Firenze, Italia
The short version
We are getting married on Sunday, the 8th of November 2026, in Florence — but the weekend starts on Thursday and runs through Monday morning, and we hope you will take all of it.
There is a welcome dinner, a day in the Tuscan hills, a Shabbat together, a pizza party, and then the wedding itself. Everything you need — where to sleep, what to wear, how to get here — is on this site.
ב"ה
With much gratitude to HaShem, together with our parents
Edit & Edward Komberg and Dina & Fred Leeds
we invite you to celebrate with us.
With love and thanks
To our parents, Edward & Edit Komberg and Fred & Dina Leeds.
To our grandparents, Luba Komberg, Tzvia Limor and Sheila Leeds.
In loving memory
Abraham Komberg ז”ל, Jehuda Limor ז”ל, Don Leeds ז”ל, and Isaac & Jeanette Mizrahi ז”ל.
Chapter one
It began at a birthday party, continued through several outings that Ellie insists were not dates, and ended on that roof.
Ellie threw a birthday party for her older brother. Robert was there. That is where we met, and for a while afterwards we were, by mutual agreement, friends.
Robert then took Ellie on a series of dates while Ellie continued to believe we were friends. The evidence has been submitted and remains disputed.
Robert drove from Santa Monica to Westwood to collect Ellie, then back across town to Venice, to take her to a ticketed backgammon brunch jazz event. The LA Marathon was on. He crossed the course twice.
Robert took Ellie to a gala and arrived with flowers, which is generally considered a signal. They then left the flowers behind at the event, which possibly undercut it.
The court has not been swayed by the tickets, the marathon, or the flowers. We are getting married anyway.
Chapter two
Pickleball, bike rides, travel, lots and lots of flowers, more travel, and time with our families.
Shabbat dinners. Ski trips. Beach days. Lots and lots of weddings. Cats. Wisdom teeth surgery. Flights. In no particular order and with no particular plan — which, it turned out, was the plan.
Chapter three
An entire day engineered to convince Ellie that today was not the day. It was the day.
Booked, we were told, for a nice couples shoot. Nothing more. The photographer was Noam Chen — world-class, the official photographer of Jerusalem for the Israel Ministry of Tourism, and a dear friend of the Leeds family. Robert and Noam pretended not to know each other for the entire day. He drove us up the coast to Caesarea.
Roman arches, white linen, the Mediterranean. Lovely. Not, Ellie concluded, a proposal.
Two horses, one brown and one white, on the sand. Surely this was it. It was not.
A table on the sand under a red canopy, the sea behind it. The photographer left. Twice. Each departure was carefully staged to retire the theory that anything was going to happen today.
The roof of Aish HaTorah, above the Kotel
The photographer. Both families. And in front of the holiest place in the world, with the Old City going gold behind us, Robert asked. Ellie, who had been assured all day that this was not the day, said yes.
Robert had insisted on taking her shopping for a white outfit the day before. And then a fricken horseback photoshoot? Come on. Running on two hours of sleep (jet lag), Ellie woke up with a big smile on her face, ready for the day — which made Robert suspicious that she knew. Her parents recorded them getting into the car with the photographer. Not suspicious at all.
Back home, under the oaks. Over ten of our closest friends in the world flew in from New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego, Atlanta and Mammoth to be there for it.
The official part, at home, with everyone on the stairs.
Legend, wait for it, dary.
Sunday, the 8th of November 2026. This space is reserved. Check back after.
5–9 November 2026
Every detail is planned, so that from the moment you land you can simply relax, enjoy Florence, and celebrate with us. Most of it is below. A few surprises are best left for Florence.
The weekend is still being actively planned, so times, venues and details here may change. This page is updated as things are confirmed — check back closer to the date.
Thursday
Florence Airport to The St. Regis
Shuttles will be at Florence Airport throughout Thursday. When you land, look for our attendant holding a LEEDS / KOMBERG sign, and they will take you straight to the St. Regis or the Excelsior.
So that we know who to expect, please send us your flight details — it takes a minute.
The Presidential Suite · The St. Regis
Come up to the Presidential Suite to say hello and pick up your welcome bag. Then settle into your room, have a snack, shower, rest.
Meet in front of The St. Regis
Tonight is wonderfully casual. We take you into Florence for kosher Italian food, good wine, live traditional Italian music and even better company. Come hungry and comfortable. Then back to the hotel for a good night's sleep — tomorrow, Tuscany.
Attire Casual. Sneakers absolutely welcome.
