Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog - Inspired Jewish Weddings

A Calla Blanche Bride for an Industrial Rustic Winter Jewish Wedding at King Plow Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

07/08/2020 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We are OBSESSED with the urban rustic ambience Casey, an elementary school teacher at a Jewish day school in Atlanta, and Scott, who’s in sales at a security company, brought to their winter Jewish wedding. Taking cues from their super cool venue, King Plow Arts Center – full of exposed brick galore – the pair went for a country-meets-city vibe focused on neutrals interspersed with succulents and greenery, and we’re in love! Don’t miss theexquisite photos from Ember Studio and video from Rusticus Films.

And REALLY don’t miss Casey and Scott’s gorgeous ketubah by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Noa Attias. Crafted in the artist’s trademark paper cut style, Noa crafted a modern piece in dark and light silvers that the couple now proudly displays in their home as the true piece of art it is.

We also love the couple’s sweet wintry wedding favors: each guest got a mason jar filled with hot cocoa, marshmallows and a personalized wooden spoon labelled with Casey and Scott’s wedding hashtag (@GREENEwontheGOLD) and a sticker on top that said “It Just Got Real. Enjoy something Hot, Love Casey and Scott” – cute!

Now over to the bride, who looked ravishing in Calla Blanche…

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How we met

Casey, the bride: We met on Jswipe!

Real Jewish Brides: Maggie on Her Conversion to Judaism

05/08/2020 by Smashing The Glass Leave a Comment

Maggie will be marrying Danny on 6th June 2021 at Stone House of St. Charles in St. Charles, Missouri. Click here to read all Maggie’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Danny proposed to Maggie on his birthday! (2) Maggie is in the process of converting to Judaism (3) Maggie is a member of STG Brides Club!

COVID-19 and wedding planning

The past 8 weeks have not been very eventful. As far as the pandemic goes, living between two states proves interesting when one state is still on lockdown and the other is fully open. Thankfully, I now live in the fully open state, so this has allowed me to find a job after getting laid off due to COVID-19. As a hotel manager my industry was hardest hit by this pandemic and after being laid off in March, my fiancé and I had to really consider what was happening with our wedding planning without my income. Fortunately, it only took 4 months for me to get a job making what I was before, so the budget of our wedding can stay the same.

Planning our wedding, though, has been very upsetting and neither of us really are excited to do it anymore. We have the big stuff planned like venue, photographer, videographer, florist, and wedding invitations, but we are struggling to talk to other vendors because of the impersonal interactions we’re having due to limitations on person to person meetings. An example of this: we cannot decide on a caterer due to not being able to try their food.

We have also run into another problem: vendors that are traditionally booked closer to the wedding date are now sending us emails saying that they are booking up around our date because of so many people rescheduling their weddings. This is causing the planner in me so much added stress that I do not even want to look into this stuff yet, let alone start booking.Continue Reading

An Anne Barge and Pronovias Bride for a Geeky-Meets-Glam Jewish Wedding at Ashford Estate, Allentown New Jersey, USA

03/08/2020 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We’re so excited to be featuring the utterly fabulous Jewish wedding of our beloved blogging bride and Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Juliette! The bride, a consultant specializing in real estate, wed her Hebrew school sweetheart Matt, who works in application security, put together the most wonderfully THEM celebration combining a lot of NYC (where the couple live) glitz with a little geek chic in the form of touches like signature drinks inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. Don’t miss the elegant photos by Fred Marcus Studios and emotion-packed video by Northeast Horizons.

We’re obsessed with Juliette’s bridal style – for the ceremony, she went old Hollywood glam in an Anne Barge stunner found at Kleinfeld Bridal, and then for the reception she changed into a short, danceable dress from Pronovias which she paired with Christian Louboutin sneakers. Two totally different, yet equally awesome, looks – and if you haven’t already, don’t miss the wonderful post Juliette wrote for Smashing The Glass about wedding dress shopping as a plus size bride.

And how gorgeous is the couple’s paper cut Danny Azoulay ketubah, purchased from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor ketubah.com (and with a 10% discount just for Brides Club members!).

