Jewish Budget Weddings Archives - Page 8 of 9 - Smashing the Glass

Natalie & Eli | Informal DIY Boho Jewish Wedding at House Plantation, Texas

17/07/2014 by Karen

I think it took me exactly 3.6 seconds from the moment I first read Shaun Taylor‘s email, detailing Natalie and Eli’s wedding, to thinking oh yes, this has crashed through my submission barriers — I’ve got a killer Smashing The Glass wedding on my hands here!

I love that Natalie made her own dress and wore cowboy boots. I love that Natalie’s mum made her jewellery. I love that the couple flew out their photographer, Shaun Taylor all the way from Derby to Texas because they loved his work so much. I love what Natalie says about working together with your fiancà© as a team in the planning stages. And I love that it rained and then rained some more, but far from letting the weather dampen their spirits, they embraced it and the results are even better than they imagined, as Natalie describes below.

You’ll also see the most exquisite henna tattoos covering Natalie’s arms. A traditional Yemenite henna party is a popular pre-wedding ritual for Sephardi Jews and you can see theirs in full swing over on Shaun’s blog. It just goes to show you can stamp your personality onto your wedding weekend and dig deep into your culture’s traditions too. The two are not mutually exclusive and that’s exactly what this blog is all about.

Michal & Samuel | Intimate Israeli-Swiss Wedding at Kibbutz Ein Gev, Sea of Galilee, Israel, with the bride and groom in flip flops!

29/04/2014 by Karen

Michal and Samuel met whilst traveling across South America and dated long distance for some time, flying back and forth between Switzerland (where Samuel is from) and Israel, until they decided to make a life together in Tel Aviv.

For their wedding they wanted everyone to have an amazing, relaxed time and didn’t want anything too formal or stuffy. Their focus from the start was on food, drink and intimacy and they held their wedding where Michal grew up, and her parents still live, in a kibbutz in the north of Israel called Ein Gev on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (or Lake Kinneret as it’s known in Israel).

It’s an amazing kibbutz all about family and togetherness, with a communal, peaceful and natural atmosphere. This is the exact ambience that they wanted for their wedding, and is very much in the spirit of who they are. Michal in her own words even “went for the most untypical bride shoes – flip flops. April on the beach… who needs anything more?!”

Samuel’s close family and friends flew in from Switzerland, and with the couple wanting to bring a mixture of Israeli and Swiss culture to their wedding, Samuel’s family brought over Swiss wine, cheese and meats for the party (all spread out and packed in their suitcases)! They also had what I personally think is a genius idea of an ice cream bar for dessert.

It’s a beautiful authentic wedding with the chuppah taking place just after sunset. Michal, the Bride, is here to tell you all about it, along with images from the fabulous Newman Photography.

Chelm & Jake | Uber cool Jewish Wedding at the Doodle Bar + Testbed1, Battersea, London

06/03/2014 by Karen

I promise that what you’re about to see is truly epic. This folks is how to do a super cool, super fun, superfly wedding.

There are so many things that I love about this W-day that I’d be here until midnight listing them all, but I’ll just mention Los Desterrados playing ‘The Final Countdown‘ in the synagogue; pornstar martinis and chilli martinis as the cocktails of choice in the reception; an after-party stretching until sunrise, a Jenny Packham bride with her Vivienne Westwood groom… and I’ll stop now. You just need to see it.

And as fabulous as this wedding is, some of my favourite elements are the way in which Chelm and Jake personalised their Jewish ceremony — in particular what they did with their Sheva Brachot, and also their spin on the traditional circling of the groom.

They chose the Doodle Bar in Battersea (don’t you think it’s one of the best venue websites you’ve ever seen?) for their reception. It’s housed in an old dairy in Battersea, on the banks of the Thames and the adjoining space, Testbed1, where the party continued, is normally used as an arts venue. It’s an incredible warehouse space that Chelm and Jake and their very creative friends decorated with real pizazz and flair. I’ll let Jake continue with all the details – yes it’s our cooler-than-a polar-bear’s-toenails groom reporting the wedding today! He’s a real character – we need more groom wedding reports!

