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!
Keeping It in the Family
Our main focus was a place to have multiple events, low cost and feel connected to family. We got married in Morgan Hill, CA at my aunt and uncle’s home. My grandparents and uncle share a 10 acre property with a walnut orchard between them. After my grandparents passed away, my parents moved into their house. After we got engaged we were at my aunt and uncle’s house and my aunt offered their home for our wedding.
My aunt passed away 5 months later after a long battle with breast cancer. We decided to get married there because I didn’t have any living grandparents attending the wedding, my aunt passed and I wanted to feel connected to family and honor these individuals who were a significant part of my life. We had key moments that included them. The house and bright colorful garden paid tribute to my aunt. I got ready with the glam squad at my grandparents’ old house and took portraits in my mom’s now garden. Our get away car was restored by my grandfather.
The evening prior we had a welcome party at my parents’ house and it was the perfect place for the whole weekend!
Rustic Rave
I was committed to making this wedding scream Mike and Gina! We both like EDM music and dancing. I always try to think outside the box and be creative. I didn’t want to be set on “one-three colors” for our wedding colors. Instead we went with bright fun summer colors. Our theme was RUSTIC RAVE and we nailed it! Our bouquets and boutonnières were all grown from my mom’s garden. The centerpieces were colored glass bottles bought by my mom and her girlfriends when they went thrift shopping.
We had upbeat music playing all night. Even for the processional and recessional, cocktail, dinner and reception. People were ready to party! We had a custom-made neon sign that hung behind the sweetheart table, LED wristbands as our favors with our hashtag on them that came on during our first dance. I had white sneakers that I wore the entire time that had fiber optic lighting that I turned on during our first dance. Foam glow sticks, Italian and Jewish dancing, napkins folded into hearts, a personalized program with information about the Jewish ceremony and many fun facts about us.
The food were both our favorites, mine Mexican and his Benihana fried rice. I planned our entire wedding. We had a coordinator who helped mostly with the day of and a few meetings beforehand but it truly was me who planned the entire event and did all the legwork to make it happen.
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
Being a BC member was very helpful! It was a fun place to share all the planning and hear what others were planning. Being a non-Jew marrying a Jew, it was a difficult road. Having Karen’s support with documents, live wedding calls with rabbis and other members was beneficial.
In the end one of the best pieces of advice I picked up was “you can do whatever you want”. I’ve always beat to my own drum and do what I ultimately want but hearing this about a Jewish wedding made it easier to manage my stress levels during the planning process.
Invitation
I made our invitations on Canva.com. I only printed a few and then took a picture with the invite, canvas and our colored glass bottles around it. The invites were emailed and RSVPs were made through our website on theknot.com
An Essense of Australia Dress
My dress was from J’aime Bridal in Pleasanton, CA. The designer was Essense of Australia . I always wanted an A line dress with lots of material on the bottom. When I pinned inspo on Pinterest, I was pinning a ton of lace. But when I went to find my dress, I wasn’t liking the lace styles I was trying on. I put on this sparkly, slightly plunging neckline and felt different than any others. It was like we had this special bond and connection to each other.
It was the 12th out of 14 dresses I tried on. I loved the beading and the v neck and the white organza over the champagne/bronze lining. I had my mom, sisters-in-law, aunt, cousin and 3 friends join me. All knew me well and kept asking me “can you dance in it?” I did the dance test to make sure it would work and it definitely did!
Accessories
Oh my veil!!!! What is it about a veil that makes you feel instantly like a bride?! When I found my dress, the woman helping me asked if I wanted to put a veil with it. She 100% knew what she was doing! She put a finger tip length, rhinestone trim veil on me and I about cried. Initially I had no intention of wearing a hair piece other than the veil. But when I was looking for jewelry, my mom pulled out some of my grandma’s old pieces and she had a broach that I remember my grandma wearing for special occasions.
My seamstress made it into a hair piece. My earrings were in my own jewelry collection. My necklace was my something borrowed from my mom. My something blue was a blue heart with our names and wedding date sewn into the lining of the dress.
Fiber Optic Sneakers
My shoes were the best! I’m not a heels girl. I always envisioned wearing white sneakers. I didn’t want to have my dress hemmed for a heel and then put on sneakers after the ceremony and trip over it all night. So I decided to wear white sneakers. I was ready to purchase white Nikes and then a Facebook ad popped up showing me fiber optic sneakers that can change colors.
