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A Jewish Wedding Filled with Good Ruach, Good Vibes, and Good People at The Langham, London, UK

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Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK

We adore a London Jewish wedding – and Gabi and Harry’s at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Langham is really something special.

The bride, who works in sustainability for an insurance company, and the groom, an associate engineer, knew The Langham was the one as soon as they visited. They fell in love with not only the gorgeous ballroom but the whole vibe, which really encapsulates all the elegance and glamour of London.  

Gabi and Harry’s vision for the day was “good ruach, good vibes and being with all our favourite people,” and you can see that they absolutely pulled it off. Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel took the most beautiful photos and made Gabi and Harry feel so comfortable on the day – in Gabi’s words, “It was more like having a friend in the room taking pictures of us. She was also EVERYWHERE and captured also the right moments, but also was somehow never in the way!”

The couple’s videographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Michael Pearl Films captured all the energy of the day so perfectly – and Gabi and Harry report that nearly two years on, they still can’t get enough of their wedding video and watch it frequently!

We also love that, in addition to their general wedding gift list, the duo opted to set up a We Judaica registry with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Contemporary Judaica – such a smart idea!

Now over to Gabi…

Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK

How We Met

Gabi, the bride: Harry and I met when we were 15 years old at a Jewish Youth Group (JLGB) on a Winter Camp. We became good friends and also went on Israel Tour together when we were 16. At 17 we started dating and the rest is history! Gabi went off to uni and Harry did an apprenticeship so we navigated a long-distance relationship for a few years. In 2021, we moved in together and then engaged in 2023. We got married in 2024 and then last year (2025) we moved across the world together to Sydney.

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Venue

We got married at The Langham, London. Well for starters, if you have ever been to the Langham, it smells INCREDIBLE (which was reason enough for us to want to get married there!). Joking aside, Gabi had been there for afternoon tea previously and when she got engaged, her mum had suggested it as a possible venue – mums tend to know best with these things! We went for a visit and absolutely fell in love with the ballroom but also just the general vibe. Growing up and living in central London, it really matched exactly the feel we wanted for our wedding. It meant I could arrive in a white taxi to our wedding – very London!

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Theme

Our colour scheme was ‘cinnamon rose’ – Gabi had always wanted a pink wedding, but this colour worked for both of us. We didn’t have a planner, and absolutely loved all the DIY and planning that we had to do ourselves – it really was a nice change from our day jobs. Unlike lots of people, we desperately miss when we were wedding planning because we truly had the most fun. We loved spending evenings and weekends tying bows and testing our Canva skills. We had a day of coordinator – Dalain – who was incredible.

One thing that was special about our wedding was that we had a LOT of guests travel from overseas (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Israel and the US). We estimate over 50% of our guests had to travel and we wanted to make sure our guests knew how grateful we were. For every guests’ name place at the tables, we wrote them a personalised poem. Although this seems to have become a bit of a trend now, at the time it was truly unique and our guests loved it.

Ultimately the style/vibe for our wedding was good ruach, good vibes and being with all our favourite people. That was truly what mattered most.

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Invitation/Stationery

We used Bliss and Bone to have online invitations. For our save the dates, we designed magnets ourselves which looked like a Photobooth strip. It was super fun and we loved that our guests had us up on their fridge in the lead up to the wedding.

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Hair + Makeup

Hair: Gaby Goldring. I had seen lots of Gaby’s work at other weddings and knew I wanted her for mine. When I first enquired she wasn’t actually free, but then her plans changed – I reckon it was fate!

Makeup: Glow by Caitlin and J.Swales Makeup & Hair – Caitlin and Jess were both recommendations and they were both AMAZING. My makeup (plus my mum and bridesmaids makeup) all lasted PERFECTLY, not an eyelash out of place at the end of the night despite some very very sweaty Israeli dancing. I THINK I was the first jewish wedding they had both done, but they both nailed it. I felt amazing and it was thanks to them.

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Dress

My dress was from Digio Bridal in Singapore. My parents live in Sydney so we had tried to find a dress there initially – no luck! We then went on a family holiday to Singapore (as I made my way back to London) and thought we may as well look at dresses, just for fun. I never expected that I would find THE dress there. It was truly the only dress I put on where I felt like a bride. I knew immediately. I loved how I looked sitting down as well – knowing that would be how Harry saw me for the first time at the Bedekken. I also secretly loved knowing that it is super unlikely that anyone else (at least in the Jewish wedding world) will have the same dress as me – that felt pretty cool. The dress was so different from what I had envisaged myself in before trying on dresses, but I felt like a real life princess.

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Shoes

My shoes were from Bared. A Sydney brand known for comfy and supportive, yet glamours shoes. They absolutely fit that description.

