A Vera Wang bride for a romantic luxe destination Jewish wedding at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, California

Prepare for a fashion frenzy as the names that make today’s Jewish wedding so gorgeous are Vera Wang, Valentino, Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin … And of course our super stylish bride and groom Natalie & Alexander who married at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, California.

Natalie looks breathtakingly beautiful in her Vera Wang gown and veil — it’s just pure romance. Speaking of which, can you believe that these two first met under the Eiffel Tower in the City of Romance, Paris?! Their whole ‘How We Met’ story is like something out of a fairytale – you simply must read Natalie’s account of it below.

I am a certified super fan of Greg Finck who shot and submitted this wedding to me. Everything he snaps just turns into wedding gold, and you’ll see precisely what I mean when you take a peek at the pretty below.

It’s a wedding of global proportions with guests traveling in from all over the world but it was absolutely worth it: the emotion, the style, the 13 (wow!) beautiful bridesmaids, the mesmerising stationery, the music, the chuppah, the florals… it’s all just filled to the brim with style and grace, and not only are Greg’s images and the bride’s wedding report waiting for you, we also have the wedding film at the foot of the post by Wind Productions too. It’s a very happy Tuesday folks!

How we met

Natalie, the bride: Alex and I met in Paris under the Eiffel Tower (for real). We were traveling in Europe separately and had some friends in common and  the two groups met in Paris for a few days. The moment I looked at him I knew my life was forever going to change. We started dating right away. We were attending different universities in different cities, then after graudation we moved to different cities (Connecticut for him, and LA for me) and then another move to different cities (New York for him, San Francisco for me). We were long distance for 6 years. I finally moved to New York City and he proposed shortly after that to my surprise.

After he proposed he surprised me with a fully planned trip to Paris to take our engagment pics at the Eiffel Tower with Greg Finck who also photographed our wedding.

Choosing to get married at the Four Seasons, Westlake Village, California

We got married at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, California. We chose this venue because a hotel location was important to us as so many of our guests were flying in from all over the world and we wanted it to be easy for them (New York, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Israel, Belgium, etc.).

It also fitted our criteria of wanting a venue that could easily hold the 400 guests and we loved this specific hotel because my family is from LA but we wanted a location away from the madness of the city. The hotel is rustic and has a strong old California vibe and is nestled in the foothills of Malibu. Its quiet, elegant, and surrounded by mountains.

A green and white colour scheme

My mother helped plan the whole thing with me — she did a lot of the work. The colour scheme was green and white everything! We wanted as much green as possible!

Stationery design

We loved our invitation suite (designed by Script Mercantile and Sesame Letterpress) because it was simple but elegant.

Hair + Make-up

I wanted my make-up to be as simple as possible. Very neutral. I never looked good with a lot of makeup.

I wanted my hair to have an old glam style to it… but still simple. I didn’t want to take away from my dress.

A Vera Wang dress

My dress was vera wang, from the Vera Wang bridal boutique in Beverly Hills.

It was classic but also modern. Which is very much who I am. I am an old soul but I am very much a modern woman (career focused, in the tech world, etc.).

The dress was so beautiful because it was a work of art. It had all different kinds of lace.

I knew it was the one because it was fancy enough for a black tie ballroom wedding but wasn’t a ball gown.

Very Special Family Jewellery

I wore earrings were diamond clusters (a gift given to me by Alex’s parents for me to wear on our wedding day and pass on to our future daughter).

My two bracelets (tennis bracelet and another gold & diamond bracelet) were gifts my father gave to my mother, one on their wedding day, and one on their 20th anniversary (the tennis bracelet). Wearing my mothers jewels was very special for me because it represented good luck from a marriage that has been succesful for a long time.

My wedding ring was given to me by Alex, solid gold, my eternity ring was given to my by Alex, brilliant cut diamonds.

 
Two pairs of shoes: Jimmy Choo and Valentino!

I bought two pairs of shoes because I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to wear for my Friday night shabbat and the night of my wedding.

Gold Jimmy Choos, and nude Valentinos. But at the end of the day, I just wore white platform sneakers because no one could see my shoes and I wanted to be comfortable dancing!

The handsome groom

The groom wore a Brunello Cucinelli navy tux with patent leather black Louboutin tux slippers.

I swooned seeing the man in front of me all dressed up because he looked just like he did when I first met him but just ready to make me his wife.

13 gorgeous bridesmaids

I had 13 bridesmaids! I didn’t choose a dress type because I wanted everyone to be comfortable and choose their own style. I chose a colour scheme (blush, ivory, gold, silver, etc.) and told everyone to choose whatever dress and colour they liked the best.

Our chuppah

We went for a white and green rustic-style chuppah.

Our ceremony

Our ceremony was the most special part of the night. Everyone had an incredible time and we loved it more than the party. The music selection was chosen really carefully. Beautiful piano versions of songs from Adele and Dave Matthews band. My brother, sister, and brother in law danced down the aisle to more upbeat music, and it got the crowd so excited and happy.

It was dark outside (9pm) and the perfect weather and a full moon. The lights were focused on the aisle and everyone was so engaged.

Our vows were personal. We wrote them to each other like love letters and all the guests were very emotional.

White and green flowers

We went for white and green flowers for centrepieces. My bridesmaids’ bouquets were two beautiful stems of king proteas each.

Our fabulous Photographer

We chose the talented Greg Finck because we didn’t want cheesy wedding photos. We wanted art, and he’s the Michael Jordan of photography.

We asked Greg if he would shoot out wedding after he shot our engagement photo session in Paris.

First dance

We danced our First Dance to  Leather and Lace by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley.

Entertainment

We had Rouge International Band. We had Persian and Israeli music and also American. At 1:30am the band left and the DJ came on until 4am.

A wedding that said a lot about us

This wedding said a lot about us as a couple because we’ve both lived in different cities and have accumulated many friends from different parts of the world, which is why it was big and full of love. We had huge bridal and groom parties because we’ve never been exclusive people, we’ve always felt the more the merrier and I wanted to include all the women that watched Alex and I from day one in Paris to the day we get married.

Even though it was really fancy it still had a homey and old and elegant vibe to it. The old California style said a lot about us as a couple. We wanted something timeless.

Natalie & Alexander’s Little White Book