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An Ultra-Personal Chanukah Jewish Wedding Micklefield Hall, Hertfordshire, UK

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Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom

We love a Chanukah wedding, and Ella and Aaron’s is one of the best we’ve seen! Their vision for their winter Jewish wedding was “twinkly winter wonderland with lots of doughnuts, latkes and joy,” and they worked with the most talented team – including a number of beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors – to bring it to life.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Uptown Events planned the day to perfection, recommending vendors – including the couple’s stunning venue, Micklefield Hall, after their original location fell through – and making sure everything ran smoothly on the day. They also guided Ella and Aaron to choose a DJ Live act when it came to entertainment – and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Twentysomethings ended up being “such a hit that they’ve since become the unofficial band for our whole group, with two other couples booking them since!”

Ella and Aaron made all the stationery themselves (with their small business It IS Personal) – including the most adorable dreidel-shaped reserved seating signs and matchbox place cards in honor of Chanukah. Also perfectly on theme? The duo’s wedding menu, which included latkes, a full salt beef bar, and savoury pulled beef doughnuts (in addition to the sweet kind). Don’t miss all the fabulous details in the exquisite photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel, who captured all the emotion and joy of the day so beautifully.

Another Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, Carmel Designs, painted the couple’s wonderful custom ketubah, merging their vision for a design in keeping with their rustic wedding vibes, incorporating the Tree of Life and reflecting Ella and Aaron’s love of animals.

Read on for the full story in Ella’s own words…

 

Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom

How We Met

Ella, the bride: We met the way so many modern couples do these days – on good old Hinge! We first met in June 2022, when Aaron was finishing his teacher training year, and Ella was working at her local synagogue. Aaron is now Pastoral and Wellbeing Manager at his old Jewish secondary school, and Ella works as Children and Family Educator at the synagogue we’ve joined together, while training to be a therapist. Our professions are an example of how well our values align – something we were both aware of when we met, and is one of the many reasons we instantly clicked and fell for each other so quickly! Not even a month into dating, we’d booked our first holiday to Israel together for Chanukah that year.

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A Disney Fairy Tale Weddings Bride for a Spring Jewish Wedding in Lilac and Sky Blue with Lots of Love for Israel at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, London, UK

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Shera & Jared, Sheraton Grand Hotel, London, UK

Between the horrific terrorist attack in Manchester on Yom Kippur and the second anniversary of October 7 coming up tomorrow – even as we enter into the joyous festival of Sukkot – this is shaping up to be a hard week. Like so many times throughout our history, we’re required to take on the difficult task of holding sadness and joy all at once. And today we’ve got a beautiful Jewish wedding that encapsulates exactly that balancing act.

Though the UK-based couple wed at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Park Lane, London, Israel is always close to Shera and Jared’s hearts, and their love for the country was a key theme running throughout the big day – from a tallit purchased by the bride’s parents on a trip to Israel just days prior to October 7 to Israeli flags on the dance floor to a moving Misheberach for the IDF under the chuppah and a heartfelt tribute to the groom’s late friend Jake Marlow, who was murdered at the Nova Festival.

We’re obsessed with all of the love and emotion that come through in every shot from the couple’s photographer, Devon Shoob, and every frame from their videographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Michael Pearl. His trailer is truly something special – do give it a watch!

We’ll let Shera fill you in on the rest of the details…

Shera & Jared, Sheraton Grand Hotel, London, UK Shera & Jared, Sheraton Grand Hotel, London, UK Shera & Jared, Sheraton Grand Hotel, London, UK Shera & Jared, Sheraton Grand Hotel, London, UK

How We Met

Shera, the bride: Our story started over 10 years ago where we both had met at our Jewish youth movement, Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade (JLGB).

Having known each other for a couple of years, it wasn’t until we were both older where, like many young Jews today, we matched on JSwipe. At the time, our connection was nothing more than just a couple of messages to each other with a waiting response time of about 3-5 working days!

A few months went by and to our surprise, we were both interrailing across Europe at the same time. The waiting response time had decreased to 5 minutes where we were both non-stop messaging trying to coordinate how our paths would cross.

It wasn’t until we had both returned and reunited back at JLGB Summer Camp that year, where we both had that funny feeling you get in your belly and it definitely wasn’t from the camp food. Our feelings became clear about one another and at that point, we knew it was something more than a friendship. 7 years later, Jared got down on one knee in Thailand and now after 8 years together, in May 2025, we became Mr and Mrs Bourne.

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