Wedding in New Jersey

Joshua & Melody

A Message From The Bride

Describe your experience with wedding planning : Wedding planning was definitely challenging for us, but at the same time rewarding. We were non-stop working on all details and knew we wanted our wedding to be as unique and beautifully captivating as possible!

Bride at New Jersey Wedding - Persian Jewish Wedding at Legacy Castle - Photography by Rene Zadori

What made things really easy for us is that Josh and I had the same vision and taste on almost everything, so that helped things run really smoothly in that aspect. I'd advise brides to really pick their vendors wisely and make sure your personalities and style match.

Know that all the hard work you put into planning your special day will pay off and understand that not everything will go according to plan but to trust G-d throughout the process!

Photography was one of the most important aspects to us and we just could not find anyone we loved until I came across Rene's instagram and we instantly fell in love with his style and captivating photos. Even though he was across the country we knew we had to hire him for our wedding day.

“Rene captured our wedding day beautifully and we highly recommend him. He knew exactly how to tell our wedding day story through his lens. We will always have amazing pictures to look back on and thats all thanks to him and his team!”

Describe your experience with finding your wedding gown: Finding a wedding gown was for sure not a walk around the park for me. I knew I wanted a wedding dress that was timeless (not trendy) because I wanted to look back 30 years from now and know it would still be in style.

Funny story: I actually had picked a mermaid wedding dress at first. I totally thought I was in love with the dress but things took a turn when we actually decided on a completely different venue than what we anticipated. Originally we were going to have a NYC wedding but we both fell in love with The Legacy Castle.

For advice on your wedding day, I really recommend getting ready as early as possible. There are things that are going to make the day run behind so squeeze in an extra hour in your timeline. I also recommend getting ready separately from your bridesmaids and family.

Thankfully, The Legacy Castle had so many different rooms to get ready so I knew I wanted to start the morning off getting ready by myself so I can really enjoy that peaceful quiet time before the day starts. Looking back at the videos the bridesmaid room had a lot going on, so I'm glad I opted to get ready separately.

I truly 100% recommend getting wedding sneakers! I did not even wear my heels for that long before I changed into my platform sneakers for the day, it made taking photos and walking around the venue so much easier (especially since I suck at walking in heels lol)

How did you meet?: We were set up through Josh's sister! Josh and I didn't know each other at all, so it was your traditional blind date, however, from the moment I met him I felt like I knew him for a life time. Our conversations were so natural and authentic and it was super easy to talk to him about anything.. we had an instant connection that was indescribable.

I knew that a mermaid dress just doesn't match the theme of a huge castle and definitely wanted to feel like a princess on our big day. You only get to wear a big ball gown once so I rushed back to Kleinfeld's and fell in love with the dress I wore on my wedding day (Shout out to Shay from Say Yes to the Dress for helping me).

I absolutely love Lebanese weddings and how regal Lebanese brides are and my dress was made by Lebanese designer Tony Ward, so it really felt meant to be. It was just perfect-the ball gown dress had Swarovski crystals and beading all over it!

We a horse & carriage to take pictures with and that really incorporated a fun unique twist to things on our wedding day, so I'd recommend doing things outside the box. It's creative and you will always remember those fun memories.

Sometimes you think you "know" when you see the dress but that wasn't my case- I had to go through the process but it made me cherish my dress so much more!

Describe the moment he proposed: He took me to the Maldives to celebrate my birthday. What I thought would be just a romantic dinner to celebrate on a private Sandbank turned into the one of the best experiences of my life. We are really into taking photos wherever we travel; we love taking photos for memories. So when he asked me if I wanted to do a photoshoot around the resort I was super excited because Maldives is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

We were taking photos throughout the resort and then he planned a private dinner just us two on a sandbank. A sandbank is a private little island that you have to take a boat ride to. So the sun is setting and I'm on the boat with him taking photos and I see red petals and a tent from the distance.

Once we arrived on the sandbank I knew what was going on. I started shaking and he took my hand and lead me to a beautifully candlelit heart on the sand and handed me a bouquet full of roses.

