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Liora & David | Italian Jewish wedding at the Great Synagogue of Rome and Villa Miani, Rome, Italy

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Italian-Jewish-Wedding
Liora and David met through their parents, when David’s family invited Liora and her family over for Friday night dinner. That sabbath meal led to romance and an even more romantic wedding in Italy.

The magical city of Rome provided the inspiration for Liora and David’s chic destination wedding and there are some really wonderful touches. Take the Italian vespa for their wedding transport, a smorgasbord of Italian desserts instead of wedding cake (hello, lashings of tiramisu), and the choir of the Great Synagogue of Rome providing the music for their ceremony. Oh my!

Mr STG and I traveled to Italy for our honeymoon and it really is one of the most gorgeous places on earth. The landscape, the buildings — what an amazing place to be married. Liora and David held their ceremony at the breathtaking Great Synagogue of Rome followed by a BIG party at Villa Miani with breathtaking 360 ° views over the Rome skyline(and can we all just take a moment to appreciate their entrance song — the super fun A Far l’Amore featured in Paolo Sorrentino’s movie, The Great Beauty, set in Rome).

The whole affair was beautifully planned by our much loved Smashing Supplier, Stefania Zen from the Italian Wedding Company. Liora says that Stefania was literally her right arm throughout the planning process, and knowing how wonderful the Italian Wedding Company are, I can very much vouch for that. Big thanks also to Vinicio Ferri and Alessandro Zingone for the wonderful photos.

Come on, let’s take a look…

Jewish Wedding Rome
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Sarah & Nick | Uber cool and intimate ‘Red’ Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London, UK

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super-cool-London-wedding
One, two, three and breathe Karen…

That’s what I said to myself when Smashing The Glass reader, Sarah’s à¼ber cool London wedding to Nick dropped into my inbox, so impressed was I by their unusual venue (a smoked salmon factory in London’s Olympic Park !), their teenage sweetheart love story, and their choice of wedding transport through the streets of London. Oh yes, these two traveled from synagogue to reception in a red convertible Mustang!

And you’ve got to hand it to a bride that rocks a leather biker jacket and Ray-Bans over her Pronovias dress…

I also love the fact that Sarah and Nick invited just their very closest friends and family, and that they found their chazan (cantor), Jonny Mosesson, via the blog’s Smashing Suppliers recommended vendor list. Jonny is one of the most talented people I know and to think that this blog is able to connect brides with the industry’s very best makes me a very happy bunny indeed.

But back to Sarah and Nick — thank you for submitting your beautiful wedding and thank you to Reportage By for capturing it so wonderfully. Here’s the whole story in Sarah’s words.

Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London
Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London
HOW WE MET
Sarah, the Bride: Nick and I met at school aged 11. We were always friends but nothing ever happened whilst we were studying together. We stayed in touch when we left at 16 but he and his family were in Miami and I was in LA. We went on a ‘catch up’ date when we were both back in London when we were 19, and my mum even said, you will marry Nick. She has always had a sixth sense…

Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London, UK
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Alana & Michael | Jewish wedding at Bevis Marks Synagogue and The Shangri-La At The Shard, London’s highest wedding venue

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Wedding at Shangri La The ShardWedding at Shangri La The Shard
Who is in the mood for an ultra glamorous wedding set against the jaw-dropping backdrop of London’s iconic Shard? Well you’re in luck because I have exactly that on the blog for you this afternoon.

I’m such a huge fan of London, my home city, and all its iconic landmarks, so I’m very excited to be blogging Smashing The Glass reader, Alana’s, wedding to Michael, that took place at the capital’s highest wedding venue (at 125 metres above sea level), The Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard.

The hotel occupies floors 34 to 52 of Renzo Piano’s 1016ft tall building on the banks of the River Thames, and this was the first wedding ever to take place at the newly-opened hotel, in August of this year.

And it gets even better. Alana and Michael’s candle-lit ceremony took place just over the river at the breathtakingly beautiful Bevis Marks Synagogue, which is also a record-holder. It’s the oldest synagogue in Great Britain (it was built in 1701) and it is also the only synagogue in Europe which has held regular services continuously for over 300 years.

The images come from Smashing Supplier, Blake Ezra Photography who are lucky (and talented) enough to shoot some absolutely incredible weddings. I know you’re all going to love this one…

Jewish wedding at Bevis Marks Synagogue and The Shangri-La At The Shard London

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

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cool-london-wedding
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.
Chelm and Jake
Chelm and Jake
Chelm and Jake
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.

Chelm and Jake
Chelm and Jake Chelm and Jake Chelm and Jake Chelm and Jake Chelm and Jake Chelm and Jake
VENUE

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.

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Sarah & Mike | DIY Inspired Jewish Wedding, Woodbridge, Connecticut, USA

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CONNETICUT JEWISH WEDDING 1
I am really excited to bring you this wonderful craft-filled wedding from over the pond in Conneticut, USA.  Our gorgeous couple live in Brooklyn but got married in Connecticut after meeting at university six years ago. Sarah the bride designed so many creative elements of her big day including her stunning wedding dress (with Modern Trousseau), a wonderful ‘papercut-style’ chuppah designed with her very talented mum, our very own Smashing Supplier Jeanette Kuvin Oren, not to mention the beautiful table decorations, and exquisite letterpress invitations. Feast your eyes on their gorgeous day and take in all their lovely DIY details!
CONNETICUT JEWISH WEDDING HALL
VENUE – CONVERTING A SIMPLE SPACE INTO A STUNNING RECEPTION
Sarah, the Bride: We booked my synagogue as the ceremony/reception venue. Being a traditional Jewish wedding, this was an appropriate locale. But don’t be fooled by a “lack of pizzazz” if your synagogue’s social hall isn’t as ideal as you’d like it to be. I had a vision, and was able to convert a large, relatively simple space into a stunning wedding reception. No one recognised the room once the decorations and lighting were set up. We also picked this location since we had a large guest list, and many venues would force us to cut our guest list in half (that wasn’t going to happen!).
CONNETICUT JEWISH WEDDING KETUBAH
COLOUR SCHEME
The colour scheme came out through the process of seeing my likes and dislikes regarding dà©cor. I didn’t have a true vision until all the pieces began coming together. I knew I wanted neutral, timeless colours; so I stayed in the beige, tan, ivory genre. When I added gold to the mix, I thought we were set. It looked so beautiful and ethereal. Once I chose my bridal party dresses, the final colour came to be: “Dusty Shale,” a grayish seafoam/teal variety. It was a perfect medley of neutral, yet beautiful and timeless colours for a wedding.

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