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Adi & Amir | Rosh Hashana themed wedding at Sadot, near Netanya, Israel

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Rosh Hashana wedding
Shana Tova to all of you! I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you a happy, prosperous year ahead full of joy, love and only good times.

With Rosh Hashana fast approaching I wanted to repost this totally exquisite wedding. It has so many beautiful details and the theme of Rosh Hashana is wonderfully integrated into the menu featuring the holiday symbols of pomegranates, figs and apples. The vibrant colour palette of red, orange and green, the jar of honey favours, and the divine-sounding pomegranate mojito reception cocktails all add up to a very well thought-through theme.

There were lots of personal touches and a combination of Adi and Amir’s old and new memories, meticulously organised by their wedding planner, Osnat Eldar. She asked Adi’s close family to collect photos from their own wedding days in order to create an ‘all-generations’ photo wall. I love that idea! So simple and such a lovely way of really making the wedding a family occasion and also remembering those that are no longer with us.

Thank you to Adi and Amir for sharing their very special Israeli day with us, and to Osnat Eldar, their talented wedding planner who alerted me to their wedding. Photography today is by Lihee Avidan.

Israeli Wedding
ISRAELI WEDDING ROSH HASHANA wedding-photo-wall photo-wall
VENUE + THEME

Adi, the Bride: we decided to get married in Sadot Beit Yehoshua, as we loved its rural feel, and it’s location. It has a calm and relaxing atmosphere which reflects us as a couple, and it’s in the centre of Israel right between Tel Aviv and Haifa.

As the wedding fell just before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, we combined the holiday spirit with colours from the late-summer / autumn season. Paul Assenheim, our wonderful caterer prepared a menu based on Rosh Hashana featuring fig and pomegranate salads, fillet mignon in apple chutney, and as a final surprise, caramelised apples on sticks! We also had the most delicious pomegranate mojitos as our welcome cocktail, and used lots of real apples, grapes and pomegranates to decorate the whole venue.

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A Boho bride in cowboy boots for a DIY rustic Jewish wedding at Moshav Mevo Modi’im, Israel

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DIY-wedding-Israel
Nikki and Gavriel met via the power of Google search (no kidding… read their ‘how we met’ story below!) but their Jewish wedding was far from hi-tech. It was a super cool, relaxed rustic affair set in Gavriel’s home town in Israel with an abundance of lovingly crafted DIY details.

So much of the wedding was DIY’ed straight from the heart, from the stunning florals organised by the couple and their families (no pro florists involved at all!) to the home-made wooden signs, hay bale seating, BBQ menu and the beautiful bride’s jewellery all made by Gavriel’s mother. She also created Nikki’s stunning baby’s breath flower crown. Is she one talented mama or what?

I absolutely love Nikki’s bridal style and how she accessorised her dress with that deep green sash. And she totally rocks those cowboy boots of hers. I’ve always loved a bride in cowboy boots — such a cool look for a country style affair.

The whole W Day is full of natural and rustic details — unfussy and relaxed, but ever so pretty. Perfect for a venue surrounded by wonderful nature.

Enjoy this treat of a Friday wedding with images by one of our ever-talented Smashing Suppliers, Herschel Gutman Photography, who captures the essence of the day perfectly.

DIY wedding Israel
How we met

Nikki, the Bride: A friend and I were looking for a new experience and for whatever reason googled “religious farms in Israel”. We found a little family farm on a moshav and helped out a here and there with the farm duties on our stay. The daughter of the family asked if we wanted to hang out with her and her friends. We said yes and through her we met a group of guys. The mother of the family told us, “be careful — moshav boys are dangerous!” But over the course of the weekend I hung out with Gavriel on the moshav.. we talked and I listened to him playing the guitar and singing (as well as admiring his devastatingly good looks!) I couldn’t not give him my number…. Well the rest is history and here we are about two years later…. as husband and wife!

DIY wedding Israel
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Magda + Eric | Rustic, vintage-chic, relaxed outdoor Jewish wedding with Parisian influences at Bianca, Moshav Ginaton, Israel

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vintage-rustic-outdoor-wedding
I have a sneaking suspicion that you’re going to fall in love with this afternoon’s wedding which is a tale of love crossing continents, culminating in a wedding that combines the al fresco spirit of Israel with some serious Parisian designer chic.

There’s lots to love about this W-day, first off Magda’s bridal style is OFF THE WALL. I adore her wedding dress (actually it’s a two piece skirt and top by French designer, Delphine Manivet) that harks back to a bygone era with its high neckline, 3/4 length sleeves and lashings of feminine lace.

