A bride wore a wedding dress with a see-through, corset bodice and a thigh-high slit
Samantha Grindell  Â
- Jenna Kaufman and Jesse Silverman had a "minimony" in July 2021.
- Kaufman wore a Galia Lahav gown with a see-through, corset bodice and a full skirt.
A hair appointment brought Jenna Kaufman and Jesse Silverman together.
Kaufman, 27, and Silverman, 30, both live in Toronto, Canada. Kaufman is a rehab manager, and Silverman is the director of a children's recreational company.
In July of 2017, Silverman's brother was getting married, and Kaufman's aunt was his mother's hairdresser for the event.
The day after the wedding, Kaufman's aunt showed Kaufman a photo of the hairstyle she gave Silverman's mother, and he was standing in the background.
He immediately caught Kaufman's eye, and she asked her aunt to pass along her phone number to him. He texted her the next day, and they went on their first date five days later.
They've been together ever since.
"If you believe in fate, then fate definitely pulled us together," Kaufman told Insider.
Silverman popped the question in May of 2020.
The couple planned for a July 31, 2021, wedding. They hoped to get married at a vineyard near Niagara Falls with 120 of their loved ones around them.
But as their wedding date got closer, the couple realized Canada's COVID-19 restrictions would prevent them from having the big wedding they had been planning.
With the help of Kaufman's mother, they decided to postpone their large celebration to 2022 and have a smaller wedding with just 50 of their closest friends and family members on their original wedding date.
"At the end of the day for us, it was less about the party and more about us getting married, celebrating our love together and everything that we've been through and everything that we hope to have," Kaufman told Insider.
Kaufman decided to buy a different wedding dress for the minimony.
For her 2022 wedding, Kaufman bought a fitted Galia Lahav dress that she loved.
But she didn't feel like it was right for her minimony, as it was picked specifically with a vineyard location in mind. Her mom helped her find a second gown.
"My mom paid for the dress, and she just wanted me to have my dream wedding," Kaufman said. "I can't express to you enough how much she pulled through and how supportive of the whole thing she's been."
"She wanted me to have this dream wedding and have this incredible experience," Kaufman added.
So with just three months to find a gown, Kaufman started shopping for a new wedding dress.
Kaufman started trying on dresses that looked similar to the gown she's planning to wear at her 2022 wedding.
For instance, she tried on this form-fitting gown with a plunging neckline.
Kaufman thought the dress was beautiful, but it wasn't right.
"It was too similar to the one I picked for next year," she said.
She ran into the same issue with this gown.
"I kept thinking that this would be the only style that would suit me, but every dress that I kept picking looked so much like the other dress," Kaufman said. "I didn't want it to outshine next year's dress. I wanted it to be its own thing."
She decided to go back to Galia Lahav because of how much she loved her original wedding dress, with the intention of looking for a totally different style of gown.
Kaufman surprised herself by falling in love with a ball gown.
She ended up choosing a second Galia Lahav gown for her minimony.
The strapless dress had a sheer, corset bodice and a full, tulle skirt that flowed into a long train.
Both the bodice and skirt were covered with delicate, floral lace.
"It's so beautiful, and it's so playful," Kaufman said of the dress.
"When you put this dress on, it hugs your body," Kaufman said of how the dress felt on her figure.
As Kaufman told Insider, the sheer, corset bodice was actually a bodysuit with a skirt over it.
It had the form-fitting feel she liked from her original dress, with the addition of the full skirt.
Kaufman had to alter the bodice to fit her wedding.
The sample dress Kaufman tried on was completely sheer, which wasn't the look she wanted for her wedding day.
"I knew right away that I had to put a lining in it," she said.
The lining ended up making the lace on the corset stand out, adding to Kaufman's look.
Kaufman also customized the gown's skirt.
Another Galia Lahav dress she liked had a thigh-high slit, so Kaufman decided to add one to her gown.
She also had additional lace detailing embroidered into the skirt to make it stand out even more.
The bodice was customized with additional lace as well.
The lace accentuated the corset boning and strapless neckline.
"I made it my dream dress," Kaufman said of the alterations. "It was amazing."
The bride paired the dress with a cathedral veil.
"Cathedral veils are my absolute favorite thing," Kaufman told Insider. "If there was one thing I knew for sure I wanted, it was a cathedral veil."
She got the veil from Galia Lahav as well.
Kaufman wore two pairs of shoes on her wedding day.
For her ceremony, Kaufman wore a pair of Jimmy Choo heels that featured a statement, tulle bow.
Kaufman told Insider that the heels were one of the reasons she wanted a slit added to her skirt, as she wanted people to be able to see them.
But during the reception, she changed into a pair of Christian Dior sneakers.
"They were actually my something blue," Kaufman said of the shoes.