Friday
The St. Regis
Breakfast at The St. Regis, included with our wedding room rate. Shacharit is at 9:00 am in the Presidential Suite, for any who would like to join. A kosher breakfast will also be waiting there.
The Presidential Suite
From Friday morning the Presidential Suite becomes our home away from home. Stop in any time between 10:00 am and 10:00 pm for kosher snacks, coffee, tea — or simply to say hello.
Meet downstairs at The St. Regis
We leave Florence behind and wind up through the hills to Villa di Maiano, a fifteenth-century Tuscan villa above Fiesole, where scenes from A Room with a View were filmed. Wander the grounds, take in the view, and sit down to a traditional Italian pasta lunch with Italian wines, served in the villa's cave overlooking the lemon gardens. There will be photographs you will want from this afternoon.
We head back at about 2:00 pm. The rest of the afternoon is yours to rest, shower and dress for Shabbat.
Attire Chic but comfortable, with shoes you can walk in.
The ballroom foyer · The St. Regis
Meet us in the foyer of the St. Regis ballroom for candle lighting. Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat follow, with song and spirits, for any who would like to join.
The ballroom · The St. Regis
The doors open on the historic ballroom for an elegant Shabbat dinner: beautiful food, wine and music, heartfelt toasts, and stories about the bride and groom from the people who know them best. Laila tov — we will see you in the morning.
Attire Cocktail.
Saturday
The St. Regis
Coffee, tea and light refreshments will be waiting in the foyer as everyone gathers. A fuller kosher breakfast is in the Presidential Suite.
The St. Regis
Shacharit, for any who would like to join.
The ballroom · The St. Regis
The ballroom doors open again. Settle in for food, wine, singing and conversation. The afternoon after that is yours. Our suggestion: a slow walk through the old streets to the Duomo.
The rooftop · The Excelsior
Cocktails on the rooftop of The Excelsior: the Arno, the terracotta roofs, the Duomo rising over all of it and the hills beyond. Grab a drink, find your friends and watch the light change.
Florence
Then upstairs. Rest, shower, change. Tonight we are going somewhere special.
The venue is a surprise
Tonight, Florence dresses up, and so do we. Where exactly is a surprise we are keeping for now — we will update this page closer to the date.
Not quite a dinner, not quite a party. Expect cocktails, a little unexpected Florentine entertainment, pizza, pasta, Italian wines, a DJ and dancing. A little bit Met Gala, a little bit Italian Fashion Week.
Attire Your finest Italian Saturday-night fashion. Have fun with it.
Sunday
The St. Regis
A leisurely breakfast at The St. Regis. A kosher breakfast is in the Presidential Suite, along with morning prayers for any who would like to join. Have your cappuccino, take your time, then start getting ready.
Meet downstairs at The St. Regis
Black tie, downstairs, 2:30 pm sharp. The rest of the day is ours to show you.
The location is a surprise
Coaches will be waiting outside The St. Regis to take us to the ceremony. Where is a surprise, and we will update this page closer to the date.
The ketubah. The rings. The Sheva Brachot. Birkat Kohanim, the ancient priestly blessing. The breaking of the glass. Mazel tov.
The same surprise
From the ceremony we take you on to dinner and dancing, somewhere we are not telling you yet. Come hungry, come ready to dance, and do not plan on an early bedtime.
Shuttles run all evening back to The St. Regis, so whenever your feet surrender, your ride home is waiting. Send us a song request when you reply and we will pass it along.
Attire Black tie.
Monday
The St. Regis
One last breakfast together, one last look at the Arno, then hugs and goodbyes before the journey home. Sunglasses encouraged. Until the next simcha.
Why here
A city you can cross on foot in forty minutes, holding roughly a third of the Renaissance.
Ellie has come to Florence every summer with her family since she was ten. That is the whole answer. Of all the places in the world we could have picked, this is the one she already knows by heart — and now we get to hand it to you. Robert insisted on getting married in the city that Ellie loves, anticipating a lifetime of returning on family trips there.
It also happens to be an unreasonably good city to be a guest in. The historic centre is compact and essentially pedestrian, and the sights are stacked within a few hundred metres of each other.
November is the quiet season, which is the secret best time to come: the queues are short, the light is low and gold, and the whole city — built out of a grey-green sandstone called pietra serena — looks extraordinary at four in the afternoon.
From the resident expert
Ten-odd summers of research, distilled — with notes from the family.
Ellie's first instruction, and the one people ignore. Do not plan the afternoon. Pick a direction, get lost on purpose, and let the city do the rest — it is small enough that you cannot really go wrong, and every third corner is worth stopping at.
Not a box to tick — the reason the rest of it exists. Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, in the building the Medici put them in. The Renaissance rooms are the part Ellie loves most, and her party trick is to tour-guide her way through them, pointing out the best artists and the stories behind them. Accept the offer — just do not ask her to during her wedding weekend.
Across the river
The Medici's other palace, with the gardens climbing the hill behind it. Half a day, most of it outdoors, and the best look back over the city that does not involve a queue.
Galleria dell'Accademia
Yes, that one. Seventeen feet of marble at the end of a corridor, and somehow still a surprise. Go early, stand there longer than you think you need to — and turn around on the way out: Michelangelo's unfinished Prisoners line the corridor that leads to him.
Via Cavour
Palazzo Medici Riccardi — where the family that paid for all of this actually lived. The Chapel of the Magi upstairs, frescoed wall to wall by Gozzoli, is the reason to go.
San Lorenzo
The Medici Chapels: Michelangelo's Night and Day, Dawn and Dusk, carved for the family's tombs in a chapel he designed himself. Quiet, and ten minutes from the Duomo.
Church & apothecary
The striped marble church by the station — and beside it the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica, which has been selling scent and soap from the same rooms since 1612. The Kombergs' souvenir shop.
Via de' Tornabuoni
Shoes treated as seriously as sculpture, in the cellars of a thirteenth-century palace.
Sunday 8 November · the big one
Everyone knows this one — a very famous Florentine event. Location a surprise, transport arranged, black tie. The single thing on this list you cannot do on another trip.
Also Via de' Tornabuoni
All of it. Leather, paper, linen, and the big Italian houses along one street. And then the outlets: The Mall, in Leccio, about forty minutes out of the city by car or by the shuttle bus from the station — Gucci, Prada and the rest at outlet prices. Give it half a day.
Piazza della Signoria
Thick enough to stand a spoon in, at the café that has been on the square since 1872. A family ritual: sit outside, face the Palazzo Vecchio, take your time.
Casual, every trip
Pizza, pasta and — this is non-negotiable in the Komberg house — the tuna salad. Their standing order for twenty years.
Walk it, then walk it back
Cross it, cross back at sunset, and take the photo everyone takes. There is a reason everyone takes it.
Not kosher · Ellie's pick
Serves everything, and Ellie loves it.
Gelato
If the pistachio is bright green and the banana is yellow, walk on. Proper gelato is dull-coloured and kept in covered metal tins, not piled in mountains.
The view
The postcard panorama of the whole city. Go up at the end of the afternoon, then climb a little further to San Miniato al Monte, which has the same view and a fraction of the crowd.
Out in the Tuscan hills: goats, a cheese room, and a tasting table with wine and honey and everything else the farm makes. It is a half-day, it is worth it, and it is the single thing Ellie recommends hardest to anyone with a spare afternoon.
It is Fattoria Le Caprine, near Gambassi Terme, out on the road towards San Gimignano. Book ahead, and give yourself the whole afternoon.
Jewish Florence
Florence has one of the most beautiful synagogues in Europe and a small, well-established kosher scene — all of it within a few streets of each other.
Via Luigi Carlo Farini 4
Finished in 1882 in a Moorish revival style, with a green copper dome you can pick out from across the city. It is both a working shul and a museum. Bring your passport for security.
Kosher · dairy & vegetarian
Right beside the synagogue, under the supervision of the Florence rabbinate. The reliable, easy option, and a good place to end up on Thursday if you land early.
Kosher · meat
Roman-Jewish cooking with a Middle Eastern accent, overlooking the synagogue. The Roman branches are an institution; this is the Florence outpost. Book ahead — it is small.
Via dei Pilastri 7a/r
Groceries, packaged goods and hot ready-made food, a minute from the shul. Useful if you are self-catering, travelling with children, or want something in the room.
Zmanim · our Shabbat
Parashat Chayei Sara — the portion in which Eliezer is sent to find a wife for Isaac. We did not plan that.
Worth knowing
The city's famous dishes — the bistecca, the lampredotto — are off the table for anyone keeping kashrut. The places above are the ones that are not, and there is more good coffee, gelato and produce here than you will have time for.
Sunset in Florence on the sixth of November is at ten to five.Plan Friday backwards from there — it arrives faster than you expect
Beds
We have held rooms at two hotels, both on the same square by the river. One link books either — and the block closes on 15 October.