I also love the fact that Magda was inspired by the wedding scene from ‘Fiddler on the roof’. It’s one of my all-time favourite films which I guess doesn’t come as any surprise! Magda and Eric chose the famous Sunrise, Sunset track to be played during their wedding ceremony, as well as choosing their own personal ‘relationship song’ to be played when Magda circled Eric seven times (read more about this Jewish wedding tradition here).

Another moving, but very fitting ceremony detail, was the placing of a picture of Eric’s mother on a table under the chuppah during the ceremony. She sadly passed away a few months before the big day, and it was her dream that Magda and Eric would get married in Israel.

The details are so beautiful in this wedding — I particularly love the delicate flowers and decor by wedding designer (and STG regular), Kim Bulow. So very lovely.

Here is Magda & Eric’s story. Words by Magda, photography by Supanit Riansrivilai and a beautiful wedding film by Alexander Perel at the end. Enjoy!

Rustic, vintage-chic, relaxed outdoor wedding with Parisian influences at Bianca, Moshav Ginaton, Israel
How we met

Magda, the Bride: Eric and I met in Paris where he was living, and  I was on holiday visiting a friend. At the time I was living and studying in New York City (I’m originally from Warsaw, Poland) and we met up for every one of the 10 days that I was holidaying in Paris!

We kept in touch once I returned to New York and after a couple of months, I decided to close the door on my past and move back to Europe, to settle down in Paris.

We started dating, then we moved in together, then we got a pug named Eliot(!), and after 3 and a half years, in July 2014, we tied the knot.

Rustic, vintage-chic, relaxed outdoor wedding with Parisian influences at Bianca, Moshav Ginaton, Israel

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Kiruna & Gareth | Wedstock Festival Theme Jewish Wedding at Holton Lee, Poole

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festival-wedding
This is such an awesome wedding on so many levels. First of all, Kiruna’s amazing couture wedding dress is made almost entirely from paper! (mostly with the pages of an old copy of Alice in Wonderland together with that of an erotic novel). Secondly with an actress and a comedian marrying each other the relaxed feeling and originality that shine through this ‘wedstock’ wedding is just fabulous.

Kiruna Stamell, originally from Australia, and Gareth’s paths had crossed a couple of times over the years but as is so often the case, the timing wasn’t right. When a mutual friend re-introduced them in 2011, everything felt like it was meant to be and Gareth proposed to Kiruna after just 4 months.

They meticulously organised a weekend Wedstock wedding that took place in September 2012 complete with a fish ‘n’ chips van, camping, tipis, chill-out tents, a fabulous cake competition, and lots of crafty and DIY details all made by the very talented Kiruna herself!
Festival Wedding Holton Lee Festival Wedding Holton Lee
Kiruna, the Bride: We wanted a relaxed, bohemian party and Holton Lee, our chosen venue, delivered our festival dreams and then some! Our wedding lasted an entire weekend with guests camping onsite with us. Holton Lee is actually a not-for-profit charity so you’ve got these beautiful camping fields and wonderful facilities but also disability-friendly buildings right next door which was essential as we were hosting several disabled guests who needed accessibility.

THE VENUE + THEME

I wanted a pretty picnic lovely camping theme inspired by my experiences at English music festivals but with more of a civilised touch. I was amazed at how much discrimination I came across when I first started looking for a disability-friendly venue but Honeybells who supplied our romantic and chill-out tents came to the rescue with the suggestion of the beautiful Holton Lee and it ticked all our boxes.

We both wanted a ‘picnic festival’ even ‘Woodstock’ feel. We wanted to create a social / non-wedding / relaxing afternoon during daylight on the Saturday and then we would have this shift as the Sabbath went out at sunset on Saturday evening and it turned into the wedding element of the weekend.

The venue was a godsend and it was wonderful to know that the money we spent was going into their not for profit ethos.

Festival Wedding Holton Lee Festival Wedding Holton Lee
DIY CREATIVITY

Paper was a massive part of my theme which is why most of my wedding dress was made from paper.

I love the nostalgic element of brown paper packaging and string and as well as collecting lots of it I asked my local cafe to save the coca cola bottles to be my vases on the table and saved loads of money by making all the flowers myself out of paper.

The brown paper was the starting point and I then started collecting recycled scraps of paper in different colours to make festival bunting, and other artefacts in the months leading up to the wedding. The table centres were newspaper-covered K’s and G’s that I also made.

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