• About
  • Find a Vendor
  • Submit
  • Advertise
  • Brides Club
  • Your Jewish Life
  • Contact

Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

  • Real Jewish Weddings
    • City Chic
    • Fashion Forward
    • Outdoor
    • Destination
      • Israel
      • Italy
      • Spain
      • France
      • Beach Weddings
    • Super Luxe
    • Budget
    • DIY
    • Same Sex
    • Covid Weddings
  • Jew-ish Weddings
    • Real Jew-ish Weddings
    • Jewish-Catholic Weddings
    • Jewish-Chinese Weddings
    • Jewish-Christian Weddings
    • Jewish-Greek Weddings
    • Jewish-Hindu Weddings
    • Jewish-Humanist Weddings
    • Jewish-Irish Weddings
    • Jewish Japanese Weddings
    • Jewish-Muslim Weddings
    • Same Sex Jew-ish Weddings
  • Inspiration + Guidance
    • Engaged? Start Here
    • Ceremony
      • Chuppah ideas
      • Jewish ceremony music
      • Jewish wedding ceremony 101
      • Jewish ceremony traditions
      • Ketubah Ideas
      • Jewish wedding legalities
      • Jew-ish ceremony ideas
    • Reception
      • Music
      • Speeches
      • Entertainment
      • Venues
    • Food & Drink
      • Kosher catering
      • Wedding cakes
      • Drinks
    • Decor
      • Decorations
      • Favours
      • Floristry
      • Guestbooks
      • Stationery
    • Style
      • Brides dresses
      • Shoes & accessories
      • Grooms
      • Bridesmaids
    • Advice
      • Converting to Judaism
      • Real blogging brides
      • Dear Karen…
    • Honeymoons
    • STG Live
    • Five Minutes With
    • Wedding Must-Haves
    • Wedding Consultancy
  • Jewish Brides Club
  • Find a Wedding Vendor
Home > Deborah & Alex | Secret Garden Jewish Wedding at Baya’ar, Israel

Deborah & Alex | Secret Garden Jewish Wedding at Baya’ar, Israel

04/08/2013 by Karen

ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 130
I love this wedding. Fact.

Deborah and Alex got married in a truly spectacular venue in Israel. It’s a colourful garden wedding with some incredible creative details and beautiful outdoor ceremony. I have to admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for Israeli weddings. I’m not sure whether it’s their raw edged beauty, the party-loving Israeli energy, the outdoor vibe or the amazing scenery. Whatever the ‘x-factor’ may be, I’m so thrilled to be sharing this special wedding with you today.

Deborah and Alex first met aged 6 at a mutual friends birthday party and despite going to the same school, and both spending their gap years in Australia and New Zealand, they only met properly at Leeds University after being introduced by a good friend of both of theirs.

I’ll now hand over to the lovely Deborah for the tale of their wedding.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 1
THE VENUE AND ‘SECRET GARDEN’ THEME
Deborah, The Bride: As a proud Zionist it was always my dream to marry in Israel. I wanted to ditch the formality of hotels and find something unique and personal. On one of our visits to Israel Alex and I visited a variety of venues in and around the Tel Aviv area. We had originally wanted a venue by the sea but there was none that were large enough. However when we saw Baya’ar (meaning the forest) we fell totally in love with it. It looked like a villa set within beautiful gardens and was both natural and spectacular.. The beautiful link between the modern interior and scenery outside was perfect. Lush, green, intimate and yet modern and elegant.

Inspired by our venue, the theme of the wedding became ‘the secret garden’. The colour scheme was multi-coloured (the bolder and brighter the better!) with yellow as the dominant colour. I wanted it to feel summery and vibrant.

As we were getting married abroad, we created a wedding website full of information about the various events and holiday tips for where to eat, go out and party in Israel.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 152
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 4
INVITATION DESIGN
I designed the invitation myself as I couldn’t find anything I liked. The white card I was so frequently shown I found boring. Instead I designed the invitation to reflect the venue and theme with summery yellows and greens and an illustration of a tree engraved with our initials. It was modern and informal and despite the design process becoming quite stressful we were thrilled with the results (plus it was a fraction of the cost).


ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 157
A ‘BOHO’ DRESS AND SPARKLY SHOES
Knowing that it would be very hot, and that we wanted to have a laid back, informal dress code I wanted to go for the boho look. My style is not formal or structured – I’m more of a jeans and converse girl – so I to opted for plaited Grecian hair and a floaty chiffon dress from Jenny Packham. I wore Jimmy Choo sparkly silver shoes which I adored. I wish I could wear my dress again!
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 156 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 119 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 118
A SPIRITUAL AND VERY PERSONAL CEREMONY
I think out of everything the most memorable moment of the day was when I saw Alex walking towards me in the badeken room. I had missed him so much and we both got emotional when we saw each other. I will never forget it.

