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Spectacular destination wedding at Ronit Farm, Kfar Shmaryahu, Herzliya, Israel

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I promise you what you’re about to see is truly epic. This folks is how to do a super cool, super chic lavish destination wedding in Israel.

Montana and Justin, from South Africa, married at Ronit Farm (Havat Ronit), one of Israel’s most dazzling wedding venues. What’s more, the clever team at Danny Marx brought to life something I have never seen before: Montana had decided that she wanted to walk down the aisle to the chuppah while everyone was already seated at their tables, so all the guests were seated at one giant ‘S’ shaped table that also served as the ‘catwalk’ down to the chuppah (I mean REALLY!).

There are so many things I love about this wedding that I’d be here until midnight listing them all for you but I will say that I love a bride who chooses a black colour scheme (so different) and 17 bridesmaids dressed in black! I also love that the couple chose the same first dance song as Montana’s grandparents had. Her grandparents have been married for 60 years and joined them on the dance floor for the first dance. So special, right?

Montana and Justin certainly know how to throw a party. And throw a club-like Ibiza-style party they did, complete with pyrotechnics, dancers covered in lights, fire flames… THE LOT! Just wait until you see the photos by Eran Beeri and Eyal Gaziel and wedding film by Aleksey Malev.

Oh and I love the array of favours handed out… from selfie sticks to fans to sandals to hip flasks filled with different cocktails that guests could enjoy on their coach ride home. See? I told you this wedding is EVERYTHING!

Montana and Justin, take it away…

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How they met

Montana, the bride: Justin and I met when we were 14 years old. We were in the same class in our first year of high school. We were best friends and over the years it developed into a love story. We dated on and off throughout high school and reconnected again after school when we were 22. The rest is history — we have never looked back!

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Choosing to get married in Israel

We got married at Ronit Farm in Israel. We attended a wedding there a few years ago and I decided then and there that I would get married there. As a South African, it is hard to have a local wedding that is special and different so we thought a destination wedding would be best. And what better place to get married than in Israel!

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A Modern Trousseau Bride for an intimate ‘dinner party-style’ Jewish wedding at Kettle Cove and Five Fifty-Five Bistro, Maine, USA

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Lauren and Aaron met online (they’re actually one of several online dating success stories featured on STG!), and Lauren says she knew by the second date that she wanted to meet Aaron under the chuppah… 😉

…And when it came to deciding how they would celebrate that eventual meeting under the chuppah, they knew they didn’t want a traditional wedding with bridal parties or first dance formalities. All they truly wanted was simply to marry one another with the people they love close by their sides.

I love it when couples make their weddings a representation of who they are and feel free to remove anything that just doesn’t fit them, and Lauren & Aaron’s Big Day is exactly that — a wedding that reflects who they are and what they wanted, which was a truly intimate outdoor ceremony on the water, followed by a small ‘dinner party style’ reception at a local restaurant.

From the farmhouse they rented in Southern Maine that housed their closest friends for a week,to the intimate ceremony on a peninsula jutting out into the foggy Atlantic, and the cosy dinner in downtown Portland, Maine where they could turn in their chairs to talk to anyone in attendance, their entire wedding was an intimate, homely, warm affair.

And since their wedding was held in a public park (Kettle Cove), they knew that they needed a simple chuppah that they could transport, put up, and take down easily. They ended up purchasing four tall birch branches and using Aaron’s tallit for the top of the chuppah. Aaron is great at engineering solutions and mechanical design, so he created a tension-free system using twine, the tallit, and four small hooks in each of the birch branches to create the chuppah of their dreams. Who said Jewish boys are no good at DIY?! (Oh, and if you want to build your own chuppah for your wedding, there’s a lovely tutorial on the blog, right over here).

Lauren and Aaron joke that their wedding theme was a “wedding-themed dinner party.” They knew that they wanted to be able to spend quality time with their families and closest friends, and wanted their ceremony to incorporate the beauty and experience of the outdoors, with a cosy reception with great food where they could spend time appreciating their family and guests.

All the pretty and emotion has been captured perfectly by Sarah V. Martinez. Enjoy!

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How we met

Lauren, the Bride: Aaron and I met via a dating website and exchanged a few witty emails before meeting in person at a coffee shop called ‘The Thinking Cup’, right off of the Boston Common. After coffee and tea, I asked Aaron if he was hungry, to which he replied “of course,” and we walked through the Common to a pizza shop on Charles St. The rest is history…

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Helene & Benjamin | Destination Jewish wedding in the Old City of Jaffa at Beit Andromeda, Israel

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In my book, making your wedding day into a holiday is an absolutely brilliant idea. Not only do you get to throw a wonderful party for all your loved ones, but you also get to do it in a place where the weather stands a better chance of behaving on the big day!

Parisians, Helene and Benjamin, did just that with their destination wedding in Israel and organised a whole heap of pre-wedding festivities for their guests as well as the big W-Day itself. So not only did they create an utterly sublime wedding day in Old Jaffa (with the help of much-loved Smashing Suppliers RS Eventime), they also put together a mountain of events for their guests so that they could get a flavour of the city of Tel Aviv. This was a really thoughtful gesture as many of their guests had never visited the city before.

There was a cocktail party, a beach party (I *so* want one of those Keep Calm and Play Matkot tote bags) and a third pre-wedding party at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Such wonderful ideas and all expertly planned by the lovely Sophie and Ravit from RS Eventime.

Helene’s Rosa Clara dress is amazing, and both the bride and groom look like celebrities. The light that Pierre Mikael Cohen has captured is sensational as are his beautiful cityscapes.

