We’ve gone international today! We couldn’t be any more thrilled to feature Jane and Adam’s insanely gorgeous Jewish ceremony; it was an utter joy to work with them on their stationery and an even bigger joy to receive their incredible images, taken by Lilly Photography.
We first met Jane in London, at Brides The Show, in 2016, and from then began creating the most beautiful and elegant stationery suite to compliment what we knew would be a show-stopper of a day!
Jane and Adam married in Chicago Botanical Gardens on September 2nd 2018, a location which means a lot to the bride as it sits close to her family home. Though then it seemed like a far-away dream, when Jane was around 7, she told her parents that she, “would marry either a South-African or British man and get married at the Chicago Botanic Garden”. And so it was, she married a British man and got married at the Botanic Garden!
Their venue played a huge part in styling their day, with gorgeous floral touches and decor to enhance the natural yet opulent feel.
“We wanted the wedding to very much reflect ourselves as a couple. We did not have a theme per-say, but rather a specific tagline that we expressed to each of our vendors during our first meetings and throughout the planning process to help create the feeling that we were trying to evoke. “Chic, understated elegance,” was what we came up with. We wanted to create a wedding that was rooted in nature, revealing of the changing season and all things mother-earth. All of the hues that could be found at our wedding were reflective of the season changing from summer to autumn.”
Jane and Adam’s wedding also reflected their culture and faith, with its roots firmly planted in strong Jewish traditions. The bride’s family Rabbi led the ceremony; a beautiful, personal touch which meant a lot to many who attended.
“The wedding service was led by my rabbi, Rabbi Kurtz, from North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. I grew up around him and it was really important to me that he would be the rabbi officiating the wedding.”
Many wonderful Jewish wedding traditions were incorporated into the day, including ceramic kiddush cups, a tallit brought from Israel by the groom’s uncle and an unbelievable chuppah, decorated with asymmetric floral display to mirror the stunning surrounding of the Chicago Botanical Gardens.
“One special touch that we had for our ceremony were custom made ceramic kiddush cups that were handmade in California. We found the designer on Etsy. We loved the idea of having kiddush cups made of clay because it alluded to the grounded-ness and sanctity of a wedding. The value of the cup shouldn’t be in the material, but rather in the blessings made over the cup which sanctify it. Another special touch was a new tallit that Adam’s uncle bought for him in Israel.”
“We wanted our chuppah design to be an extension of all of the gorgeous nature around us. We searched through a lot of images on Pinterest. Eventually, we decided that we would like it to be built of wood poles and covered in asymmetrical clusters of flowers and foliage to keep it looking more natural. We were absolutely in love with the foliage panel backdrop, which was designed by Jessica and her team at HMR Designs. It wouldn’t have been the same without it!”
The bride looked simply incredible in a softly-cascading, strapless gown by Monique Lhuillier, which once again harked back to the sensational backdrop in its gorgeous tone and unstructured feel. On her feet, Jane wore Jimmy Choos in a perfect platinum shade and finished her look with a two-tiered cathedral length veil, for that perfect touch of drama. Adam looked equally wonderful in a charcoal suit from Harris & Zei, which he paired with some seriously stylish forest green loafers, all tying in with the natural yet chic theme.
When it came to invitation design, we were absolutely honoured to work with Jane on a custom suite, featuring natural influences and a delicious amount of gorgeous gold edging!
“We were so lucky to be able to work with Jack from E.Y.I. Love. Together, we created a minimal and elegant invitation card that had gold foiled text and gilt edging. In addition to the English text, we also integrated some Hebrew, which was important to us. The other two stunning elements that we incorporated were a customised envelope lining and breathtaking calligraphy that was written on each guest’s envelope.”
“The envelope lining was uniquely designed from a photo of a succulent which was rendered and formed into a pattern. Each invitation was able to have a slightly different cut of the lining pattern, which made them feel very natural and special. We could not have been more thrilled about working with E.Y.I. Love!”
Guests dined and danced under canvas in a beautiful marquee amongst the flowers and were treated to an incredible menu, and an even more delicious cake, flavoured with vanilla, blood orange and coconut.
“One of the most exciting elements of our wedding that we worked on was actually the menu. We designed nearly the entire menu ourselves, as we both love cooking. The menu featured some incredible dishes and recipes from restaurants and chefs we love, while also incorporating produce and recipes that we put together ourselves. The culmination was a somewhat rustic, seasonal and Mediterranean inspired menu that we loved sharing with our guests at our wedding.”
Reflecting on her big day, Jane had some seriously invaluable advice to share with future brides-to-be.
“One piece of advice that I would love to share with future brides is to have your part in the planning (if that’s what you are into), communicate your ideas, make sure they’re understood, and then beyond that just let the rest go! Trust that your wedding will be beautiful no matter what and any elements that might not be executed exactly as planned will only add to the beauty of your day.”
We couldn’t have been prouder to have worked with such a lovely couple, playing a small part in their incredible day. We wish Jane and Adam every happiness for their future together.
