Editors’ note: Since October 7, the ongoing crisis in Israel and Gaza has been at the forefront of our minds and hearts here at Hey Alma. As the situation continues to unfold, we will also continue to be here, providing resources like our guide on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, tips for assessing reliable news sources, community event for grieving and playlists of Jewish songs with messages of healing and hope. With all of that in mind, we also want to provide our community with moments of reprieve from the onslaught of bad news. It is our hope that the following article will serve that purpose.
2023 has been quite the year for Jewish celebrity weddings. Beanie Feldstein, Sofia Richie Grainge, Abigail Breslin, Jack Antonoff and Abbi Jacobson all tied the knot with their respective partners within the last few months in ceremonies which ranged from traditionally Jewish to more secular, and everything in between.
Happily, we can now add another celebrity to that list: Bel Powley.
The “A Small Light” actress and her now-husband Douglas Booth got hitched on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Petersham Nurseries in London, in a ceremony under a chuppah.
“I’m Jewish, and although I’m not religious, I wanted to honor my heritage, so we were married under a chuppah,” Bel told Vogue. She added, “Douglas’s sister, Abigail, is an artist — one half of the art collective Forest + Found — and she made the canopy, which was dyed with madder root she’d grown in her London garden allotment and embroidered with an Emily Dickinson quote.” Additionally, the chuppah was decorated with red and pink dahlia flowers, which matched the color scheme of the wedding.
Click to the second slide of this carousel to see the gorgeous Jewish wedding canopy — and if anyone has eagle eyes and can make out what Dickinson quotation is on the chuppah, let us know.
The ceremony was officiated by the couple’s friend, fellow actor Alice Felgate. Though Alice is not Jewish, Bel playfully referred to her as a “cowbi” (a cowboy rabbi) in her Instagram story.
The nod to Bel’s Jewishness at the wedding is very much in keeping with how Douglas proposed. After meeting on the set of “Mary Shelley” in 2016, the couple got engaged in July 2021 with a little help from London’s original Jewish deli. “[Douglas] set up a picnic with all my favorite foods from Panzer’s Deli — bagels, smoked salmon, chopped herring, egg mayonnaise and caviar,” Bel told Vogue. She added, “I couldn’t stop crying!”
Neither can we, Bel!!!!!
For our more fashion-forward Hey Alma readers, Bel wore a Miu Miu dress embellished with crystals and organza flowers, Sophie Bille Brahe pearl earrings, a garter which had her mother’s wedding earrings sewn into it and a wedding band and engagement ring designed by Rachel Balfour. She wore her hair twisted up in the back by hairstylist Marcus Francis and went for a “clean and modern” makeup look, using products from Charlotte Tillbury and done by makeup artist Celia Burton.
Mazel tov, Bel and Douglas! May you have a lifetime of happiness.
