Jewish Destination Weddings Archives - Page 54 of 55 - Smashing the Glass

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

27/01/2014 by Karen

This, 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.

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.

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.

Natalie & Oren | Spectacular Jewish wedding at The Great Synagogue + Villa Cora, Florence, Italy

03/01/2014 by Karen

I kid you not. The moment I laid my eyes on this magnificent wedding captured by David Bastianoni, I was speechless. As in, my mouth was unable to form words and my brain was unable to make sentences. And as a wedding blogger, that can be kind of a problem. But stare for even one minute at the array of images in this post, by the amazing David Bastianoni, and you’ll be doing the exact same thing.

So let’s hand over to our gorgeous bride, Natalie, to provide you with all the delicious detail of the day.

VENUE
Natalie, the Bride: We had our ceremony at The Great Synagogue of Florence. I lived in Florence for 9 months in 2002 and I always remembered the synagogue being remarkable. Upon re-visiting the synagogue I knew I wanted to get married there. We even decided to keep the ceremony at the synagogue despite it being an open house day where the synagogue was open to visitors throughout the day. Needless to say we had a lot of bystanders and ”extra” guests at our ceremony but we didn’t mind.

The reception was held at Villa Cora. The hotel was redone a few years ago and the main salon is breathtaking. As soon as I saw the main salon at Villa Cora my mind was made up. As you can see in the photos, the room speaks for itself. We ended up having more people than we expected and we used an adjoining room which was equally as gorgeous but with a totally different style (Moroccan).

AN ELEGANT WEDDING DRESS
I chose a dress by Marisa, New York. I knew I wanted something lace and I wasn’t looking for white. The material underneath the lace was a champagne color. When I saw my dress I knew it was the one as it had the perfect bustle (which we added to a bit) and an elegant lace overlay.

Mishie & Misha | Spectacular Destination Jewish wedding at Villa Eva, Amalfi Coast, Italy

09/11/2013 by Karen

It’s September 2013. We’re at one of the most passionate places in the world, the beautiful Villa Eva in ridiculously romantic Ravello on the Italian Amalfi coast. The village itself is tiny and has the most jaw-dropping views — rolling hills, endless sea panoramas, charming country villages, and of course the beautiful Italian sunshine!

One hundred of Mishie and Misha’s friends and family have traveled from all over the world to join them and celebrate their wedding holiday.

The bride has sensational style (not to mention two awesome dresses!), there’s lots of personal input from friends and family, an Argentinian tango first dance, stunning picturesque Amalfi backdrops…. Interested? Of course you are!

Here’s lovely Mishie, the Bride, with all the delicious detail.

PICKING A DESTINATION FOR GUESTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD
Mishie, the Bride: Our wedding was in Ravello, on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Since Misha is American and I am Australian, we wanted somewhere that was neutral territory but also somewhere that guests would want to come to and where they could make a holiday out of it, since a lot of people would be travelling a long way! Italy is our favourite country to visit and Misha actually suggested the Amalfi Coast since it is one of the most beautiful and romantic parts of the country.

We were then recommended some wedding planners based in Ravello by a friend of a friend. We went out there in March to meet them and they took us to see various venues in Ravello, Sorrento and Positano. When we went to visit Villa Eva in Ravello, we just knew it was the spot where we wanted to get married. The view is spectacular and the villa itself is gorgeous and has a really relaxed and authentic Italian vibe to it. Ravello is the most stunning town and really small which meant that everyone could stay in different hotels but still be able to walk to the wedding venue and around town. And although Ravello is slightly more difficult to get to than other places on the Amalfi Coast, this has allowed it to stay less touristy and keep more of its original character, which we love!

Starr & Jacques | ‘Palace of Versailles’ themed Jewish wedding, Palm Beach, Florida, USA

30/09/2013 by Karen

I have the most utterly sublime and beautiful wedding for you today. Starr is from New York City, and Jacques is from Paris, and the story of how these two met is quite simply a modern day fairytale.

