An Elegant, Modern Wedding for Jennifer & Max

The wedding of Jennifer Freedman to Max Rothchild was magical, modern, and elegant with more than 250 family and friends celebrating and dancing the night away at the magnificent ballroom setting at the Atlanta History Center. Set in springtime in Atlanta, 2025, the wedding sparkled like the Eiffel Tower at night.

The tone was instantly set when Jennifer and Max got engaged in the heart of Paris, since Max’s mother and grandparents are from France. Surrounded by both families, who flew in for the surprise engagement, their love story sky-rocketed in the most romantic city in the world and the rest was history.

Nancy Freedman, mother of the bride shared, “We were thrilled with everything, as our goal was to make Jennifer and Max’s dream wedding come true. Our wedding planner, Nicole Bernath, owner of Pretty Swell Parties, put her incredible skills to use. Nicole is extremely creative, flexible, kind, and always had a solution with her reassuring demeanor.”

Nicole shared, “Jennifer had described her vision with a French feel, a nod to Max’s family and their Paris engagement. I love curating a vendor team and experience that’s a reflection of the couple’s unique tastes, style and heritage. Atlanta’s Swan House and History Center provided the perfect backdrop and despite a rainy night in Georgia (and even a far-reaching tremor of a near-state earthquake that day), the wedding went on without a hitch.”

Bride Jennifer said, “I had a vision of ‘modern elegance’ for the wedding. I wanted it to feel like a dream, look around and see flowers everywhere. Every decision we made was for the sake of our family and friends. I dreamed of everyone being on the dance floor together, eating a ton of food, and laughing, and it was exactly that!”

Rabbi Ashira Boxman – Jen’s best friend and roommate at the University of Texas (one of three rabbis in her family) had just graduated from Hebrew Union and while she had officiated at other weddings, this was the first as a fully ordained rabbi.

The ballroom was transformed into a field of flowers thanks to Chris Macksey of Florist Topher Mack. The bride wore an exquisite wedding dress by Israeli designer Mira Zwillinger from Mark Ingram of New York. The bride carried a bouquet of white garden roses, freesia, peony, subtle accents of blush astilbe, and roses, stem wrapped with a cuff made from her mother’s wedding dress. The ballroom was set with long estate tables flanking the dance floor topped with lush floral bridges, cherry trees, and candlelight.

Following the ceremony, the Freedmans welcomed guests and Wayne shared, “Nancy prepared a special welcome speaking French, which was deeply appreciated by the Rothchild family, many of whom are from France.”

Wayne brought people to tears when he quoted the lyrics of the Zac Brown Band song, “The Man Who Loves You the Most.”

Nancy added, “Our goal was to make this as special and unique as possible for Jennifer and Max, and our guests … seeing how happy Jennifer and Max was with everything. A treat was seeing our 4-year-old grandson, Henry, pulling his 11-month-old brother, Miles, in a wagon during the wedding processional. We loved how Rabbi Boxman made the service so meaningful, the band was incredibly entertaining, plus their first dance to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s, ‘You’re All I Need to Get By’ was memorable along with the French guests holding onto Jennifer’s dress during the Hora.”

Atlanta’s Hi-Definition Party Band, from Music Garden, a 12-piece ensemble known for delivering high-energy choreography, kept the party dancing non-stop from a smooth dinner set to an epic hora and high-energy dance set, ending with Max and Jen’s request for the song, “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, and the couple sang along on stage and crowd surfed. The cake table was draped in a linen made from Nancy’s wedding dress and the cake appeared to have floating tiers made by Gabriel’s Bakery – served alongside his and her favorite Jeni’s Ice Cream cups, featuring a custom label on Max’s favorite.

Adam Shoemaker and his team at Dennis Dean Catering included a trio of amuse-bouche, a watermelon salad, and a dual-entrée of seabass and filet. Abigail Thomas, the masterful photographer of A. Thomas Photography, captured every second of the occasion at every turn. Her keen eye and sensitivity to details created a lasting memory of the entire simcha.

Mother of the groom, Cecile Rothchild, lovingly summed up the wedding, “I’ve had the joy of attending some truly spectacular and sophisticated Jewish weddings — whether in Paris, the South of France, Florence, New York, or Palm Beach. I’ve witnessed the elegance of a Parisian vineyard in Provence and celebrated love in a 16th-century palazzo in Florence. But never — anywhere — have I experienced the kind of warmth and wholehearted welcome that we all felt in Atlanta.”

Max added, “It all came to life with the ketubah signing and Ashira’s beautiful words and we felt so lucky to be in the presence of family and friends we’ve known all our lives. Our memories will last a lifetime.”

The wedding ended on a high note, the band switched it up into a line band with horns, excitement and the wedding party and guests danced their way to a Rolls Royce ready to whisk the happy couple off to an after party. Jennifer and Max’s dream came true when they met each other and their wedding continued the fantasy for all who attended.