Oh. My. Word. What a magical chuppah that is. Not only do the intertwined branches topped with hydrangeas, roses, and orchids look thoroughly mesmerising, but the candles within the glass spheres create such a romantic, fairytale feel too.
And there’s a meaning to it all as well… Because three of the bride and groom’s grandparents sadly passed away, they honoured them by hanging not one but three tallits (prayer shawls) within the chuppah structure. I absolutely love it when couples incorporate personal details into their chuppah and this is such a beautiful and symbolic idea.
Lemor and Adam married at the super luxe Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami, Florida, and their big day is every bit as enchanting and classy as you’d expect. From Lemor’s dress of dreams (a vision of sophisticated yet delicate Lazaro frills embellished with crystals and finished off with a cathedral length veil) to her shimmery Jimmy Choo‘s, to her glamorous ombre bridesmaids, and the seamless melding of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Persian, Israeli, and American traditions throughout the day. Enjoy all the wonderful details and get ready to swoon!
Lemor and Adam – thank you for having such an über stylish wedding and thank you Maloman Studios for capturing it so wonderfully and submitting it to Smashing The Glass.
how we met
Lemor, the Bride: We met at a charity fundraiser for Israel that I serve on the board for. I walked up to a friend to say hello and he was talking to Adam, who he then introduced me to. We saw each other the next night at another event for the charity, and the rest is history!
A destination wedding at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
We got married at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami, Florida. We knew we wanted to do a destination wedding and Miami was the perfect place… not too close, but not too far, and somewhere everyone would want to go during a bitter cold March in New York City where we live. My husband, Adam, wanted to have nature be incorporated, so the fact our wedding would be outside in a garden couldn’t have been more perfect!
A blush pink and ivory palette
There was no theme, but our colour scheme was neutrals, ivory and light pink tones. I’m not a “girly girl” but I really liked the way that palette worked in the setting. Our wedding planner was Jamie Lipman from The Absolute Event.
Beautiful letterpress wedding stationery
We tried to stray away from the typical Jewish invitations we receive (black font, lots of print, very busy) and decided to go with a light pink font, with minimal print.
My wonderful hair and make up artist
My planner recommended Barak Mizrahi to us for hair and makeup, and I couldn’t have been happier with him and his team! Barak was a sweet, calm energy to have there getting ready with us, and he did an amazing job on me and my bridal party. I felt like I had the right amount of makeup on for photos while still looking natural in person, and it lasted the entire night.
A dramatic full-length Lazaro ball gown
My mum bought my dress as a gift from Kleinfeld in New York City. My mum kept pushing for a ball gown and I kept resisting because I didn’t see myself looking like a ‘pretty pretty princess’. I had my heart set on a fit-and-flare lace look, but everything I tried on didn’t wow us. As we were waiting for the next few gowns to be brought to the fitting room, another sales lady was returning a dress to the back that caught my eye.
Funnily enough, it was a ball gown. I asked my mum what she thought of it on the hanger and she replied, “Very funny,” thinking that I was mocking her. I ended up trying the dress on and immediately my mum, sisters and I knew it was the one! It was a Lazaro ball gown that had beading and crystals all on the top and the bottom looked like flower petals. (I’m not very good at describing fabrics as you can tell, haha). Not only did I love the way the dress looked, but I felt comfortable enough to move and dance around it… and I could breathe!
A cathedral length veil and sparkly accessories
I didn’t have any hairpieces, but I decided on a cathedral length veil with crystals around the edge. I wore crystal drop earrings, and a think crystal cuff.
Shimmery Jimmy Choo’s
Comfort is super important to me. I’m not enjoying myself if I can’t breathe in a dress or my feet feel like they’re going to fall off. I knew I’d want to be dancing all night so for that reason I decided to go with wedges. I found the perfect pair of Jimmy Choo wedges that were comfortable but still dressy enough for the occasion. The wedge was a silver mirror-like material with a peep toe that had silver shimmer all along the shoe.
the handsome groom
It took a while to find a suit that fit Adam right. He’s 6’3″ so he’s a big guy with a hockey player’s build. When he tried on this black Armani suit with thin piping down the sides it fit him like a glove. He looked so handsome and I was so excited that he was excited about it too. He also went with a cream-coloured bow tie, suede Hugo Boss tuxedo shoes, and David Yurman cufflinks that my mum got for him as a gift.
Mismatched bridesmaids in light pink, coral, and dusty rose
My maid of honour was my younger sister, and my matron of honour was my brother’s wife. My bridesmaids were my new sister-in-law, and three best friends. They all wore bridesmaids dresses from J.Crew in 1 of 3 shades: creme, light pink/coral, and dusty rose. I wanted to go for an ombre look, and the dresses all complimented each woman beautifully. They all seemed to like the outfit and felt beautiful wearing it, which was very important to me. I’m not a fan of weddings where the bridesmaids look ridiculous so that the bride will shine!
a white paper cut-out ketubah with gold accents
My father’s friend from the IDF wanted to purchase us our ketubah from Israel as a gift. We chose a white paper cut-out ketubah with gold accents from an artists he chose in Israel, and came out beautifully.
a magical chuppah design
The four legs of the chuppah were thin, intertwined branches with a floral arrangement of hydrangeas, roses, and orchids at the top. Behind the chuppah were floating glass spheres with candles lit inside of them. We worked with our florist to take our design and bring it to life!
