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8 must-have items for a memorable Jewish wedding ceremony

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Jewish wedding ceremony
I started  Smashing The Glass back in May 2013 because I wanted to create the blog I wish I’d had access to when I was planning my own Jewish wedding. When I was planning my big day, I felt that there was a total lack  of Jewish wedding inspiration that wasn’t  ‘old fashioned schmaltz’. And when it came to planning an individual  and personal  Jewish wedding ceremony,  this was particularly relevant.

One of the most popular pages on the blog is my constantly updated chuppah ideas page with literally hundreds of cool, creative ideas for you to peruse through and be inspired by. Today I’ve gone a step further and picked out  an edit of some of the most gorgeous products  for  under the chuppah  in my quest to help you infuse  your Jewish wedding ceremony with beauty, individuality  and creativity. At the end of the post there are also several links to help you source some really fabulous  music for your Jewish (or Jew-ish!) wedding ceremony  too.

Hope you’re inspired. Happy Friday!

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1.  Smash Pouch (coming soon)

I named  the blog  Smashing The Glass  because I absolutely  adore the celebratory Jewish wedding tradition of the  breaking the glass at the end of the ceremony so I just had  to create this personalised bag to house the glass. And guess what?! I will very shortly be selling these personalised ‘smash pouches’ for you to break  your glass in style, and have a beautiful keepsake  from your ceremony! Sign up here to be the first to know when they go on sale.

STG-Smash-Pouch

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2. Beloved Ceramic Wedding Kiddush Cup £40

I love the clean lines of this kiddush cup designed by Jennifer Raichman  and the beautifully calligraphed Hebrew and English  typography

Beloved-Ceramic-Wedding-Kiddush-Cup
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12 modern ketubah designs – The Smashing Edit

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modern-ketubah-designs
One of the many things I love about Jewish weddings is the way they embrace the wonderful traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. What Smashing The Glass aims to do is help you embrace these traditions whilst inspiring you to mould them to reflect you and your partner in a way that is both meaningful and symbolic. Having a ketubah design that resonates with you is a perfect example of that, and every bride and groom planning a traditional Jewish wedding will need to have one.

The ketubah (which means “something written” in Hebrew) is an integral part of the Jewish wedding and it outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom to the bride. The contract dates back to ancient times but it’s come a long way since then! These days ketubahs (or ketubot, the Hebrew plural) are less about the business of marriage and more about the beauty. They have come to symbolise the love and commitment of a couple, and are often beautiful creations that the couple want to display prominently in their home well after their big day is over. It serves as a tangible memento of their love and also symbolises their relationship and new stage of life together.

I’ve put together an edit of some of the most gorgeous contemporary ketubah designs around that I certainly would take great pleasure in hanging in my home. Hopefully you’ll fall in love with at least one of these designs too.

Let me know which ones you love!

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1. Double Arrows & Hearts Ketubah  £197

modern ketubah

BUY

2. Personalised papercut ketubah from £260

papercut ketubah

BUY

3. Pop Art Ketubah from  £120

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How to add WOW to your wedding day

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This is a guest post by Aron Schlagman, owner and creative director of WHiTEPAPER event

A friend told me recently that the best part about creating that ‘stand-out moment’ for an event, and especially a wedding, is that it doesn’t have to cost very much at all. In fact, some of the most beautiful moments that are created for weddings are done so by the couple themselves – touching moments of real thought that express love for those attending their most special of days – leaving the longest lasting memories in the process.

So, where do I get me some of that WOW?!

I’m going to share a few top line tips and ideas in the hope that they may spark a flash of light in your own heads to create your own wedding stand out moments.

A traditional Wedding vs. a DIY Wedding

If you are planing a DIY wedding from the off, the opportunity to WOW might be greater, but so will the potential stress given just how much and how far you can go. For my own wedding, created in a very DIY style for 50 of our closest friends at an outside space in North London, everything had to have a personal touch. From ladies parasols to shade them from the sun to hay bales for seating with vintage throws as covers. Multicoloured water in antique crystal decanters as decor for a cheese table, to the herb used for the wrapping of the napkins. Afternoon tea with a twist through to the vintage 1920’s dress my beautiful bride wore on the day (and of course my yellow Converse). We’re also talking about shawls for the ladies (this was England in June after all and not the South of France) and a great selection of Whiskey’s for the gents.

What was one of the nicest elements though? Possibly the one which didn’t even relate to a design aspect of the day. For us, it was important that all of our friends could be there, and still be home in time to bath and put their kids to bed. Our event began at 3pm, was over by 6.30pm, and we said goodbye to our guests before heading up to town (still dressed up) for dinner at J Sheekey and an evening in a 5* hotel. Our guests appreciated it, stayed until the end, and avoided an expensive evening of babysitters and hangovers.

Some, all, or none of this might have worked had the event been in Claridge’s, but the point is that it might not have had to. A wedding recently attended in this very hotel was simply beautiful because tradition was where the WOW beauty was to be found, in of course, an already stunning space.

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How to find your ideal wedding venue

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Finding a wedding venue is, I’m guessing,  right at the top  of your to-do list (as well as finding a  phenomenal dress of course!)  Aleisha McCormack,  author of the wedding planning guide Smart Wedding, and host of the Save The Date wedding podcast, is here  to tell you how to find and secure your ideal wedding venue  in a stress-free, easy-peasy and super-productive  way.

The ‘Perfect’ Wedding Venue doesn’t exist…

Your idea of a ‘perfect’ wedding venue (if there is such a thing) is, most likely, vastly different to mine. I’d say besides deciding that the person that you are marrying is ‘the one’, your wedding venue is the biggest choice that you will make when it comes to wedding planning… a big decision in which many smaller decisions rely and revolve around…so no pressure then!

Thanks to the magic of the interwebs, some fabulous new specialty apps and lateral thinking, the search for the venue that fits you is super easy.

Oval Space
Image: Oval Space wedding venue, London

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5 details to make your wedding totally ‘YOU’… without breaking the bank

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This is a guest post by  Aleisha McCormack

I Love (with a capital L) seeing all the ways couples can truly express themselves with crafty wedding details (and usually a bit of a sense of humour).

All of the following projects are simple to produce…no glue gun required and are fairly inexpensive…saying that, you can go to town with anything, so if your budget is high, attach diamonds to everything, or use nicer card.

 1.  Ask your guests to send in  their favourite party anthems on their RSVP cards

This is a 2 for 1 tip. If you aren’t having a DJ or band then this request helps you compile a song list that guarantees that everyone coming to your wedding will have a tune that will get them up out of their seats and grooving. The old will be happy because one of their songs might get a look in and you aren’t having to come up with a list (if that isn’t your bag).

DIY wedding ideas
Free printable and image: United With Love

2.  Use free  printables

There are some wonderful free printables going around on the interwebs that are editable and super fun. One idea that I really have been digging is the quirky FAQ and fact lists about the couple that are being put on the back of menus and ceremony programs. This may sound pretentious but done in the right way, it can be a lot of fun, particularly if you reveal some little titbits about yourselves that even close friends might not know. Cheryl has 469 teaspoons from around the world. Michael has seen Ace of Bass in concert 6 times. OK, Cheryl and Michael are losers but you get the picture.

DIY wedding ideas
Image: Etsy

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