Daniela Benaim and her partner Jonathan Levy got engaged at Villa Planchart, the architect Gio Ponti’s icon of mid-century design perched high on a hill overlooking their home city of Caracas. “I knew how creative and detail-oriented my boyfriend was, but that time he outdid himself,” recalls stylist and art director Daniela, who thought she was there for a work meeting to discuss using the property as a shoot location. “I didn’t see it coming that Johny was the one waiting there. It was the dreamiest proposal: unexpected, intimate, and in the most magical place.”
It also set a high bar for the wedding venue. “Because we live in London and our family and friends are all over the world, it was not easy choosing where to marry,” says the bride now. But after considering various destinations, Daniela finally realised the wedding of her dreams was a Venezuelan one. “Warm but fresh weather, food that tastes like home, Latin music, dancing until dawn…”
The pandemic put paid to their original wedding date in August 2020, but by now the couple had their hearts set on celebrating in their native Caracas, and pushed ahead with organising a slimmed-down ceremony (for 130 guests, rather than 300), one year later than planned. Still, realising their dream was not without its complications.
The initial civil ceremony at Hendon Town Hall in north London was cancelled twice due to changing Covid rules, before finally going ahead in May. “I was so happy,” remembers Daniela, who wore a white Zara suit she bought online on the day, and carried a bouquet of pink blooms by Peckham’s Sage Flowers. “It was the first time in a long time that our family and friends were in the same room, and we were able to hug them.”
All seemed to be back on track, until Mexico was added to the red list, and the couple’s flight to Venezuela – via Cancun – for their official wedding was cancelled. Daniela and Jonathan, a lawyer, had to depart earlier than planned and self-quarantine in a Cancun hotel, finalising plans for their big day while crossing their fingers that Hurricane Grace wouldn’t force them to call it off a second time.
In the end, the traditional Jewish ceremony unfolded exactly as they had hoped, with Daniela and Johny exchanging vows under the Chuppah at Quinta La Esmeralda, as their guests cooled themselves with hand fans placed on their seats. “After my dad gave me the traditional blessing, Johny surprised me by singing a Hebrew wedding song to the tune of a ballad we love, by the Mexican singer Luis Miguel,” says the bride.
Bride Daniela Benaim in her Vera Wang gown and headdress designed by hairstylist Moe Mukai, with her groom Jonathan Levy in his Hugo Boss tux.
Alvaro CamachoDaniela, who hired a beautiful old house in Caracas for the bridal party to get ready in, wore a Vera Wang gown from the autumn/winter 2020 collection – the first dress she tried on after getting engaged. “I didn’t expect to be the princess dress type, but when I saw it, I knew it was what I wanted: timeless and modern, white but not completely – it has some beige and off-white touches – classic and unique.” She added Prada kitten heels from the first collection overseen by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, a pair of Wolf & Badger earrings, and a Fern fan.
Tequeños (“delicious crunchy pastries filled with melted white cheese”), were served after the ceremony. (“There isn’t a respectable Venezuelan party without tequeños,” says Daniela). Guests were then seated at long tables for an alfresco feast of Italian-style antipasti followed by a choice of paella, salt-encrusted fish and freshly-made pasta, and a selection of pies and cakes for dessert.
Instead of a first dance, Daniela and Johny picked a medley of five tracks that included “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole and “Tú Si Sabes Quererme” by the Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade. “My dad and I then danced an old-fashioned Venezuelan waltz – beautifully performed by musician Harold Vargas – followed by the horah, where our friends put Johny and me on chairs and started tossing us up and down,” says the bride.
Daniela briefly left the dancefloor to change into her custom By Efrain Mogollon party dress – a gift from the designer – to which she added Espeletia earrings “to celebrate Venezuelan fashion”. At what is known in Latin America as hora loca, or “crazy hour”, black lace masks were thrown to the guests, while the bride donned a floral headpiece designed by hairstylist Moe Mukai and inspired by the Rothschilds’ infamous Surrealist Ball of 1972. “I let myself go dancing the Tambor, a coastal Afro-Venezuelan dance I adore.”
After so many obstacles, Daniela’s overwhelming memory of the day is how “proud of us” she felt, she says now. “And excited about our new chapter as husband and wife. I felt so ready and sure, but most of all, madly in love.”