I might be a bit biased since I live there but I do love a lovely London wedding. This one took place mere minutes from the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street, just a few steps up a side street the noise disappears, a plethora of stunning buildings and little garden squares appear which is where 11 Cavendish Square is tucked away. Office Manager Eleanor and Marine Insurance Underwriter Simon, married on the 31st of August 2014 in a beautiful Jewish ceremony, explained in lovely detail by Eleanor. An underlying penguin theme adds a fun factor and watch out for the gorgeous image of Eleanor in the middle of the dance floor with her best girls holding her dress around her.
The dress, by the way, was found via the one and only Elizabeth Avey of London – who Annabel tells me one of the best vintage wedding dress suppliers in the world. Did you see this image on the Love My Dress Instagram account last night of Kate Moss wearing a show-stopping piece sourced by Elizabeth?
“A Jewish wedding was very important to both of us, so the day revolved around Jewish tradition and practice. We both live and work in London so we were never in any doubt that we would get married in the city. Turns out we ended up getting married very centrally – just behind Oxford Street. As soon as we saw 11 Cavendish Square we knew we’d found the perfect place.”
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Gee Sagoo
“We were both searching for the right person, and met through Match.com. Simon ‘winked’ at me in hope, and was apparently surprised to get a message back. We arranged a date in Covent Garden in April 2011, to which we were both 40 minutes early.
The proposal took place in Tromso in Norway at the frozen lake at the top of the town. It was just the two of us, on 12th December 2012 (12.12.12! – apparently the date was not planned). We then celebrated with a trip to see the Northern Lights. It was all so immensely romantic and perfect.”
Eleanor’s beautiful 1940’s dress is just perfection. From the slightly raised front hem to the movement of the brocade fabric she embodies radiance and happiness. Her hair style adds a nod to vintage and the heirloom pearl accessories with a spritz of Chanel Chance complete the look.
“Elizabeth Avey has a studio near where we live and I decided to visit her based on a recommendation. I was a bit nervous, not being a size 8/10 and worried nothing vintage would fit, though I went along anyway. The dress I chose in the end wasn’t something I’d have ordinarily picked for myself, but as soon as I put it on, I knew it was perfect.”
“The brocade seemed to shine in the sunlight, and I loved the detail – the pointed sleeves, the train, the scalloped neck. It’s a very special dress. I knew I’d feel comfortable enough to dance, enjoy the food and yet, feel like a fabulous bride. Simon was absolutely blown away by how I looked and raved about the dress all day, which is as much as any bride can hope for in feeling special.”
Eleanor took care to make sure that her bridesmaids would be comfortable on the day. Jewish ceremonies require that shoulders should be covered so these elegant grey Eliza J dresses fit the bill perfectly. Yellow bouquets added a beautiful pop of colour.
The adorable flower girl stole the show in a gorgeous tulle Pierce II Fionda dress.
“Our photographer Gee was recommended by friends so we arranged to meet him for a chat – he came prepared, had researched the venue and Jewish weddings and was really excited to get involved. We went to see the venue with him and he was so enthusiastic we really felt happy with our choice of photographer. On the day we barely noticed he was there but looking back on the photos, Gee and his assistant didn’t miss a thing and managed to grab photos of everything we wanted.
His photos are beautiful and we are so happy with them.”
“Alexandra specialises in flowers for Jewish weddings and really knows what she’s doing. We used a colour theme to decide the flowers for the Chuppah and table flowers and I knew that I really wanted a waterfall bouquet with traditional roses and calla lilies. She did a fantastic job and the flowers were beautiful.”
Simon had a bespoke suit made for him and the best men and ushers wore their own grey suits to compliment the grey theme
“A Jewish wedding ceremony has two distinct portions; the ‘Bedekin’ and the ‘Chuppah’. The former is a private formal ceremony (civil vows, signing of the Hebrew marriage contact – the ‘Ketubah’, and a personal blessing from the Rabbi) and witnessed only by family and a couple of friends. This was probably the most emotional part of the day, as in keeping with traditional Jewish practice, we had spent the week preceding our wedding apart. As a result the anticipation and emotion of seeing each other was beyond description. When we caught sight of each other’s eyes when the doors opened, everyone in the room started crying.”
“Our friend Victoria flew all the way from Australia to come to our wedding and read an extract from ‘The Prophet’by Kahlil Gibran.
‘…Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.’”
“A quartet choir sang us down the aisle for the second part, both walking with our respective parents. We were married under a Chuppah, beautifully decorated in flowers with our friends and family around us. It was very special and inclusive; the choir sang the blessings throughout the ceremony which we felt was very powerful in creating an engaging atmosphere.
At the conclusion of the ceremony Simon smashed a glass under his foot, everyone shouted ‘Mazel Tov!’, and we were married.”
“Laura Humphrey came up with such a cute design for our save the dates and invitations. She also designed the table plan and provided us with penguins for our place cards.”
“We decided to give everyone a penguin book as a favour with a personalised and dated Library ticket inside. We chose some erotic/love versions for some of our friends which went down well in breaking the ice on the tables.”
“Perele did a great job of our kosher cake. We chose lemon, chocolate and coffee layers with penguins on top complete with a kippah for the male.”
“The wedding developed fairly organically. We love books so started looking at having fun save the dates using Penguin books. For some reason, the penguins began to take over as a sub theme although it was never meant to be like that.”
“We took a bit of a chance with Hullabaloo having never seen them live but they completely blew us away on the day. They were just brilliant and read the audience perfectly – getting everyone up and moving. My Granny even got up with all of the girls to sing Ride Sally Ride which was hilarious. After the first dance, the band got going with some traditional Israeli music and we found ourselves being spun around by our nearest and dearest, then on chairs being held up above our guests – it was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time!”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“When planning use other weddings as your guide – did you notice the decorations? The intricate favours? Did it mean you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy the wedding any more or less? Or did you enjoy seeing the bride and groom happy? Then use that to realise the only thing that matters in the end is marrying the love of your life and being happy.
There’s no need to ask people if they are having a good time – they will be, so let go, relax and take a minute every hour to stand, look around and enjoy what you see around you.”
Thank you so much Eleanor and Simon for sharing your beautiful wedding with our readers. Are any of you thinking of wearing vintage for your big day, a trip to Elizabeth Avey’s beautiful London studio should be your next stop.
If you would like to explore more Jewish weddings on Love My Dress, you can do so here – there is also a rather wonderful wedding blog dedicated to Jewish Weddings called ‘Smashing The Glass‘, run by the very lovely blogger Karen.
Love Caoimhe xx
Photographer – Gee Sagoo
Venue – 11 Cavendish Square
Dress – Elizabeth Avey + Veil Gold Needle in N8 + Shoes Rainbow Club
Bridesmaid’s Dresses – Eliza J + Jewellery Lilac Coast
Flowergirl’s Dress – Pierce II Fionda
Groom’s Suit – King and Allen + Tie
Hair – Ciaran O’Kane
Make Up – Harriet Crane
Cake – Perele’s Cakes
Florist – Alexandra’s Florist
Rings – Star Jewellers
Stationery – Purplemunkee Graphic Design
Entertainment – Hullabaloo
Caoimhe Anderson View all Caoimhe's articles
Caoimhe will never tire of beautiful wedding dress and a blooming flower crown. When she's not lusting after a gorgeous wedding she will be trying new vegetarian recipes, knitting very slowly or capturing a pink sunset from behind a camera lens.
