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A Rue de Seine bride for a Jewish Wedding under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Simmer on the Bay, Dawes Point, Australia

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Jewish-wedding-Sydney
Nikki and Jem are just the coolest couple and their big day from the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge embraces the most beautiful Jewish wedding traditions whilst maintaining a totally free-spirited, energetic and fun vibe. It’s been sensationally captured by Australian photographer Dan O’Day whose work I adore — I could have filled this feature with every image he sent me and you’ll probably be able to tell I struggled to stop myself from doing just that!

I love pretty much everything about Nikki and Jem’s Jewish wedding but one of my favourite details (that I’ve never seen done before) is the couple choosing to shelve the idea of traditional favours, and instead place custom ribbons with their monogram and date on them at everyone’s place setting. They then invited guests to create their own bouquets from the gorgeous wild flowers that were in front of them, tie them together with the ribbons and take them home. Such a beautiful and thoughtful idea.

Nikki also bought her bride posse (note, Nikki doesn’t call them bridesmaids!) a pair of Converse each, and left them on their seats with “dancing shoes” tags.

Fashion stylist Nikki looks utterly gorgeous in her Rue de Seine gown — the New Zealand designers make the most perfect boho bridal romantic dresses combining rich beading, intricate detailing and sheer draping, and they just seem to design for the coolest, most stylish brides. If you’re looking for a more modest dress they cater for this brilliantly with many of their designs incorporating high necks and long sleeves.

Right, shall we dive into this super cool wedding then? Trust me, you’re going to love it…

Jewish Wedding Sydney
how we met

Nikki, the Bride: We met in 2009 through a mutual friend who was trying to help Jem and his buddy get a jeans label off the ground. Our mutual friend suggested that I be their first model (because I was the only person small enough to fit in their teeny tiny samples!) I was interning at Cosmopolitan magazine at the time looking to get a career in fashion so it was a common interest for us both I guess. Jem now works in finance but I’m still in fashion. I was not born Jewish, and as our friendship grew, so did my love for Judaism. Once he found out I was looking into converting he also saw it as an opportunity for us to start dating, and the rest is history.
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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Dror Einav

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A weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of  Dror Einav.

Dror-Einav

‘Beach portrait’ by  Dror Einav

So why is this  my favourite? First of all I love this couple, Jordan  & Jacob were easygoing throughout  the day and they totally  trusted my photography skills. I normally avoid dramatically  posed photos, but this time it was different…

During their portrait shoot I saw these  two concrete blocks near the beach and I asked them to go and stand in front of them.  The wind blew  and moved Jordan’s  dress, and the sunset lit  them beautifully. The way they both stood  and looked at me with their serious facial  expressions together with the contrast between the blocks and the landscape.

For me, in this one photo, all the elements combined together perfectly.”

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12 modern ketubah designs – The Smashing Edit

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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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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Chiko Photography

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A weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of  Chiko Ashkenazi    from Chiko Photography.

Chiko-Photography

‘Winter Wonderland’ by  Chiko

Taken in London — a city that is never usually peaceful or quiet… yet at 1am on a Sunday night I was given  the opportunity to capture a classic and timeless wedding photo. It could have been taken directly out of a Hollywood film set. It’s romantic and pure and there is something very powerful in capturing a moment like this.

Few feelings in life compare to those you get when you see a fresh, untouched snowfall. The sight is stunning, the landscape peaceful and the feeling is sublime — all contribute to  making  a great setting on a wedding day.”

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How to add WOW to your wedding day

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How-to-add-wow-to-your-wedding
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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