When COVID forced Liv, a mortgage broker who recently opened a take away coffee shop called Olive and Joy, and Dan, a lawyer, to scrap their original plans for a 150-guest wedding at a stately home over the May bank holiday, they came up with something even better.
As soon as 30-person weddings were allowed in England, Liv and Dan sought the guidance of Victoria from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Linda Abrahams & Co in planning an ultra-memorable day in chic urban courtyard Dyson Place (Victoria, who does double duty as a planner and luxury stationer, also designed the couple’s stationery, complete with custom wedding logo). They put together a beautiful outdoor chuppah – which ended up having to be moved indoors halfway through the ceremony as the rain picked up – streamed on Zoom to all their loved ones who couldn’t be there in person. Don’t miss the gorgeous photos by Steven McNiven.
Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Feast by Ed Schaerf provided his trademark innovative kosher catering, featuring his kosher burger van which served up burgers, hotdogs, salt beef sandwiches, and fried chicken with all the trimmings.
In the bride’s words,
The thing that made it so special was that there were only 30 people so we could talk to everyone there really easily and all of them were our closest family and friends. Anyone who is doubting whether to go ahead with a smaller wedding during government restrictions – we definitely recommend it!
Now we’ll turn you over to Liv…
How We Met
Olivia, the bride and Daniel, the groom: We have known each other for as long as we can remember. Our parents were friends when we were little and it turns out that we both liked each other but neither of us realised until we swiped each other on J-swipe!
COVID Wedding
We were originally supposed to be getting married in the grounds of a stately home in the Peak District, on the May bank holiday 2020 with 150 guests. That was planned as a traditional Jewish wedding with all the dancing and fun you would expect. Once Covid19 restrictions came into force the venue owners (who still live at the venue) decided to move one of their elderly relatives in with them, and the wedding was no longer able to take place there – even if the government guidance had allowed it.
It was always of the highest importance to us to be able to have an outdoor wedding and we didn’t want to have to compromise on this unless we absolutely had to.
As soon as it was announced that a wedding could take place with 30 guests we decided to go for it – and plan for an amazing lockdown wedding in a small window of opportunity.
We were fortunate to be able to use a courtyard development in Sheffield called Dyson Place. It is surrounded by artisan restaurants and shops and the whole development has been recently renovated by and has a fantastic block paved courtyard, with raised grassed area – perfect for a chuppah!
Wedding Day Surprises
We originally went for a colourful scheme for the bigger wedding, as both of us love bright and bold colours, and we didn’t want to do the typical white wedding flowers etc.
For the smaller celebration at Dyson Place we decided to surprise each other with different elements. Dan was responsible for lighting and arranged festoon lighting to be hung high across the whole of the courtyard which Lights 4 Fun and Yorkshire Lighting Services set up. He also arranged neon signage which he got from a tenant of Dyson Place, Inco Interiors.
Liv was responsible for flowers and went with what she felt Dan would like. At the time Dan was really into soft nude colours and had chosen a ‘camel’ colour for the suede yarmulke. He loves sustainable materials and doesn’t like waste so I wanted to use as many dried flowers as possible, especially pampas grass – which we gifted to friends and family after the wedding and is still in use.
For buttonholes I chose a white rose which was a nod to Yorkshire and cricket which is Dan and his groomsmen’s favourite sport. Neither of us knew what the other had arranged until we saw it on the day. Victoria our planner made sure the two complimented each other without either knowing about the others choices.
Invitations / stationery
Victoria from Linda Abrahams & Co designed all of our stationery and created a logo personal to us. The design was simple and elegant using a thick white card with charcoal foiled ink and a hot pink foiled edge. Victoria created all of our stationery, from the original invitations to the later adapted invites which invited our guests to watch our ceremony on zoom.
Hair + Make-up
Our life long hairdressers did our hair. Paul from Avocado, Broomhill and Lauren Slack from Hairess. For makeup Olivia used her cousin’s (a makeup artist living in Italy) friend Emma Seatree who also works for Charlotte Tilbury.
Dress
The Bridal House, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield made Olivia’s dress. A few years ago they had made Dan’s sister’s wedding dress (Samantha Silver from @thisismothership), it was stunning and so Liv felt she could completely trust them to design and make the classic dress of her dreams.
Accessories
Olivia wanted the dress to be the main focus and didn’t want to wear any jewellery to distract from the dress. However, on the wedding morning Dan surprised Olivia with a gift of diamond studded earrings made by her cousins who run Steven Stone Jewellers.
Shoes
Olivia originally went for bridal Aquazzura stilletos, but on the day she decided to wear a metallic silver pair she had bought on ASOS after looking at the weather forecast and knowing the grass would be damp as she walked to the chuppah. The heel was wider and way more wearable. It was the best last minute decision!
The handsome groom
Daniel’s suit was a light blue textured 2 piece from Reiss. The original wedding had been planned as Black Tie but the courtyard vibe suited a much more casual look. Plus the colour of Dan’s new suit matched the colour of his eyes (in Livs opinion).
