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Smashing the Sake Barrel: A Multicultural Same-Sex Chinese-Japanese-Jewish Wedding at Spring Studios, Kentish Town, London, UK

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Just about all the weddings we blog feature a couple smashing the glass, but we’re pretty sure this is our first where the couple’s also smashed a sake barrel! Beautiful London-based brides Phoebe and Misa, both software engineers, planned the most smashing (sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves) lesbian Jew-ish wedding combining Phoebe’s Jewish background with Misa’s Chinese and Japanese heritage – and we’re obsessed!

These two wanted their day to truly reflect them as a couple, and we don’t think they could possibly have done a better job. With a Jew-ish ceremony led by Phoebe’s childhood rabbi, Chinese and Japanese canapes, personalized sake cup favors for the guests, and a blessing in Japanese from Misa’s mum, we’re obsessed with how seamlessly multicultural the duo made their day.

And back to the smashing of the sake barrel – did you know that it’s a Japanese custom to break the lid of a sake barrel with a wooden hammer on special occasions? What a cool parallel to smashing the glass (which Phoebe and Misa also did, naturally) – and the sake from that smashed barrel was used for the final toast of the night!

We’re obsessed with Phoebe and Misa’s incredible photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Marta Ilardo. The camera-shy couple wanted a documentary-style photographer who’d make them feel comfortable on the day, and Marta fit the bill perfectly – plus, how stunning are her photos?

Now over to the Phoebe and Misa, who looked gorgeous in their dresses by Aesling and Mikaella, respectively…

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How we Met

Misa and Phoebe, the brides: We actually met at a coding bootcamp (Makers Academy) in 2016! Phoebe was working in finance and Misa was doing a PhD in partnership with Cancer Research UK, when we both decided to re train as Software Engineers.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Jew-ish Industrial Vintage same-sex wedding with a Lyn Ashworth gown at St Pancras Renaissance, London

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Tissues at the ready, folks, because I guarantee that you won’t make it through this gorgeous lesbian Jew-ish wedding without welling up — especially if you watch the tear-jerker of a wedding video at the bottom of this post, artfully and sensitively shot by Love Storage.

Charlotte and Ellie wanted a dramatic and industrial meets romantic, dark florals-vibe for their big day, and they found the perfect venue in the iconic St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London. The story of the day was expertly captured by fantastic photographer, Dale Weeks.

We simply adore the moody aesthetic and jewel-toned theme; Charlotte and Ellie’s vintage-industrial look made their whole day so quirky and unique, but still so chic and stunning.

The attention to detail from artistic bride Ellie was simply phenomenal. Each item was carefully and lovingly picked with the theme in mind: the home-designed invitations, the rust-coloured chairs, the Victoriana table decorations and whole flower stems strewn down the aisle. The style extended to the brides’ outfits, which were simply beautiful and perfectly in keeping with the tone and theme of the wedding.

We love the birch pole Chuppah, complete with Charlotte’s grandfather’s tallit, and that the start of the Jewish ceremony was signaled with one of our all-time favourite wedding songs, Sunrise Sunset. Could there be a more perfect or sincere way to conduct a Jewish ceremony?

Over to Charlotte and Ellie to fill us in on all the details from their divine wedding day.

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When you know, you know

Charlotte: Ellie and I met online. There was no woo-ing and no long conversations. Ellie sent me a message saying “Shall we go for a drink then?” and when I agreed she informed me that I had to choose the location.

I chose The Bridge in Hoxton and we met outside Hoxton station that Saturday afternoon because we both already had evening plans.

We sat side by side in the boudoir-like surroundings, drinking coffee and chatting for hours. It felt very natural from the start, like we’d known each other for years. It didn’t take long before we were spending every spare day together!

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Two extraordinary brides for a sumptuous bohemian Jew-ish Wedding at Broger’s End Kangaroo Valley, Australia

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Today’s wedding  reaches new heights  on the wedding spectrum and  I am entirely and whole-heartedly in love with every little bit  of it. The attention to detail and the  amount of creativity is phenomenal. I hardly know what to talk about first because it’s  such a total feast for the eyes, but what I love the most is that Lara and Cass’s  union remains as the focal point throughout.

On the other side of the lens for a change, Lara is one of the world’s most renowned  creative wedding photographers, and indeed I have  featured her work  on Smashing The Glass several times. She’s a girl after my own heart wearing  not one, not two, but THREE  wedding gowns, accessorised by a simply astonishing bouquet by  Mikarla Bauer + Jardine Botanics  — truly one of the best I’ve ever seen.

So much  originality permeates Lara and Cass’s day from choosing to  get ready and walk down the aisle together, to all sorts of gorgeous DIY like a ‘Guess Who’ game handmade by Cass using their  family members, to  an idea that I’ve never seen before: a flower crown station for the  guests to accessorise with before the ceremony  so that when the couple walked  down the aisle they saw all their guests with flowers in their hair. Love love LOVE!

