Carmel and Aviv knew that they wanted to make their wedding as personal to the two of them as they possibly could, so what could be better then doing everything (and I mean everything!) themselves? Oh yes — once these two had decided on a DIY W-day, it was full steam ahead, and then some. Get ready to admire what is probably one of the most DIY’d weddings I have ever featured on Smashing The Glass. It truly gives new meaning to the phrase, ‘labour of love’.
For 6 months, this gorgeous pair made the drive every weekend from Tel Aviv, to the groom’s family farm in Northern Israel to renovate an old greenhouse from the bone. They straightened the ground, laid a concrete dance floor, and planted literally thousands of flowers and trees. (To give you an idea, they planted about 400 sunflowers in one field alone!).
And it didn’t stop there. Once the space was ready, Carmel and Aviv made everything themselves from the decorations to the flags to the signage, not to mention hand-crafting their invitations, table numbers and place names. There was also a flower booth on the day, with live flower weaving to decorate the guests. Genius.
The most personal thing they incorporated though, was a wonderful heirloom — their chuppah canopy. It has been used in the groom’s family for two generations for every wedding in the family, and Aviv’s grandmother weaves the names of every new couple into it. How magical is that?
A immense amount of time and effort has clearly gone into this incredible wedding, so enjoy all the wonderful details and get ready for some serious pinterest-induced mania! Both the bride and the groom have written the report today, and why wouldn’t they when there was so much joint involvement with the wedding planning ? One of my favourite quotes from the groom is:
Our wedding was full of happiness and love. We guess that when people see how much love you’re putting into it, they return it with extra.”
I love that.
Their day is exquisitely photographed by the super talented Shai Franco and don’t miss the highlights film at the end by the equally accomplished Shahar Lev.
how we met
Carmel, the Bride, and Aviv, the Groom: Our paths crossed when we were both traveling in Rishikesh India. About a month later we returned to Israel and met again for our first date during the Nike night run. Exactly two years later (by accident or not?) Aviv proposed on the top of the Annapurna trek at 5416m. Carmel said yes right away (probably because of the lack of oxygen).
A much-loved family farm DIY-ed to create the perfect wedding venue
We wanted to make it as personal as possible so we chose Aviv’s family’s rose farm (his childhood home), and for the 6 months prior to our wedding, every weekend, we drove from Tel Aviv to the farm and renovated an old greenhouse from the bone. We straightened the ground, laid a concrete dance floor, and planted more than a couple thousands of flowers and trees and much more.
The space was separated into two areas — one was for the reception, dinner, and dancing, and the second was for the ceremony. The reception area was filled with decoration and flowers, with an active rose greenhouse as a background. The pathway to the ceremony passed through the active rose greenhouse creating a romantic promenade leading to a field where we planted about 400 sunflowers with the view of Mount Gilboa in the background.
bursting with colour
Lots of colours make us happy so we decided to make our wedding extra colourful — a love carnival in a green house. Our colour palette consisted of white, pink, green, yellow, orange, and blue which usually doesn’t go so well together so we used couple of shades of pink plus some red and dark blue and it worked brilliantly.
A wedding invitation designed by the groom
Our invitation was very simple and rustic, but classic. Aviv designed it himself and even drew an illustration of the greenhouse.
the dress
Carmel tried many dresses on until she found the designer Anya Fleet. The dress had a unique romantic bohemian style and it worked perfectly with her head piece.
accessories
Carmel wore a handmade hair piece from Tami Bar-Lev which was absolutely stunning! Her jewels were a gift for the wedding.
shoes
Aside from the dance floor, the entire event took place on the ground which made stiletto heels impossible to wear, but Carmel found a nice block heel from Aldo which gave her beauty, height and comfort for the entire day. When the main dances started Carmel changed to Greek designer sandals for maximum comfort.
The handsome groom
Aviv wore trousers from Zara and gave it to his tailor which brought it to a whole new level. He found his shirt and waistcoat at David Sassoon. The shirt he wore for dancing was made for him by his best men.
music for the ceremony
We’ve divided the processional into 2 parts:
For the bridesmaids\mates we used a happy song Flowers by the Nechama Girls which was perfect for little kids tossing flowers around.
When we walked down the aisle we went for a cover version of Edward Sharpe’s Home by Luca Fogale.
And for the song for after the smashing the glass we chose Wedding Cocec by Sloodan Salijevic, a very happy Balkan wedding song.
chuppah design
The most personal thing we had was the chuppah cloth. It’s been used by Aviv’s family for two generations now, and in every wedding in the family. Aviv’s grandmother wove the names of the new couple into it.
favourite part of the ceremony
Carmel’s vows were extremely touching and you can see that a lot of the guests shed a tear as she spoke.
flowers
We used a mixture of flowers and colours that matched our colour palette and our designer Zemel Design did a perfect job.
He also did a flower booth for us, making live flower weaving to decorate the guests.
three different photographers!
We had two different photographers and a filmographer and we recommend them all very much!
Still photography — Shai Franco is an artist who captures every special moment.
Film — Shahar Lev is full of heart (Lev in Hebrew stands for Heart) and she uses it in its entirety when she takes video and when she is editing.
Instant photos — Ravid Shochat‘s instant photos made for some very interesting shots that the guests absolutely adored.
lots of cake!
We had seven types of cakes and desserts that our caterers Eti & Naama made for us — Yummy.
our wedding in a nutshell
Our wedding was perfect for us! We made everything, but a lot of our friends and family helped too. This wedding was built with 500 fingers which got everybody involved and so everyone was so into it! The ceremony was touching, the food was amazing, the performances were awesome and original and the dances were high energy.
advice to other brides and grooms
We know it easy to say and hard to do, but try to enjoy the process. Weddings bring out a lot of emotion from the couple and from their families and you need to remember that everything comes from love, and from trying to make it the best event possible.
Also surround yourself only with people you love (guests and suppliers) it will make your day even better.
https://vimeo.com/132638216
Carmel & Aviv’s little white book
Photography — Shai Franco
Videography — Shahar Lev
Instant photography — Ravid Shochat
Planning & Design — Zemel Design
Caterers — Eti & Naama
Venue — The groom’s family home
Dress — Anya Fleet
Hair piece — Tami Bar-Lev
Shoes — Aldo
Groom’s attire — Zara and David Sassoon
Hair + make up — Omer Asaf
DJ — Ilan Henig
