Our love of intimate weddings and after parties started back in 2020. It’s an approach to weddings I absolutely adore: meaningful ceremonies with closest family and friends, followed at a later date by epic celebrations. Katie and Jonathan did this beautifully, realising after they’d had their civil wedding that they loved the idea of hosting an unforgettable celebration in a contemporary space in London. Having just 6 weeks to plan everything, they turned to luxury Jewish wedding planner Elegante by Michelle J to curate and plan their dream wedding!
The Engine Rooms is far from your typical wedding venue – but it does have character. By day the showroom is filled with classic cars. By night, it transforms to a wedding and party space for up to 350 guests – perfect for Katie and Jonathan’s Jewish wedding celebrations.
Transforming a blank canvas venue into a wedding space is never easy, and in this case, hiring an experienced, lovely, and highly-recommended wedding planner was a must. (Katie and Jonathan had already booked Totem for their wedding entertainment and Adam Nathan as their catering company, both of whom recommended Jewish wedding planner Michelle Jacobs.) Michelle did a beautiful job bringing floral styling and luxury details to soften the venue’s aesthetics and give it a dusky, modern wedding feeling. Michelle also sourced their wonderful photographer Claudine Hartzel.
Michelle created a floorplan that incorporated each of the event spaces and made each area feel as though it flowed into the next. “We also had a production team to make the space feel curated and designed with staging, lighting and dance floor. Production is an important part of any immersive experience, no matter the size.” – Michelle Jacobs, Elegante by Michelle J.
How to plan a wedding in 6 weeks
“When asked about how to plan a wedding in 6 weeks, my advice would be this: although your lead time is shorter, don’t treat the complexity and detail of the day any differently than you would a big wedding planned over a full year. If you are daunted by the prospect of pulling everything together in a short time frame and already have the majority of your suppliers booked, but want some expert support in the form of wedding planning consultancy, the Elegante Piccolo service was designed for you. Don’t be intimidated by the weight of it all: invest in expert support, and no one will ever know your event hasn’t been months in the planning.” ~ Michelle Jacobs
- Elegante By Michelle J
- The Engine Rooms Event Spaces
- Claudine Hartzel Photography
- Blue Sky Flowers
- Totem Superstars
- Options Greathire
- Adam Nathan Catering
- The Happy Chuppah People
- HSH Productions
If I ask you right now, what is a wedding? I’m guessing the occasion that springs to mind will be at least a little formal, decorative, perhaps with someone in a white dress or a gold or red lehenga, guests in sparkly or flowery summer attire and plenty of suits and ties. These are the things we can’t help ourselves expecting, based on everything the media and tradition tells us a wedding ‘should’ be.
I’d like to challenge that expectation today, and suggest that perhaps, a wedding is simply a celebration of love between two people, where absolutely anything goes. It can be quiet, carefully planned and elegantly styled, or like Emily and Jimmy’s day, it can be joyful, raucous and 100% YOU. As a wedding blogger, these unique celebrations are the weddings I adore most of all.
All images in this amazing blog are by documentary wedding photographers York Place Studios
So Emily and Jimmy’s day, shared with us by award-winning photographers York Place Studios, has traditional elements as you’ve never seen them before. Emily wears a gorgeous dress, Jimmy a fabulous suit… but these two wear their personalities with absolute confidence and pride, and the style of the wedding is uniquely them, in the most brilliant way. There’s a chuppah, and a smashing the glass ceremony honouring Jewish wedding traditions… but the couple are otherwise barefoot and Jimmy walks back down the aisle with one shoe on.
Before I leave you to soak in the atmosphere of this amazingly personal wedding, I wanted to highlight a couple of things we often think are non negotiable at weddings… but which Emily and Jimmy did completely differently!
1. What the couple should wear: often a classic dress or suit for the daytime, something more relaxed for dancing in the evening. See Jimmy’s gorgeous floral print and Emily’s epic tassels at the end of this post!
2. How to seat your guests for the ceremony: chairs or at least haybales in rows, for every guest? Or vintage rugs so everyone can huddle and relax with their favourites!
3. What should the person waiting at the end of the aisle do? Look? Don’t turn around until the last minute? This can be a tricky moment, especially if you’re both nervous and forget to discuss it first! Do as Jimmy did: he turned to watch Emily approach, flung his arms wide as soon as he saw her, and swept a classic, Shakespearian bow to his lady as she reached him! Most enthusiastic welcome I’ve ever seen… and a moment the couple will remember forever!
