All together now – say “aaaaw!” Good. Now you’re all prepared for your reaction to today’s wonderful Jewish real wedding.
Serena and Philip got chatting at a family member’s birthday party and love immediately blossomed. So much so that Serena forgot she had a taxi waiting outside (we did prepare you)!
Their beautiful Jewish wedding was a late Saturday celebration, which meant that friends and family could get the party started after the evening chuppah, while the photos were being taken, so that by the time the couple arrived, everyone was already on their feet.
Bride Serena looked absolutely breathtaking in her Ritva Westenius gown, with material from her mother’s and grandmother’s wedding dresses sewn in. Serena also honored her grandmother by wearing her brooch as a hairpiece. Philip’s late father was remembered through the use of his tallit and his wedding ring.
Three fabulous Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors helped to bring this beautiful big day together. Florist Mary Jane Vaughan created a stunning floral motif that told a story as the day progressed, the stunning spread of photographs was provided by the one and only Blake Ezra (did you catch him in our Smashing Summit?!) and Chazan Simon Cohen
treated the couple to his divine voice under the chuppah.
In fact, you can watch Simon in action in the wonderful chuppah video below, provided by Matt Camlin.
We’ll leave you in Serena’s good hands for the full story – take it away Serena!
How we met
Serena, the bride: Philip was best friends with my first cousin and even though we had been to parties and weddings together over the years, we had never met (probably because he was married at the time).
It was my cousins 50th birthday party (Philip had been separated for a year) and just I was leaving. As my taxi was outside to take me to another party, Philip came over and said ‘hello’. The rest, you might say, is history.
We stood there talking in a ‘bubble’ till the end of the party, unaware of anyone around us and the taxi sat outside waiting the whole time.
Strangely, my parents met him at Christmas lunch the year before and I my dad left saying he knew Philip and I would be together, which is ridiculous because we had never met.
