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Real Blogging Brides: Clare – Confessions of a Wedding Dress Shop Avoider (including how I found The Dress!)

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Clare will be marrying Chris on 5th May 2018 at Laura Ashley The Manor in Elstree, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Clare is not Jewish but discovered Smashing The Glass via her Jewish sister-in-law and during her wedding planning journey it has (in her own words!) became her favorite and most useful wedding blog (2) She finds STG refreshing in a sea of wedding blogs as she loves reading stories of couples for whom the ceremony itself is as pivotal as all the other details. (3) Due to falling in love with so many amazing Jewish weddings through the blog, and then booking a wedding consultancy session with STG founder, Karen, it confirmed to her that there were a number of Jewish elements she was going to bring into her wedding that symbolise a lot of things that are very important to her and her fiancà© in their future marriage – she will be having a ‘Jewish-inspired’ wedding!


When I was young I used to play ‘weddings‘. My mum in fact recently revealed that she has lost her wedding veil and believes it’s because it lived for some time in my dressing up box!

I once claimed my future ambition to be a wedding dress designer and carried around a note pad with my creations (all variations on a theme of a puffy ball gown, very early 1990’s…) I also used to make my mum drive slowly past the bridal shop in our town so I could peak in the window and check out the latest designs.

When I was 16 my parents had their 25th wedding anniversary and I helped plan a vow renewal ceremony and reception and spent a great deal of energy on my ‘bridesmaid’ dress and the perfect gown that my mum should wear as a ‘bride’ once more…

So all of this and yet ironically I have only just bought my wedding dress for our wedding in just over five months time. Bearing in mind we got engaged summer 2016 you can imagine the looks of disbelief, the gasps of horror and sheer exasperation of my mum, bridesmaids, work colleagues etc!


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Real Jewish Brides – Amanda: choosing my florist… and special gifts

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Amanda will be marrying Adam on 25th March 2018 in a Jewish wedding at Braxted Park, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Amanda & Adam met outside in a bar in Tel Aviv (2) Adam has a ridiculous sense of humor (as described by Amanda!) and we love him all the more for it (3) Amanda & Adam’s wedding is 100% focused on all the people and things that mean the most to them. You can click here to read all Amanda’s planning posts to date.


All I Know About Flowers

My knowledge of flowers is extremely limited and can be reduced to the following statements:

  • Flowers have healing powers, which, when combined with a glass of wine can instantly better a terrible day at work
  • They give a room character and make it feel like home
  • Supermarket flowers can sometimes surprise you and last for AGES, unless you happen to buy them during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day
  • In place of a vase, wine bottles, port decanters and other containers work just as well
  • Flowers are a great gift for any kind of celebration

I don’t know about you, but that’s where my knowledge pretty much ends. So when it finally came to talking about flowers for the wedding, I was a bit stumped. I love flowers, but thinking about them at scale, for a wedding seemed like a bit of a minefield.

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Real Jewish Brides – Mel: A Whole New Kind Of Shopping

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Mel  will be marrying Mitch on Sunday 18 March 2018, in a Jewish wedding at Warren Weir at Luton Hoo, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Mel and Mitch met online on JDate (2) Their Jewish wedding will be classy and traditional with plenty of modern touches  (3) Mel is a member of Smashing The Glass’s private Jewish & Jew-ish Brides Facebook Group. Not yet a member? Come join us here!


Dresses: ✔

I recently ticked off one of the most stressful tasks so far… finding bridesmaid’s dresses! âœ” A couple of months prior, my mum also found her dress, and I said ‘Yes to the Dress’ earlier this year.

Now that I and the important ladies in my life have found a dress for the wedding, and having been to all the appointments, I have built a good insight into how to approach finding the perfect dress.


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Real Jewish Brides – Charlotte: Saying Yes To The Dress

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Charlotte will be marrying James on 26th August 2018 at The Brewery, in London, UK.

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 !


We are so inundated with programmes about brides saying yes to the dress nowadays. Admittedly you can find myself, my mum and grandma watching this together. Since both my sister and I became engaged my grandma, who is 93, is totally and completely hooked on watching these programmes. With a huge health scare this year we could not be more fortunate that she is still here and was able to see my sister walk down the aisle. She is completely defying all doctors, and we are all hoping that she is still here to me and James get married next year.

As someone who is hugely decisive about clothes in general, I live and breathe for fashion. I know what will suit me, and really I have been looking at my wedding dress for about six months or more before I actually tried it on. I am not sure I am the most typical bride when I say that I only tried on four dresses.

I had left the one I had been staring and dreaming about until last, and I knew instantly it was the one.


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Real Blogging Brides: Leah – What do you register for when you’ve lived together before the wedding?

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Leah  will be marrying Zak in a Jewish wedding on 1st June 2018 at Masia Notari in Spain. Click here to read all Leah’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Leah knew she wanted to convert to Judaism long before she met Zak. She feels that having a Jewish wedding is another milestone in her Jewish identity and is an opportunity for some of her family to experience new traditions. (2) Leah & Zak met on JDate (3) Leah and Zak are planning a beautiful black tie destination wedding in Barcelona, Spain


What do you register for when you’ve lived together before the wedding? We found ourselves asking this very question as we faced the prospect of a registry. To make matters harder, I love home goods (and HomeGoods!) and already have many of the items most people typically add to their list. With more and more couples getting married at an older age, many of us are more likely to have the standard blender or crockpot that end up on a typical registry.

Here’s how we attacked the odd concept of picking items we wanted other people to buy us.


Image: The Wedding Shop

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