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Bridesmaids

I had 4 amazing bridesmaids who all wore cinnamon rose coloured dresses! I ended up getting their dresses from Coast, on the Debenhams website. We had a big day trying them all on, with options from Azazie, Pretty Lavish and Asos too, but we settled on the Coast one which they all felt the best in – they all looked incredible.

Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK

Ceremony & Chuppah

Our Chuppah was super special because Harry’s cousin is Rabbi Luis Herszaft (HGSS), so we were married by family which was amazing. We are also very close with Luis and his wife Jodie, so it was so lovely to be married by someone who actually know us. Luis also surprised us by singing the Sheva Brachot under the Chuppah to the tune of some of our favourite songs. Our Chuppah was truly magical, I couldn’t have asked for it to be more perfect. We had a really emotional ceremony, but then the second the glass was smashed, it was full-fledged party. Our bridal party joined us to dance under the chuppah before we made our way back down the aisle.

Flowers by Alina helped us design our chuppah. We knew what we wanted colours wise (cinnamon rose, light pinks and white), but she was so helpful at showing us all the options. I loved how our chuppah perfectly matched our kippot.

Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK

Ketubah

Just the standard United Synagogue one, but we love it and how it has a picture of a chuppah on it. It hangs in our bedroom now and makes us smile.

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Our music choice

Our first dance was to ‘Can I have this dance’, from High School Musical 3 – a childhood dream for Gabi. At the chuppah we had the classic songs ‘Boee Beshalom’ and ‘Mehoirah’ and then ‘Eishet Chayil’, all sung by Creation. We then had Creation Events for the whole evening who were FANTASTIC – most of the comments we got after the wedding were about how amazing the band were.

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Flowers

Flowers by Alina did an amazing job. I knew I wanted the bridesmaids bouquets to be pink and white, and then mine mostly white. The button holes were all white. Down the chuppah aisle, we had plinths which we then reused for the table centres. We also reused the Chuppah flowers themselves for the to table flowers – Alina was great at telling us about some of these hacks. Some of our chuppah flowers were actually fake to try save a bit of money – but Alina did such an amazing job you would truly never know. I wanted everything to look really grand and felt that the flowers fit perfectly.

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Photographer and videographer

Photographer: Claudine Hartzel. She was INCREDIBLE. My best friend (who was also my bridesmaid) is a photographer and had recommenced Claudine and it was the best recommendation ever. Claudine made us both feel so comfortable from the moment we met. It was more like having a friend in the room taking pictures of us. She was also EVERYWHERE and captured also the right moments, but also was somehow never in the way! Truly in awe of her and we love our wedding pictures so much.

Videographer: Michael Pearl Films – who was also incredible! Claudine recommenced him handily! He made us laugh so many times and also feel so comfortable. He honestly captured the day perfectly. It’s been 2 years and we still watching our wedding video frequently – that tells you everything you need to know! Some people say you don’t need a videographer, but I regularly say this was the best decision we made.

Photo QR Codes: Best Ever Pics – we had QR codes for all of our guests to scan and then upload all the pictures they had taken on their phones. It was the best idea we had and we got SO many uploads (pictures and videos). It was amazing to look at all this content whilst we waited for the content from Claudine and Michael (which took a bit longer). This was available instantly. It was so much easier than chasing people to send their pictures or even trying to make group chat. With Best Ever Pics, guests didn’t need an app or a login to upload anything, which made it al super easy and user friendly too. There are also a few moments that were only captured on phone pictures, so we were grateful for that. Some of our guests even interviewed the staff working and went into the kitchens then uploaded the content so we could see – it was hilarious. Best Ever Pics was an amazing service too – super affordable and worked seamlessly. I could not recommend more.

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Food and cake

Our caterer was Eat Me Events and the food – and drinks!! – were delicious.

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Wedding List/Registry

We had two registries – one with David Jones (Australian John Lewis) and another with Contemporary Judaica.

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Extra Details

I mentioned it briefly above but the best thing we did was put the QR codes from Best Ever Pics in our guest favours. We had little bags with sugared almonds (pink of course) and put the QR code in there with a short description so people would take it home. I also made sure that I mentioned it in my speech. We were blown away by the number of pictures and videos that were uploaded. Waking up the day after our wedding to see all the content was magical. There was so much we hadn’t seen from the day and seeing it through our guests’ eyes felt really special. It also filled a void whilst waiting for our professional pictures. I think our guests also enjoyed seeing everyone else’s pictures. Best Ever Pics had an option where you can either keep the gallery private for only the host to see or have it public for all your guests – we opted for the latter! It definitely helped with a lot of ‘post-wedding’ Instagram posts!

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Honeymoon

We went to Barbados for a week after the wedding and had an awesome time!

Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK

Advice to couples currently planning their wedding

Just be in every single moment. Without wanting to sound depressing, your wedding day is the only day in your whole life that you will have all your favourite people in one place – besides your funeral, which you don’t get to go to! Enjoy that and don’t take it for granted. On our wedding day, despite all the hours of planning we had put in, not one single thing mattered EXCEPT that we got married. That was all we cared about – the day would be a success if we ended it married. I think because we knew that was what mattered most, everything else went seamlessly and perfectly. The day exceeded all expectations because we were relaxed and just wanted to have fun. My nature (Gabi) is to be quite an anxious person, but I have never felt more at peace than I did on our wedding day – even my bridal party couldn’t believe it. I knew I was marrying the right man and everything would be amazing. It helped that every person in the room at our wedding was important and special to us, we weren’t worried about slip-ups/embarrassing moments or anything going wrong, because we knew the whole room just wanted the best for us. I know we are lucky to have been in that position.

Gabi and Harry, The Langham, London, UK

GABI & HARRY’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK

Photography – Claudine Hartzel
Videography – Michael Pearl Films 
Venue – The Langham London
Bride’s dress – Digio Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Bared
Bridesmaids – Coast found at Debenhams
Hair – Gaby Goldring
Makeup – Glow by Caitlin and J.Swales Makeup & Hair 
Flowers – Flowers by Alina 
Band – Creation Events
Catering – Eat Me Events 
Stationery/Invitation – Bliss and Bone
Rabbi – Rabbi Luis Herszaft (HGSS)
Wedding List/Registry – David Jones and Contemporary Judaica
QR code – Best Ever Pics 

If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.

 

A Pronovias Bride for a Jewish Wedding with a Flashmob at Sefton Park Palm House, Liverpool, UK

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There’s not much we like better than hearing from couples that we’ve helped them plan the wedding of their dreams. So naturally we were thrilled to hear from Hannah and Jude that they booked Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband on our founder, Karen’s recommendation!

Hannah, soon to be qualifying as a corporate lawyer, and Jude, a sales account manager, even squeezed in one of XS’s trademark wedding flashmobs — at the start of the ceremony, after the guests took their seats, instead of the groom walking down the aisle they found themselves in the midst of a flashmob performing Marvin Gaye’s ‘How Sweet It Is’! We’re so pleased (but not at all surprised) that the couple thought their band, who kept everyone dancing ALL night long, was “incredible beyond words” — some seriously high praise!

And it’s no surprise that a wedding as fabulous as this one was planned to perfection by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Qube Events and Productions, who, in addition to sorting the gold-themed dà©cor and sourcing appropriate florals to complement the palm house venue the couple report, “took all the stress off” them on the day. Can’t ask for much more than that!

And speaking of that palm house venue — it’s a seriously stunning backdrop, captured to perfection by photographer Rob Clayton and videographer Stefan of YSD Media.

Hannah, who looked radiant in her mermaid fishtail Pronovias, will walk you through the rest, from picking the perfect exotic venue (without leaving home) to selecting flower girls and pageboys from their collective 31(!) nieces and nephews to smashing two glasses – but probably not for the reason you think…

Pssst want to ensure your wedding is as memorable as Hannah & Jude’s? Then make sure you’re signed up to Smashing The Glass’ FREE online event for Jewish and Jew-ish Brides, happening this Monday 21st January – sign up here!

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How we met

Hannah, the bride: I went to Manchester University. I grew really close with the Aish campus family, which was Jude’s brother, Benji, and his wife, Shiffy, and their children. I spent alot of time with them over 4 years and had met Jude in passing but that was it.

I lost touch with Benji and Shiffy and then bumped in to Benji in Manchester 3 years later and he said I had to catch up with them. I went to see them the next week which was when they mentioned Jude to me.

Jude got in touch with me a couple of weeks later and that was it. We got engaged the day after our 1 year anniversary and married 9 days after our 2 year anniversary. Jude’s Auf Ruf was actually on our 2 year anniversary.

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An Amanda Wakeley Bride for a London-Chic, Rose Gold and Grey Jewish Wedding at Rosewood, London, UK

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So how are you settling into 2018?! And have you heard the big news about our super exciting ‘Your Wedding Your Way’ online summit on 31st January? It’s going to be EPIC – just like today’s real Jewish wedding that’s breathtakingly beautiful — inside and out.

With a rose-gold and slate grey color scheme, Emma and Liam accented the best features of gorgeous London venue, Rosewood, and complemented the already divine surroundings with fashion-forward geometric shapes. 

At just five feet tall, bride Emma had a unique challenge when searching for the perfect wedding dress, but found her saviors in the team at Amanda Wakeley, who worked to create the perfect design for her frame. I think we can all agree that the result was just sensational! Emma added some height with a pair of iconic Valentino rock stud heels – a classic designer wardrobe staple we just ADORE.

We’re also all aquiver for the stunning chuppah, decorated with fresh flowers by Wildabout – what a beauty!