Our room blocks
Room block · the weekend's home base
Piazza Ognissanti, on the Arno. Much of the weekend happens right here: Shabbat dinner and lunch are in its ballroom, and the Presidential Suite is our tea room throughout. Every shuttle and coach — the airport, Tuscany, Saturday night and the wedding — runs to and from this hotel.
Room block · across the square
Directly opposite the St. Regis on the same piazza — sister hotel, same river views, the gentler rate, and the rooftop where we have cocktails on Saturday. The shuttles leave from the St. Regis, ninety seconds' walk across the square.
Either one
Honestly, they face each other across one small square and you cannot go wrong. The same link shows both — it is listed as the Komberg & Leeds Wedding — so take whichever has the rate and room type you want.
Before you book
The hotel takes one night's deposit when you book, and it is not refundable. From 30 days before arrival the whole stay is charged if you cancel or shorten it. For extra nights or an upgrade, book through the link first, then ask the hotel's group desk — their details are on the booking page.
Also recommended — kinder on the wallet
No block at these, so book directly. The hotels are all a short walk from ours, which means a short walk to Friday dinner as well.
Via Maso Finiguerra
Straightforward, comfortable and well priced, about four minutes from Santa Maria Novella station and ten from the Duomo. The sensible-value pick: roughly €250–350 a night in November.
Piazza Santa Maria Novella
Right on the piazza, with a rooftop pool and terrace looking over the church. A step up in charm without the Ognissanti price tag: roughly €300–400 a night in November.
Piazza San Paolino
The design-led option — playful, modern, themed around Dante, with a good bar people actually sit in. A minute from Santa Maria Novella and the best fit if you would rather not stay somewhere gilded.
Apartments
For families, groups, or anyone staying more than three nights, an apartment usually beats a hotel on space and price. Look around Santa Maria Novella or the river to stay close to Friday dinner — and check the building has a lift before booking a fourth-floor flat in a fifteenth-century palazzo.
Everything else
Things people have already asked us, and a few things they should have.
That is a surprise, and we are keeping it that way for now — we will update this page closer to the date. Shuttles will take you there from The St. Regis and bring you back all evening, so you will not need a car.
Thursday 5 November through Monday 9 November 2026, all in and around Florence. Fly in on Thursday if you possibly can: the welcome dinner is at 6:00 pm that evening, and Friday's trip into Tuscany leaves at 10:30 am. Shuttles meet arrivals at Florence Airport on Thursday — please send us your flight details so we know who to expect.
The weekend page has the day-by-day.
Casual for Thursday's welcome dinner, sneakers welcome. Chic but comfortable for Friday's trip into Tuscany, with shoes you can walk in. Cocktail attire for Shabbat dinner on Friday. Your finest Italian fashion for the palace on Saturday night. Black tie for the wedding on Sunday.
One practical note. Florence is cobblestones end to end and they are uneven, so a stiletto will be swallowed whole — block heels, wedges or good flats.
November in Florence is cool and can be properly wet — think daytime highs around 14–16°C (upper 50s°F), dropping to single digits at night, and a decent chance of rain on any given day.
Bring a real coat and shoes you do not mind getting damp. The upside is that the city is at its emptiest and the light is beautiful.
All the food at our events is taken care of. Between events, Florence has a small but solid kosher scene clustered around the Great Synagogue on Via Farini — Ruth's for dairy and vegetarian, Ba'Ghetto for meat, and a Kosher Market on Via dei Pilastri for groceries and hot takeaway.
The Florence page has the details, including Shabbat times.
Your invitation names everyone we have saved a seat for, and Paperless Post will show you exactly who it covers. We wish we could invite everybody's everybody — the room has opinions about numbers.
Only for day trips out of the city. Inside Florence the streets are narrow and difficult to drive, the centre is a camera-enforced restricted zone, and the fines find you months later, at home, in euros. Shuttles meet arrivals at Florence Airport on Thursday, and coaches take us to everything over the weekend.
If you are heading into Tuscany, pick the car up on the day you go.
We are registered at Bloomingdale's — see the registry.
Genuinely though — a lot of you are crossing an ocean for this, and that is already more than enough.
The one thing we need
Kindly reply by the fifteenth of October.
Our invitations went out through Paperless Post, and that is where we are collecting replies. Reply straight from the invitation we sent to your email or phone — it already knows who is named on it, and it keeps our list in one place.
Cannot find it? Please text Ellie, Edit, Robert, or Dina!