Obviously I clicked on it and 10 mins later I was comparing to Amazon to see if they had them for cheaper. They did! I put it in my cart, went back and forth for weeks. Feeling like I needed to do what women traditionally do (a heel). When I showed friends they all said “Gina this is 100% you! Please get them!” They were $50 and worth every penny! My husband didn’t want to know anything about my day of appearance so I got to surprise him. During our first dance I turned them on when the beat dropped and his mouth dropped! It was so awesome!
Hair + Makeup
I booked my hair through my regular hair stylist Nicole right after I was engaged. Makeup took longer. Since I got married on a holiday weekend it was tough. But after a few recommendations through friends, I booked a trial with Nicole from One of a Kind Beauty. Nicole and I went to high school together and it was good to reconnect. She did my trial on the day of my engagement pictures. I highly recommend you do that! I kept it simple with a little drama on the eyes and showcasing my tan.
The handsome groom
Mike wore a steel gray tuxedo from Men’s Wearhouse, Nike Jordans and the watch I gave him for our first anniversary. And he looked so handsome!!!! He is a hat guy, always wearing a flat bill. I surprised him with a personalized flat bill during the reception. It was a black adidas and embroidered with “M ♥️ G 9.1.19” he is a soccer coach and wore it to his game a few days later and it became his hat for the whole season.
His team went to the State Championship and he believes it’s because of the good vibes from the hat! We did not do a first look. When I saw him, I was coming out of the house standing and smiling. He had the biggest smile on his face. I blew him a kiss, he put his arms out and said “come to me!”
Bridesmaids
We had 6 maids of honor and 6 best men. The ladies wore their choice of dress from Azazie. I asked them to choose a non satin taupe floor length dress. Shoes were their choice and I purchased handmade jewelry for them. My cousin-in-law is the artist for graycglass. She and I put together a style guide of only round earrings and necklaces. My maids went to her site and chose any color glass they wanted.
I love how all the colors and styles go together like a collection but have a slight difference to them. Much like their dresses! I requested color swatches from Azazie and they came quickly and were easy to compare. I took the swatch with me to Men’s Warehouse. We used it to choose the men’s tuxedos. The best men were in a dark blue tux with a taupe tie. Men’s Warehouse makes it super easy for rentals! My dad and brothers wore black suits rentals from Men’s Warehouse. My brothers were not best men but I wanted them to look nice for family pictures.
Ceremony
We had an overwhelming amount of special touches for our ceremony. I am not Jewish and my husband’s family is Orthodox. We found a compromise with our outdoor wedding and decided we wanted someone special to marry us. We did not have a rabbi. Instead it was Mike’s best friend. The ceremony itself was held at my aunt and uncle’s home. A place where I basically grew up. We had rose petals on the aisle shaped into “forever yours” in Hebrew.
We kept tradition with a few items, I circled Mike all 7 times and he smashed the glass himself. But one thing that was very special was the way the 7 blessings were performed. Instead of having our officiant read them, we asked 7 friends and family to each read a blessing. At this part of the wedding, we had all 7 people come up to chuppah and stand behind us. For blessing 1, the person took the place of the officiant and Mike’s brothers read the blessing in Hebrew.
Then our reader said it in English and then added their own blessing to us based on the theme of their blessing. We did this for all 7 blessings and it was very special. During the blessings, our rings were passed down the maids of honor and best men lines and eventually made it to us for the last blessing. We wrote our own vows.
A Papercut Ketubah
We purchased our ketubah from Woodland Papercuts. She recreated our proposal site in South Lake Tahoe, CA. We didn’t want to see each other before the ceremony so we did our ketubah signing during the ceremony in front of all our guests. We both loved it!
Chuppah
I wanted something simple but with colorful asymmetrical flowers. I found what I wanted, drew it up, showed my dad and he built it! Our flowers were fake and our florist arranged them ahead of time and made it easy to assemble a few days before. Mike’s tallit from his bar mitzvah hung above us. It was simple but colorful and I loved it!
Our music choice
Our friend was our DJ. We worked with him on our entire wedding playlist. From ceremony to last song, we handpicked every song. The goal was to have fun upbeat music playing throughout the wedding! I’ve been to a lot of weddings and one thing I’ve noticed… the wedding party gets a longer song than the bride! There’s more of them walking and it takes longer! I didn’t want that for me.
