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An Alon Livne Bride for an Elegant Dinner-Meets-Music Festival Jewish Wedding at the David Citadel Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel

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We always love seeing how Jewish wedding pros plan their own big days – and the wedding of Tel Aviv-based event planner Steve Bar, who has a production company focused on weddings, bar\bat mitzvahs, and corporate events, and bride Sapir, who works in real estate, does not disappoint.

Together, Steve and Sapir planned a breathtaking affair they conceptualized as elegant traditional dinner-meet- music festival, reflecting their shared connection to Judaism and love of music, as well as the bride’s childhood in Europe, which inspired some of the more formal touches, like crystal chandeliers and over 1000 (!) candles.

Oh, and did we mention their chuppah overlooked the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem? Photographers Yaniv Cohen of Dynamica Studio and Shay Ohayon photographed the day so beautifully, and videographer Ronen Abayev created the couple’s fab trailer.

We’re also totally obsessed with Sapir’s TWO gorgeous gowns from beloved Israeli designer Alon Livne. For the chuppah, she opted for a traditionally romantic number heavy on the lace and tulle – and topped with a 5-meter long veil! Then, for the reception, she changed into a sleek, contemporary strapless number, which she reports as perfect for dancing. We’ll let her fill you in on the rest…

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A Jerusalem Wedding 

We chose to get married in Jerusalem at the David Citadel Hotel. We picked this location because of several reasons. First, we had our first date in Jerusalem at the restaurant of the Mamilla hotel which is right around the corner.

Second, we are very connected to the Jewish religion and having our chuppah in front of the walls of Jerusalem was magical.

Third, most of our guests and family are from Tel Aviv + the surrounding areas and abroad.  Since most of our guests never been to a wedding in Jerusalem, we chose to do something different and create a whole experience for them, starting with a beautiful wedding on Thursday evening and ending in a Jerusalem weekend with our friends and family.

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How to Create a Memorable Experience for Your Guests {Facebook Live Recap with Michelle Jacobs}

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I’m so excited to share with you my latest Facebook Live with the incredible luxury wedding planner Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J. Based in London with a focus on destination weddings and wedding weekends, Michelle is truly one of the best when it comes to working with Jewish and Jew-ish couples to craft standout wedding experiences (and is a favourite among STG brides!), and I was lucky to be able to chat with her at The Wedding Gallery in Central London about ways to make your wedding pop while at the same time keeping everything accessible for guests.

Michelle is just so full of wedding wisdom, and if you’re working to create a one-of-a-kind, ultra-memorable day everyone will enjoy (and honestly, who isn’t?), this Live is 100% worth your time. Starting with the premise that happy guests are what make or break a wedding’s atmosphere, Michelle’s got tips that apply to weddings of any budget and style.

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Chloe and Danny‘s Tuscan Jewish wedding, planned by Michelle! Photo by David Bastianoni

Focus on Guest Experience

We started off by chatting about how you can make sure your guests have a fantastic experience at your wedding from start to finish. This starts from the moment you send out those invites: pumping your guests up for your big day is step 1 to creating a killer atmosphere on the day. 

How to do it? First off, if you’re getting married somewhere far off or out of the way, make sure they know how to get there and what kind of arrangements you’ve made to help get them home (or back to their hotels) at the end of the night.

Second, if you have guests who may not have attended a Jewish wedding before, make sure to keep things accessible for them. Creating a wedding program outlining and explaining the elements of the ceremony is a wonderful way to do this. It’s also thoughtful to let guests know in advance about anything that might catch them off guard, like if they’ll be asked to wear kipper, or if you’ll be having separate dancing or separate seating for the ceremony.

Another type of guest who might need some special looking after? Anyone attending alone who doesn’t know any of the other guests. One idea is to assign a group of people to take care of your solo guests on the day (and seat them all together); another is to start a Facebook group for your guests in advance of the big day so they can get to know each other a bit beforehand!

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An Enzoani Bride for an Elegant Jewish Wedding in White at Farmington Hills Manor, Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA

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It’s always a special day when we get to feature the Jewish wedding of one of our beloved STG Brides Club members, and we’re especially psyched to see the beautiful day Nargiz, an attorney, practicing criminal defense and real estate/business litigation, and Ryan, a mechanical engineer pulled off.

