Like so many 2020 couples, London couple Anna, a paralegal, and Simon, an English teacher, had to rethink their Jewish wedding plans when the pandemic hit. The pair had originally planned a 300-guest destination wedding in Israel for May 2020, but given the uncertainty of the situation they opted to shift things closer to home with an intimate synagogue wedding in London in September 2020, with a bigger celebration in Israel to follow when possible.
Anna and Simon chose Norrice Lea Synagogue as their new venue, and they were able to hold the wedding in two separate shifts – one for the chuppah and lunch afterward, attended by 30 members of the couple’s immediate families – and a second dinner shift just for 30 close friends who hadn’t attended the first half of the day.
As always, we’re absolutely in love with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel’s dreamy photos of the day – and we’re totally unsurprised to hear that the couple found Claudine an absolute joy to work with on the big day.
We’ll let Anna take it from here…
How we Met
Anna, the bride and Simon, the groom: We were introduced by a mutual friend of our parents; she told us very little about each other. We added each other on Facebook and messaged briefly before going on a ‘blind date’. Things flourished from there – it was an old fashioned introduction.