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A Super Luxe Laduree-Fuelled Interfaith Jew-ish Wedding at the Shangri-La, Paris, France

20/04/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

There’s SO MUCH to love about today’s stunner of a Jew-ish wedding, but I’m particularly obsessed with how they incorporated one of my all-time favorite patisseries into their day…

New York-based Melissa, who works in luxury marketing, and William, in finance, opted to wed in Paris, where William lived for many years. The city played an important part in the development of their relationship — as did one of its most delicious exports, Laduree.

Known for the tastiest macarons around (seriously, once you try one of theirs you won’t want to bother with any others), as well as exemplary presentations of classic French pastry, Laduree has long been a favorite Parisian haunt of the couple’s. So much so that when William proposed — in the City of Love, naturally — he did so over a bag of Laduree goodies (seriously, we love this guy!).

In a nod to their engagement, the pair opted to forgo cake in favor of something quintessentially French: a croquembouche. But not just any croquembouche. A rose lychee flavored croquembouche from Laduree. I’m positively drooling over here just thinking about it!

Instead of a traditional guest book, Melissa and William asked their guests to sign a Laduree macaron book. Each page featured a different flavor, and guests could choose one to sign. Oh, and the favors? Laduree macarons, in a selection of the bride and groom’s favorite flavors.

Even their venue, the mega-opulent Grand Salon at the Shangri-La Hotel, kind of resembles one of Laduree’s beautiful salons (although unlike my local Laduree, the Shangri-La comes complete with a straight-on view of the Eiffel Tower). The place is just dripping with old-school Parisian glamour.

Claire Morris Photography and videographer Zen Film Works captured the day beautifully — you’ve got to see the portraits of the couple at iconic spots all around Paris.

It was important to Melissa, who is Jewish, and William, raised Catholic, to find a ketubah vendor who offered texts suitable for interfaith couples, and they ended up with a beautiful papercut from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com.

Now I’ll turn you over to Melissa could not have looked more elegant in her showstopper of a gown, custom designed for her by Sharon Wilkes (who we adore, and just happens to her best friend’s mother).

How we met

Melissa, the bride: We originally met in the summer of 2006, while we were both participating in a summer pre-college program at Georgetown University following our junior year of high school. As I was from New York and William was from Paris, seeing each other after the program was quite unlikely, but we were smitten with each other.

We kept in touch on and off for the next 5 years, and resumed speaking after a long hiatus around February 2011 when William, who was working in finance but had retained his teenage passion for writing, had written a short story and asked me for my thoughts.

In May of 2011, I had just graduated early from university and was traveling through Europe, while William was on a summer break from his master’s program in Paris. William asked me to meet him for a spontaneous trip in southern Spain, and I said no at first, nervous about seeing him after all those years.

But in my heart I felt that I should go, and a few weeks later I flew to meet him in Andalusia, where we spent five days traveling together and began to fall in love. After the trip, we decided to give things a real shot and began dating long distance. This lasted for four years, with me in New York and William in Paris and London, before William could finally move to New York in June 2015.

A Legends Romona Keveza Bride for a Super Luxe Rustic-Romantic Jewish Wedding at Chateau Castellaras, Cannes, France

08/11/2017 by Karen

WOW!! We’re not in the habit of rating people’s weddings, but if we were, Hannah and Andrew’s stunning, rustic South of France Jewish wedding is clearly 1000/10!

First of all, just LOOK at what you can achieve with eucalyptus and baby’s breath – that chuppah is the stuff of dreams! Set against THAT view, it really doesn’t get more breathtaking. The region had special significance to the couple, who both spent childhood holidays in the South of France, and got engaged there just one year earlier.

Nutritionist Hannah carried the Provence herb theme throughout the wedding, decorating the tables with explosions of herbs and candles. How romantic does that sound?? And just imagine how heavenly the room smelled… ahh, we almost feel like we were there.

The happy couple partied so hard their reception was shut down by the police – what a story to tell the grandkids! That’s making the most of it and then some.

Hannah stunned in her beautiful lace-sleeve gown by Legends Romona Keveza purchased at none other than phenomenal STG Recommended Vendor, The Wedding Club.

Speaking of Recommended Vendors, the wedding was catered to perfection by another much-loved STG Vendor, kosher caterer, Dany’s Traiteur, who also catered the couple’s epic pre-wedding beach henna party.

Superstar photographer David Pullum, an epic talent and another much-loved Recommended Vendor whom we simply ADORE, captured the day with aplomb, as did videographer – Airsnap, creating the stunning highlights reel below.

It’s Hannah’s turn to take over the blog for all the juicy details of her and Andrew’s big day; we fell madly in love with the entire celebration, and we just know you will too!

How we met

Hannah, the bride: We met in the back of a black taxi after a night out five years ago, and the rest is history!
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A French lavender-themed Jewish wedding at Mas de Garguier, Marseilles, France

02/06/2017 by Karen

Lovely lavender, beautiful southern French rural countryside and a rustic-chic aesthetic define today’s delightful real wedding – Gladys and Jonathan are, amazingly, our first STG French-born Jewish couple to tie the knot in France, and boy, was it worth the wait!

