I am whole-heartedly in love with this super sassy, achingly chic wedding set in the magnificent Home House , one of my favourite places in London (and the place I chose to get ready for my wedding and spend the first night of married life!).
Think sophisticated fashion and an abundance of green and white blooms mixed in with some brilliant creative details, a vintage Rolls Royce, so much love and warmth, and a wonderfully intimate Jew-ish wedding ceremony, complete with a beautiful chuppah and of course the smashing of the glass!
I first heard from the bride two years ago when she emailed me looking for ideas for her interfaith ceremony, and I was so flattered to hear how the blog had helped her in the planning of her Jewish-Catholic wedding.
I just wanted to say thank you for Smashing The Glass – I’ve found it massively helpful! I am Catholic and my fiancé is Jewish, so we really want to combine the best of both religions, and as the planning has fallen to me I’ve found it a really helpful resource to refer to.”
These kind of emails are the sort of thing that I thrive on so thank you so much Jess!
And isn’t she just the most stunning Bride? She has that natural, thrown together look we all long for, but somehow never achieve (or maybe that’s just me). She wears the most astonishing vintage Ossie Clark dress paired with Bionda Castana courts. Simply divine.
And the groom rocks the fashion stakes too with a very sharp suit, and you won’t want to miss the brilliant message sewn on the inside of his collar which is revealed right at the bottom of the post. It’s a MUST SEE – it will definitely make you chuckle!
I want to also single out the couple’s exquisite stationery designed by the super lovely and talented Ruth Kaye Design and calligraphed by the ludicrously talented Paul Antonio Scribe . I know these suppliers very well and it’s so good to see their work at the epicentre of this wedding.
Of course it’s not just the decor and creative details that make a wedding awesome, it’s how much of a good time everyone is having and this lot are having A REALLY GOOD time, all captured by the wonderfully talented Rebecca Goddard whose work I’m thrilled to be featuring on the blog today. Enjoy this one folks…
Choosing to get married at Home House London
Jess, the Bride: We got married at Home House in Portman Square. We loved the classic Georgian architecture and history of the venue, and for us it really epitomised old London style. We felt that we could have a really personal and intimate reception there, rather than being part of the wedding ‘churn.’ We also really liked the event co-ordinator, Alice Markes, who was so helpful and accommodating. Nothing was too much trouble for her.
Styling and decor
The decor and colour scheme for our wedding was very simple as the venue was so stunning. All it needed was simple, classic colours, so we used lots of whites and greens. Our stationer Ruth Kaye Design gave us lots of fabulous ideas and really helped to dress the venue.
Stationery themed around ‘Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatters Tea Party’
As our reception was an Afternoon Tea, we themed our invitations around Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatters Tea Party. Ruth Kaye Design came up with the idea and designed our invitations. It was such an amazing memorable experience designing our invitations and it’s something that’s a wonderful keepsake after the wedding.
They also designed and printed the most gorgeous table pan cards, menus, and order of service booklets.
Bespoke calligraphy
The fabulous calligrapher Paul Antonio Scribe scribed our invitations. It was an A4 thick card, with gold foil edges and embossed calligraphy. Our envelopes were then closed with a red wax seal stamped with a small bunny.
A 1970’s vintage Ossie Clark wedding dress
I wanted to wear something different and non bridal and chose a three quarter length vintage Ossie Clark gown with puffed sleeves that I found in a vintage store in Notting Hill.
Elegant Wedding Shoes
It was quite difficult to match the cream of the Ossie Clark dress but I settled on a pair of cream Bionda Castana courts.
The handsome groom
Alex wore a blue suit by Norton & Townsend .
Chuppah Design
Our amazing florist Rob Van Helden designed the chuppah, which was very simple and classic – white roses with birch trees and Alex’s grandfather’s tallit as the canopy. Our parents each held a side of the chuppah as it was freestanding.
An interfaith Jewish-Catholic wedding ceremony
I’m Catholic and Alex is Jewish so we arranged a multi-faith Jew-ish ceremony. My family Minister blessed the wedding on the Christian side but we had a hard time finding someone on the Jewish side to bless the wedding for us.
In the end Alex managed to get in touch with Laurence Smith who runs hebrew classes at a local synagogue, who very kindly blessed us.
It was a really lovely ceremony, very personal and everyone there said it was a very memorable ceremony. Our Auntie and Uncle read readings on both sides, a Shakespeare sonnet and an old Proverb.
Music for the ceremony
For the processional we walked into La vie en Rose by Louis Armstrong, and for the recessional Ain’t No Mountain High Enough . We wanted to keep it neutral from a religious point of view!
The Most Beautiful Flowers
Rob Van Helden did our flowers – Rob and his team were truly amazing to work with and produced the most stunning flower arrangements with peonies, stocks, gladioli, roses and all sorts of other lovely varieties. They were incredibly beautiful, and made the place smell amazing. They also placed scented candles all over the place too. They did the most amazing job – we could not have been happier. 
A ‘Floral’ Table Plan
Sophie at Ruth Kaye Design came up with a really unusual idea for a table plan arrangement, whereby we had around eight vases filled with different white and green flowers, and had table plan cards coming out of each arrangement, with lots of beautiful candles and flowers. It looked stunning.
Our fabulous photographer…
We worked with Rebecca Goddard on our photography. She was so easy to work with, and produced the most beautiful pictures, we absolutely love them. Would definitely recommend her – a mix of arty, black and white and colour pictures but nothing cheesy!
Afternoon tea and jazz
Our guests were served afternoon tea (catered by Home House ) as we listened and danced to a compilation of many of our jazz favourites.
First Dance
Our first dance was to Buona Sera by Louis Prima. It’s one of our favourite songs and holds many wonderful memories for us.
Advice to brides and grooms currently planning their wedding
Do plenty of prep ahead of time so you can enjoy the day when it comes!
Jess & Alex’s little white book
Photographer – Rebecca Goddard Photography
Venue + Catering – Home House
Stationery + Event Styling – Ruth Kaye Design
Calligraphy – Paul Antonio Scribe
Florist – Rob Van Helden
Wedding Dress – Vintage Ossie Clark
Bride’s Shoes – Bionda Castana
Groom’s Suit – Norton & Townsend
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