He whispered the sweetest things to me, told me he loved me and asked me to marry him. It was truly special to me because I could see how much time and effort he put into the proposal and that didn't go unnoticed. That was the best birthday gift; knowing I get to spend the rest of my life with my soulmate & best friend.

What are your favorite moments of your wedding day?: We loved each moment of the day but apart from your typical moments like the first look, walking down the aisle and first kiss being married, we just truly loved seeing our close family and friends come together for our Ketubah signing.

The Ketubah signing is a traditional Jewish marriage contract. That was the moment we truly cherish because all our close family and friends traveled from all over the states just to be with us and celebrate our love. I just remember taking a moment to reflect on everyone who was there and who made it out there to be with us. You could really feel the love from everyone in the room.

Ketubah Signing at Jewish Wedding in New Jersey near New York - Persian Bride & Groom - Destination Wedding Photographer Rene Zadori

“That intimacy during our Ketubah Signing was so special to us, just being with close family and friends really set the tone for the rest of the night to celebrate with everyone!”

Jewish Wedding at Legacy Castle in New Jersey - Photography by Destination Wedding Photographer Rene Zadori - Persian Wedding with Chuppah inspiration

Wedding Advice from the Bride: We love being creative so we customized a lot of things on our wedding day so our guests can truly enjoy the whole experience.

I had heard stories of brides who were super nervous on their wedding day to the point they felt really sick all day. For us, we were absolutely calm and collected and really enjoyed the day.

Jewish Wedding in New Jersey at Legacy Castle - Wedding Celebration near New York City - Destination Wedding Photography is Rene Zadori - Persian Bride & Groom

“It is very important to remember to pick your vendors wisely because they are the back bone of your wedding day and help things run according to plan.”

There were no nerves and no feelings of worry; we just felt at ease and felt all the love!

Wedding Design Theme: We wanted our wedding design to be a Fairytale Theme. We wanted it to be romantic, lush, soft, and enchanting!

We wanted light pink & white tones with a pop of a darker pink along with greenery. We incorporated lots of orchids, roses and seasonal blooms.

Wedding Reception Design Inspiration : Every single centerpiece we designed ourselves to be exactly how we wanted it. We knew we wanted our decor to stand out from the rest so we incorporated 16 ft tall huge trees on both sides of the room in the center.

That was the WOW factor that we received so many compliments on. We wanted every table to be different so we had designed 3 different floral centerpieces (spiral, halo & bridges), with 3 different chairs including acrylic chairs and gold chairs.

Jewish Wedding in New Jersey - NYC Bride & Groom - Images by Destination Wedding Photographer Rene Zadori of Los Angeles

We incorporated a ton of orchids as well. We wanted to get creative as possible and thats exactly what we did. Our bridge floral table was mirrored reflection and that surrounded the dance floor so we really wanted that and the trees to be a WOW factor.

We wanted the dance floor decal to be super royal and to incorporate our wedding date and names. Instead of just having one bar, we rented an extra two bars to be placed on the sides of the dance floor so our guests had plenty of places to grab drinks.

We incorporated a ton of candles (votives and hanging candles off the floral arrangements) because candles set the tone for a romantic feel.

I loved that our sweetheart table was on acrylic staging with regal throne chairs and a super luxe gold mirrored table. Honestly, we had so much fun designing our wedding and seeing it come to life!

Our first dance was also choreographed, we wanted to do something different other than just your typical first dance. It was so fun to practice with Josh & learn how to let him lead on the dance floor.

Interesting facts about the wedding or couple: I was so nervous for our first dance, I really thought I was going to forget everything we had practiced.

I kept forgetting steps whenever we would practice and get super nervous.

By the time it was our first dance, I had absolutely no nerves and thankfully we got everything pretty much right. I truly felt like G-d was watching over us and just being able to dance with my Husband and have fun with it just made the experience so memorable.

We were careful about adding special details to our wedding that meant something dear to us. We had a live painter throughout our ceremony and reception, and I loved our custom champagne glasses we will always have as a memory from our wedding day.