4. Shoes? Entirely up to you. (But definitely required for any smashing of glass – don’t try it barefoot!)
5. What should wedding guests wear? Anything that sparks joy… and the sparks in this wedding are a blaze of fun and colour!
Captured by the inimitable and adored York Place Studios, masters of documentary wedding photography across the UK and overseas. Discover everything you need to know about documentary wedding photography here, and (for photographers) explore their groundbreaking book Is This Something – which offers a perspective on wedding photography which might just change the way you see everything.
I’d say this Plas Dinam wedding was adorable, but honestly the alpacas take it to the next level! Helen and David make a gorgeous couple, the atmosphere is pure joy and the pops of colour everywhere make this day look perfect. Keep scrolling for some stunning images by Bristol wedding photographer Martin Dabek, and some fabulous supplier recommendations from Helen and David!
Wedding photographer’s website
Plas Dinam wedding photographer Martin Dabek https://martindabek.com
Wedding photographer review
Martin was amazing and such an integral part of the weekend. He gave us so much invaluable advice in the run up to, and on the day. We really enjoyed having lots of little photo shoots throughout the day, which gave us a chance to escape the madness and have some lovely quiet moments as a couple. Martin was so friendly and easy going that he really felt like a part of the wedding party! And needless to say, the photos are absolutely stunning.
Your best wedding moment or memory
David surprised me with a little visit from the Alpacas! (https://admiralsviewalpacas.co.uk/) I have absolutely no idea how he managed to keep that a secret but I was very impressed and it was such an adorable surprise. I also can’t think back to our speeches without shedding a tear, everyone was so lovely and funny, and I’m so glad we opened up the floor to impromptu toasts at the end.
Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)
As we officially tied the knot during lockdown, for our wedding party we combined all of our favourite parts of the traditional ceremonies from our respective cultures. From the Jewish side we had a beautiful Chuppah and had our family recite the seven blessings, we shared a cup of wine and at the end of the ceremony David broke the customary glass. From the Persian side we had the Sofreh table, displaying symbolic items, and my brother did a traditional reading, whilst happily married women dusted us with sugar to ‘sweeten’ the marriage. It all felt very special and unique to us and was one of my favourite parts of the day.
Venue name + review
Plas Dinam was our dream venue and worked perfectly for what we wanted.
It was so special to have all our loved ones with us for a whole weekend in such a beautiful venue. The team were so helpful during planning and on the weekend itself, ensuring that everything ran smoothly and all of our slightly less traditional plans (alpacas, laser tag!) went off without a hitch.
Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!
I was very keen on buying a second hand wedding dress and was so lucky to find my dream dress on Still White. I am obsessed with its detachable sleeves and pockets!
Florist name + review
Tammy at TMS events (https://tmsevents.co.uk/) was brilliant from the very beginning and helped bring my vision to life with nothing more than a screenshot from pinterest and the words ‘feathers’ and ‘moss’. She understood exactly the vibe we were going for and the end result blew me away.
Any crafty projects or special styling touches?
I made our welcome sign and the seating plan, as well as the place settings, the programmes and the tags for the favours. The biggest shout out goes to my brother-in-law who did the most amazing job of decorating the stable ceiling beams!
We couldn’t get away without mentioning our favourite fudge shop The Fudge Patch who supplied our wedding favours and an unsightly amount of fudge for our sweet table!
Hair + makeup name + review
Rebecca Forshaw
Rebecca was so lovely and we all felt so relaxed. We had a really good trial beforehand and made some adjustments on the day and it all came together beautifully-my hair stayed in until the Monday morning! (when I reluctantly had to give it a brush)
—-dowm
—her
I am absolutely smitten with this amazing London wedding. If you love peonies, you’re in for a treat! Bianca and Jordan were wed at Fairmont Hotel Windsor Park, a grand country house on the edge of historic Windsor Great Park. The day was planned and beautifully styled by Michelle and her team of luxury wedding planners at Elegante by Michelle J. The happy couple look fabulous – follow our insta for some incredible dress pics over the weekend!
The colour palette was rose gold and shades of pink, which look stunning from day to night. The floral styling by Flowers by Miri is the icing on the cake of a beautiful day, planned by luxury wedding planner Elegante by Michelle J.
“Our wedding planner was the wonderful Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J. My family had used her for my sister’s wedding in Italy so we knew we wanted to use her again for mine. She was amazing and really helped guide us through the process and really understood our vision and what was important to us. The whole team were great on the day and made it really stress free, any concerns we had Michelle would deal with it for us and we knew we were in the best hands.”
