Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog - Inspired Jewish Weddings

A Calla Blanche Bride for a Jewish Wedding at Al Hayam Caesarea, Israel

19/07/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Is there anything better than an outdoor Jewish wedding by the ocean in Israel? We’re betting on no… and so did Sophie, a primary school teacher, and Elliott, a financial advisor, who opted for an epic destination wedding at Caesarea’s always stunning Al Hayam. This is one seriously stunning day – you don’t want to miss the splendid photography and videography by Camellia Art (who used a drone to capture some seriously awesome landscape shots).

This is a venue that really speaks for itself, and these two let the natural beauty of the location speak for itself, timing their chuppah for sunset, and going for a beautiful green and white chuppah that made a statement yet didn’t distract from the natural splendor of the surroundings.

We love that the couple opted to follow the tradition of doing the badeken on the aisle, honoring Elliott’s Sephardi heritage, so that the groom AND all the guests all got their first look at the beautiful bride as she walked down the aisle.

Speaking of that beautiful bride – who totally smashed it bridal style-wise in Calla Blanche – we’re going to turn you over to her now for the rest of the story…

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A Wedding in Israel

Sophie, the bride: Back in October 2016, Elliott proposed to me by the Bahai Gardens in Haifa which is his favourite place in the world. He is half Israeli and with his family living there, he would go there throughout his childhood to visit them, and so Israel is a very special place to Elliott. Getting engaged there, we knew straight away that was where we wanted get married. We got married at Al Hayam, Caesarea, Israel – the minute we heard about the venue we instantly feel in love with it.

A Maggie Sottero Bride for a Modern Jewish Wedding at The Brewery, London, UK

17/07/2019 by Karen Cinnamon 1 Comment

Okay, Jodie and Sam came up with what just might be the BEST end-of-night snack to send home with guests at a Jewish wedding: bagels and lox! What better snack after a long night of partying? WANT!

Snack genius aside, we’re in love with the couple’s gorgeous wedding at one of our very favourite London venues, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Brewery. Jodie describes her venue as “everything we wanted and more,” and we think that’s a spot-on description – The Brewery really does have it all, from an amazing central London location to ultra-attentive service to a whole range of beautiful spaces you can use for all the various elements of the Jewish wedding day.

Jodie and Sam wanted their big day to be all about love, and that comes through so strongly in their photos by Gantcho Beltchev and their sensational video by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Minty Slippers – seriously, don’t miss this trailer; it captures the love between the couple and the joy everyone in the room felt for them so perfectly.

We also love that Jodie and Sam wrote and delivered a joint speech together!

Now over to the bride, who looked exquisite in Maggie Sottero…

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A London Wedding

Jodie, the bride: After a year of planning, on 10th June 2018 we pulled off a modern Jewish wedding in the most amazing venue in central London at The Brewery, Chiswell Street. After lots of searching for the perfect venue, The Brewery was everything we wanted and more and we could picture the whole day as we stood there in awe of the potential of the space in front of us.

Family and Friends

We wanted a day that wasn’t just the best day of our lives but also an amazing day for our family and friends and more than anything, more than the food, the drink and the dancing, we wanted love to be the most prominent theme of the day.

Join Smashing Life, Our Brand New Community For Life After The Wedding!

16/07/2019 by Karen Leave a Comment

The news you’ve been waiting for has arrived! Smashing Life, our brand new warm and engaging private community for life after the wedding has just opened its doors, and I’m thrilled to invite to be one of our 100 founding members!

>> JOIN SMASHING LIFE TODAY!

As a founding member, you’ll help shape the focus of Smashing Life, our brand new go-to members-only community for for Jewish and Jew-ish newlyweds + marrieds

I’m limiting the initial intake to 100 members so that I can take on your individual feedback on the topics and experts that you want to hear from, and for a closely-connected audience to tell me about the kind of group discounts and offers you’d be interested in too.

