A Paolo Sebastian Bride for a Whimsical Outdoor Jewish Wedding at Farmington, Pennsylvania, USA - Smashing the Glass

We do love a whimsical, woodland Jewish wedding – there’s nothing quite like an outdoor ceremony set against a striking, natural backdrop — and we ADORE the origin story of today’s beautifully embroidered chuppah. We won’t ruin it for you, but make sure you check it out, because it’s absolutely wonderful!

Lena and Jacob met when she was hired to design the typography for a book that architect Jacob’s work was featured in. Realizing they attended the same college, she reached out to him on Facebook and the rest, as they say, is history. How romantic is that?

Lena also looked SO luxe and lovely in her stuff-of-dreams Paolo Sebastian gown, which fit her like a glove! Seriously, even if you’re already married, it’s a dress worthy of planning a whole second wedding around!

The gorgeous photography was provided by Steven Dray Images, please do feel free to feast your eyes on the spread of images, as well as Lena’s fabulous writeup. Enjoy!

How we met

Lena, the bride: We met when I was hired to design the typography for a book called “Encoding Architecture” that his work was being published in.

When I was putting his work into the book, I realized that we went to the same college and I reached out to him through Facebook. I said something to him like, “You don’t know me, but I am the designer for that book your work is going to be in.” We met up, and the rest was history.

A woodland venue

Jacob and I got married at Kentuck Knob in Farmington, Pennsylvania. Our reception was held at Falling Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.

A special post-ceremony yichud

Our wedding ceremony was unique, because we worked closely with our amazing Rabbi to make sure each part of the ceremony reflected what we wanted to bring to our wedding day.

Something that made our wedding day really special and refocused the day on each other was observing yichud after the ceremony. It was so special to take a romantic moment all alone and reflect on what was happening.

To us, this was way more important then circulating at the cocktail hour, and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to take a time out to reflect on this spiritually significant moment.

A traditional invitation

Our invitation was fairly traditional. I worked with Sara Hargraeves at Scribe to create these.

Sara is an amazing stationer, and the letterpress was done by Julie Holcomb Printers in San Francisco.

I personally did the calligraphy for our envelopes on the invitations. You can find my calligraphy work at La Lettera.

A Paolo Sebastian dress

My dress was Paolo Sebastian, and I bought it at Mark Ingram Atelier in New York City. The team at Mark Ingram were fantastic and I would highly recommend them.

Meaningful jewelry

I had diamond earrings that my mom had recently bought for me. These earrings are really special to me because, it’s a very personal story, but they represent a new beginning where my mother and I got rid of old baggage and, in turn, got something beautiful and totally new.

I did not have a veil. Everyone has their own interpretation of the wedding veil, but to me, the veil does not match my own personal ethos. To me a veil can represent ownership, patriarchy, and virginity. No one owns me. I did not wear a veil.

The handsome groom

Jacob wore a black Ralph Lauren suit and Prada shirt. It is my favorite outfit of his and I get excited any time I see him in that suit.

Bridesmaids in mismatched dresses

I let my bridesmaids pick their own dresses in the color I had chosen. Some of their dresses are from Theory, J. Crew and Asos.

A chuppah hand embroidered by the groom’s grandmother

Our chuppah was so special, because Jacob’s grandmother, Gail, designed and hand embroidered the panels of the chuppah banners that were hung around the outside of the structure.

Our florist, Lauren, did such a great job building a beautiful chuppah to display those beautiful banners.

There are four pieces to it that Gail embroidered. On the front, there is “I am my beloved and my beloved is mine” in English. The same is on the back in Hebrew, and the side panels have a scene of Jerusalem and a scene of a wedding processional.

We are the second couple in the family to use Gail’s banners and it is a new tradition for everyone in the family to use these pieces she has created.

I loved how Lauren used the birch posts and the the beautiful greenery and flowers around it. The chuppah was so unique and beautiful.

Beautiful and memorable flowers

We used a lot of greenery like ferns, as well as garden roses that were in season. There were some large Juliet roses mixed in with lots of spray roses and ferns.

Our florist was The Farmer’s Daughter Flowers. They were so fantastic and I would highly recommend them! I loved my bouquet and the chuppah so much. Their work was beautiful and memorable.

Donating to charity

We did not have favors, and instead of favors we opted to donate the money that would traditionally be spent on favors to American Cancer Society.

My father died of cancer when I was 10, and many people on both sides of the family had been affected by cancer, so I felt this was the best way to honor all of our guests and their loved ones.