The day was full of beautifully personalized details – the portable chuppah with its adorable lanterns, the lawn games for guests, the country-chic floral arrangements, totally a treat for the eye. Gladys managed to secure her dream photographer, Rà©mi from Une Vie en Provence, to capture all of the pretty!

We adore the rustic aesthetic, but also all the heart and soul that Gladys and Jonathan poured into making their day just perfect and so ‘them’. We also think Gladys’s advice at the end of the post is absolute gold dust – so do keep reading until the end!

Over to Gladys for the big-day lowdown!

How we met

Gladys, the bride: Jonathan and I met at work in 20^th September 2012. I worked in a PR agency and he was working for one of our clients. I met him during our annual open-doors event: I saw him and told to my colleagues that he was exactly my type of man!

Of course one of them couldn’t help to go and repeat to him what I said (like we were in high school!) He came and spoke to me, but nothing else happened.

A few weeks later, he added me on LinkedIn, then we realised we had several mutual friends on Facebook as we went to the same synagogue, and we started to talk more often.

It was a very busy period at work for both of us so we didn’t have time to see each other, and we also had the weeks of holiday season. After few weeks of speaking on the phone for an hour every evening, sharing dozens of texts messages each day, we started to date on January 5^th 2013! We shared so much during the previous weeks that it was obvious. Our respective parents already knew about each other, we were just waiting to start our story.

A spectacular Jewish destination wedding with a bride in a Howard Green dress at Villefrenche-sur-Mer, Cà´te d’Azur, France

23/01/2017 by Karen

There are destination weddings and then there are destination weddings, and Justine & Barry’s dreamy South of France outdoor W Day definitely falls into the latter category.

The couple, whose international background (Justine grew up in South Africa, while Barry is originally from Zimbabwe and has lived all over the world) meant they had their pick of stunning destinations, chose the idyllic Villefrenche-sur-Mer, Cà´te d’Azur — a private chateau on the mountains above Nice overlooking the coastline.

This discerning couple put so much careful thought into each and every detail. There is so much to talk about — from the beautiful way Justine describes her connection to the religious ceremony and its traditions to both family’s own respective sentimental customs, including a ring that has been passed down through generations of the family and used in over 100 weddings.

The couple kept their series of events exciting by including a series of surprises, including an epic first dance that the couple still sneakily re-lives to this day and drip-feeding their guests details about the astounding destination. They also showered their lucky guests with lovely and thoughtful gifts, favours and special treats including luxuriously tempting macarons, a drinks trolley with fine liquors, pashminas, flip flops and kippot. It makes us wish that we’d been invited!

We could go on forever about the amazing attention to detail and the heart and soul that the couple poured into planning their big day, but we think that Justine does such a wonderful job of describing the events that it’s time to hand over to her. Take it away, Justine.

Stunning views at Villefrenche-sur-Mer, Cà´te d’Azur

We were married at the Domaine du Montleuze in Villefranche-sur-Mer. It’s a private chateau at the top of mountains above Nice, overlooking the entire coastline.

We got engaged in late March 2016 in the Swiss Alps and wanted to contrast our winter engagement with a summer wedding.

It is worth mentioning at this point that I grew up and lived in South Africa before moving to London five years ago. Barry, originally from Zimbabwe, has lived in multiple countries including South Africa, before moving to London eight years ago.

A summer wedding in South Africa was naturally expected. However, we wanted to be different and have something unique, something wildly romantic and intimate, but also a crazy party. Plus, it had to be easily accessible. Europe it was.

A New York-style Jewish wedding in Paris, with a customised Junko Yoshioka dress and stunning Louboutins

06/12/2016 by Karen

We have a super special real wedding on the blog today — one so beautifully designed and executed that you’re definitely going to want to jump into the pictures and live there! This wedding didn’t just marry the happy couple, but also two iconic fashion capitals, so put the kettle on, settle in and let yourself be whisked away…

Style-savvy bride, Krissy, really put her skills from her amazing job as visual merchandising manager for dreamy Anthropologie bridal sister brand, BHLDN, to fantastic use. Her stunning design scheme brought together the urban cool of New York City with chic Parisian style. The colour palette was understated black and white with pops of colour — all captured in stunning detail by Brian Wright at French Grey Photography.

This trà©s chic real wedding took place against the oh-so-romantic backdrop of Paris, France, with a gorgeous ceremony in the outdoor courtyard of the Westin Vendà´me.

The wedding was packed with beautiful little heartfelt details. Krissy and Josh opted for champagne and strawberries instead of wedding cake, and for their favours bought everyone a Ladurà©e cookbook. Their copy doubled as the guest book.

When Krissy bought her Junko Yoshioka dress from Bridal Garden in NYC and customised it so that it would really show off her sublime Christian Louboutin heels (seriously though — just look at them), she never dreamed that mentioning this fact to her doctor would lead to the most amazing coincidence. We won’t ruin the surprise, but the story is absolutely amazing!

Despite Krissy’s parents sadly being unable to make it to the wedding due to her father falling ill, the couple forged ahead with their plans, bravely making the most of their beautiful big day. Enjoy this one folks!