The photography is phenomenal and it’s by our newest Smashing Supplier and STG favourite, Blake Ezra Photography.

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Jake, the groom: Friends of ours own Doodle Bar in Battersea and I’d visited the place several months previously and thought it was very cool – a bit of East London in Battersea! I asked my friend if there was any chance that it would make a workable wedding venue, and to my delight, he said yes – they’d already done a lot of parties there.

Robin & Joe | Intimate + whimsical ‘dinner party’ Jewish wedding, Washington DC, USA

07/11/2013 by Karen

Today’s bride, Robin, has the most exquisite bridal style. As her wonderful wedding photographer, Piper Watson, puts it, “a mix of old school classy gal and modern minx”. Her stunning black and white ensemble is achingly chic and in fact, the couple’s whole event manages to be simultaneously stylish and elegant, yet warm and homely.

In their own words, Robin and Joe say they had a very non-traditional wedding by design. They truly wanted the feel of a of an informal dinner party, where two people happen to be getting married. They didn’t have many of the traditional wedding staples – only 45 guests, no flowers, bridesmaids, or first dance – and this gave the evening a truly intimate, unique and personal feel.

Their wedding report is a joint effort written by both the bride and groom, and the beautiful set of images produced by the lovely Piper Watson, will ensure that all those fantastic memories stay fresh and vibrant for many years to come.

AN INTIMATE VENUE + BLACK & WHITE COLOUR SCHEME
Robin the bride and Joe the groom: Ultimately, we wanted our wedding to feel like a dinner party (with a ceremony beforehand) for our closest family and friends. It was very modern and a bit whimsical; it was really a perfect reflection of our sensibilities and who we are as a couple.

The ceremony was held at Joe’s cousins’ (Martha and Bob) house in Washington, DC. She and her family have an amazing house that had been fully redesigned. Martha is an interior decorator and it shows! The reception was at Elizabeth’s on L, a converted town house in downtown DC which added to the intimate feel we were going for.

Our colour scheme was black and white (to match Robin’s dress) and green as an accent colour.

HAIR + MAKE-UP
Robin and Joe’s long time stylist, Gregg, did the hair for Joe, Robin, Joe’s sister Rachel, and Robin’s mother Ann. Robin had a really unique hair style at the time and only her stylist was good enough to style her hair. Robin’s makeup was done by a woman named Keisha from beautiful.flawless.face makeup. She was fantastic! Robin wanted to look like a more glamorous version of herself, but still look relatively natural. She made Robin look like herself, only better and also did the makeup for Ann and Rachel, who looked fantastic as well.

Sydney & William | Jewish Handmade DIY Barn Wedding, The Laurentians, Canada

23/10/2013 by Karen

Today I have for you a real-deal bona fide Smashing The Glass wedding. It’s a genuine do-it-yourself abundance of unique and creative perfection. Everything is handmade (with love!) by close friends and family.

Sydney and William chose to have their wedding at the bride’s grandparent’s country house in the Laurentians (about a hour north of Montreal) and the wedding rings, invitations, bride’s dress, floristry, hair + make-up, ketubah, kippot, cake, and favours were all handmade and created by close family.

There are many, many personal touches incorporated into their W-day (in particular into their Jewish ceremony) that really make it stand out. Let’s take a lovely look…

A COUNTRY HOUSE WITH FAMILY HISTORY
Sydney, The Bride: Our wedding was held at my grandparent’s country house in the Laurentians. I haven’t been to many weddings but my favourite wedding was my aunt’s that had been held at the same house almost exactly 11 years earlier. I was open to doing the wedding in the city but after checking out venues there was nothing I loved, and I always had the country house in the back of my head.

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