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Tali & Mo’s Jewish wedding | Art Deco afternoon tea at The Savoy and an evening soirée in Soho, London

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afternoon-tea-wedding
Today’s wedding looks like such a fun filled affair – it’s a twist on the traditional hotel wedding: yes, Tali and Mo chose to have the first part of their wedding at The Savoy, but *no*, there wasn’t a sit-down 3 course dinner, or show band in sight.

Instead (partly due to Tali’s pastry chef background) they went for a splendid afternoon tea theme with everything from flowers arranged on cake stands (genius!) to beautiful home made jam favours, to a splendid art deco theme, sprinkled with some lovely DIY details.

Then, to top it off, for the second part of their wedding, they held an  evening soiree at  Kettner’s  in nearby Soho, complete with props and a rocking dance floor, and celebrated their big day with a larger circle of friends.

So let’s partake in some champagne and a macaron or two and be serenaded to The Savoy followed by a night in Soho. What more could you ask for?  Perhaps for the imagery to be by our very own  Wedding Smasher,  Blake Ezra? Oh yes, I’ve got that for you too… we’re in for a treat!
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TWO LONDON VENUES
Tali, the Bride: Our choice of venue came down to a few requirements. First of all we wanted to get married in London. It’s where we met, and we are both great lovers of this beautiful city. We wanted to serve afternoon tea at our reception, and as I am a pastry chef it had to be good so we went with the only London hotel that offered in-house milchik kosher catering — The Savoy. Oh what a hardship! Luckily for us around half of the hotel is Art Deco and as we are massive fans of the Art Deco period it was a no-brainer.

We chose to split the day between two venues, we had the chuppah and afternoon tea at The Savoy, and we then moved on to an evening soiree at Kettner’s in nearby Soho. This allowed us to share our big day with a larger circle of friends.
Savoy Jewish Wedding

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Candace & Asher | Super-stylish ‘shabby chic’ Jewish wedding, Rancho Las Lomas, USA

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An explosion of colour, a totally WOW vintage dress, and a sensationally decorated ‘shabby chic’ space. That’s what first struck me about today’s gorgeous lush garden wedding.

I should probably begin this beautiful big day with a Pinterest warning, because dear readers, Candace and Asher’s wedding is filled to bursting with oodles of gorgeous details that I can guarantee you’ll love. They accomplished their dream decor with bells on, creating a whimsical yet contemporary fairytale within a beautiful outside space.

There are so many details that I love about this W-day from the wonderfully colourful florals to a really original bouquet (featuring mini lockets with photos of the brides grandparents), to the astonishing decor, to the very personalised family input throughout the ceremony, that I think anyone trying to pull of a wedding with that homespun feel can be inspired. Essentially this wedding is FULL of covetable details, and all of this fabulousness is captured by the awesome Sloan Photographers. Enjoy!
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Stacey & Jono | NYE Fancy Dress Jewish Wedding in a Cinema, West Sussex, UK

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fancy-dress-cinema-wedding
There are no words. Truly — there are no words worthy enough to even  begin  to describe this fantastically creative W-day photographed by the always amazing  Martin Beddall. To start with this Jewish wedding is held in an old arthouse cinema (the oldest operating one in the UK) and all the guests are decked out in fancy dress which makes for such an inclusive atmosphere is genuinely special.

The couple organised everything themselves from the other side of the world (New Zealand!) and their attention to detail is astonishing. Jono, the groom, designed the delightful invitations himself, and both he and Stacey created the most beautiful short film that was played during their ceremony, full of images of their past, literally from birth through to the present day. You can watch their very special film lower down the page. Warning: you might tear up!

So without further ado, let’s dive into Martin Beddall’s exquisite photographs, and read all the juicy details in the words of Stacey and Jono themselves.
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ORGANISING A NEW YEAR’S EVE WEDDING FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD
Stacey and Jono:  We met and fell in love on New Year’s Eve 2007 so that has been such a special time for us. There’s also no better excuse for a party than New Year’s Eve so we decided to throw our big day five years later to the day! We now live in New Zealand but wanted to celebrate the big day in style with our oldest and dearest in the UK.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Roxanne & Warren | Rustic-Meets-Chic Jewish Wedding at Nitida Wine Farm, Cape Town

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Cape Town Jewish Wedding 78This, my friends, is a dream wedding. A beautiful chic meets rustic love-fest set against one of the prettiest backdrops you’ll ever see (and it being my first ever South African wedding on STG, I am particularly excited!) There’s plenty of lovely DIY and it’s all wrapped up in one seriously amazing party. Plus it’s all captured by the *awesome*  Darren Bester.

