We’re always curious to see what Jewish wedding vendors at the top of their game choose to do for their own weddings. So naturally we were pretty excited for today’s wedding. You see, beautiful bride Sarah-Louise is the rockstar bridal hair stylist behind Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hair by SLO! She’s long been a favorite among our UK brides – you can see all her gorgeous weddings hair styles we’ve featured here – and her incredible interfaith Jewish-Jamaican (or Jew-maican!) wedding to groom Nathan is everything we could’ve hoped for and more.
Right off the bat, these two knew merging their backgrounds would be priority #1. Sarah-Louise is Jewish, while Nathan is a Christian pastor’s son – and every single detail of their ceremony reflected that.
The ceremony was under a chuppah, with the groom’s father officiating – along with a group of gospel singers all made up of Nathan’s relatives! Sarah-Louise circled Nathan 7 times, smashed the glass, and walked in to Hebrew singing.
Needless to say, the vendor lineup these two put together was pretty stellar. With simple, beautiful invitations from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Papier, exquisite hair styling handled by three amazing hairdressers who were all the bride’s former assistants, emotion-filled photography by Harry Michael, the most moving videography by mega-talented videographer Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion – seriously, don’t miss their wedding trailer – and music by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband, who worked with the couple to choose the perfect lineup of garage, Motown, and beyond to keep their guests on the dancefloor all night long.
Now over to the bride, who totally rocked her gown by Pronovias…
A Countryside Venue
Sarah-Louise, the bride: We got married at Tewin Bury Farm in the Meadow Barn. We chose this venue because it was really important to us to have a venue where our guests could stay and a suite large enough where I could get ready in – I’m a bridal hair dresser so the morning and getting ready part was very important to me. We didn’t want a venue I had worked in before so that it felt special and different for me.
An Interfaith Wedding
Our wedding was very specific to us because it was a mix of both our cultures. I’m Jewish and Nathan is a Christian pastor’s son! Every part of the day was both, our ceremony was under a chuppah with his father marrying us along with gospel singers (all Nathan’s very talented family members). My family did the Jewish bits and I still circled him 7 times, smashed the glass and walked in to Hebrew singing. Other than that, I just wanted my version of tacky haha I love big chandeliers lots of sparkle but still simple and classy. If something needed to be a colour I chose gold.
Beautiful Invitations
Wedding invites were very simple, we designed them together using Papier.
Hair + Makeup
Hair for me was easy. I had 3 amazing hairdressers who were all my former assistants from when I was in a Westend salon. Between the 3 of them it was perfect – I didn’t want to put too much emphasis on my hair as that’s my normal life.
Make-up on the other hand was very important but equally as easy, my beautiful friend and favourite make-up artist in the world Sophie Costello from was on hand. We have worked and travelled together for years, and she knows I want to look like I’m wearing make-up, and for me bigger is better. It was incredible! We try to work together as much as we can.
A Pronovias Dress
My dress was by Pronovias and was very simple, I just wanted a great silhouette. I’ve always been a bigger girl so it was hard finding a dress as there were very few I could try on, so I actually ordered my dress having never tried it on! I ordered it big and them lost weight and had it taken in.
Accessories
Being a bridal hairdresser, I was very pro veil and thought I would definitely wear one the way I encourage my brides to, but when it came to it, it just didn’t suit me so instead I bought an obnoxiously big hair piece from America via Etsy!
The handsome groom
We got every part of Nathan’s outfit from different shops to create the exact look we envisioned for him!
Bridesmaids
I had 6 bridesmaids, my step sister, Nathan’s sister and my 4 best friends. I really wanted them to all be comfortable as they hugely differed in size, height, race and age, one was also pregnant! I chose multiway dresses by Victoria Lou Bridal, the range of colours was beautiful and different. The colour was based on what would make everyone comfortable and blend in with an undertone of gold through the wedding.
Chuppah
It was very simple, I just wanted gypsophilia so it was pretty yet subtle. I also wanted some of the crystal theme incorporated so we had glass plinths with crystals either side.
The combination of both faiths in the ceremony, standing under the chuppah with dancing to the gospel singing was the best moment of my life.
Our music choice
Music was really important and we chose every song ourselves! We had Bob Marley throughout dinner, the garage set and Motown by the band was amazing and our first dance was a slowed down version of the club classic “Let me be your fantasy” the band was beyond my expectations, the amazing XS showband. we then had a DJ for some old skool, garage and afrobeats.
FLOWERS
Flowers aren’t my thing so again we kept it simple just with gypsophyilia, our florist Alexandra was so accommodating and amazing, she’s very talented.
Photographer and videographer
Our photographer was the great Harry Michael, I worked with him at a wedding years before and just loved his relaxed photos where he literally just stays in the background capturing moments. He’s an incredible photographer and such a laugh – he stayed right until the end on the dancefloor capturing everything.
Our videographer could be none other than the best – Denee Motion. Denis is so talented and the way he makes your wedding come back to life on the screen is a gift.
Entertainment
XS Showband covered everything, they went above and beyond and did things I wouldn’t have even thought of!
Cookie Favours
I wasn’t going to have favours but my lovely sister in law handmade cookies with our faces on in little bags which was such a lovely touch!
Honeymoon
We stayed at the Baha Mar in the Bahamas and it was out of this world. We swam with pigs and ate amazing food and just had the time of our lives.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
This is the advice I give all my brides… stop stressing the small stuff, no one notices if your shoe is scuffed or your dress has a pull. it will be the best day of your life more than you can imagine so take a deep breath and just enjoy it all. Also, if you’re not having a wedding planner, which I didn’t, then get a toast master. I had the wonderful Howard Robbins who is like an angel on the day!
Sarah-Louise and Nathan’s little white book
Photography – Harry Michael
Videography – Denee Motion {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Band – XS Showband
Hair + Makeup – Hair by Slo, Makeup by Sophie Costello Sophie Fleur Beauty
Invitation – Papier
Venue – Tewin Bury Farm
Bride’s dress – Pronovias
Bride’s accessories – Etsy
Bridesmaids – Victoria Lou Bridal
Flowers – Alexandra, based at Tewin Bury Farm
Toastmaster – Howard Robbins
On-the-day stationery – The Write Girl Calligraphy
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
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Lovely wedding pictures. Happy faces. colorful photos. Thanks for sharing a lovely wedding with us.
Thank you for sharing our video. Much love from Denis and team x
Thank you so much Emily and Karen we love it! Xx
By far the best wedding I’ve ever been to!! I am biased as I was MOH and Slo and Nathan are my best friends but it couldn’t have been more perfect. I wish we could do it all over again.xx