Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog - Inspired Jewish Weddings

A Festival-Themed Jewish Wedding with a Ball Pit and Mini Golf at Brook Farm Cuffley, Hertfordshire, UK

17/10/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

You know we’re all about “Your Jewish wedding, your way” here at Smashing The Glass. It’s really our mission, and while all the weddings we blog are chosen for their authenticity and individuality, sometimes one really blows us away with its inventiveness.

That’s definitely the case today. Rachel and Josh packed their festival-themed Jewish wedding so full of unexpected fun, from the ball pit (!!!) to the BBQ-style mezze menu to the mini golf course!

Since a festival is nothing without fantastic music (and plenty of it), the pair booked multiple musical acts, including Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, the incredible Totem.

Our hats are totally off to Rachel (who owns the photo booth company Megabooth!) and Josh for crafting such an utterly unique day, and one that is so obviously, unabashedly them. You won’t want to miss Tom Webb and Dan McCourt’s glorious photos of this one-of-a-kind wedding… or Rachel’s writeup of the “mad party,” as she says!

How we met

Rachel, the bride: My husband and I were set up by mutual friends. However, the proposal was an interesting one! We got engaged in the desert on a stargazing tour, went for a walk, saw a shooting star, and then he got down on one knee!

New York Bridal Market Fall 2019 Recap {and Top Bridal Trends for 2019}

16/10/2018 by Emily Sacharin Leave a Comment

Ines Di Santo’s afterparty at the Baccarat Flagship Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images

5 days, 18 appointments, approximately 57 million Insta stories (if you missed them, you can catch the best bits in our highlights), and countless fantastic dresses later, New York Bridal Fashion week is over for another season. Basically Fashion Week for wedding dresses, Bridal Fashion Week (aka Bridal Market) is easily one of the most fun times of a wedding blogger’s year.

Some of the collections are presented at full-on runway shows (and Ines Di Santo put on a particularly epic one this Bridal Market, plus the coolest afterparty at the Baccarat Flagship), while others are shown at more intimate appointments for small groups of buyers from bridal boutiques (plus press, of course), sometimes with the designers present.

Suzanne Neville

Limor Rosen

Ines Di Santo Photo by FIRSTVIEW

I had some fantastic conversations with designers and PR reps, learned a ton about everything from who actually buys those epic but unwearable-looking designs you see on the runway (answer: often no one, since some designs are purely intended for editorial impact and never even make it to production) to the differences between what American and British brides are looking for in a gown (according to Sassi Holford, it’s half an inch: Americans invariably want deeper sweetheart necklines, while the Brits prefer theirs with less of a dip). The more you know!

There’s so much fantastic bridal fashion in the pipeline for next year, and I’m so excited to share it with you, along with my take on some of the top trends we’ll be seeing (or, in some cases, continuing to see) over the next year. From classic elegance inspired by Meghan Markle’s gown to a burgeoning range of alt coverups from capes to ruffs (perfect for under the chuppah!) to unexpected bursts of color, 2019’s going to be an exciting year for bridal. Pin your favorite looks!

Caroline Castigliano

Suzanne Neville

Real Jewish Brides: What’s Most Important to Rebecca for her Wedding

16/10/2018 by Smashing The Glass Leave a Comment

Rebecca will be marrying Danny on 1st September 2019 in London, UK. Click here to read all Rebecca’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Rebecca and Danny met on JSwipe (2) Rebecca is a Senior Event Planner at Food Story (who just so happen to be our favorite kosher caterers!) and plans other people’s weddings for a living (3) Rebecca and Danny are planning a “Marbella meets Tuscany” themed wedding in the heart of London!

What Really Matters

Working for Food Story I get to see so many beautiful weddings; stunning centrepieces, bespoke stages, dancefloors, bars, the list can go on. But when working on an event I am very much into the logistics and don’t often step back to take it all in.

During the busy wedding season just gone, I tried to find moments to think about:

What is most important during a wedding?
What is important for guests to feel at a wedding?
What’s most important for the couple at a wedding?

I am not sure I have the answers for everyone, however for me I know that the answer to all three questions is… LOVE. Most people who know me will tell you I am not very sentimental, so this answer was a little surprising. But, when I think about our wedding day all I can think about is surrounding myself with the people I love most.

A Monique Lhuillier Bride for an Old New York Wedding at Cipriani 25 Broadway, New York City, USA

15/10/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We are totally obsessed with today’s couple’s TREE CHUPPAH. With four carefully constructed “trees” – white roses lovingly hand-placed on each for the most beautiful blossoms – whose canopies meet at the top, it’s unlike any we’ve seen before. You don’t want to miss Brian Marcus’s glorious photos of it.

We’re also crazy about bride Alison’s mega-glam Monique Lhuillier dress, inspired by the wedding theme of old New York – we just love the simple, architectural lines and the hint of ‘40s glam. Such a perfect match for the vintage vibes.