Kaufman kept her hair and makeup simple for the microwedding.
The couple's wedding took place at 11:00 a.m., and Kaufman's soft curls and dewy makeup reflected the daytime setting.
Allyssa Helm Beauty & Co. provided hair and makeup services for the day.
Kaufman said her wedding dress made her feel "like a bride."
"When I was put together, I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm a bride,'" Kaufman told Insider of how she felt in her wedding dress. "I looked like a bride, and I felt like a bride for the very first time."
"It was the most incredible feeling putting on that dress," she went on to say.
Silverman didn't see Kaufman's dress until the wedding ceremony.
The couple didn't do a first look, so Silverman saw Kaufman in a wedding dress for the first time when she was walking down the aisle.
In fact, Kaufman didn't show anyone but her mom and her sister her dress before her wedding, so it was a surprise to almost everyone at the wedding.
"It was so special," Kaufman said of the moment Silverman saw her dress. "When I walked down the aisle, I was just looking at him. I didn't see a single person. I couldn't tell you who was there at that moment."
"I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't stop smiling," she added. "It was just the best moment. And all I saw was him."
Bows & Lavender documented the wedding day.
Kaufman and Silverman got married on the rooftop of a hotel.
The couple were able to make their minimony come together in just three months by working with a planner from MUSE Event Co.
"I have the most incredible wedding planner I could have ever asked for," Kaufman said of how the wedding came together so quickly.
"The way that she pulled it all together for us was incredible," Kaufman said of her planner from MUSE. "Even for my cake, that cake was ordered because we forgot about ordering a cake and it was ordered the week of my wedding. She came through."
"I had the dream team," she added.
Kaufman and Silverman officially tied the knot on the rooftop of Hotel X Toronto.
Their decor was complemented by sunny weather.
"It was a perfect, perfect day," Kaufman said of her wedding day. "It wasn't too hot. It wasn't too cold. It didn't rain."
Jodi Leigh Designs provided flowers for the event, and Splendid Settings and Detailz Furniture Rentals provided the rentals. They got decor from Simply Beautiful Events Decor.
"That whole day was meant to be," she added. "It took us a long time to pick that date and the fact that we were able to still get married on it, I just felt so much love that day."
Jeremy Citron officiated Kaufman and Silverman's wedding.
Kaufman said one of her favorite moments from the wedding day happened during the reception.
"We were sitting at the sweetheart table, and I was just looking out and I'm like, 'This is everything I could've ever hoped for,'" Kaufman said.
"And it wasn't anything that I had dreamt of," she went on to say. "It was supposed to be at a vineyard, and we were supposed to have more people, and we were supposed to have a big band."
"But it was perfect," she said.
Food Dudes catered for the wedding, Nadia & Co. made their cake, and Gareth Bush played guitar at the event.
Kaufman also added a jean jacket to her post-ceremony look.
The custom jacket was embroidered with "Mrs. Silverman."
Kaufman and Silverman waited to take their couple's photos until after their reception was over.
As Kaufman told Insider, their reception ended at 2:00 p.m., so the newlyweds had the rest of the day to take photos and spend time together.
"We went off with our photographer, and we just kind of walked around the area on the streets of Toronto and took some photos," Kaufman said of what she and Silverman did after the wedding.
"And then after that, he and I just spent the rest of the day together," she said.
Kaufman told Insider she was glad that she had the night to herself with her husband.
Kaufman pointed out that typically couples don't see each other much on their wedding days if you have a traditional evening event.
"You see them in the evening, and then you're partying and you're celebrating with all these people around you," she said. "And then next thing you know, it's 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning, and everyone's exhausted and going to bed."
"We actually got to soak it in and went to bed with happy memories instead of just passing out exhausted and drunk," she said of herself and Silverman. "Hopefully we get to do that next year, but I'm glad that we had this opportunity to just celebrate us this year."
"It was just so personal," Kaufman added. "It was such an intimate day. It was a day that was meant just for us. It was meant to celebrate our love, and it wasn't over the top."
"We just have such an understanding of each other," Kaufman said of herself and Silverman.
"We're different people, but we're so on the same page," she said.
"I laugh all the time" with Silverman, she added. "There are things that people think are weird that we'll just laugh about because we're just so connected."
"If you can make each other laugh like this every day, I think you've got a whole world ahead of you," she added.
"There's just so much love between us," the bride said.
"We've been through so much together over the past four years," Kaufman said.
"I just know that no matter what he will always be there for me, and I will always be there for him," she added. "There's such a comfort in knowing that we'll always be together."
You can see more of Bows & Lavender's work here.
If you are in the process of shopping for your wedding dress or have photos from when you shopped and want to talk to Insider for a story, get in touch at sgrindell@insider.com.
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