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A Pronovias Bride for a Rustic Destination Jewish Wedding at Topnotch Resort, Stowe, Vermont, USA

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A destination Jewish wedding doesn’t have to take place thousands of miles from home to have a seriously big impact. For evidence, see the gorgeous rustic wedding of Erica, a content manager in the pharmaceutical industry and adjunct professor in business communications, and Jared, an electrical engineer.

They knew they wanted an intimate wedding that would allow their family and friends – who hadn’t spent much time together due to living far apart – to really get to know each other. So they opted to host #GordonWeddinGetaway in Vermont’s breathtaking Green Mountains – far enough away from their home in Philadelphia to qualify as a bona fide destination while still accessible to their guests.

We love that Erica and Jared really focused on keeping everything low key and fun for their 45 guests, and never lost sight of their ultimate goal for the wedding weekend: connecting with their nearest and dearest – and allowing their family and friends a chill couple of days to connect with each other, too! And based on the wonderful photos from Jesse Schloff Photography, it seems to have gone exactly to plan.

One of our biggest goals here at STG is to make sure all brides (and grooms) to be are able to craft a wedding day (or weekend!) that’s exactly how they want it to be – and we’re so excited to be launching our first-ever FREE Jewish Wedding Planning Bootcamp, starting TODAY, Monday, June 3! It’s going to be full of tips and tools for creating the wedding of your dreams, stress-free (or just about), and it’s not too late to sign up!

Now over to the bride, who looked exquisite in her off-the-shoulder mermaid gown from Pronovias…


How we met

Erica, the bride: Like many others these days, we met online—Jdate specifically. From reading his profile, I thought we had a lot in common (we’re both from the same town). I liked that he said he liked to go mini golfing and play board games—nerdy things that I also enjoy. We also both lived in South Florida; we even went to the same high school in PA but were a year apart. 

 We set up our first date for October 2, 2015. We went bowling and split a pizza. I thought he was very cute and felt a connection right away. Early on, I could see Jared being “the one.”

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A Relaxing and Rustic Destination Jewish Wedding on a Budget at Porto Helidoni Villa, Crete, Greece

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An international destination wedding on a budget?! Yes, it’s possible – just have a look at today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding for proof.

Nitsan, a lawyer, and Oren, a neurobiologist, live in Israel – just a short flight away from their wedding destination, which they picked not only for its epic coastal beauty, but also as a way to honor the bride’s Greek heritage.

We love how these two focused on what mattered to them and let go of the rest. They made sure to pick out a venue that ticked all their boxes – close to the sea, with a relaxed, rustic picnic vibe – and made the most of it by adding professional lighting above the main table and fairy lights in the trees for a magical touch.

And they didn’t skimp on photography and videography, as you can see from their beautiful imagery and trailer by Andreas Markakis and his team.

On the savings side, Nitsan says she picked her simple gown because it was “the cheapest one I could find,” shopped her own closet for her wedding footwear, and did her own hair and makeup. Oren also opted to wear smart casual clothes he already owned rather than splurging on new wedding attire.

The couple opted for a simple, rustic chuppah that managed to match the rustic seaside vibe without breaking the bank – and it just goes to show you don’t have to go heavy on the florals to create a memorable look.

Now over to the bride…

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A Wedding in Crete

Nitsan, the bride: We got married in Crete, because I’m Greek. We both used to travel to Crete as well for our work and for holidays.

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A Mira Zwillinger Bride for a Casually Elegant Destination Jewish Wedding at The Lawrence, Old Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel

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Planning a wedding from 7,000 miles away isn’t easy. But you’d never know it looking at this gorgeous Jewish wedding, which LA-based Rachel and Yonatan planned all the way on the other side of the world in Tel Aviv.

Their secret? Amazing wedding planners. Specifically, Naama and Yael of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Naama Raicher Event Workshop. These two not only set the couple up with some of the best vendors Tel Aviv’s got to offer, they enabled the pair to actualize their vision of a wedding that felt less like a formal event and more like a casually elegant dinner party.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor LUZ, who managed both photo and video, did an awesome job capturing the vibe. Rachel and Yonatan say booking LUZ was one of the best wedding planning decisions they made, and we love Rachel’s description of LUZ’s stylish work as “something you would see across the room and think, ‘Wow, that’s a beautiful shot,’ and then as you approach closer ‘wait a minute, is that your wedding?’”

We’re obsessed with the pair’s Rothko-inspired ketubah by Stephanie Caplan of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Ketubah, and we love Rachel and Yonatan’s tip for making a destination wedding as painless as possible for your guests: over the months leading up to the big day, they sent a series of custom travel guides covering everything guests needed to know at that point in time, from favorite movies about Israel, to hotels and flight recommendations, to what to expect upon arrival at Israeli immigration, and go-to bars, restaurants and walks about town. Such a great idea!