The ceremony
Since my family is Iranian/Israeli and Adam’s is from Canada/Eastern Europe, we combined Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions. I circled around Adam seven times, our Rabbi sung the Sheva Brachot beautifully, we both wore a talit around us, and Adam smashed the glass!
My favourite part of the ceremony itself was that I felt the presence of all eight of our grandparents. Because three of our grandparents had passed, we decided to incorporate them into the ceremony by hanging three tallits over the chuppah instead of just one. One of them actually belonged to my father’s father, as the others were there symbolically.
The miracle of FaceTime
My grandmother, who couldn’t make it to Miami because she had just had serious surgery on her hip, was FaceTime-ing (thanks to my uncle) and I got to see her smiling face during the ceremony. That made me happier than anything, as I was devastated when I found out she wouldn’t be able to make it. We were also fortunate to have our other grandparents walk down the aisle as part of the ceremony. We were truly blessed to be surrounded by everyone we love and care for so much.
music for the ceremony
The string quartet played John Legend’s All of Me for when our bridal party walked down the aisle. When it was my turn, they played The Power of Love by Céline Dion. Since Adam is Canadian, his love for Céline Dion is a running joke, and I thought he’d find it funny if I walked down to one of her songs. He loved the idea and we went with it.
our super talented florist
My favourite flowers are hydrangeas, so those were definitely included. We also had ranunculus, garden roses, dendrobium orchids, etc. Our fabulous florists who did our chuppah, bouquets, centrepieces, etc. were Petal Productions.
The best kosher caterers… and cake!
We didn’t want to make a big deal of our cake. Don’t get me wrong, I loves me some cake, but to spend so much money on something that’s going to be partially eaten and partially thrown out didn’t make sense. We decided to ask our caterer to create a simple lemon cake with raspberry filing, and it tasted delicious. Our overall catering was phenomenal. We went with Aroma Caterers and I have to say the food at our weekend (and that entire weekend) was hands down THE best Kosher food I’ve ever had.
our fabulous photographers
Our planner recommended Stephan Maloman and his team at Maloman Studios. We looked at the work on their website and immediately fell in love with their style. No forced posses, no cheesy prom-like shots. Everything was natural looking and creative. We used them for our engagement photos and the photos reassured us that we made the right choice!
entertainment
Since we wanted to have Persian, Israeli, and American music played, we knew we had to go with a DJ instead of a live band (which we preferred anyway). We decided to go with Iranian DJ’s Alex and Amir of Style Events as we’ve worked with them several times in the past for other family occasions. They kept the party on dance floor the entire night and they knew how to make just the right mix for all of our guests who may have never heard Persian or Israeli music before.
first dance
Our first dance was to Ben E. King’s Stand By Me as that’s what we hope to do for each other for the rest of our lives. 🙂 We asked our parents to pick their songs for our father-daughter and mother-son dances. My dad chose All You Need is Love by The Beatles, and Adam’s mum chose, You Are The Sunshine of My Life by Stevie Wonder.
special mentions
While Adam and I did a lot of the planning, our families were a huge pillar of support. They came with us to meetings, visits to Miami, and gave us the freedom to do what we wanted for our special day, and we appreciated that so much. We were able to fly out Adam’s Rabbi from New Jersey to officiate the wedding to make it feel more authentic and special.
advice to other brides and grooms
Before you walk up to the chuppah, stop, take a deep breath, and look all around you. Soak in your surroundings…the beautiful chuppah, friends and family members that you love and love you, and most importantly, your partner standing at the other end of the aisle. I’m so grateful for that day and I feel like I really took the time to appreciate it, because it flies by in a flash!
Also, something will go wrong. I’m a Type-A organisational freak and some things still didn’t go according to plan. It’s important to let those little things go and just enjoy the day. When it was time for Adam to put the ring on my finger, we realised we didn’t have the right ring under the chuppah. We ended up using his ring so I had to clench my fingers together to make sure it didn’t fall off. Now when we look back at the photos, we can just laugh about the small mixup.
Lemor & Adam’s LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Maloman Studios
Wedding Planner – Jamie Lipman from The Absolute Event.
Venue –Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
Catering – Aroma Caterers
Flowers – Petal Productions
Bride’s dress – Lazaro from Kleinfeld bridal
Bride’s shoes – Jimmy Choo
Groom’s tuxedo – Armani
Groom’s shoes – Hugo Boss
Groom’s cufflinks – David Yurman
Bridesmaids – J.Crew
Hair + Make up – Barak Mizrahi
DJ’s – Alex and Amir from Style Events
I have never seen such beautiful chuppah! Besides, all the decoration is amazing! Everything is full of luxury yet balanced. The oytdoor views are also very special! I think this wedding was just marvelous! By the way, the shots reveal who’s the boss in the family!
The way you put it is spot on… luxury yet balanced! Although this is a sumptuous wedding, it is in no way ostentatious. Every detail is thought through and so very stylish. We love it!
Such a beautiful wedding! I love the sequin table cloths and the florals are to die for! Love that photo of the bride, and I think her dad(?) wiping his eye. So sweet.
Me too… and what about that image of the bride’s grandma watching the ceremony over FaceTime? The look on her face is so moving. A true wedding moment of the digital age! How is your wedding planning going Jill? Do you have a date set?
Lmfao!