Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Home > Real blogging brides > Page 27

Real Jewish Brides: Jay Finds Her Perfect Wedding Dress

by

Jay will be marrying Tom on 24th November 2018 at Hyatt Churchill, London, UK. Click here to read all Jay’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: Jay and Tom met on Tinder (Tinder For The Win!) (2) These two are planning a big fat Jew-ish wedding (Jay is Jewish, Tom is not) but in Jay’s words: “Tom was brought up in Edgware and has more of a love for chopped liver and bagels than I do!” (3) Jay is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor and Tom works at Facebook.


Finding My Dress: Where To Start?

From the moment I got engaged, finding my dress was the one thing I was most excited for, but also the most nervous about!

We are surrounded with programmes like ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ and as soon as you get engaged your Instagram and Pinterest boards are filled with images of beautiful women in amazing wedding dresses! Where do you even begin? That was the question I kept asking myself, as I had never really thought about what style of wedding dress I would one day wear.

Jewish-wedding-Stockbrook-Manor-Country-Club-in-Billericay-Essex-UK
Image by Blake Ezra from Francesca and Ziek‘s wedding

Not Like In The Movies

I would like to think of myself as someone who is quite decisive and has a good understanding of what suits me, however, when it came to finding a wedding dress I went in with an open mind and wanted to take on board all the advice I could.

I started to scour Pinterest and pulled together some dresses I liked. I found a dress that I quite liked the look of by Jesus Peiro, and by pure co-incidence my mum had also been doing some online browsing and had come across the same dress (we often do this!). Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Blogging Brides: Rebecca’s Wedding Planning Update

by

Rebecca will be marrying David on 7th October 2018 at a secret location in Israel! Click here to read all Rebecca’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Rebecca and David met on JSwipe (so old school we know 😉 ) (2) They are having a destination wedding in Israel at a secret location! (3) They are getting married on Rebecca’s grandparents wedding anniversary (who have been married for 64 years). We LOVE that!


The past few weeks have been EXTREMELY busy in the Hirst-Sudwarts households! Not only have we managed to host two engagement parties, we attended two weddings (one in Israel and one in Marbella!), I flew out to Hong Kong and Turkey for work, started renovating the flat and we just about managed to squeeze in another trip to Israel to finish planning our wedding!

Looking at it all listed I can’t quite believe what we have achieved in six weeks since I last wrote my first post! They say this is the happiest time of your life, I personally feel like I haven’t had time to breathe! But I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Jewish Brides – Charlotte: My Personal Highlights And Lowlights Of Wedding Planning

by

Charlotte will be marrying James on 26th August 2018 at The Brewery, in London, UK. Click here to read all Charlotte’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) James proposed to Charlotte in Florence… on her parent’s 36th wedding anniversary (aaaah – we love that!)  (2) They are planning a Jewish urban-rustic wedding in East London (3) They have already decided on their wedding hashtags — it’s #dropitlikeitshart !


As our wedding is now only 5 weeks away, I thought it would now be a good time to put together some of the defining highlights and lowlights from our time of planning our wedding. And there have been a few!

  • Knowing that The Brewery is the only place you want to get married, and it ticks all the boxes immediately.
  • Finding a florist who got my chuppah vision, and could do it for the budget we had allocated!

Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Blogging Brides – Harlie: Finding My Dream Wedding Dress

by

Harlie will be marrying Ben on 19th August 2018 at the Landmark Hotel, London, UK. Click here to read all Harlie’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: Harlie met Ben on an ‘Aish’ trip to Israel during their university years (2) They will be bringing in lots of Spanish influences into their London wedding, for a variety of reasons, not least because that that’s where they got engaged! (3) They will be having a fairly traditional orthodox London wedding, but are including lots of modern twists.


A lone and eventful journey!

Unlike some girls, I never dreamt about my fantasy wedding when I was younger, and I certainly never thought about my dream wedding dress. Even when I got engaged, I still had no idea what sort of wedding dress I would choose as I couldn’t even imagine myself wearing one. Never did I imagine that finding my dress would be the most stressful part of wedding planning, or that it would lead me on a very long and eventful journey!

Caroline Castigliano_0047
In My Dreams by Caroline Castigliano (STG Recommended Vendor)

October 2017

The engagement party was over and the venue was booked, so I set off on my quest to find ‘the one’ (which took just 13 appointments, over 70 dresses and 4 months of searching). I started to gather some ideas on a Pinterest board with my bridesmaids, with a relatively clear idea in mind of what I thought I wanted.

My mum booked a few appointments at some bridal boutiques that she had been recommended, which seemed like a good place to start as it meant I was not limited to just one designer.

Originally, I was looking for quite a particular style: a tightly fitted fishtail shape with a low back and spaghetti straps. The first dress I tried on at The Bride was exactly this; it was a beautiful Suzanne Neville dress in a delicate lace with buttons down the back.

To try on something different, a classic princess-style Sassi Holford gown followed, then an understated, vintage-esque Jenny Packham. I really thought that the first dress was the one for me as it fitted my very fixed brief, but my mum didn’t want me to settle for the first dress I tried — I can only thank you now, mum!

Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Blogging Brides: Jennifer: Our Trad(ish)ional Egalitarian Jewish Wedding

by

Jennifer will be marrying Charlie on 5th August 2018 at Dartmouth House in Mayfair, London, UK. Click here to read all Jennifer’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Jennifer and Charlie first met when they were just 17 years old! (2) They are planning an intimate elegant black tie trad(ish)ional Jewish wedding incorporating plenty of personal touches, their sense of humour, and love of all things rose gold (3) Jennifer is a wedding photographer herself so is planning her wedding as an industry insider!


An egalitarian wedding

I have always had a very strong sense of my Jewish identity. I grew up as a member of Belsize Square Synagogue (editor’s note: see the wedding published yesterday at Belsize Square Synagogue, here). I sang in the choir, taught in the Cheder and really understood what it was to be part of a community.

Belsize Square is an independent Synagogue, with a modern, egalitarian approach to Judaism, which is important for Charlie and I to reflect at our wedding. Charlie joined at the beginning of this year and has also fallen in love with the unique character of the Synagogue.

There is no “right” or “wrong” way to have a Jewish wedding, and this is something I love about our religion, it can be interpreted whilst respecting tradition. For us, having an egalitarian wedding is paramount.

Continue ReadingContinue Reading