Nargiz did such a beautiful job chronicling her efforts to include her late mother in the celebration so movingly (which she wrote about in this moving blog post for STG) – not to mention the couple’s work to craft a day that reflected both the bride’s Azerbaijani Jewish background and the groom’s Ashkenazi American one.

She and Ryan also happen to have put together an absolutely gorgeous wedding. With an all-white theme – how elegant is that chuppah?! – and a glam mermaid gown by Enzoani, this pair’s aesthetic was on point, as captured exquisitely by photographer Visi Productions and videographer was Blue Racer Productions.

Getting married without a beloved parent is always a bittersweet experience, and we’re so moved by some of the special touches Nargiz worked in as remembrances of her mother, from attaching a picture of her mom to her bouquet to making a contribution in lieu of favors to the American Cancer Society and Mazon.

And we love how Nargiz brought her heritage into the day with Azerbaijani food (plus bottles of vodka on all the tables!) and Russian singers performing traditional Kavkazi songs.

As a member of STG’s Brides Club, Nargiz loved trading stories and advice with Jewish and Jew-ish brides from all over the world. If you want to join the Club too (we’re currently particularly supporting brides-to-be whose wedding plans are affected by the pandemic) click here.

We’ll let Nargiz – who blogged her wedding planning journey on STG – tell her story from here…

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How me Met

Nargiz, the bride: We met through mutual friends 6.5 years ago.

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An Eve of Milady Bride for a Magical Jewish Wedding with a Floating Cake at Temple Beth El, Cedarhurst, NY

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We throw the word “magical” around a lot when talking about the beautiful Jewish wedding we’re privileged to feature… but this one brings it to another level! You see, the groom, Eric Wilzig, is a professional magician and illusionist, and the big day took its cues from his background – with some fun inspired by Eliana’s career as a gymnast, gymnastics coach, and manager at a gymnastics gym.

The couple’s “floating” chuppah (thanks to lucite columns) is pretty cool, but there’s no question that the piece de resistance was the couple’s wedding cake, which was actually levitating – no strings or wires involved.

Not many bakers could pull off a cake like this, but luckily Eric and Eliana found the dream team at Peboryon, lead by Christine and and Phil Jenson, and they worked out a design that would allow the top tier of the cake to float and spin. The couple were so taken with their concept and craftsmanship they ended up flying the Peboryon team out to New York from the UK to make it happen… and 228 (no, that’s not a typo) hours of work later, they did! Don’t miss the incredible pics from White Light Photo!

There were plenty of other magical touches to this one-of-a-kind wedding, but we’ll let Eliana, who looked ravishing in Eve of Milady, tell you about all of that…

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How we met

Eliana, the bride: We met through a mutual friend in NYC. A few minutes after Eric met Eliana, he did a magic trick to get her phone number…true story!

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An Allison Webb Bride for an Industrial Rustic Jewish Wedding at The Venue, Asheville, North Carolina

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We are obsessed with the industrial-meets-rustic vibe of today’s beautiful Jewish wedding! Taryn, a software consultant, and Josh, a software engineer, combined their love of the city life – they reside in the DC metro area – with a passion for the mountains of western North Carolina, and their big day was a pitch perfect reflection of that.

The Venue in Asheville, North Carolina, was the perfect spot, with its mix of chandeliers and exposed brick walls, and we love the way Taryn and Josh added soft romantic touches with candlelight and the loveliest floral chuppah. Don’t miss the wonderful photography and videography from Beautiful Life Films! 

And how beautiful is the couple’s beautiful ketubah, by the amazing Rachelle of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush? The design – featuring a gold star of David intertwined with the seven species of Israel – is just so lovely, and we’re not at all surprised to hear that Taryn and Josh adored working with Rachelle!

We’ll let Taryn, who looked totally fab in Allison Webb, fill you in on the rest…

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How We Met

Taryn, the bride: We met online through Jswipe. After many unsuccessful online dating attempts, I was fed up with the online platform and was not too excited for another date. Josh and I had our first meeting at a coffee shop in downtown DC called SlipStream. I called my Mom on my walk from work to the coffee shop and she gave me some encouraging motherly advice, which I am forever grateful for.

I fell in love on that date and the rest is history. Since it was only a coffee date, both of us had made plans for later in the evening. Both of us were over an hour late for our other plans because we could not stop talking and laughing. Josh is truly the most incredible human I have met, and I am so lucky to be married to him. We love each other more every day and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together side by side. I wish we could live to be 500 years old, just so that I would have more time with him.  

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