Lindsay, a member of Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club, will be marrying Dan on 25th August 2019 at Kochav Hayam in Caesarea, Israel. Click here to read all Lindsay’s planning posts to date.
THREE FACTS: (1) Lindsay and Dan were set up by Lindsay’s cousin! (2) They are planning an English-style destination wedding with a few modern twists in Caesarea, Israel. (3) Even though they are both Jewish, Lindsay is more interested in the religious element of the day than Dan, so they are working to balance tradition with their personal style – our favorite!
A week in Israel
What a week we had in Israel! Dan and I boarded the plane with mixed feelings of excitement (hooray, we’re going to plan our wedding) and extreme nervousness (we’re going to plan our wedding in one week with both sets of fairly opinionated parents who haven’t met any of the suppliers that we have already chosen!)
Vicki, our wedding planner, had prepared a thorough itinerary for us, with everything from food tastings and meetings with the band to spray tans and nail appointments – you really can’t leave anything to chance when it comes to your wedding day!
We arrived to the most miserable weather I’ve ever seen in Israel. It was freezing and pouring with rain – not exactly what I had in mind. Thank goodness I had checked the forecast before we left and went emergency shopping so I was able to channel my ‘wedding planning in the rain chic.’
Meeting with the photographer
Our first port of call was meeting with our photographer, Idan Canfi. The six of us ascended on his studio – poor guy – and he had a million questions thrown at him from all directions. As English people, we are obsessed by details, but this is absolutely not how Israelis work. However, Idan dealt with our severe desire for detail expertly.
At one point my mum even decided it was important for him to be shown how we hug. I can assure you we don’t hug in any particularly different way to normal huggers, but for some reason at that moment it was integral that he understood exactly what he needs to capture on 25th August.
Of course he did, and he completely allowed us to be as anal as we needed to be. We all left this meeting feeling super confident in the guy who will be responsible for capturing all the memories of our big day.
At the Western Wall
The next day we took a day trip to Jerusalem. We spent the morning at the Western Wall, where the two fathers gave each of us a blessing. It was very emotional knowing that in about 6 months time, my father will be giving me the same blessing before I step under the chuppah.
We are a family known for tears, so obviously there were plenty at this moment: a quick insight for Dan’s parents for the big day – they had never witnessed this first hand before. You would have thought someone had died with the rate we were going!
My hair trial
On the way back from Jerusalem I went for my hair trial with Hana, from Hana’s Hair Designs. Now this was one of the meetings I was most looking forward to – an hour and a half of someone playing with your hair? What’s not to love!! And she absolutely did play with my hair. She tested different partings, different sides, buns, pony-tails, extensions, the lot, and the whole time having a good old chat about Jewish geography – who knows who etc.
It turns out that she’s related to my cousin’s wife and that my wedding makeup artist did her makeup for her wedding a few years back. I was adamant that I would have an English person for my hair, and meeting with Hana totally proved I was right. As many of you may or may not know, you try so many styles at a hair trial, so you don’t come out looking perfect.
Dan was gobsmacked that he had spent nearly two hours watching Israeli soaps (when he doesn’t speak a word of Hebrew) waiting for me just to see me come out looking exactly the same as I had when I went in!
Food tasting at our venue
The next day was spent in Caesarea at the venue, Cochav Hayam. This was the day I was probably most nervous for. It was the first time we had been back to the venue having only seen it once before booking it, and it was the very first time my parents had seen it at all (Dan’s parents had been at the end of the summer last year).
However, I had nothing to worry about. After we had all looked around, we went in to do the food tasting. It did not disappoint. This was, maybe, the best thing about getting married in Israel so far. The food was, unsurprisingly, fantastic, and almost never-ending! This was one thing there were no disagreements on. Both fathers were maybe the happiest I’ve ever seen them. I’m delighted I was able to try everything because so many people have told me that on the actual wedding day, I won’t even have chance to eat – even if my dress allowed me to!
When we arrived at the venue, they were in the middle of setting it up for an event later that evening, and it looked a bit of a mess. But when we left the food tasting, we came out and the room had been transformed. It looked amazing! I know it will look so beautiful especially when the sun is shining and the 40 degree heat is making everything sparkle – including me!
Music, the most important thing
Whilst we were there we also met with band, Legend from Caliente and our chuppah singers, Portnoy Brothers. Music is THE most important thing to Dan. He claims it’s the only thing he really cares about, but his opinions on everything else make this hard to believe. He barely wanted me to go to either of these meetings, never mind anyone else.
Anyway, as the bride (!!) I insisted, and eventually groomzilla gave in. We instantly clicked with both and they are even willing to test out a few of Dan’s ideas (believe me, he had loads). Again, we’re both so confident with our decision of choosing them to be the soundtrack to our day.
This post is already too long and I haven’t even started on meeting the rabbi, designers and dealing with all the bureaucracy of getting married in Israel, so more on that next time!
Click here to read all Lindsay’s planning posts to date.
Lindsay & Dan’s Wedding Vendors booked so far:
Photography – Idan Canfi
Chuppah music – Portnoy Brothers {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Wedding planner – Victoria Rosen
Venue – Kochav Hayam
Band – Legend from Caliente
Bride’s dress – found and fitted at Angelica Bridal
Stationery – Creative Design by J9
Hair – Hana’s Hair Designs
