A Mira Zwillinger bride for a snowy ski-themed Jewish wedding in the mountains of Verbier, Switzerland

I’m a bit of a ski-ing nut and LOVE everything that goes with the sport – the breathtaking scenery, the high altitude vibe, and the après-ski  life. So when I first clapped eyes on this wintery mountain wedding, I can hand on heart say that my breath was momentarily taken away. Then when I spotted the images of the bride and groom in ski boots having fun on the powder, I seriously couldn’t believe my eyes – my goodness… how lucky are we this morning?!

With a bride called Summer, this winter wedding is everything. I’m talking killer photography by Ronen Boidek, a Swiss mountain backdrop complete with sunshine, snow, alphorns, mulled wine, cheese fondue, St Bernard dogs, lanterns, candles, and a Mira Zwillinger gown so pretty it could move you to tears. But even more than that, it’s the sheer joy captured in every last image. Summer, take it away…

Our wedding in a nutshell

Summer, the Bride: I think the mountain setting helped make the wedding unusual! The alphorns, mulled wine, cheese fondue, cow bells, lanterns, candles and mountain tent all helped create a special day. We made a whole weekend of it with a mountain lunch and dinners and I hope that our guests had a really different and fun wedding weekend!

Choosing to get married in Verbier

We got married in Verbier, Switzerland on the terrace of Chalet d’Adrien. I have been to Verbier with my family every year since I was five – we have a home there and it’s where David and I first went away. It’s so beautiful with the snow and the mountains and I really wanted something different and somewhere personal to us.

A winter wonderland wedding

Our theme was all white and candles and to make the most of the mountains. I am allergic to colour. We did have help to make a bare tent look warm and cosy from a guy called Jean-Paul Tudelat from Geneva. Guests arrived to the sound of Alphorns and we had a transprent marquee so people could see the view of the mountains. It was very difficult to do a wedding in Verbier as it was out of season so had to bring everything up to the mountain – nothing was there!

hair + make up

My mum did my make-up – she used to be a make-up artist. We had a lesson in London from Maggie Hunt who is a great make-up artist and a friend of my mum’s. It was really lovely her doing it and felt very special. I wish she would do it all the time but have only managed to persuade her to do it once since then. My hair was down as that’s how I always have it.

A Mira Zwillinger dress and chunky Miu Miu heels

My dress was the Alexa dress from Mira Zwillinger. I only tried on two dresses and I loved this one straightaway. I still love it now when I look back at the pictures.

I wore some silver chunky Miu Miu heels that I had worn for my brother’s wedding. They were comfortable but hidden under the dress…

  
The handsome groom

We have a joke that I only let David wear navy, and even though our wedding was black tie I was fortunate enough to find him a navy tux by Hugo Boss that we paired with a navy shirt by Dolce & Gabbana. He looked very handsome.

chuppah design

The chuppah wasn’t quite as I envisaged it – it was definitely in the right location but it was meant to look like it was all made out of lanterns but I think they ran out of time!

The ceremony

I had Ohad Moskowitz sing me down the aisle (he’s amazing) and a lovely Rabbi (Andrew Shaw) who had also married my brother four months earlier. The best bit though was the view and the sun setting over the mountains as the guests sipped on mulled wine. We even had para gliders in the background!

Flowers

All of the flowers were coordinated by Jean-Paul Tudelat from Geneva. Everything was white and either roses or hydrangeas but for me it was all about the candles.

Our fabulous photographer

Ronen Boidek from Israel was our photographer and he was the best decision ever – he is simply amazing. I usually hate photographs of myself but I love all of his. The day after the wedding we went ski-ing and played around in the snow and those pictures are sensational.

Entertainment

We had a group called Entourage from London. We didn’t have the space for a big band so it was a DJ accompanied by great musicians and they were utterly fantastic – they really made the party.  It was co-ordinated by Andre Saxman Brown, Shanay was our singer, and Lettice Rowbotham was the violinist( prior to being on Britain’s Got Talent!).

Swiss ski-themed touches

We had mini swiss cowbells as name places, and our starter was cheese fondue to keep with the mountain theme and it was delicious.

Advice to brides and grooms currently planning their wedding

I was very stressed about being the centre of attention and feeling overwhelmed and I wish I hadn’t worried as it was a lovely day and I didn’t even notice – I was just so happy. It was hard to arrange a wedding up a mountain, out of season in the winter so after a few months of stress trying to do it on our own getting help really made a difference.

I didn’t want a London wedding and I am thrilled we dared to be different – I loved it and will never forget it and these photos are the most beautiful reminders.

Summer & David’s LITTLE WHITE BOOK

Photography – Ronen Boidek
Venue – Chalet d’Adrien
Planning and flowers – Jean-Paul Tudelat from Geneva.
Bride’s dress – Mira Zwillinger
Bride’s shoes – Miu Miu
Groom’s suit – Hugo Boss
Make up – the bride’s mother
Entertainment – Entourage
Chazan and Israeli music – Ohad Moskowitz
Rabbi – Andrew Shaw