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Jessica & Yosi’s Traditional Jewish Wedding

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How did you and your partner meet?

My husband and I were in the same group of friends as I had recently moved in with his best friend’s sister. The first day we met was at a Good Vibrations festival in 2008, and from that moment we were inseparable.

How did he propose?

Yosi came up with quite an elaborate lie about going out for dinner with his boss. He asked me to come and meet him for pre-drinks before dinner at his boss’s room in the Crown Towers. He also sent a car to come and pick me up – I didn’t suspect a thing!

He met me downstairs at Crown towers and led me up to the room, he let me open the door and the first thing I noticed were rose petals all over the floor, candles around the room and long stem red roses.

I started saying what is happening about a million times, as he walked over to the T.V to turn on the music (Truly, Madly deeply – Savage Garden). The music was a bit loud so we moved to the other room, and he started saying lovely words and dropped to one knee. I cried like crazy and forgot to say yes as I kissed him instead.

After all of the excitement, before all the phone calls and social media engagement announcements, he tells me we have a booking at Nobu for dinner in 1 hour and I needed to look at a list of people he had invited to our engagement party the following night, just make sure he hadn’t forgotten anyone.

This completely floored me and I absolutely loved it because it all happened while we were still so excited we would be celebrating with all of our friends.

The next day he had booked me in for hair and makeup, time to go shopping for a dress and shoes, and we went to the Taste food festival during the day. He had thought of everything and made the whole experience completely unforgettable. I married an amazing man!

How did you choose your wedding gown?

I did not prepare before choosing my wedding dress. I drove my family and bridesmaids absolutely crazy, we went to about 12 shops and tried on countless dresses, all which looked lovely but just weren’t “The One”. It was one afternoon when I was able to get all of my bridesmaids and my parents together, and we went into Raffael Ciuca for the 3rd time.

My mom picked out a dress that I didn’t like and I humored her and tried it on. As soon as the veil was put on, my parents and the bridesmaids all started crying, including myself.

What sort of style did you envision for your wedding day?

We wanted all white and classic theme for the ceremony to tie back to traditional Jewish Heritage. We wanted to make sure we catered for everyone and of course wanted the reception to be the best party ever!

At the reception, we had party ballet slippers for the ladies in all different sizes and for the men we had a scotch and cigar table with 3 types of scotch available for consumption.

At about 10pm we had Latin dancers come in with costumes and props, this got absolutely everyone on the dance floor, they did a limbo competition and also taught the guests a dance routine. We had great feedback from our guests.

What was your favorite moment from the day?

Entering the reception was my favorite moment from my big day. I was a little tense up until that moment as it felt like there was so much more to still happen. When we walked in and started dancing, all the pressure was taken off.

Any DIY décor elements for your Jewish wedding?

We bought cigar humidors for displaying the cigars, these were then given to our fathers as gifts after the wedding.

We also had about 10 white framed photos of us growing up as children and a couple of our favorite photo’s together at the entrance table where we had the guest book and wishing well.

My husband surprised me with a slide show of the two of us throughout our entire relationship. It was a special and memorable touch that played in the background for the entire night.

If you could do it all over again, what would you change?

Absolutely nothing! After following a wedding planning guide, everything went according to plan.

Any tips that you can give to future brides?

Two days before the wedding day, I had arranged for a couple’s massage and spa and a lovely dinner for the two of us. I made sure I set myself a cut off time for the wedding planning and finalizing of details which was 4pm. This deadline meant that I pushed really hard to get the final details sorted before it was time to relax with my fiancé for the last time before we were married.

That time together was so special because I was relaxed and there was nothing more I could do. We enjoyed a fantastic evening before we separated the next morning for the day/night apart before the wedding.

Another tip is to give each person from the bridal party a section of the run sheet/date that they are responsible for. They had phone numbers of the vendors and their job was to make sure that each of the suppliers were on time and as per the plan. They were instructed that if something went wrong, they had full authority to make a decision to fix the issue, we didn’t want to know about it and they were to take care of it. We didn’t find out until the next day what didn’t go to plan which was amazing so the day was completely seamless for us and we didn’t need to worry about anything.

Watch Jessica and Yosi’s gorgeous Jewish wedding here:

httpss://vimeo.com/121836138

Vendors
Dress: Maggie Sottero from Raffaele Ciuca / Makeup: Make-up by Tara Melbourne / Hair: Transforma Health & Beauty / Bridesmaids Dresses: Forever New / Grooms Suit: Twelve Tailors / Photographer: Field of Vision Photography / Stationery: Adorn Invitations / Flowers: Flos Florum Malvern / Ceremony Venue: J.F.Kennedy Memorial – Treasury Gardens / Reception Venue: River Room, Crown Casino / Videographer: Jason Hodge Films / Photo booth: Shutter Photo booth / Ceremony Marquees & Furniture: The Wedding Zone