A Halfpenny London Bride for an interfaith Mexican-Jewish wedding at Searcys at 30 Pavilion Road, Knightsbridge, London, UK

The last few weeks have been filled to the brim with all sorts of events and meetings… all in the name of work! From admiring the 2017 bridal collections at White Gallery London to a meeting with the Vivienne Westwood couture team in central London to the fabulous Not On The High Street press event where I got to meet the wonderful Kate Halfpenny and see her phenomenal wedding dress designs firsthand. Having been a fan of Kate’s for a long time (since I first heard her speak  at Paperfest in 2014) I’m delighted to be finally featuring a bride wearing one of her vintage-inspired Halfpenny London gowns in today’s interfaith (let’s call it Mexi-Jew!) fusion Jew-ish wedding.

Yes, today’s wedding features a surprise Mexican mariachi band singing Hava Nagila and Siman Tov… Epic, right?

And when it’s all captured by Matt Parry, you know it’s going to be utterly superb. Matt is one of those photographers whose work makes me do a little dance whenever I see it – there is something so very creative and fresh about his style – and I’m so happy to be able to say that today’s couple booked him after discovering his work on Smashing The Glass (which definitely elicits another happy dance from me!).

how we met

Liz, the Bride: Freddie and I met six years ago whilst I was living in London with friends.  We met at a club and exchanged phone numbers. We went on a date and I spent the rest of my time in London with him.

When I returned to Mexico we assumed that that was the end of our whirlwind romance, however two years later I came back to London for the Olympics and I met up with Freddie and we ended spending the entire summer together. The following summer I was back in London for work and after spending yet another summer together we finally decided to give it a go. I moved to London and the rest as they say is history…

We chose this venue as Freddie and his family used to live less than 100 yards away. As Freddie’s mum mentioned in her speech it felt like coming home…

Choosing to get married in Knightsbridge, London

We got married at Searcys at 30 Pavilion Road in Knightsbridge on 17^th January 2016. We chose this venue as Freddie and his family used to live less than 100 yards away. As Freddie’s mum mentioned in her speech it felt like coming home…

A Mexican-Jewish theme

Our wedding theme was a Mexican- Jewish wedding and it was all organised by Freddie’s mum Paula and his sister Sophie.

Invitation design

Our invitation was quirky with a mixture of fonts, a bowler hat and a sombrero.

hair + make up

I wanted a very simple classic look and after a number of makeup trials my sister helped me as she knew exactly what I wanted.

bridesmaids

My bridesmaids were my sister and sister in law and my flower girl was Freddie’s niece. They all wore lovely blue dresses and all the male members of the family wore Hermès ties in various shades of blue to complement the bridesmaid’s dresses.

A Halfpenny London wedding dress

My beautiful dress came from Halfpenny London. It was utterly unique with a full length hand embroidered  tulle skirt in taffeta with a silk cami top.  The inspiration came from the dress worn by Olivia Palermo on her wedding day.

I complimented my dress with some beautiful jewellery given to me by my two grandmothers who sadly were not present.

As far as shoes were concerned I wore high ivory stilettos (as Freddie is really tall) and later changed into ivory Converse to ensure I was comfortable later on.

An interfaith Jew-ish wedding ceremony

We had a solo singer, Maria Jordan, performing a laid back repertoire of songs such as Everlasting Love, What Can I Do, and Ho Hey to welcome the guests before the ceremony during our champagne reception.

Our two registrars were wonderful and bought a lot character to the ceremony by taking their time to be engaging with the room. Freddie’s brother’s partner read a poem called “on your wedding day” which was very special. Two stand out parts for me were walking down the aisle with my dad to Sunrise and the shouts of mazel tov from the guests at the end of the ceremony!

Music by Maria Jordan

After the ceremony we walked out to Let There Be Love (the Nat King Cole version sang by Maria).

This was Maria’s first wedding singing Jewish songs which she learned through studying YouTube videos we sent her. A few friends have asked for her details as they thought she was a seasoned pro with the Jewish songs. She sang them incredibly.

flowers

The florist was Gingerlily Flowers and the flowers used were memory lane roses, white hydrangea, gypsophila and lilac limonium. The bridal bouquet was roses, hydrangea and freesia.

In addition the florist work together with the caterer to decorate the wedding cake with a floral decoration.

Catering by Philip Small

Our wedding was catered by Philip Small who put on a Sunday Roast style buffet. We had a large selection of mains and sides and Phillip was a delight to work with from start  to finish – he helped us plan the whole schedule of the day!

a red velvet, vanilla and chocolate wedding cake!

Our cake was made up of three layers; red velvet, vanilla and chocolate. We knew we didn’t want three layers of the same filling and Phillip suggested these combinations. We opted for a very simple design with a floral decoration.

A Mariachi band singing both Mexican and Jewish songs

During the luncheon we were surprised with a Mariachi band which came in singing the famous Mexican song Cielito Lindo followed by a number of famous Jewish wedding songs such Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, Siman Tov and Hava Nagila. This was a beautiful mix of both my Mexican background and Freddie’s Jewish religion.

tequila bottle favours

My family brought tequila bottles from tequila, Mexico for us to give our guests as favours. They were engraved with our names and the date of our marriage.

Our fabulous photographer

Our photographer was Matt Parry and we chose him as we felt his photos offered an alternative creative edge to them. Matt was definitely the right choice for us. From the moment we met him in the morning he was a delight to work with. He slowly eased us in from an easy photo outside the hotel to standing in the middle of the Knightsbridge traffic! When we received our photos a few weeks after the wedding we were happy to say they were incredible.

More live music

Maria and her band sang a more relaxed live lounge style of songs during the party set of songs post dinner.

speeches

Following a welcome speech by Freddie’s mother, Freddie’s two brothers and sister joined together to make one hilarious speech on their recollections of what life was like growing up with Freddie. My Dad gave the father of the bride speech in Spanish which was translated by my brother.

advice to brides and grooms currently planning their wedding

I enjoyed every single minute of my wedding day, from the moment I woke up until the party was over. I was so lucky to have my amazing mother-in-law and sister-in-law organise the wedding, so for me it was stress-free wedding!

My advice would be to remember this day will never come back and it passes by so quick that all we can do is enjoy it and try to have mental pictures to relive it in our minds. It’s really not worth stressing about anything! For me, an example is that one of my false eyelashes came off after the champagne reception. I could have stressed about it, ran to the rest rooms and spend time trying to fix but I chose not to even think about it and kept enjoying it as if nothing had happened – and no one even noticed it!

Liz & Freddie’s LITTLE WHITE BOOK

Photography – Matt Parry Photography
Venue + catering – Searcys at 30 Pavilion Road
Catering – Philip Small
Flowers – Gingerlily Flowers
Bride’s dress – Halfpenny London
Bride’s shoes – Converse
Groom’s suit – Hugo Boss
Stationery – Little Angel Weddings
Entertainment – Maria Jordan and Hard Candi
Hair – Olaf Bultus
Make Up – Bride’s sister

The post A Halfpenny London Bride for an interfaith Mexican-Jewish wedding at Searcys at 30 Pavilion Road, Knightsbridge, London, UK appeared first on Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog.