Romance, art, al fresco disco — and a party that ends up in the infinity pool – today we’re off to one of our eternal favourite Jewish wedding destinations, the Amalfi Coast.
I have a lot of a soft spot for this dreamy coastline (yes, I honeymooned there!) and quite frankly it just keeps on giving and giving.
Lea and Douglas chose the refined, polished, ancient town of Ravello for their day, sitting high in the hills above the dizzying landscape of Amalfi. Stunning, stunning, stunning!
It was so beautiful they rustled up a famous contemporary artist and relative — Jonas Wood — to capture this magical setting and help them create the most impressive and frame worthy invite (and order of service) ever!
An artistic vein ran throughout this Ravello wedding, with a nod to France — where they met — and a rousing chorus of Empire State of Mind for Big Apple born Douglas.
Even though they planned the wedding from afar, amazingly, Lea and Douglas didn’t use a wedding planner, they simply brought their own exquisite taste and personal touches to make the day unique.
I love that they struck such a fine balance between the natural — check out the gorgeous chuppah of green and white flowers — and the ultra glam – those Valentino powder pink heels and that silhouette enhancing, hand stitched, sequinned, wedding gown for a start. Pure Costiera Chic!
Gianni di Natale sums up the day beautifully in these glorious, awe inspiring shots, together with his exquisite wedding film at the end of the post.
A luxury hotel venue that was once an 11th century palace, overlooking the Amalfi Coast
Lea, the Bride: We got married at the Belmond Hotel Caruso in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast for the wonderful scenery (the deep blue sea, the mountains) and the beauty of the village. Ravello is a romantic and very special poetic place. It is also still very authentic by its people (even with the numerous weddings celebrated there all year round) and the food is delicious.
wedding stationery
Our invitations were specially designed by a very talented contemporary artist, Jonas Wood, a family member who made us the greatest gift by depicting a view of Ravello and authorised us to use it as our wedding invitations.
A custom made dress
My dress was designed by Zuhair Murad in Paris. For me, it was the ideal dress as soon as I tried the prototype on. It was completely hand made and customised for me. I admire the hours of work put into it.
Swarovski wedding heels by Valentino
My shoes were Valentino‘s powdery pink in satin with Swarovski smokey quartz, high heels sandals. I bought some heel stoppers as the wedding took place in a garden.
hair + make up
My hair was styled by Andrea from Amalfi. I wanted to look as natural as possible to my everyday hair and used very natural make up by Bobbi Brown.
The handsome groom
Douglas had his tuxedo made by his Parisian tailor, Samson. He wore his grandfather’s talit under the chuppah, but what made me swoon were his eyes and smile when I arrived down the aisle….
five colourful bridesmaids
I had five bridesmaids who wore fantastic colourful dresses. They all chose something different as they are all beautiful but I did not want to impose anything on them — I wanted to let them express themselves. I knew they had very good taste and that one model could not suit all of them. I only asked that they didn’t wear black or white. The dress code was ‘costiera chic’ for all the ladies!
Live music and poetry by Shakespeare for the wedding ceremony
We had an orchestra of seven musicians performing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto as I walked down the aisle, and my best friend Fiona read a poem by Shakespeare about love.
chuppah design
We worked with the best florist Armando Malafronte who understood my wish to have a very natural organic chuppah, only green and white flowers as if they were part of the wonderful gardens of the Caruso. He also understood my special request to have some hanging flowers inside the chuppah floating in the air from the top of the chuppah.
Armando also created the most beautiful centrepieces all made out of pale pink nude and white roses, and a fabulous pink antique rose bouquet for me
our incredible photographer and videographer
Gianni di Natale did an amazing job. His team were very professional and worked incredibly hard to catch every special moment. His work is both creative and modern, and he convinced us to do a HD video that we didn’t think we would go for at the beginning, but in fact, it was fantastic, and of very high quality. Plus we loved the fact that the video makers were extremely discreet.
a traditional ricotta and pear wedding cake
For our wedding cake, we chose a traditional local ricotta and pear cake. I decided to go all the way and make it hearted shaped! We also surrounded it with lots and lots of fresh pink rose petals.
entertainment
We had some wonderful live jazz music for the cocktail hour… New orleans style! Then later on we arrived to the reception to Empire State of Mind byJay-Z & Alicia Keys, as Douglas comes from New York.
We had our first dance to The Best Is Yet To Come by Frank Sinatra, as Douglas is a professional Lindy Hop dancer and taught me how to dance.
We had a DJ come from Paris who played great music with a live sax player on the electro music.
fireworks after dinner
And we also enjoyed some amazing fireworks after dinner!
artistic touches
The table names were named after our favourite artists (we meet at the Gala of the Beaux-Arts in Paris and are both art collectors) and all the table cards were hand-calligraphed in Paris.
An after party in the infinity pool
All the guests dived in the infinity swimming pool after the party!
advice to other brides and grooms
We really enjoyed and took advantage of that day but it goes too fast, so enjoy every moment! Don’t stress too much as everything will be fine in the end.
Lea & Douglas’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography _ videography — Gianni di Natale
Venue — Belmond Hotel Caruso
Bride’s dress — Zuhair Murad
Bride’s shoes — Valentino
Florist — Armando Malafronte
Invitation art — Jonas Wood
What an amazing wedding! Love the photos from this, and that location is gorgeous. Beautiful couple as well.
wow gorgeous wedding! love that dress.
What a dreamy wedding! I absolutely love the dress too
awesome wedding, nice couple, amazing photography. thanks for sharing.