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
We’re thrilled to be sharing a stunning luxury wedding shoot with you today. The florals are exquisite, the styling impeccable with such wonderful attention to detail. Lovely Michelle from Elegante by Michelle J sent this Jewish wedding inspiration our way, and we were instantly smitten with the floral styling and summery, romantic vibe of the day. Hylands House is a gorgeous venue, a gem hidden away in Essex and one we’re delighted to be featuring here on English Wedding again.
Lovely Michelle has shared some insights into the concept and styling of this inspiration shoot, which we’re so happy to be able to share with you below. I’ve a feeling you’re about to fall in love with some of the incredible suppliers involved – the images are by talented Jewish wedding photographer Claudine Hartzel, floral styling is by the incredible Gabriella Shemtov Floral, stationery from amazing designer Dimitria Jordan. We LOVE the cake by the Honey Bee Wedding Cake Company – it’s such a graceful design with classic gold accents. There’s a breathtaking film of the day by Confetti & Silk, which you can see below. The bride wears a stunning Ersa Atelier dress from bridal boutique Morgan Davies Bridal, with a super elegant up do by Cass Rizzuto and naturally beautiful makeup by Katy Angelidi. The chuppah is from The Happy Chuppah People (well of course!), with key hire items provided by Judaica purveyor Contemporary Judaica. Adding to the magical vibe of the day is harpist Noa Davies.
This shoot was previously featured on Smashing the Glass
Hylands House Wedding- Jewish Inspiration from Goldhanger Films on Vimeo.
Words by Michelle at Elegante by Michelle J
The Venue
I came across Hylands Estate in Essex during the pandemic, whilst using my time to explore new venues and suppliers. I honestly can’t believe that it has escaped the radar for Jewish weddings. It ticks so many boxes for Jewish couples who are based in London, Essex or the South East of England.
- A historic stately manor house, filled with a rich history, yet beautifully and sympathetically restored and renovated in recent years
- Set in acres of the most beautiful grounds
- A permanent Pavillion which can seat up to 300 guests with a stage and dance floor
- Available for dry hire with your own caterer – perfect for kosher catering
- Very accessible, just 45 minutes from North London and even closer for those based in Essex (it is in Chelmsford)
- And finally, a highlight for any couple is their spacious wedding day getting ready “accommodation” which includes a bridal suite, a bridesmaids’ suite with stations for hair and make-up and a groom’s suite
The Styling Concept:
All the couple shots from this shoot showcase the spectacular outdoor setting and the beautiful interiors. Claudine Hartzel and Confetti and Silk Films have captured the venue in all its glory.
For the ceremony and wedding dinner we chose to highlight two very different indoor event spaces. For the Chuppah, we chose the Banqueting Room, a rich luxe traditional space featuring a red textured wall covering and the most beautiful blue and gold ceiling.
In contrast, the Terrace Room, where we hosted our wedding dinner, is a calm oasis with a muted green colour palette, masses of natural light and the feeling of “bringing the outside in”.
As with any wedding, it was important that the design presented a cohesive look across the two very different spaces and for this I relied heavily on Gabriella Shemtov whose florals take your breath away.
In Gabriella’s words…
When collaborating on this shoot, Michelle and I agreed that we wanted to achieve a light and airy, unstructured, meadow like aesthetic. We planned to use a lot of foliage with touches of flowers. This would tie in beautifully with all the accessories Michelle had already selected to compliment the beautiful rooms at The Hylands Estate. We really wanted to maximise on how stunningly they have been decorated, each so different from the next.
The chuppah flowers in particular were designed to lead your eye up towards the magnificent blue and gold ceiling in the Banqueting Room. Rather than dressing the chuppah with the flowers at the top of the canopy, we decided to create a winding effect from the base upwards, as the ceiling really does speak for itself and we didn’t want to distract from its beauty.
I decided that I would use an abundance of British grown product from local flower farmers as the product lends itself much more to a dainty English garden look, and the flowers are naturally more variegated in colour. In addition, it is always nice to buy from and support small London based businesses, especially those who have been hit hard by the pandemic. While the product is overall more expensive than growers abroad who work on a much larger scale, there is something so unique and beautiful about British grown products bought in season.
For reference some of the flowers and foliage we used are listed here, though this is by no means a conclusive list: Asparagus Fern, Grasses, Daucous, Bupleurum, Euphorbia, Hesperis, Snapdragos, Pansies, Sainfoin, Orlaya, Ranunculus, Foxgloves and Roses. Our colour pallet was greens, whites, creams, soft pinks and red.
In addition to the usual floral items for a Jewish wedding – chuppah, dinner tables, bouquet and buttonhole – we also decided to make a feature of the fireplace in the Terrace Room. Gabriella created a magnificent floral installation, which not only set the scene for the wedding reception, but also provided a glorious backdrop for the bedecken and then the wedding cake.
Further Details:
The chuppah itself was supplied by The Happy Chuppah People. Their Primrose Hill wooden chuppah fitted the room exceptionally well.
Our Judaica for the Chuppah including the tallit, kippah, ketubah and wine cup were supplied by Contemporary Judaica.
Additionally, we decided that the room lent itself perfectly to including a harpist and we were delighted to showcase Noa Davis as part of this shoot, who played for both the Chuppah and the wedding dinner.
We dressed our dinner tables with tableware and glassware supplied by Options Great Hire and linens by Just 4 Linen.
Also on the tables were menus and table numbers designed by Dimitria Jordan who also designed the invitation suite and escort display which featured bookmarks.
We included a wedding cake by Essex based wedding supplier the Honey Bee Wedding Cake company.
Fashion was supplied by Morgan Davies Bridal, Harriet Wilde shoes and Impeccable Menswear and Rockman Jewellery. Our model bride was dressed in “Dotterine by Ersa Atelier”.
Make up by Katy Angelidi and hair by Cass Rizzuto