Plus, Alison, a doctor and Michael, who works in finance, had a beautiful ketubah, brilliantly designed by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Stephanie Caplan of The Ketubah.

Oh, and Alison said the absolute sweetest things about what it was like listening to Michael’s wedding speech – we’re totally melting just reading it – sure you will be too…

How we met

Alison, the bride: We met on Jswipe in 2014.

An Elia Vatine Bride for a Super Spiritual Destination Jewish Wedding at Baya’ar in Hadera, Israel

12/10/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

OK could today’s destination Jewish wedding be any cooler? That portrait of the couple just chillin’ in shades against the backdrop of the Hadera skyline – LOVE. And the super colorful floral chuppah with the suspended tallit canopy? Perfection.

We’re obsessed with the gorgeous wedding photos from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor LUZ Weddings. From the emotion and spirituality of the chuppah to the wild party (complete with Brazilian drum line) to the artsy portraits taking advantage of awesome architectural backdrops, every image is so memorable. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Lisa, a strategic consultant for The Behavioural Architects, and Igor, Igor is a press officer at the UK’s Home Office, are a totally stunning couple.

We also love how this pair put so much emphasis on the spiritual element of their day – you can really see it in Nir Tenenbaum’s moving videography.

We’ll let Lisa fill you in on the rest – by the way, we are ALL about her simple, elegant dress from Elia Vatine. Like everything about this day, it’s the perfect mix of laid back and glam…

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How We Met

Igor’s version:

“She’s gorgeous but blind dates are really not my thing,” I said to Mika, a mutual friend who’d been trying to set me up with Lisa for months. “If one day we are ever in the same place you can introduce us but until then I’ll wait”…

A few months later when I had recently come back from spending New Year’s in Portugal, I attended a Shabbat dinner at the JLE, a social center for young Jews. Out of pure coincidence, Lisa also decided to attend and during the cocktail reception we were introduced for the very first time. “Nice to meet you,” I said, though what I really meant was “finally.”

In another strike of “coincidence,” we ended up sitting next to each other, in one of the 15 available round-tables. We talked until first course was served, but then some friends started coming to the table to catch up on my latest trip. I got distracted and stopped speaking to Lisa. This ended up taking all dinner and when I realized I should speak to her again it was too late and dinner was over.

I felt embarrassed and added her on Facebook a couple of days later. I messaged her apologizing for not being a good “table mate” and asked if I could make it up and take her out for a drink. She accepted and we went to Alice House, a classic local bar/pub in West Hampstead.

The date lasted for five hours and it felt like the most natural of things. We talked about dogs, vegetarianism, gin & tonics, Judaism, kids, and behavioral economics (something I still struggle to understand).

“I think I met the woman of my life,” I messaged Daniel Granditer and Simon Murray, two friends who knew about the upcoming date.

I was never so sure about something in life as wanting to see Lisa every hour of every day after that. I knew that no matter what, I should not let such a beautiful, kind, and generous soul pass. From that day onwards I would do all in my power to make her my life companion.

Ten months after our first date, while on holidays in the magical mountain town of Lenzerheide, in Switzerland, I proposed to Lisa. I knew that was her “happy place.” Yes, at the very top of the Swiss Alps.

Lisa’s version:

I pretended to have never heard of him before when my friend Mika told me about this handsome, smart, funny, and nice friend of hers. “You guys have to meet,” she said. A few weeks later I was discussing with a group of friends which Friday night dinner to go to – there were so many options, a dinner organized by the JLE being one of them. We decided to attend a Friday night dinner in town, but our plans fell through last minute and we were lucky to catch the last few spots at the JLE dinner.

When we got there, Mika absolutely wanted me to sit next to her, but when we sat down I turned around and it was not her sitting there, but Igor. We talked for a little bit, and the conversation actually became interesting, but he seemed to be the star of the evening and people did not stop coming over to him to say hi and chat. At some point he apologized and said he had to go to speak to a few friends… He didn’t come back to the table for the rest of the evening.

“Handsome, but a bit snobbish” was my conclusion, and I ended up having a fun night with my friends. Two days later I left to Israel, and when I turned on my phone after the flight I saw that I had a friend request on Facebook, and a couple of hours later I received a message from Igor.

He apologised for disappearing and said, “I’m not a fan of texting, do you want to meet up?” We ended up texting for the rest of the week – although he supposedly wasn’t a fan. We went for a drink as soon as I got back to London and our first date lasted until the bar closed.

The following weeks and months we saw each other more and more, and with every day we spent together, my feelings for him grew fonder. Soon there was such a strong bond between us that it was hard to spend even one day apart.

Early January, a few days after New Year’s, in the most beautiful spot on the planet, Igor made me happier than ever with just one question.