There’s so much more to say about this stunner of a wedding – from the enchanting venue to the sunset ceremony held on the fly in a public park – but we’ll leave it to Rachel, who looked smashing in her Mira Zwillinger gown (followed by a fun, non-traditional floral party dress from Zimmerman) to tell you about all that…

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How we met

Rachel, the bride: I am in brand development and global marketing for the beauty industry and Yonatan is in finance and real estate. Although we had offices on the same hallway at the original WeWork location in Soho, it took us a few years to finally meet. We would often say “Hi, there” as we would pass each other but we both were so absorbed in our budding start-ups that there wasn’t much more than that.

Sometime later, I moved to a larger office on the other side of the floor and Yonatan finally felt compelled to knock on my door, introduce himself, and congratulate me on growing my team. Again a few months passed and nothing came of it. Then one day he popped up on my Tinder account. I swiped right and we’ve been together ever since. I came to find out later that I was also the first swipe to come up when he first opened his Bumble account. I guess we are just a match made in the social media stars 😉

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A Louise Marie Bride for a Sunshine Party Jewish Wedding at Finca La Concepcion, Marbella, Spain

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This glorious Jewish wedding in Spain is truly the stuff destination wedding fantasies are made of – and no wonder, given that Charlotte, an EA at a financial services firm, and Simon runs his own business, SB Jewellery, assembled a total dream team to help them pull off planning from abroad.

From Dyana Dessar Simmons and her team at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Optimum Weddings – who led the couple to their jawdroppingly gorgeous venue – to photography by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jeremy Standley and his assistant Ruth Blamire-Brown – who captured everything from that smashing the glass moment to the wild Israeli dancing perfectly – Charlotte and Simon had all the Jewish wedding expertise (not to mention creative talent!) you could ask for.

Getting the Jewish element just right was extra important to these two given that the bride had recently converted to Judaism, and she wanted to make sure her family felt included in the big day despite being new to Jewish weddings.

Happily, these two had a super supportive rabbi, who made sure everyone felt a part of the ceremony – and we love how they made some of our favourite Jewish wedding traditions their own, with lovely touches from a birch chuppah to a beautiful bespoke ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Danny Azoulay that the couple picked out when visiting his shop on a trip to Jerusalem.

Now over to Charlotte, who looked stunning in her bespoke lace gown from Louise Marie…

How we met

Charlotte, the bride: Simon and I met and University of Birmingham both doing a Chemistry degree, it wasn’t until our final year that we got together after being friends from the start.

We had been together 4 years when Simon proposed in the Four Seasons in Johannesburg the first night of our holiday in South Africa just before starting our safari. He arranged the whole thing with the hotel to have our room all decorated and champagne and canapes laid out for us. It was perfect and I really was surprised.

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A Gucci Bride for an Intimate and Elegant Destination Jewish Wedding at the Great Synagogue and the Four Seasons, Florence, Italy

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We love it when a couple does their Jewish wedding their way (it’s our mantra after all), and that’s just one of the many reasons we’re so smitten with family nurse practitioner Lauren and director of sales Abraham’s gorgeous destination wedding in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

First off, we love that Lauren stayed true to herself ad opted to marry in a totally chic – and not traditionally bridal – Gucci dress she bought off the rack from Neiman Marcus! It just goes to show, you absolutely don’t have to do the big white gown thing for your big day if it doesn’t speak to you.

We also think it’s fantastic that Lauren and Abe opted to keep their wedding super intimate – they had just 24 guests! There’s something to be said for surrounding yourself with your nearest and dearest – and only your nearest and dearest – on such a special day.

It doesn’t get much better than the majestic Great Synagogue of Florence, where the chuppah took place, and the reception venue – the Four Seasons of Florence – was pretty epic in its own right. It was all captured wonderfully by award-winning photographers D2, Donatella and Damiano, whose natural, atmospheric photos captured all the love and emotion of the day so perfectly.

Also, these two have an unusual – and beautiful – how-we-met story. Seriously, you don’t want to miss this one!

Now over to the bride…

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How we met

Lauren, the bride: Our story is quite special. Abe’s ex-wife, named Lauren, and her now husband Ron made the introduction.

I was a close friend of Ron’s for many years, who then started dating Lauren. Ron had met Abe on numerous occasions, as Abe and Lauren have two sons together, Leon, 10 and Felix, 8. Abe and Lauren have a great/friendly/healthy relationship and still admire one another.

Upon meeting Abe, Ron had said to Lauren, I think I have the perfect girl for Abe. I was having dinner with Ron and Lauren and actually met Leon and Felix that evening, when they made a text introduction with Abe and I – an hour later I met Abe and never laughed so hard in my life, and from then on we have been together.

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