Instead I decided to have one song ‘I’ve Got You’ by Duke Dumont for everyone, from Grandma to me! The song is all about being together and that’s all you need. We signed out ketubah to ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love with You’ by Kinna Grannis (version from Crazy Rich Asians). I circled Mike to ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ by Elton John. We did our recessional to ‘Faithfully’ by Journey.
Cocktails and dinner was all upbeat music to get our guests in the mood! Mother Son dance was ‘Everything I do, I do it for you’ by Bryan Adams. Father daughter dance was ‘Because You Loved Me’ by Celine Dion – Céline Dion is a special singer for my dad and I. We’ve been to her show three times and did a “father daughter moon” trip to Vegas to see her a few months before the wedding.
Our first dance was an acoustic version of ‘Firestone’ by Kygo and then it blended into the original when it got to the 2nd chorus. At this time our LED wristbands went off and we invited everyone to come up and dance with us. From there, I had the mic and led the Tarantella, the Italian dancing. Then led the Jewish dancing and we were lifted in the chairs. It was awesome!!
Flowers
Our florist was a friend of my mom who was a retired florist. My mom has a green thumb and her dahlias are always so beautiful. I wanted dahlias the most and wanted to focus on bright and fun colors. All the flowers were grown in my mom’s garden and assembled at home. I wanted a waterfall bouquet. I asked for the bouquet to be made three times because I didn’t like how much pink there was. I ended up loving my third try bouquet. Always speak up when expectations are not met!
Photographer and videographer
My friend of almost 20 years, Alison Fell, is a professional photographer. She does beautiful work and captures details and candids incredibly! She’s done our family photos and I’ve hired her for birthday parties and anniversary parties. For a small fee, she added an assistant and that was very valuable! Two different getting ready sites meant the photographers could split the photo duties.
My friend of 5 years Chris Le does videography on the side. We hired him to be with us all day. It was fun feeling like a celebrity! He put together the most incredible video! We love it so much!
Food and cake
My favorite food is Mexican (or Italian, depending on the week) so I really wanted tacos. We went with a recommendation from our wedding planner. Gabriel’s Taquitos was incredible! They are a family who have non-food related jobs but do catering on the side for fundraisers and hired events. We did a tasting in their home! Our menu was non-kosher chicken tacos, beef tacos quesadillas and all the fixings!
Mike’s favorite place to eat is Benihana. He’s been going there for 35 years! We rented flat top grills, bought all the ingredients and hired a chef to make chicken fried rice! Everyone loved it and we got the food choices truly reflected us.
Entertainment
Our friend does DJing on the side. We hired him to spin all night long! He played our hand picked playlist.
Favors
Our favors were the LED wristbands. We also had a thank you card on the table for each couple that attended.
Honeymoon
My parents gifted us 9 days in Kauai, Hawaii over New Year’s Eve. After lots of planning, we decided to go to the Philippines and island hop for 3 weeks and stop in Hawaii on our way home to CA. This turned onto our #honeymonth and it was amazing! We chose the Philippines because it’s the land of over 7k islands and cheap. We wanted to have our dollar go far. We went to 5 islands in 3 weeks. 2 highlights, Club Paradise north of Coron (a private island with beach access straight from our bungalow) and Kawayan Resort in Siquijor (only 6 rooms in the whole resort. Very secluded on the cliffs with an incredible marine sanctuary at the bottom of the cliffs).
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
I would recommend you enjoy every bit of the process. It may feel awkward at times to have the attention on you but it’s the only time this should happen for you and you want to remember it. Try to communicate as much as you can to your point people and express the parts that are very important to you. Things will always need to change and it’s important for everyone to be on the same page.
GINA & MIKE’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photographer – Alison Fell
Videographer – Chris Le
Bride’s dress – Essense of Australia found and fitted at J’aime Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Amazon
Bride’s accessories – Veil, J’aime Bridal
Groom’s attire – Men’s Wearhouse, Nike
Bridesmaids – Azazie
Hair + Makeup – Nicole from One of a Kind Beauty
Catering – Gabriel’s Taquitos
Ketubah – Woodland Papercuts
Stationery/Invitation – Canva.com, theknot.com
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.