Today we’re delighted to share the brilliantly fun and elegant London wedding of Carly & Avi, which took place The Park Lane Hotel in Piccadilly, and featured our bride wearing Jesus Peiro. The images were taken by Chiko Ashkenazi who captured the fabulous party atmosphere wonderfully, as well as the momentous, spiritual moments of their traditional Jewish ceremony.
Carly tells us about meeting Avi, and Avi’s fun, creative treasure hunt proposal;
“I started working for David eight years ago. Fast forward five years and his wife Tracey has this great guy for me to meet. I wasn’t having any of it!
Any who, after some to-ing and fro-ing, we agreed to meet. We lived on opposite sides of the park in Primrose Hill so met half way (he did offer to pick me up, but I declined – fiercely independent!) and we’ve seen each other every day since then.
Primrose Hill played a key role in our engagement too. A wintery evening in February, I received a card amongst the post at my office. The card contained a cryptic clue and was the start of a treasure hunt around some of our favoured and memorable places. The hunt ended at the bench where we kissed for the first time and there waiting was Avi on one knee.”
THE DRESS
Carly wore Jesus Peiro 6032, a stunning organza wedding dress with elegant bateau neckline, fitted hips and a full romantic skirt. Carly customised the dress with full length sleeves and the addition of an extra large hoop and pockets to the skirt. The dress is finished with a big beautiful bow to the waist.
Carly tells us more;
“I wanted a dress that was modest without compromising on style and I didn’t want to wear lace! Everywhere I went people would suggest tight, long and lacey! The dress was understated and elegant – the organza sleeves gave me the coverage I wanted without making the dress frumpy. We went big, and then make it even bigger with a custom made hoop. The team at Jesus Peiro even put pockets in it for me!”
“My ‘partner in crime’ Naomi came with me when I found the dress.
There are only a few Jesus Peiro stockists in the UK. I called Miss Bush on Monday morning and by chance they had a cancelation at 6pm on the Tuesday. I emailed Naomi and told her to meet me at Waterloo station at 5pm the following day. A bus, train and cab ride later and we got to the beautiful chapel in Ripley. I knew which dress I wanted to try but Corinne and Emma made me try on every dress in the shop first 🙂
When I walked out in the Jesus Peiro everybody smiled and Naomi said “that’s the one, we can go home now”. That weekend I brought my mum, sister and old friend Montine who gave a teary-eyed seal of approval.”
“Dress shopping at Miss Bush was a fantastic experience; the team were knowledgeable, calm, patient, flexible – they fill you with confidence and you know that you are in safe hands. I would go as far as to say that there is only one stop you need to make when dress shopping and that’s Ripley!
I accessorised my look with little white Nike tennis shoes, a cathedral style veil that seemed to stretch for miles and some pearl earrings that my mum and dad gave to me the morning of the wedding.”
ABOUT THE DAY
Carly tells us more about their elegant London wedding, which took inspiration from the decadent ballroom at the Park Lane Hotel in Picadilly.
“The ballroom at the Park Lane is very Art Deco, so rather than fight it we went with it. We made everything was ivory and gold; we chose a black and white checked dance floor ; we covered the stage in mirrored fascia’s; we even sourced tobacco tins and had a lovely gentleman emboss them for us!”
“There are a few parts of the day that stick out. In a Jewish wedding there is a ceremony that happens before the main event called a Badeken. The Badeken is where the Groom meets the Bride, confirms that this is indeed the girl he is intending to marry and places the veil over her face. (It is rooted in a Biblical story where two girls were swapped at the ceremony and the groom only discovered after they had finished the ceremony!)”
“The Rabbi or parents often give the couple a blessing. We decided to have a public Badeken as we wanted our friends and family to be part, what we considered a very personal and moving part of the ceremony.
You can imagine the anticipation; we hadn’t seen each other for 7 days… the women were all waiting with me… you could hear the men singing and dancing, seeing Avi walk towards surrounded by our dads, brothers and his best men – the thought still gives me goosebumps.”
“There were other moments; All 12 flower girls came to my room before the ceremony to have their hair done, I had given them free reign over what to have in their hair and it was so warming to see their faces as they got to play real life dress-up!
I had dinner with my brother, sister and Naomi the night before – it was lovely to have some quality time together, we laughed and they retold embarrassing stories.
I got to dance with my great Aunt (growing up she was more like a grandmother than an auntie) who had been unwell in the run up to the wedding and we were unsure as to whether she would be able to attend.”
FINAL WORDS
Carly shares some words of wisdom for new brides to be about finding their dream dress, and wedding planning in general;
“Be comfortable and be happy the atmosphere depends on it!
The Bride and Groom are the heart of the party, wherever you are the party will be and so you don’t want it to be in the powder room readjusting your dress for the millionth time or soaking your feet in an ice bucket because you bought beautiful but killer heels.”
“Oh and get fit! Don’t bother with a wedding diet just be healthy and exercise in the lead up (and for life generally). The exercise will release endorphins when you need them most and it will stand you in good stead for the hours of mingling and dancing
And finally whatever the stress, remember that the morning after you wake up married to the one you love – and that is all that really counts.”
SUPPLIERS
Photography: Chiko Ashkenazi
The dress: Jesus Peiro at Miss Bush
Video: Leor Melehi
Venue: Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly
Band: Muzika
Production: Simon Cowan
Groom’s Suit: Mark Merengo
Hair: Zoe Norris
Makeup: Sarah Field
Flowers: Flowers by Miri
Thank you so much to Carly and Avi for sharing their wonderful celebration – it looked like a truly brilliant day with an amazing atmosphere and so many special moments, and Carly’s stunning Jesus Peiro wedding dress was just perfect for the occasion.
Leah x
