Venues Archives - Smashing the Glass

10 Affordable Jewish Wedding Venues in New York City

12/07/2018 by Emily Sacharin

Image by Hales Studio from Aliza and Nate’s Jewish Wedding

Back in May, I wrote a piece on some of NYC’s most jaw-dropping Jewish wedding venues. They were cool, they were unique, they were fabulous. But one thing they were not, for the most part, is affordable for the average couple getting married.

According to CNN, the average cost of Manhattan wedding is nearly $80,000 (!!!!!!!!!), and even outside Manhattan averages hover around $60,000. Obviously that’s driven up by the small-ish number of ultra- mega- super-luxe weddings the city sees each year, but still. That’s more than a lot of us make in a year. Yikes.

The good news is that you don’t have to break the bank if you want (or need) to get married within the confines of the Big Apple. Especially if you’re willing to have a smaller wedding and/or to compromise on time of year or day of week, there are a surprising number of appealing options for brides and grooms on a budget. From industrial chic to urban glam to how-are-we-not-out-in-the-country, you can still have the wedding style you want.

As with all things in the city, affordability is relative, and many of these venues might still leave those of you from less expensive parts of the country (or world!) with some serious sticker shock. A wedding – anywhere, but especially in a city like New York – is a big investment; there’s no way around that (well, short of eloping!). A few of these are truly mindblowingly cheap by city standards, while others are more, shall we say, mid-tier in price. Let’s get started.

The Green Building | Image by Weddings by Two from Danya and Andrew’s Jew-ish Wedding

13 of the Best New York City Venues for Jewish Weddings

24/05/2018 by Emily Sacharin

Image by Dave Robbins from Jessie and Craig’s wedding

Hey all, Emily here! As Smashing The Glass’s resident New Yorker, I’m constantly on the lookout for great venues for Jewish (and Jew-ish) weddings here in NYC.

One of the best things about living in the city is the variety, and wedding venues are no exception. But there’s such a wealth of options to suit any style of wedding, from classic to quirky, that it can be overwhelming to sort through them to find the one that’s right for you.

So today, I want to highlight some options beyond your standard hotels and wedding halls (though we’ve got plenty of those, too!). In NYC, you can get married anywhere from a bookshop to a zoo to a historic synagogue to a working winery – and that’s just for starters.

I hope you New York-area readers find some quality inspo here – and even if you’re getting married on another continent, there’s still some quality eye candy to be found below. I know I’ll be bookmarking some of these gems for my own (potential, someday) wedding!

Smashing The Glass Takes Over The Savoy For 24 hours

15/02/2017 by Karen

My 24 hours at The Savoy filmed by Adrian Stone of The Dreamcatchers

Happy Wedding Wednesday! To soften the blow as we all come down from our Valentine’s Day highs, I have an exciting post all about my epic, 24-hour takeover of London’s iconic five-star hotel, wedding and events venue, The Savoy.

I also have a rather extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime accompanying competition to win a night for two at the world-famous Savoy, so keep your eyes peeled at the end of this post to make sure you don’t miss out (seriously, this one’s a biggie!).

As I was given a rare, all-access pass to a world-famous institution and the epitome of the lap of luxury (special thanks to Charlotte Faith, the amazing PR manager at The Savoy who arranged this incredible experience), I had a lot of questions – and was, in turn, provided with a plethora of answers, so it’s worth perhaps brewing a cup of tea or coffee before you sit down to read this post as there is so much fabulousness to take in.

Accompanying me were award-winning wedding photographer, Claudine Hartzel and world-class wedding filmmaker, Adrian Stone of The Dreamcatchers. Huge thanks to both of them – for Adrian for his spectacular film right at the top and also the longer (and even more action-packed!) 5 minute version lower down in the competition section). And to the divine Claudine for capturing my stay with her fabulous photos throughout this post and on social media. Thank you to both of them for their excellent company!

A suite with a river view and a second-to-none butler service

On arrival, I checked into my stunning £1,600 a night one-bedroom Edwardian suite with a river view over the Thames, looking out onto London’s much-loved landmarks, where a sumptuous lunch was already laid out for us (as well as fabulous floral arrangements from Savoy Flowers and a Chocolate Delight, which you’ll have to watch the Facebook Live video to truly appreciate). I was then introduced to The Savoy’s head butler, the delightful Sean Davoren.

Suites at The Savoy come with an indescribable 24-hour butler service and now, having said that, I’m going to have to attempt to describe it in a way that does it justice.

Butlers at The Savoy represent a living, breathing definition of customer service. In fact, if you look up ‘customer service’ in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of a smiling Sean Davoren proudly presenting you with a lovingly arranged tray of all of your favourite things.

There’s nothing that a butler at The Savoy can’t manage. They will respond to any request within four minutes, from pressing the dress on your wedding morning to taking care of all the mundane details you don’t want to think about (kind of makes your other half seem obsolete, huh); from drawing you a luxurious, scented bath to sending up a selection of your favourite foods, whether on the menu or not – even packing for you, if you so desire.

This service came in extremely handy when, in all the excitement of getting glammed up for a night at The Savoy’s exceptional restaurants and bars, I actually forgot my pyjamas. It was only getting to bed, past midnight, that I realised.

Despite the antisocial hour, Sean immediately arranged for loungewear from the gym to be sent up to my room and saved the day!

To further illustrate my point: Sean was once asked to provide fresh-from-the-teat goat’s milk to fill a guest’s bath and sent a taxi all the way to Wales to collect it. How’s that for above and beyond?

Hear some more of Sean’s outrageously entertaining butler tales by catching up with our Facebook Live video below!

How to find your ideal wedding venue

22/07/2015 by Karen

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.

Image: Oval Space wedding venue, London

Let your story start here… visit London’s celebrated RSA House at their VIP Open Day on Saturday 18th April 2015

09/04/2015 by Karen

Image: Fiona Kelly Photography

Ok, hands up who loves a good story? Right now, some of the wedding venues that excite me the most are the ones with tantalising tales to tell. And RSA House – holding a VIP Open Day on Saturday 18th April – is overflowing with stories of epic invention, legendary creativity… and history being made.

Not that ANY day in history will be as important as your special day, of course (we have our priorities spot-on here, at Smashing the Glass). But beyond the breathtakingly elegant Georgian façade near the Strand and Trafalgar Square, lie a range of beautiful, opulent (and often surprising) rooms and spaces, just waiting for your story to start.

Holding your wedding at RSA House connects you and your guests to some of the greatest creative thinkers, scientists and artists who have shaped our world. And with 13 different rooms, a capacity for between five and 220 guests, a combination of period detail and contemporary style – and the magically shifting ambience between rooms – it’s a wonderfully versatile venue for your celebrations.