Chag sameach, smashing readers! We hope you’re having a wonderful Rosh Hashanah, however you choose to celebrate – to paraphrase our tag line, your Rosh Hashanah, your way!
Speaking of which – we just love it when a couple merges their backgrounds into a Jewish wedding that’s so perfectly them it couldn’t possibly be anyone else’s. Like Lauren and Josh. American bride Lauren, who works in communications, and English groom Josh, can accountant, wed in the most beautiful waterfront spot in Lauren’s home state of Virginia.
Combining the bride’s Reform Ashkenazi background with the groom’s Sephardi Orthodox upbringing was paramount for these two – as was crafting a fully egalitarian ceremony – and we think they did a fantastic job working both of their traditions plus their shared modern values into their beautiful ceremony. For instance, their gorgeous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com displays the traditional text with the Liebermann clause included, alongside an English translation of the couple’s choosing. And while mostly keeping the ceremony traditional, the pair opted to exchange rings and to skip out on circling. We’re obsessed with Maria Grace Photography’s joyous, emotional shots of the chuppah – and the whole fantastic day.
And how sweet is it that Lauren’s father built the couple’s simple birch chuppah, which Lauren and Josh covered with both of their tallitot from growing up!
We can’t let you go without mentioning how much we love that Lauren found her fab dusty rose bridesmaids’ dresses right here on STG – we’ll let her take it from here…
How we met
Lauren, the bride: We met one summer during university; Josh decided to do a summer work program in America and somehow ended up working as a lifeguard at a water park in Virginia. We became friends later in the summer and decided to go traveling together the following year once we finished uni. We ended up dating shortly after the start of our travels and spent our first year of dating traveling around Europe, Australia and the US.
A Waterfront Venue
We decided to look at Two Rivers Country Club in Williamsburg, VA and absolutely fell in love with the property once we saw it. I’m a beach person so the waterfront view was more than I could ask for, and keeping our fingers crossed for an outdoor ceremony paid off. We needn’t have worried – it turned out to be 95F (35C)!
Timeless Modern
In terms of design, we aimed for a classy, timeless look with modern twists. We incorporated rose gold and blush touches were we could to match my rings – a rose gold belt on my dress, rose gold foil on our invitations, blush flowers, etc – and the guys were in navy blue suits which matched the kippot.
Invitation
Pretty classic with a rose gold foil. We really enjoyed invitation shopping, possibly because it was the least stressful choice – our hardest decision was whether to go with British or American spellings.
Hair + Makeup
I worked with a local company called FBJ Weddings who were great. I wanted a natural look and they pinned down my exact style in the trial, so I had no doubts on the day. They were super friendly and easy to work with, and my bridesmaids loved their look!
Dress
I dedicated a day to shopping with my mom and sisters and had a vague idea of what I was looking for with my dress but couldn’t settle on any of the ones I tried on. Luckily, the shop I bought from was great with alterations and we worked together to make my dress my own. The base dress was A-line with a lace illusion top and satin skirt, and by the end I had a ballgown dress with a v neck, low back, thin straps, a belt, and pockets, best of all (my top tip to every bride!). I never wanted to take it off!
Accessories
I borrowed my veil from my sister-in-law/matron of honor, and incorporated jewelry from both of my grandmothers.
Shoes
With over a foot height difference between us (Josh is 6’5), tall heels are basically a must for me now. However I wanted to buy accessories that I would wear again after the wedding, so when I found a pair of comfortable, 4′ heels in copper, I was sold.
The handsome groom
Josh wore a navy three piece suit from Charles Tyrwhitt and looked great! Josh and the groomsmen all wore dusty pink ties from ASOS, which matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly, and they all also wore one Union Jack and one US flag sock as an homage to our transatlantic relationship.
Bridesmaids
I had two bridesmaids in the US and two in the UK so we relied on ASOS for their dresses as it ships and offers free returns to both the US and UK. The dresses fit the vague “dusty rose/rose gold” image I had in my head perfectly – I actually saw them on a Smashing The Glass post last year and knew we had to track them down.
Chuppah
My father actually helped out the most with the chuppah design – he ended up building it for us with a friend! It was a simple birch design but it was really special to know my dad had made it, and we covered it with both my and Josh’s tallitot from growing up.
An Egalitarian Ceremony
We merged both of our cultures in our ceremony (he grew up Sephardi Orthodox and I grew up Reform Ashkenazi), and we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Most importantly, we both wanted our ceremony to be egalitarian in every aspect, so this was a key consideration in a lot of our decisions.
We worked with our rabbi to merge tradition with modern principles in our ceremony – for instance, our ketubah shows the traditional text with the Liebermann clause included, and we picked our own English translation. We both exchanged rings and said the Hebrew vow, and we decided to take out circling (it’s a lovely tradition for many, we just didn’t find an interpretation that suited us!).
We also included a parents’ welcome from the rabbi at the start, which was a lovely way to thank them for their support, and had Josh’s cousin sing some beautiful Sephardi style tunes throughout.
Our music choice
We chose ‘Grow Old With Me’ by Tom Odell as our first dance song as we’re huge fans. Josh walked down to ‘Erev Shel Shoshanim’, I walked down to the aisle to ‘Canon in D’, and we recessed to ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’ by Hall & Oates.
Photographer
Genuinely our favorite vendor, Maria was so great with us on the day and became a quick friend of our bridal party. She kept us to schedule and we can’t thank her enough for capturing beautiful candid moments and putting us at ease. Every shot she took really captured the emotion of the day, so it’s so fun to relive the day each time we flick through our album. She also finished editing our photos (all 1200 of them!) within 10 days of the wedding – a true warrior!
Favours
Favours ended up being a nod to both of our cultures – kippot and koozies. Koozies are an American favorite to keep your drink cold in the summer heat and definitely helped that day.
Speeches
We had quite a lot of speeches: both Josh and I spoke, as well as my matron of honour and his best men. However, we all came after my dad’s welcome toast which blew us all out the water – turns out my mom surprised us all by joining in on a hilarious speech.
Mezinke dance
We also incorporated a fun tradition to start of Israeli dancing called the Mezinke dance, an old Ashkenazi tradition typically done to celebrate the parents when their last child gets married. We sat my parents down on the dance floor, put flower crowns on their heads and started dancing around them to a traditional Yiddish song. This led straight into ‘Hava Nagila’ and got everyone on the dance floor.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Try to relinquish responsibility on the day and make sure you have someone that can take on a lot of the smaller decisions so that you’re free to enjoy the day! Our bridal party was made up of our family and closest friends, and they all played a special part in helping things move along, intercepting problems or making us just feel cared for amidst the craziness.
I also found it so important to incorporate the things that Josh and I felt strongly about – no matter how big or small. The fact that we both gave a speech at the reception, or that I chose not to cover my face might not seem significant, but they made the wedding feel uniquely ours.
Lauren & Josh’s little white book
Photography – Maria Grace Photography
Ketubah – Ketubah.com {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Two Rivers Country Club
Dress – found and fitted at MiLA Bridal
Groom’s attire – Charles Tyrwhitt and ASOS
Bridesmaids – ASOS
Groomsmen – The Black Tux
Hair + Makeup – FBJ Weddings
Band – InsideOut Band
Cupcakes – Small Cakes Williamsburg
Flowers – The Flower Cupboard
Invitations – Minted
Thank you so much for featuring their special day!