Ozwald Boateng Archives - Smashing the Glass

It’s no secret that we love seeing a couple who crafts a unique Jewish wedding that’s totally, 100% them. And that’s exactly what today’s bride and groom did. Candy and Max are passionate about documenting their life together as an interabled couple at Riding Everest – Max, an investment analyst, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, and in addition to a career in writing and social media Candy cares for Max, assisting him with all the tasks he needs help with due to his disability – and showing the world that relationships where one partner has a disability are just as loving, normal, and beautiful as any other.

And that seems to go doubly for weddings, based on Kristian Leven’s radiant, joyous photos of the day. This wedding was SO full of love, happiness, and cool personal touches, from papel picado in honor of Max’s Mexican heritage, eucalyptus leaves to reflect Candy’s Australian family, and tiny plastic horses scattered around the venue for guests to find as a nod to the couple’s 2018 horseback trek to Everest Base Camp! And they also worked in plenty of DIY touches, from hand-painted place cards (Max worked with a paintbrush held in his mouth, and Candy took charge of the calligraphy) to homemade gin favors.

We also love that these two opted to get married twice in one day, starting their day at the register office and ending it under the chuppah, which Candy and Max loved because it gave them the opportunity to have both a small, intimate wedding with just family AND a big Jewish wedding where they celebrated with their community.

And then there’s the exuberant Jewish music by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Shir! This mega-talented group not only helped the couple pick their favorite tunes and iron out logistical creases in their day, they also led the Israeli dancing and made sure that everyone – even guests who’d never before attended a Jewish wedding – got involved!

There’s so much more we could say about this awesome wedding, but we’ll leave it to Candy – who started the day in a pale blue vintage tea dress before a secret pre-chuppah costume change into a beaded dress from BHLDN – to fill you in on the rest…

How we met

Candy, the bride: We met after my masters, when I needed a part time job (an MA in playwrighting isn’t a very lucrative way to get into the job market) and Max needed a PA at work. Then we accidentally fell in love and the rest is history!

French Riviera weddings are renowned for being exquisitely beautiful but I think that this Cà´te d’Azur wedding is one of the most unique that I’ve seen. It has absolutely magnificent attention to detail and superb originality and creativity running through it including a gospel choir singing before and after the Chuppah ceremony, a life-size cow wedding cake (bet you’ve never seen that before!) and a surprise second half to the evening when guests were transported from a palatial villa garden setting onwards to a magical secret beach party.

Natasha and Jez, both from London, met at a mutual friends wedding and are a super-gorgeous couple with great taste and style. Both Jez and Natasha were very heavily involved in their wedding planning, both wanting to make it a fun and very special party for themselves and their guests.

Natasha the bride: I wanted to get married somewhere different and I wanted to think ‘outside of the box’. We have a house in Cap-Ferrat in the South of France where we spend a lot of time, and I remember being there and thinking how lovely it would be to get married in the area. We looked at all sorts of local venues and by far our favourite was the Villa Ephrussi. We had the ceremony and reception in the beautiful gardens of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and then later on we secretly took everyone down to Passable Beach for the dinner and dancing. No-one knew they were going there. We didn’t mention Passable Beach on the invitation and people were wondering around thinking “where are we going to sit for the food” and bit by bit, “where is everyone going?!” Guests stating disappearing but they didn’t know where they were going to!