A-LIST CHUPAH
BAR’S NUPTIALS
BAR REFAELI, whose bikini-clad image was plastered all over the side of a passenger jet has reached for the skies again — this time trying to ban planes from flying over her wedding ceremony.
The Israeli supermodel married businessman Adi Ezra near Haifa last week but caused a row when she asked Israel’s civil aviation authority to close airspace above the venue to keep out paparazzi.
The request was initially granted until Transport Minister, Israel Katz, wrote to the authority’s director, Joel Feldshuh, saying that, if the skies were not open to everyone “you will be removed from your post”.
The wedding was traditionally Jewish and reportedly took place at the Carmel Forest spa resort.
Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman officiated in front of 300 guests and the bride wore a Chloé wedding gown.
As she walked down the aisle to the chuppah, singer Shlomi Shabbat sang The Beginning of the World, according to the Israeli news site Mako.
The 2011 song Marry You by Bruno Mars is said to have been played to mark the moment her new husband stepped on the glass.
The couple then partied with friends and relatives in a giant tent decorated with purple spotlights.
The build-up to the event was equally eventful. Apart from the no-fly controversy, Refaeli was pictured at one of two hen parties diving head-first into a swimming pool wearing her wed- ding veil. She posted the picture, along with several others, including the one pictured below, on Instagram.
The parties meant she had to miss the London launch of diamond dealer H Stern’s 70th anniversary campaign, even though she has been the face of the brand in Israel for the past three years.
She was at the global launch in Brazil a month ago, and starred in promotional videos.
A few years earlier, she had allowed a Sports Illustrated picture to be used to decorate the side of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, which flew between New York and Las Vegas.
So why did she want to close the skies for her big day?
The couple were said to have cited congestion reasons — they were planning to use five drones, two helicopters and a hot-air balloon of their own, and there wouldn’t have been room for other aircraft.