Speaking of Brides Club, we’re so touched by Juliette’s kind words about the membership, which she calls: “one of the absolute BEST most amazing fabulous and needed part of my entire experience of being a bride.”

If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you can join Brides Club too here!

We love you, Juliette… over to you!

How We Met

Juliette, the bride: Matt and I met 9 years ago at the age of 15 at Hebrew high. My mom made me go and told me I could meet my future husband, I didn’t believe her but went anyways. They say moms always know. Matt and I dated through high school and college (we never were at the same school) and when we graduated we moved to NYC to work at the same company.

An Essense of Australia for a Rustic Rave Interfaith Jewish Wedding at a Private Residence in Morgan Hill, CA, USA

31/07/2020 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We’re so excited to be sharing the joyous, colorful interfaith Jewish wedding of our beloved Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Gina, an executive admin, and Mike, a college soccer coach! This wedding was SO full of personal touches, and we are totally and completely obsessed.

From the couple’s choice to wed at Gina’s aunt and uncle’s home, to making the bouquets and boutonnières from flowers grown in Gina’s mother’s garden, to the unique and fabulous theme of rustic rave, to the bride’s decision to pair her Essense of Australia gown with white sneakers with fiber optic lighting that changed colors, this wedding was SO Gina and Mike. The couple even booked some mega-talented friends of theirs as vendors on the day, including their photographer and videographer!

The bride, who isn’t Jewish, and the groom, whose family is Orthodox, made sure to craft a ceremony that reflected both of their backgrounds. They chose to have Mike’s best friend officiate, and incorporated lots of Jewish traditions – some with a unique twist. We love that Gina and Mike asked seven friends and family to each read one blessing in English, with Mike’s brothers repeating it in Hebrew. Such a special way to honor loved ones in your day!

We also love the simple floral chuppah, built by Gina’s dad! Oh, and those fab colorful flowers adorning it? They’re fake!

Of course we’re so touched to hear Gina’s kind words about Brides Club – especially that the group gave her the freedom to plan exactly the wedding she and Mike wanted.

Take it away, Gina!

How we Met

Gina, the bride: We met on Tinder in Nov 2014. On our first date, Mike picked me up at my parents’ house and met my parents!

Everything You Need to Know about Jewish Genetic Carrier Screening {Facebook Recap with JScreen}

30/07/2020 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

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I’m so excited to share with you my latest Facebook Live with Hillary Kener Regelman, Director of National Outreach at JScreen, a US-based not-for-profit at-home education and carrier screening program for Jewish genetic diseases.Jewish genetic screening is SUCH an important topic for every couple thinking of having children, and I’m so glad Hillary was able to help demystify the process.

I admit it isn’t something I knew much about before speaking with Hillary, but after chatting with her I see both how essential testing is to every couple’s family planning process AND how easy and accessible JScreen has made it. They’re on a mission to put genetic screening on every prospective parent’s radar and to clear up the misconceptions so many of us have about the process – and after chatting with Hillary, I’m totally convinced that, as she says, genetic screening should be an essential item on every couple’s wedding checklist.

What is genetic carrier screening?

Hillary started off by explaining exactly what genetic carrier screening is – and isn’t. It’s not a diagnostic test. Rather, JScreen’s testing lets people know if they are healthy carriers of genetic diseases who have mutations that they could pass on to their children.

Who should get screened?

While genetic screening is sometimes thought of as something relevant only to Ashkenazi Jews, the truth is that everyone planning on having children should get screened, regardless of background (and, as far as Jewish genetic diseases go, there are plenty that affect Sephardi and Mizrahi populations too).

JScreen offers a pan-ethnic panel, testing for all kinds of genetic diseases, not just those common among Jews – so it’s very much worth screening if one or both of you are not ethnically Jewish.

And even if your parents did testing, it’s still important to do it yourself before starting a family, since so many more diseases are testable today than even five years ago (which means that if you yourself were screened a number of years ago, it’s worth considering retesting with JScreen).