We walked in to the Shwekey version of Eshet Chayil. It was sung by our friend Stephen Levy who has a stunning voice and sings with the Shabbaton Choir. He helped make the ceremony very moving and special.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 2
The aisle was lined with lanterns and scattered with rose petals. The kippot were bright yellow and the women had (much needed) wooden fans to await them on their chairs. We stood under the chuppah facing our guests and I think that made us feel very connected to them. Our rabbi and friend Naftali Brawer married us. He spoke so beautifully and made the whole ceremony so special, spiritual and memorable.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 3
With our chuppah design I wanted to echo the setting by creating a very earthy, natural chuppah, made from tree branches, adorned with colourful flowers. My husband wanted a simple white chuppah. I got my way but allowed a few white flowers to sneak in amongst the brightly coloured ones! A colourful tallit hung above us.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 110
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 113 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 19 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 112 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 18 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 17 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 114
The intricate laser cut ketubah was ordered from Canada and took forever to get the correct wording.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 148
AN AMAZING WEDDING PLANNER
We decided to have a wedding planner as we knew it would be stressful to try to coordinate the wedding from the UK. Especially as we couldn’t speak sufficient Hebrew! We had 4 different wedding events planned for our guests and we needed help to make it run smoothly. We had known Nikki Fenton for many years and it was her warmth and energy that made Alex and I, and both sets of parents, confident that we were in safe hands. Photos of her previous weddings were all beautiful and stylish, and her past clients were full of praise. We were not disappointed. She knows her industry well and is unbelievably friendly, reliable, profession and trustworthy. She gave us the wedding we had always dreamed of.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 149
EVENT DESIGN
Natalie Mann designed the whole event including the flowers and chuppah. She totally understood my desire to be original and less ‘weddingy’ and white than most weddings.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 153 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 147
MORE CREATIVE TOUCHES FOR THE SECRET GARDEN THEME
It was the creative touches that sent me into bridal obsession! Etsy and other craft sites became my addiction.

As seating cards guests received key rings with their names engraved on pieces of wood and their table numbers on the back. To continue the secret garden idea I collected 300 keys which I put name tags on to use as place settings. It’s fair to say that transporting the keys raised eyebrows at airport security!

The table numbers were carved into bits of wood. There were yellow hearts saying D&A which hung from trees and the design on the invitation continued on the menu, speech cards and grace after meals booklets.

I ordered a huge wooden guest book where guests were asked to take a polaroid picture to stick in beside their message. There were silly dress up hats, glasses and moustaches they could use too.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 145
FOOD
I could not recommend Paul Assenheim, our caterer, any more highly. We chose him because he did a restaurant style menu (meaning guests could choose from, or have all the options on the menu) and his dishes were delicious, original and beautifully presented.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 16 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 144 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 5 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 5
DANCE, DANCE, DANCE!
Our band were Vision and they made sure the dance floor was constantly packed and the atmosphere was incredible. The last hour was a DJ and the transition was seamless. Our first dance was to Jack Johnson’s Better Together
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 143 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 142 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 141 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 140 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 139 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 138 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 137 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 136 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 135 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 134
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 7 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 133 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 132 ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 131
ADVICE TO OTHER BRIDES
Make the day reflect who you are. There are so many great places to get great inspiration, but try not to obsess over the details. On the day everything looked exactly how I wanted and hoped, but the best parts were marrying my husband, being in Israel, being surrounded by family and friends and the magical atmosphere.
ISRAELI GARDEN WEDDING 13
DEBORAH + ALEX’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Venue — Baya’ar
Wedding Planner — Nikki Fenton
Catering — Paul Assenheim
Event design — Natalie Mann
Photography — Asaf Spektor
Bride’s dress — Jenny Packham
Bride’s shoes — Jimmy Choo
Ketubah — ketubah.com

Deborah is a ‘smashing’ bride if ever I saw one! She put her own stamp on her wedding and took such joy in creating her wedding her way – even if it meant a difficult ride with airport security! What I love most about this wedding is the riot of summery colour amongst the backdrop of white – it works so well and exudes through to all the key elements. I don’t know if there was a dress code specified but even the guests outfits, smiles and energy fit in! Pure joy…

 

Share this post:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Real Jewish Weddings, Jewish Garden Weddings, Israeli Weddings Tagged With: Paul Assenheim Catering, Baya'ar wedding venue, Nikki Fenton Wedding Planning, Ketubah.com, Israel, Jenny Packham, Yellow, Purple, Jewish Wedding, Garden Wedding, Israeli Weddings, wedding

You might also like...