There were so many friends of Smashing The Glass involved in making this day happen, from submitter Aron from Whitepaper Event, who we love, love, LOVE, to THREE incredible Recommended Vendors: The Function Band, who created an out-of-this-world party atmosphere, Food Story and their delicious catering (and thoughtful cold towel idea for the Israeli dancing) and Denee Motion, whose sensitively captured, romantic trailer can be seen below.

A dear friend of the couple, Tom Archer Photography, led a team of photographers capturing every last detail of the day, and Emma and Liam worked together to provide the loving and wonderful writeup below. We’ll leave you in their capable hands now – get ready to fall in love!

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Jewish Wedding Rosewood London UK_0033


How we met

Emma, the bride: We met six years ago, travelling in Australia. We were both looking for flatmates on Gumtree and Liam replied to my advert. As they say, the rest is history!

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A Maggie Sottero Bride for a Jewish Wedding with a Living Tree Chuppah at Micklefield Hall, UK

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Jewish Wedding Micklefield Hall, UK
Hold up – press pause on your day, put down that deadline for a minute (I know, we’re terrible influences) and take some proper time to appreciate the utter gorgeousness that is Becky and Adam’s Jewish wedding!

We thought we’d seen every chuppah design out there, but a living-tree chuppah, adorned with friends’ and family’s blessings and wishes for the couple’s future is such an awesome, unique idea. There are so many incredible hidden gems at their venue, Micklefield Hall, but Becky and Adam were the first couple to get married underneath that tree, making their own mark on the venue’s story.

To say Becky and Adam did things their way would be an understatement – they did things their way, and then some. 

We LOVE that bride Becky stayed true to herself, even when under pressure, and went with her own beeeeautiful minimalist makeup look. Becky did so with the confidence that, in the words of the couple’s wonderful photographers, Adam and Hannah, “the best photos are of a happy bride”. And right they were – Becky’s happiness and ease with herself glows through in the stunning spread of wedding pictures Adam and Hannah provided.

Becky’s detailed Maggie Sottero gown also looked like a dream on her, and was a perfect fit for the rustic, boho-style aesthetic of the day as a whole.

The couple opted for a really personalized Jewish ceremony, with both bride and groom smashing a glass. We are SO here for that, and it’s a prime example of how Jewish customs don’t have to be antiquated. You can absolutely make them your own and construct a ceremony that works with your own values.

THREE of our incredible Recommended Vendors were involved with this love-filled big day. The ketubah was lovingly made by Ink With Intent, wedding band The White Keys rocked the reception and videographer Moon & Back made the cinematic, heartfelt wedding video below, which you simply MUST watch!

There’s so much more to say about this breathtaking day, we haven’t even had time to touch on the divine dà©cor, but we’d be going on forever, so we’ll pass you over to Becky, and Adam, for the full report. 

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How we met

Becky, the bride: We met when we both lived in Moishe House London, a home-based community for Jewish young adults. I interviewed Adam to live in the house and it went from there… 
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An Afternoon Tea Jewish Wedding With a Bespoke Beaded Gown at The Pillar, London, UK

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It’s always very plain to see when a couple is creative by nature, and never fails to make for an aesthetically gorgeous wedding. 

Makeup artist, Amy, and presenter, Adam’s wedding was, in addition to making a lifelong commitment to one another, about two things: making friends and family feel loved and looked after, and making everything around them beautiful.

Both objectives were achieved and then some! This was particularly evident in the advice to couples at the end of this post – words of wisdom that showed a deep consideration for others.

The ceremony was totally tailored to Adam and Amy, with music being the most important and prominent element – we got the chills reading about it!

Armed with the perfect color palette of pastel-pretty flowers, two-tone fabrics and metallic gold accents, the couple created a clean, chic wedding wonderland, complete with an absolute stunner of a five-tier cake.

Beautiful bride Amy went bespoke with her beaded, two-tone gown, and played an instrumental role in the design, along with Elizabeth Todd, literally bringing her dream dress to life. 

Photographer, Paul Toeman, captured the details and emotion of the day with the glorious spread of pictures below, and Amy wrote the incredibly eloquent account of all the action. Take it away, Amy!

 

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Jewish Wedding Pillar Hotel London UK_0016

A venue with history

Amy, the bride: We booked The Pillar Hotel, a kosher venue in Hendon, north-west London for 30th June 2016. We needed a venue that was close to my parents’ home in North London, as my father has final stages Parkinson’s disease.

We could have booked any top London hotel, but we couldn’t see the point in making an experience about love without the people we love being there, so a small hotel in Hendon it was!

Ironically, this particular venue used to be a convent, and so it was no ordinary hotel. The room we chose to have our ceremony in, was in fact the room where the nuns used to pray, and so the walls of exposed brickwork, arches and ornate windows were all steeped in history, spirituality, prayer and love.
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