The glamour and elegance packed into this wedding make the day a visual treat! The happy couple were featured on the wonderful Smashing the Glass wedding blog, and you can read more from them there.
More fave photos over at @englishweddingblog on insta – see you there!
Photography – Paul Santos
Flowers – Flowers by Miri
Videography – Denee Motion
Planner – Elegante by Michelle J
Stationery – Big Day Designs
Bridal boutique – The Wedding Club
Venue – The Fairmont Hotel
Bride’s dress – Berta
Bride’s shoes – Miu Miu
Bridesmaids – Lipsy
Hair – Hair by Slo
Band – Club Live
Catering – Ben Tenenblatt
Chazan – Jonny Turgel
Rabbi – Rabbi Brandman
Production – Powerhouse Hire
Furniture Hire – Furniture 4 Events
Toastmaster – Toastmaster James Hasler
This stunning wedding in Tuscany was sent in by English Wedding member and luxury destination wedding planner Elegante by Michelle J. It’s the most wonderful inspiration for couples planning a wedding in Italy, and showcases one of Tuscany’s loveliest venues: Villa Orlando.
Words: Elegante by Michelle J // Images: James Mason Photography
Natasha and Marc’s vision for their wedding day was to get married overlooking a lake, and on our venue search trip to Italy they knew Villa Orlando was the one immediately. It’s a privately owned villa on the edge of the lake. Their guests all stayed about 20 minutes away in Viareggio which is one of Tuscany’s coastal resorts, and we held their welcome party in a beach club. The venue was kept a secret until the day of the wedding.
Natasha & Marc’s Italian wedding suppliers:
Photography – James Mason
Planner – Elegante by Michelle J
Stationery – Bigday Designs
Videography – Whites Film
Venue – Villa Orlando
Bride’s dress – Lihi Hod
Hair + Makeup – Your Wedding Beauty Team
Flowers – Il Giardino delle Fate Flower Design
Band – Muzika
Catering – Le Bon Ton
Stationery Illustrations – Anna Jayne Designs
Production – Alma Project
The venue presented a logistical challenge as it is still a family home, and for a wedding we only have access to the outdoor spaces. This means we had to bring in everything from generators and toilets to kitchen equipment, furniture, sound and lighting.
We used different areas of the property for different parts of the wedding. The chuppah took place in front of the villa by the lake, the aperitivo by the boat house and the dinner and dancing behind the villa. The unusual layout meant it took a lot of discussion to work out where to place the stage, dance floor and bar. We developed a unique layout with the top table beside the dance floor, but it made for a wonderful atmosphere.
About the wedding day team:
I used my network of wonderful wedding suppliers across Italy to recommend a team that would bring Natasha and Marc’s day to life. As a specialist in destination Jewish weddings, I was able to bring their vision to fruition and exceed expectations.
Natasha always wanted to get married under a chuppah that emulated a tree, so we worked with Il Giardino delle Fate Flower Design and they built a beautiful chuppah with four ‘tree trunks’ for legs. The structure was covered in spiralling white roses and topped with green and white florals and foliage. The floral team worked with our green and white colour palette to create table arrangements of vases and grouped candles, placed on mirrors to reflect the candlelight, with cascades of florals and chic green and white patterned napkins.
Bigday Designs created their on-the-day wedding stationery, featuring venue illustrations by Anna Jayne Designs.
Natasha’s Look:
Natasha wore Audrey by Lihi Hod, a gown she had been dreaming of wearing since even before her engagement. Her wedding day look was brought together by Consuelo of Your Wedding Beauty Team, along with the bridesmaids and both mums.
The food:
Kosher catering was provided by Le Bon Ton, based in Rome, and featured typically Italian food including a lavish aperitivo with live cooking stations, followed by pasta and fish courses and a dessert buffet. They also had a traditional Italian millefoglie wedding cake show beneath the chuppah, repurposing the space beautifully.
The entire day was set to the soundtrack of Muzika from the UK. Their Israeli singer sang at the chuppah along with their keys and sax player, and the sax and trumpet then led guests through to the drinks reception area and played on the boat house roof. In the evening the full live band was on stage, and the dace floor was full all night long. Alma Project provided staging, sound and lighting to enable us to keep the party going.
The day was captured by James Mason, who the family had worked with before, and Whites Film for videography.
This wedding is making waves! Natasha and Marc’s gorgeous celebrations have been featured on Jewish wedding blog Smashing the Glass, and on 5 Star Wedding Directory.