  • Michelle & Robin | Beach Party Jewish Wedding in Caesarea, IsraelMichelle & Robin | Beach Party Jewish Wedding in Caesarea, Israel
  • A Limor Rosen Bride for a Meaningful Family-Centered Jewish Wedding at Ba’yaar, IsraelA Limor Rosen Bride for a Meaningful Family-Centered Jewish Wedding at Ba’yaar, Israel
  • Adi & Amir | Rosh Hashana themed wedding at Sadot, near Netanya, IsraelAdi & Amir | Rosh Hashana themed wedding at Sadot, near Netanya, Israel
  • Sara & Ben | Gloriously Colourful and Creative Jewish Wedding at  Castle Green, Pasadena, California, USASara & Ben | Gloriously Colourful and Creative Jewish Wedding at Castle Green, Pasadena, California, USA
  • A Magical, Colorful Jewish Wedding with a Missing Ketubah at Bayaar, Hadera, IsraelA Magical, Colorful Jewish Wedding with a Missing Ketubah at Bayaar, Hadera, Israel
  • An Ella Levy and Shani Zimmerman Bride for a Festival Jewish Wedding at the Elma Hotel in Zichron Ya’akov, IsraelAn Ella Levy and Shani Zimmerman Bride for a Festival Jewish Wedding at the Elma Hotel in Zichron Ya’akov, Israel

About Karen

Loves great design, cityscapes, berry cocktails, and the word “yes”. Founder and editor of Smashing The Glass. Follow me @SmashingTheGlass

Comments

  1. Maya says

    30/01/2014 at 2:59 am

    Where can I find this ketubah?

    • Karen - Smashing The Glass says

      30/01/2014 at 6:28 am

      Hi Maya! I will find out from the bride and get back to you.

    • Karen says

      27/07/2015 at 10:33 am

      Hi Maya

      It’s from Ketubah.com. You can buy it here: http://www.ketubah.com/gallery/gefen-papercut-autumn-ketubah-by-ruth-stern-warzecha?amaffid=12545&amsiteid=12545

  2. Està©e Vasquez says

    16/03/2015 at 8:41 pm

    Hi! Can I ask who her makeup artist was?? Love it!

    • Karen says

      17/03/2015 at 10:55 am

      Hi Està©e I will ask the bride and get back to you, but meanwhile can I recommend Diana Frenkel – she is an AMAZING hair and make up artist working all over Israel, and an official Smashing The Glass sponsor approved by me. I shall email you her details.

  3. Maya says

    11/05/2015 at 10:26 pm

    Beautiful wedding! How many guests did you have? I am also planning a wedding from the UK and we may only have about 100 guests. Looking for a place just like this and hoping they also do smaller weddings, as I know most Israeli weddings can have 300+ people.

    • Karen says

      12/05/2015 at 10:19 am

      Hi Maya – I’m sure the answer is yes – in fact I think I have attended a wedding there myself of just 100 people.. In any case I have emailed you and CC’ed in the venue events manager, Shai, who will be able to supply you with an accurate answer. Good luck! Karen x

  4. Sephora says

    26/07/2016 at 9:44 pm

    Hi !! Could you Tell me The price of this place please ?

Jewish Weddings by Country

Vendors We Love

Weddings by Colour


Jewish Wedding Gift List


Awesome Jewish Gifts

Vendors We Love

Get posts directly into your inbox

Enter your email address below and get the latest posts delivered straight to your inbox.

Kate Spade UK Limited
Monica Vinader
Biscuiteers Baking Company
Mr And Mrs Smith Honeymoons
Liberty London

Today’s Top Posts

  • A Jewish Wedding Full of Personal Touches at Mt Princeton Hot Springs Resort, Colorado, USA
    A Jewish Wedding Full of Personal Touches at Mt Princeton Hot Springs Resort, Colorado, USA
  • A guide to the Jewish Wedding Ceremony and Order of Service under the chuppah
    A guide to the Jewish Wedding Ceremony and Order of Service under the chuppah
  • Dates in 2023, 2024 and 2025 to avoid for a Jewish wedding plus a 12 Month Wedding Planning Monthly Checklist
    Dates in 2023, 2024 and 2025 to avoid for a Jewish wedding plus a 12 Month Wedding Planning Monthly Checklist
  • Win a Once-in-a-Lifetime Romantic Getaway at the Glamorous Kimpton Fitzroy London
    Win a Once-in-a-Lifetime Romantic Getaway at the Glamorous Kimpton Fitzroy London
  • Breaking The Glass – Jewish Wedding Traditions Explained #7
    Breaking The Glass – Jewish Wedding Traditions Explained #7

Subscribe by Email

Enter your email address below and get the latest posts delivered straight to your inbox.

Connect

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Twitter
Advertise
Mailing List
Email Karen

Receive Smashing The Glass posts via Email

Enter your email address below and get the latest posts delivered straight to your inbox.

closeClick Here To Get The Ultimate Jewish Wedding Checklist

All content © Smashing The Glass 2023