Bridesmaids
Liv had her 2 cousins and 4 best friends as bridesmaid. They all wore the original bridesmaid dress chosen for the pre-Covid wedding, long navy classic dresses. We wanted them to look smart and wanted something to flatter all the girls.
Ceremony
The chuppah ceremony took place outside on what ended up being a very rainy day. We really wanted to get married outside and supplied all of our guests with clear umbrellas, as well as placing gazebos around the courtyard. Half way through the ceremony the rain came down so heavily that the rabbi had to move us all inside and continue the ceremony inside the Mission Hall which was our plan B.
The whole ceremony was streamed on Zoom to all of our guests who couldn’t fit into the 30 person guestlist. It was great to know they could experience it in some way and the discussions about how everyone viewed it differently were hilarious after the wedding. We also had 7 of our closest friends and family say Sheva Brachot under the chuppah which was a lovely part of the ceremony.
Ketubah
It was a gorgeous colourful ketubah which we’ve had framed and put on our wall.
Chuppah
We had an idea for our big wedding and switched it to a more appropriate colour scheme. We took some advice from our band Storm, who had a chuppah frame they could provide. Dan had no idea what it was going to look like until the day (Dan: Liv smashed it out of the park!) It was covered in flowers and pampas.
Our Music Choice
We were so lucky to have a great wedding band booked for the wedding that was cancelled. Storm had stayed in touch with us throughout lockdown (even putting on a Facebook live performance to mark the day that should have been our wedding!).
When we knew we could plan a lockdown wedding we cut the band from a 10 piece down to a 3 piece – numbers being so tight! – and changed our playlist to suit the more relaxed vibe of our courtyard wedding.
Our first dance was a song that has been played on repeat throughout our relationship (‘Loving is Easy’ by Rex Orange County).
Our processional songs were also songs we’ve been playing throughout our relationship and still give us goose bumps.
Flowers
The florist was Kathy Vickers of Flora. She has a lot of experience and was fantastic! The bouquets were chosen by Liv (see above)
Photographer and videographer
We knew the videographer (Steve Slattery, Cedar House Productions ) from Dan’s sister’s wedding and we knew he would do a good job. The photographer was one that came recommended to us by Victoria and after stalking a lot of different photographers’ websites we knew that Steven McNiven would do a fantastic job because we loved his style.
Both Steves were fantastic on the day and made us feel really comfortable in front of the camera. It was both of their first jobs since the initial Coronavirus lockdown.
Food
Our caterer was Feast by Ed Schaerf! We cannot recommend him enough. We had been to our menu tasting and finalised our menu prior to Covid19 and unfortunately, we weren’t able to create the same amazing meal that we knew everyone would love. In the end it turned out even better.
Ed had created a kosher burger van during lockdown and he parked that up in the courtyard, serving individual bags with burgers, hotdogs, salt beef sandwiches, fried chicken all the trimmings and the best desserts all night.
Entertainment
Just all of our closest friends and family – no extras allowed! Storm played our ceremony music and we used our own speaker and playlist while guests ate.
Favours
Victoria arranged goody bags for us to give to our guests on arrival. In them we provided a customised mask, miniature sanitiser, wrist band to show whether they were high risk or not, suede yarmulke, specially dried rose petal confetti (supplied by a family friend) and miniature challahs made for them that morning as a gift from the Rabbi’s wife, Faige-Rochel Golomb along with specially ordered Heart refraction glasses from Hazel Bee Cards which were originally going to be used as wedding favours at the first planned wedding.
Extra details
The thing that made it so special was that there were only 30 people so we could talk to everyone there really easily and all of them were our closest family and friends. Anyone who is doubting whether to go ahead with a smaller wedding during government restrictions – we definitely recommend it!
Honeymoon
After 3 failed attempts we finally managed to fly to the Maldives. We stayed on an island that had just reopened after lockdown and there were only 3 other couples, so it was like having our own private island!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
It goes like an absolute whirlwind. Some people say it goes so quickly you don’t even remember it, but I can honestly say this wasn’t true at all for us. We can recall each minute from waking that day to ending the day as Mr and Mrs Flowers.
Olivia & Daniel’s Little White Book
Photography – Steven McNiven
Videography – Cedar House Productions
Wedding planner – Linda Abrahams & Co {offers 10% discount an any package to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Catering – Feast by Ed Schaerf
Venue – Dyson Place
Bride’s dress – The Bridal House
Bride’s shoes – Aquazzura, ASOS
Bride’s accessories – Steven Stone Jewellers
Groom’s attire – Reiss
Bridesmaids – ASOS
Hair + Makeup – Emma Seatree, Lauren Slack, Hairess and Paul Robinson, Avocado
Flowers – Flora
Band / Ceremony Musicians – Storm
Stationery/Invitation – Linda Abrahams & Co
Additional Lighting – Lights 4 Fun, Yorkshire Lighting Services
Neon Signage – Inco Interiors
Rabbi – Rabbi Golomb, Sheffield
Favours – Linda Abrahams & Co
Heart Refraction Glasses – Hazel Bee Cards
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.
No couple should ever let the rain get them down on their wedding day!