I must also single out Helen’s ‘rock princess’ Jimmy Choo‘s. Er… wow. And that she secretly took singing lessons in the months prior to the wedding so that she could surprise her groom with  a rendition of ‘their song’. Double wow. Every single element of this wedding ties in together so perfectly and I’m so thrilled to be bringing you this well deserved ray of sunshine this rainy Tuesday morning

Thank you to Helene and Benjamin for sharing their delicious destination with us. Let’s hand over to the gorgeous bride…

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how we met

Helene, the Bride: Benjamin and I met in New York five years before we got married. Ben lived in New York and I was looking for a new flatmate… I was coming to NY for an internship and was looking for an apartment… that’s how we met! We were roommates to start with, but one month later we became a couple, and since then we’ve always lived together — in New York and back in Paris. The funny thing is that we’d attended the same high school in Paris but didn’t know each other back then…Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Tammy & Tom | An Inbal Dror dress for a wedding by the sea, with a very special story, at Kochav HaYam, Caesarea, Israel

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I don’t know where to start with this wedding, it has absolutely knocked me for six. When I first clapped eyes on the stunning photographs and video highlights of Tammy and Tom’s wedding, I was captivated by this ridiculously good looking couple, the chuppah set against a picture-perfect Israeli seascape, the high octane, carefree celebrations, the loved-up gazes between bride and groom and of course THAT Inbal Dror wedding dress – and just when I thought it couldn’t get any more breathtaking, I heard the incredible tale about the rabbi who officiated the wedding.

Many years ago as a young boy of eight, Sharon Shalom, the rabbi, was among a group of refugees making the arduous journey from Ethiopia to Sudan, where planes were on standby to help them flee to Israel. They travelled the entire distance to Sudan on foot, lead and protected by the IDF and Mossad agents.

At one point it all became too much for the youngster. Terrified, he was hugged and encouraged to keep going by one of the agents, who just happened to be Tom’s father. This shared experience helped forge a lifetime’s friendship, so much so, that when the young boy had grown and become a rabbi, he was told by Tom’s father that “one day you’ll be the rabbi for my son”. This wedding made that wish come true.

Understandably the tears flowed under the chuppah that day as the family and rabbi Sharon Shalom stood together for such a special and poignant moment in all of their lives. Truly beautiful.

So whilst it’s a very cool, stylish, fun, fun, fun wedding – complete with a flash mob dance – and did I mention the disarmingly attractive bride and groom? It’s a wedding with a huge heart. And given the incredible and humbling back-story of courage and kindness, the brides advice resonates very loudly “The whole point of the day is to be happy – stressing defeats the purpose. Your hubby and the meaning of the day is much more important than the napkins or your dress!”

Hear hear! (Even though her dress is actually perfection!)

The stunning photography is by Herschel Gutman one of our much-loved Smashing Suppliers, who can always be relied upon for beautiful images. The wedding film at the end of the post is by the superb Tal Herman

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Rabbi Sharon Shalom (far right) with Tom’s father (second from right) under the chuppah, beside Tammy & Tom

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Rebecca & Daniel | An ‘Autumn in New York’ themed Jewish wedding with Mexican influences, and the bride in a jumpsuit, at Palm Door, Austin, Texas, USA

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… And the bride wore a jumpsuit! Oh yes. I’m so excited to feature a bride wearing such an iconic, sassy, fashion statement. Move over Solange Knowles!

And why not? Rebecca wasn’t having a trad day — after all it was her second wedding to Daniel (more on that later) — and she decided she wanted to wear what she felt most spectacular in. And that was an elegant Alice & Olivia white, wide leg, cut out at the back jumpsuit with beautiful lines and the required bridal magic to make a big entrance.

In the imitable words of Rebecca “I realised that since this is my wedding … I could wear whatever I wanted”. You go girl! This is such a great reminder to all brides out there planning your day — try not to get bogged down in the “should’s” — it is after all your day!

The courage of this couple’s conviction rings strongly throughout. Undaunted by the fact that they couldn’t have the dream Central Park wedding, Rebecca and Daniel simply picked up the idea and brought the New York wedding to Austin, Texas. Complete with a Big Apple in the Fall theme. Check out those flowers, and the autumnal foliage winding round the chuppah!

Unsurprisingly the invitations came with a very creative and modern twist – which is completely STG. They both designed and customised Paperless Post save the date cards and invitations, splicing old photo booth pictures together — gorgeously personal and fun – and emailed them to their guests.. A great tip for saving money as well as adding a classy, individual touch.

There was one family tradition however that they certainly kept up with – Friday night dinner at the Tex Mex. The night before the wedding Rabbi Robbi lead them all in the Tex Mex Shabbat prayers over tortilla chips and margaritas. Upstaged only by Daniel’s uber romantic proposal.

Elissa R Photography captures the day …

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An ‘Autumn in New York’ themed wedding in Austin, Texas

Rebecca, the Bride: We got married at the Palm Door on Sabine, an event space in downtown Austin. There was no real significance to the space, and since we live in New York we decided to have our wedding there based entirely on the recommendation of my parents who had seen a concert there during SXSW. It ended up being the perfect space though, with a homey but refined feel that really fit in with the entire character of the wedding.

Our general theme was “Autumn in New York.” We live in New York, and it had been a dream of mine in high school to get married in Central Park in the fall. Coming back to Austin for a November wedding, we decided to bring the New York Autumn back to Texas with us. The colour scheme was Autumn colours. We worked with Emily Leach of Bird Dog Wedding
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