A SENSE OF BELONGING AND COMMUNITY

Inside Smashing Life there’s a sense of closeness and community. In our supportive nurturing environment, no matter what’s going on in your life, we’ve got your back.

Join today and you’ll have access to dedicated discussion threads, group hangouts, live video Q&A sessions with guest experts, recipe inspo, regular in-person meet-ups, and that’s just to get started.

24/7 you’ll be able to throw out a question – whether it’s looking for a product recommendation or something more serious like advice for dealing with in-laws – we’ve got you covered.

Whilst you can talk about ANYTHING inside the space safe of Smashing Life (nothing is off the [Friday night] table), we’ll be focusing on the following themes in the form of chats, masterclasses, monthly challenges, Q&As, and in-person meet-ups, and it goes without saying that it’s a safe confidential space for you to share your ideas, issues and experiences on these topics as well:

Family planning + pregnancy
Jewish life
Health + wellbeing
Family + in-laws
Marriage + your relationship
House hunting + interiors
Entertainment
Finances
Career + work/life balance
Entertaining
Travel
Mental health + self-care

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A Rustic Chic Family-Focused Jewish Wedding at Gedney Farm in New Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA

15/07/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We love it when a couple puts friends and family at the center of their big day – and that’s exactly what Miri, a social worker at the Women’s Prison Association, and Dan, a doctor and is the assistant professor of pathology & cell biology/assistant director of clinical microbiology at Columbia Presbyterian, did.

Not to say that they didn’t pay attention to the aesthetics – it’s hard to go wrong in the beautiful Berkshires, and we’re in love with their gorgeous rustic venue. And that floral chuppah – so sweet and simple, yet so perfect! If you’re anything like us, Christopher Duggan’s wonderful photos will have you wishing you could transport yourself to Western Massachusetts ASAP.

The groom’s father officiated the wedding, and the bride’s father and uncle participated in the ceremony too. And we love that Miri and Dan divided up a modern version of the the 7 blessing among family so that even more of their relatives could participate!

We love that Miri opted to wear her mother’s 50-year-old wedding dress for the big day (with some tailoring and modernization to make it work for her body AND the 21^stcentury) – how special is that?

And the canopy on that gorgeous chuppah? It was taken from Dan’s mom’s wedding dress.

There’s so much more to say about this amazing day, but we’ll leave the rest to Miri…

How we met

Miri, the bride: We met on Tinder in 2014.

A Lihi Hod Bride for a Tropical Boho Jewish Wedding at Ronit Farm, Kfar Shmaryahu, Israel

12/07/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We are loving the tropical vibes of today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding – Shahar and Or really pulled off the perfect carefree outdoor Israeli wedding at beautiful Ronit Farm. The bright colors, unconventional florals, lanterns, and colorful glassware all come together to create a serious party vibe.

The couple knew they wanted their wedding photos in natural daylight, so they opted to marry on a Friday at noon – love that these two knew what they wanted and went for it!

And that chuppah! With natural wooden poles wound with tropical vines, greenery, and exuberant flowers, we’re totally transported to an island paradise. Asaf Kliger’s colorful, warm photos capture it all so perfectly, and videographer Nir Tenenbaum’s fantastic trailer makes us feel like we were there for the big day.

There’s so much more to say about this fun wedding – like the top-secret performance by a famous Israeli rock star that the couple surprised their guests with! – but for that we’ll turn you over to Shahar, who looked radiant in her boho chic dress by Israel designer Lihi Hod…

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How we met

Shahar, the bride: Our story is the story of two highschool lovers. We met back in high-school 11 years ago, where Shahar had the guts to send Or the first text message.

Since then we have been through everything together. Army service, travelling South America for 7 months and many vacations in Europe. We’ve been through university together – both bachelors and masters. 2 rental apartments in Tel-Aviv and the list goes on and on.

Nowadays, Shahar is a MA student for clinical psychology at IDC Herzliya, whereas Or is finishing med school at TAU university.

We live at a small and cozy apartment in central Tel-Aviv, and are thinking about adopting a new doggy friend for our family soon!