Starr says “My mum says she prayed for this husband for me, and that’s truly how I believe he came into my life! We met in Paris. I was on holiday and a mutual friend invited Jacques for dinner at this trendy hotel, and we were engaged 37 days and 5 countries later…”

As it happened, that first evening they met in Paris, Starr was at the beginning of a three-week European holiday. Jacques invited Starr to join him for dinner again the following night with a bunch of friends but it rained heavily the next day, and one by one his friends dropped out. Jacques called her to say that it would be just the two of them and asked if that would be ok. She agreed and so the spark was lit…

Jacques was determined to see Starr again even though she was about to leave Paris for the next leg of her trip, and the following weekend he caught up with her in Barcelona, then several days later he met her in London, the next weekend in Paris, and then the weekend after that he travelled to New York to meet Starr’s father to ask him for Starr’s hand in marriage. A week later the couple traveled to Morocco for a wedding and that’s where Jacques proposed.

Quite the love story, hey? I’ll now hand over the reigns to the beautiful Starr to tell you about the story of her wedding but just before I do, I want to say that I am beyond excited to feature the incredible photography of Joy Marie Smallwood. Her eye for composition, colour and texture means that each and every photo feels artsy, sexy, fun, candid, rich, boutique, authentic…. I could go on and on. I’m sure you’ll agree that every one of these images is immense.

VENUE TO ECHO OUR ‘PALACE OF VERSAILLES’ THEME
Starr, the Bride: We knew we wanted a destination wedding as we loved the idea of entertaining friends and family over an entire weekend – not just one night – and in fact we ended up having five different events during our wedding weekend, including a Shabbat dinner and a traditional Sephardi Henna Party!

As Jacques is French we toyed with the idea of getting married in France. I love the drama and history of the Palace of Versailles — you can actually get married in the Orangerie there — but in the end it proved impractical for us to tie the knot in France.

We thought about where would be good for everyone and where would they enjoy traveling to, and came up with Palm Beach… Americans love Florida, Europeans love Florida. We decided upon the beautiful Mar-a-lago Club whose stunning ballroom echoed the grandeur of Versailles which fitted right in with our wedding theme.

The Mar-a-Lago was built in the 1920s by the heiress Marjorie Merriwether Post, and combines stunning Moorish, Venetian, Spanish and Mediterranean elements, including spiral staircases and intricate stone carvings.

Liran & Etay | Desert Wedding at Mitzpe Ramon, Israel

20/08/2013 by Karen

Isn’t this photograph one of the most dramatic wedding portraits you’ve ever seen? Well if you’ve ever thought of getting married amid a breathtakingly beautiful primeval landscape ie. *the desert*, and you choose the oh so talented Dima Vazinovich as your wedding photographer, then that’s the kind of shot you’ll end up with!

Today’s gorgeous couple, Liran and Etay, chose the Beresheet hotel, a destination spa hotel in Israel’s Negev desert, as their wedding venue as they wanted somewhere where they could relax and enjoy quality time with their guests over the course of a few days, and additionally somewhere that reflected their modest and serene personalities.

WHY WE DECIDED TO HAVE OUR WEDDING IN THE DESERT
Liran, the Bride: Well before Etay popped the question we started talking about having a destination wedding and getting married somewhere abroad. The idea was that our guests wouldnÊ»t feel like theyÊ»re at a wedding but like theyÊ»re on a little holiday (weddings go so fast we wanted to enjoy time with our loved ones over the course of at least a couple of days and hang out at ease as much as possible).

Having gotten engaged and established an idea of guest count we realised that we needed to find a venue in Israel. Last year we enjoyed our stay at Beresheet Spa Hotel in Mitspe Ramon so much that we decided that this would be the best place for us: peaceful, calming, romantic and the exact sense of beauty that we were looking for.

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