint anyone.
Accessories & Shoes
I wore earrings and a bracelet, both from Swarovski. The shoes were brought from Brazil, from a brand called Jorge Bichoff.
Ceremony & Chuppah
The Reform congregration doesn’t support the idea of a chuppah for an interfaith ceremony. But we added a few touches to make it jew-ish enough with a twist: – For the circles, we did 3 circles each and 1 together. – We both broke glasses. – We wrote our ketubah together and had Pedro’s sister design it!
We also had close friends give their own versions of blessings, instead of having the traditional sheva brachot. This was a very special moment, as the blessings were a complete surprise to us.
Our ketubah was hand painted by Pedro’s sister 🙂
Our music choice
For the ceremony we had a playlist with string quartet versions of Queen and The Beatles.
Flowers
We only had the bouquet and buttonholes for the ceremony. The buttonholes from The Flower Folk were basically white flowers and greenery, as we didn’t want anything too flashy. For the bouquet I had lavender roses with freesias from Flowers Box London.
Photographer
For the ceremony at the Synagogue we wanted someone who knew how to capture a Jewish wedding, so we chose Claire Jonas. She captured the temple and the traditional parts beautifully, but I must say the pictures I love the most are the ones outside, in the streets of Marylebone.
Extra Details
The day of the ceremony, I think the most surprising moment was when the Rabbi got her guitar. Some people thought Pedro was going to play something. But in fact, the Rabbi planned to play Oseh Shalom for everyone to sing along. While getting closer to the Jewish culture and attending WLS, Pedro fell in love with this song and wanted to have this played at the wedding. I thought it was super cute and I was happy he managed to connect somehow to my religion.
Honeymoon
We are still going! To Hawaii – it has been a dream of mine for a while and I cannot wait!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
If you have time and budget, I’d definitely recommend booking separate events, even if it is separating the ceremony from the reception, as I did, or having lunches and dinners around the date. It helped me enjoy this moment for longer! I felt like I had a full week of wedding events and it was amazing. On a more common note – always remember to look around! I was delighted to see my friends and family meeting different groups, enjoying themselves. It was truly a special moment.
NICOLE & PEDRO’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Claire Jonas {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – West London Synagogue, The Duke of Wellington
Bride’s dress – Rachel Gilbert, Temperley London
Bride’s shoes – Jorge Bichoff
Bride’s accessories – Swarovski
Makeup – Babi Campos
Flowers – The Flower Folk, Flowers Box London.
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.
What a memory! Feeling so special to have our wedding featured here 🙂