Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog - Inspired Jewish Weddings

A Patricia Avendano Bride for a Modern Country Interfaith Jewish Wedding in Criadero del Leon, El Valle de Anton, Cocle, Panama

16/08/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We’re pretty sure this is a first for STG: an interfaith Jewish wedding that took place in the crater of an extinct volcano! Yes, really.

Though you’d never know it from the photos of Panama’s lush paradise of El Valle de Anton, where lucky bride Ida, a college counselor at a Jewish high school in Panama, has a country home in her family. She and Joey, a photographer and videographer, couldn’t have found a better spot for their dreamy modern country wedding. We’re positively drooling over the gorgeous photos by Mauricio Arias from Chrisman Studios and Alvaro Chingand the wonderful trailer by Visu Films.

Despite having 600 (!) guests at their wedding, they managed to keep the feel intimate by keeping things personal with touches like personalized vows the bride and groom read to each other (both of which happened to begin by talking about food – our kind of couple!) and having their miniature dachshund walk down the aisle.

We’ll let the bride, who looked lovely in Patricia Avendano, fill you in on the rest.

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How we met

Ida, the bride: We met in a geology class at Florida State University (they have a branch here in Panama). And our love story began like any other… with chocolate chip cookies! As usual, like with any other man (including the skinny ones like him) the way to his heart was through his belly. I brought cookies to class one day and offered them to everyone in the class and the rest is history!

Before we started dating we became friends, good friends, at least that’s what I thought. But friendship quickly turned into something more and in February 2011 we started dating, even though we knew I was leaving for college in the USA in August of that same year. We did long distance for 3 years, have been dating for 7, and now we’ll be together forever because we are getting married!

Real Jewish Brides: How Juliette Chose Her Florist

14/08/2019 by Smashing The Glass Leave a Comment

Juliette will be marrying Matt on 9th November 2019 at Ashford Estate in Allentown, New Jersey, USA. Click here to read all Juliette’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Juliette and Matt met in Hebrew school when they were 16 – aww! (2) Juliette and Matt are both Jewish, but they are having a Jew-ish wedding – Juliette’s dad’s side of the family is Catholic, and they want to make sure everyone feels included on the day. (3) Juliette is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club – and she calls STG her “secret weapon” in wedding planning!

Major win: the florist!

My wedding is quickly approaching and this week has made it abundantly clear. Matt and I had some time off of work and we spent the week gathering wedding planning wins. Our major win this week was the florist.

I met and decided to use Adam Leffel Productions about a year ago when I was first beginning my planning. I was obsessed with the visual impact of the day. As I combed through Instagram and Pinterest I became a complete psycho flipping through pictures of floral arrangements, table settings, chairs, lighting and production.

So quick reminder, I have never been to a wedding. When you are researching and planning, food and music are not what you see on Instagram. Now before every Jewish mother jumps from their seat, I did make sure to give focus to those two important parts of the puzzle. We put our parents in charge of food and hired a trusted DJ for all the dancing festivities.

A Vesselina Bride for a Romantic Boho Jewish Wedding at Hebrew Order of David Hall, Johannesburg, South Africa

12/08/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We’re obsessed with the romantic boho vibe Batia and Darren created for their gorgeous South African Jewish wedding. The bride, a makeup and lash artist, and the groom, a musician and sound engineer working in sales, crafted the most gorgeous day, filled with soft colours, plenty of succulents, and rustic wooden elements galore.

We love their sweet, simple chuppah – and it just goes to show you don’t need to go all out for something mega-opulent to create a gorgeous floral chuppah. A simple wooden structure wrapped in just the right amount of delicate roses and soft green vines – done! The bride’slate grandfather’s tallis formed the canopy, which is such a beautiful touch. Photographers Splendid Productions and videographers White Motion Films captured everything so perfectly.

Batia’s wonderful dress from Vesselina Pentcheva carried on the boho fairy tale theme, with a soft, flowy cut and wonderful 3D rose lace and hand stitched pearls. We’ll let her fill you in on the rest of the details of her wonderful day…

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How we met

Batia, the bride: We met at a mutual friends house 8 years ago and the rest is history!

A Delila Fox Bride for a Modern Tropical Jewish Wedding at Villa Ban Suriya, Koh Samui, Thailand

09/08/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Tropical weddings are sure having a moment right now – whether in London or the actual tropics, Jewish brides and grooms are going wild for bright colours, laid-back vibes, and palms aplenty, and we’re here for it.

If tropical is your vibe, you can’t do much better than to marry in the tropical island paradise of Koh Samui, and that’s exactly what Bianca, an Australian Pilates instructor, and Ruben, a site manager/builder and carpenter hailing from France, did.

They put together the perfect modern tropical Jewish wedding on the beach, with a simple yet statement-making chuppah covered in tropical leaves. Photographer Toa of Weerayu Janthai and videographer Nok of Janthai Photography captured all the magic of this gorgeous day so perfectly.

Now we’ll hand you over to the bride, who looked simply smashing in Delila Fox (love that bow at the back), which she paired with adorable Marc Jacobs Daisy sneakers – fun and practical!

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How we met

Bianca, the bride: We met in Bondi at one of my favourite bar/restaurants called The Bucket List one sunny summery Sunday in December. I was with a few of my friends and Ruben and his friend joined our table. He noticed we were drinking French Rose so brought over a bottle for us all to enjoy. From then on it was go time!

Real Jewish Brides: Nargiz’s #NoRegrets Bachelorette Party in Vegas

07/08/2019 by Smashing The Glass Leave a Comment

Nargiz will be marrying Ryan on 9th November 2019 at Farmington Hills Manor, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA. Click here to read all Nargiz’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Nargiz was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the wedding will combine her family’s traditions – they are Mountain Jews, or Gorski, and their culture is a mix of Persian and Middle Eastern influences – and Ryan’s American Ashkenazi background. (2) Nargiz’s mother tragically passed away last summer, so she has been facing wedding planning without her mom by her side. (3) Nargiz is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!

Final Check Off

We’ve been engaged for a year now and we have less than 4 months to go. So far throughout the wedding planning process, I never felt rushed or stressed because we have had so much time. It has been really nice to have the time to pick and choose vendors, to take the time to make calls and meet with people.

I met with my wedding planner June from A June Event last week. We went over a rough timeline of the wedding day and he gave me a list of things I still need to complete. So now that it is getting closer to the wedding day, I need to cross off more and more things off our to do list. Last week was a super productive week thanks to my planner who pushed me to do more like booking valet, party bus, shuttle service for the out of town guests, challah bread, our ketubah, etc.