Let’s hand over to our gorgeous and super-creative bride, Roxanne, to relay the story of her w-day.
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VENUE
We had our wedding in Durbanville at Nitida Wine Farm in Cape Town. The weather is always beautiful in Cape Town in December and we really wanted an outdoor wedding. It was actually the only venue we looked at – we simply both fell in love with it and booked it immediately.

THEME
We are a laid-back couple so opted for a chilled out, relaxed vibe. We wanted our friends and family to have a good time and most of all we wanted a great big party! We went for a rustic feel using whites and browns and had amazing white fabric draped from the ceiling and fairy lights to give our very big wedding a more intimate feel. We had many candles lit to set the mood. We wanted to create a very relaxed, yet chic play on our rustic wedding.
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INVITATION DESIGN
My brother designed our invitation which fitted in perfectly with our rustic theme. I then personalized each invite with brown wooden tags that had the guests names engraved on them. It was a nice touch to the invite and our guests loved them and now use them as key rings.
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My Top 5 Dos and Don’ts for a Super-Cool Jewish Wedding

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THE HORA
[ Image: Heather Kincaid ]

This is an article of mine that appeared  in the December issue of  Pulse Magazine  and  received its fair share of love so here it is in it’s online glory!

TOP 5 DO’S FOR A GREAT JEWISH WEDDING

DO  expect to kick up a storm, and have your face glisten with glee (and sweat) during the ‘hora’, the joyous tradition of Jewish dancing. Just be careful not to fall off the chair, and make sure that those with a penchant for booze are not the ones nominated to lift you!

DO  try to experience the pure and sacred side of a Jewish wedding as much as possible, as the spiritual significance is often lost in all the madness of putting it together.

DO  create a Pinterest board to store all your wedding ideas in one place. Pinterest is your best friend when it comes to planning your big day as you can collect beautiful images and wedding design tips and paste them all in one place. Not only useful for you, your boards will also help give guidance to your suppliers. If you don’t want your whole social network to see the details of your wedding before the big day, use one of your private boards for your favourite ideas.

DO  incorporate things into your wedding  that are important to you. eg. A nostalgic song that brings back memories of when you first got together, favours made by you or a family member, table centres incorporating things that are personal to you as a couple, messages from guests woven into your chuppah design – the more individuality you stamp on your wedding, the better.

DO  take time to be calm and in the moment of your day. Hand over the reigns, don’t think about any of the details and enjoy your wedding for what it is: a joyous celebration!
chuppah
[ Image: Mi Belle Inc. ]

TOP 5 DON’TS FOR A GREAT JEWISH WEDDING

DON’T  try to please everyone, meaning all the generations and the rabbi. You cannot and you should not. This is your opportunity to do things as you want and it’s a time to be making decisions without having to justify them or fit expectations. Real friends and family will understand and those that don’t aren’t worth losing any sleep over.

DON’T  expect local guests to adhere to a black tie dress code if you’re getting married in Israel. They will show up in shorts, with a couple of unexpected extra kids in tow. That’s how they roll in the land of milk & honey! And another word of advice if you’re getting married in Israel, expect guests that confirmed attendance not to show up, and guests that were not invited to make an appearance instead. It happens!

DON’T  think that you necessarily need a large bridal party of groomsmen and bridesmaids if that’s not your bag. What you do need is a circle of a few close friends to rely on for support, help, mini-errands and such-like on the day. Have a think on whom you’d like to enlist in the months or weeks leading up to your wedding – close friends and family will feel honoured and be only too happy to help.

DON’T  invite too many people. Fewer and closely connected is better than inviting a cast of unknowns, and makes for a far more meaningful, intimate atmosphere.

DON’T  follow the crowd. Be true to yourself and have the confidence to do things your way, whether that means incorporating something non-traditional into your ceremony, picking a weird theme or wearing a gown so impractical you can barely move. Go for it, this is your day!

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