Rebecca will be marrying David on 7th October 2018 at a secret location in Israel! Click here to read all Rebecca’s planning posts to date.
THREE FACTS: (1) Rebecca and David met on JSwipe (so old school we know 😉 ) (2) They are having a destination wedding in Israel at a secret location! (3) They are getting married on Rebecca’s grandparents wedding anniversary (who have been married for 64 years). We LOVE that!
The past few weeks have been EXTREMELY busy in the Hirst-Sudwarts households! Not only have we managed to host two engagement parties, we attended two weddings (one in Israel and one in Marbella!), I flew out to Hong Kong and Turkey for work, started renovating the flat and we just about managed to squeeze in another trip to Israel to finish planning our wedding!
Looking at it all listed I can’t quite believe what we have achieved in six weeks since I last wrote my first post! They say this is the happiest time of your life, I personally feel like I haven’t had time to breathe! But I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Image by Jack Bates Photography from Dawn and Harley‘s wedding
Two Engagement Parties
Since I am from Leeds originally, we wanted to be able to hold two engagement parities — one for our London family and friends, and one for our Leeds lot! This of course meant two dresses which I was obviously delighted about!
Our London engagement was a traditional vort ceremony ( ‘vort’ is Yiddish for ‘word’ as at the vort, the couple traditionally give their “word” and formally commit to marry.).
It was really lovely, around 350 people dropped in throughout the evening – it was so special they all came for us. Both my mum and David’s mum smashed a plate which then meant we were officially engaged! (I already thought I was — but I just went with it!).
Our second engagement party back in Leeds we chose to hold it at my grandpa’s Care Home called Donisthrope Hall so that he could attend easily. You can imagine this was extremely special and emotional that we were able to share this special day with him. He even brought some of his pals as well – it was such a lovely atmosphere all being together and all different generations under one roof.
Image by Grace Pham Photography from Lauren and Phil’s wedding (soon on STG)
Creating our new home, as well as planning our wedding!
Since David and I both come from traditional backgrounds we both chose to not live with each other before we get married. This of course can sound like madness to some people but to us it just builds up the excitement more to the wedding.
We are so excited to live with each other after the wedding and gives us something to look forward to after all the celebrations are over! I will be moving into David’s flat in October and in the meantime we have been making some home improvements to make room for me! (mainly in the wardrobe department, being in fashion you can imagine what my wardrobe is like!).
At the moment our weekends have consisted more of visiting B&Q and Homebase and stripping the wallpaper in the flat then of us sunbathing and enjoying the ridiculously hot weather. You can see we like to do everything at once — planning a wedding wasn’t enough for us!
Image by Flea Studio from Carmel and Etai‘s wedding
Our Vendors in Israel…
So, I am sure you are all thinking ‘what’s going on with the wedding? It’s in three months?! How are you so calm?!’ but in all honesty I have a secret. We have the world’s best wedding planner Debbie Nussbaum who has been exceptional so far and the whole wedding is totally under control because of her experience — we really couldn’t have done it without her.
I would highly recommend her to anyone who is wanting to plan a wedding in Israel, but is based in the UK. We had arranged a second trip to Israel at the beginning of June and Debbie had communicated and set up all the appointments with the vendors. What is so great about Debbie is she listens to you and only shows you what will fit your taste — meaning you are extremely focused on your planning trips and don’t waste any time. We had only four days on this trip and in this time we needed to finalise the wedding:
I had my makeup trial done and confirmed makeup artist Neta Sharoni who was great. I also did my hair trial and have confirmed Yonatan Yaeish. Hair and makeup now ✔ off!
Image by Babb Photo from Clelia & George’s wedding
We also met with three florists who listened to our vision and are now designing the layout and will come back to us with their ideas/quotes. All of which were perfectly capable of creating our vision for the wedding, so we know we are in good hands! Design — ✔ !
We met with the band again to go through the running order and music choices — another ✔ !
We then had the food tasting, something we had all been told was the best experience of planning a wedding. In preparation we didn’t eat anything for the day leading up to it — and I am glad we didn’t. WOW the venue didn’t disappoint and I am even more excited for the wedding now knowing the food will be so delicious.
Image by HannaMonika Wedding Photography from Katie and Aaron‘s wedding
…And Back Home
Back home we have been finalising bridesmaid dresses, mother of the bride dress, and my grandma’s dress too! David has been sorting out the men’s suits and I have been on the hunt for my wedding shoes — nothing to report there yet.
We have chosen our Rabbi — Rabbi Angyalfi from Leeds who I and my family have grown up with and who also married my parents. We are all feeling fairly calm so far and have made some good progress, invitations are being designed as we speak and then we will be on to the final touches — kippahs, benches etc.
Now all we have to do is enjoy the summer then roll on October until the big day!
Image by Ryan Graham Photography from Dani and Codey‘s wedding
Click here to read all Rebecca’s planning posts to date.
Rebecca & David’s Wedding Vendors booked so far:
Photography – Ran Bergman
Bride’s dress – Mirror Mirror
Wedding planner – Debbie Nussbaum
Makeup – Neta Sharoni
Hair – Yonatan Yaeish