Sheree from  She Designs Events  blended their two very different loves into one creative  theme which works brilliantly even though it combines everything from  Country & Western  to Vintage Romance! I love the idea of not compromising to one theme but rather merging both your loves.

Our  two brides  come from different religious backgrounds and  chose to incorporate Lara’s Jewish  culture with  some crazy  Jewish Dancing that  really set the tone for the evening.  Lara said:

We had the Jewish dancing  before entering the reception and it really loosened everyone up! We were being thrown up and down on chairs and tossed in the air and running around in circles and forming conga lines around the fire pit! It was a definite highlight.”

And there are so many… You truly have to savour every one of  Dan O’Day‘s astonishing images to take it all in. Oh, and there is a wonderful  film by  Light Noise Films  at the end which you just must watch. What a total treat!

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Planning the wedding ourselves

Lara: I think I completely underestimated how time consuming planning an entire wedding from start to finish can be, never mind running a business at the same time.

Cass was great as she really let me take full control of everything but was always there when I needed her to bounce ideas with and make final decisions or to get things done.

We had spread sheets and documentation for everything — its really quite overwhelming how many things / vendors there are to keep track of and all the little details to organise — but well worth all the effort in the end.

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Sarah & Anne | Super stylish Same Sex Jewish Wedding at Hart House, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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I couldn’t name this blog anything but smashing the glass. It is THE moment of a Jewish wedding and images like the one above just make me so happy. Two beautiful women, crazy in love, performing this hugely symbolic tradition under a gorgeous chuppah. I’m telling you, one of the best things about this job is definitely how uplifting it is to look at images like these.

And like all the real Jewish weddings on Smashing The Glass, this W-Day is completely refreshing. Both brides chose to forgo the traditional wedding dress style in favour of a two super sleek and contemporary creations by Carolina Herrera and Judith and Charles respectively, accessorised in Anne’s case by the most delicate headpiece.

And that’s not the only thing that has me swooning. There are gorgeous dainty florals and rustic table runners by GLP Events that not only look delightful (Anne wanted a simple arrangement of flowers that reminded her of the fields in the small French village where she grew up), they’re cost-effective too.

And the guests…well if the photos at the end of the night are anything to go by, then it’s clear that everyone had a darned good time!

Back with a bang for his 3rd feature on STG, Niv Shimshon has captured the mood perfectly with these terrific shots. Prepare to swoon.

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how we met

Sarah and Anne, the Brides: We met one cold winter’s evening in Montreal and have been together nearly every day since. On the night we met, Anne was sick with a nasty flu. Sarah, a germophobe, knew it was love at first sight because she didn’t want the date to end despite Anne’s coughing, sneezing, and significantly high fever. Anne is calm, cool and collected, and Sarah is witty, funny, and shows pictures of her dog to strangers every time she has a chance.

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Yana & Archita | Jewish-Hindu-Indian-Russian multicultural lesbian wedding at Trust, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

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Now this wedding is not just special, stylish or merely a good day out – it’s a totally spectacular cocktail of uber-chic modernism, elegant traditionalism, multi-cultural funkiness and fun, all blended and shaken to perfection.

For any of you who are wondering how to mix two completely different backgrounds into one smooth and stylish day — get ready for some serious pinning action.

Yana and Archita seamlessly melded their loves, tastes and cultures together to create a unique day at Trust — a neoclassical styled art and event space gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

An art event in itself, our two gorgeous brides amalgamated a colourful and awesome blend of Russian, Jewish, Hindu and Indian traditions against the ridiculously gorgeous, all white, architectural splendour of a soaring 10,000 square foot, turn of the century building.  Simple.  Ahem.

What could have been contrived or clunky – trying to shoe horn different traditions and styles together — is instead thoughtful and elegant.

But the simplicity really lies in their motivation — to unite two families into one, representing both cultures.  Even more, what underlined and defined the wedding was FUN. They wanted a huge, huge party and they got it, right down to the last few bars of Bohemian Rhapsody.

I’m still grinning from ear to ear at the image of the couple being raised high on chairs by friends and family, old and young — all partying together with the help of some homemade “traditional” vodka — to the Black Eyed Peas’ I Got a Feeling!

Even their choice of traditional wedding dresses had a twist… Archita wore a sari, whilst Yana wore a white wedding gown but with a sash around her waist made from the same material as Archita’s sari — a beautiful and subtle symbol to truly demonstrate the bond between the two.

All of the fantastic photography is by Michael and Melissa at M2 Photography. Now over to our beautiful brides…

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How we met

Yana & Archita, the Brides: We met in undergrad at Penn at the largest party of the year called “Spring Fling”. To this day we debate about who made the first move. Chita’s friends were having a small party in a dorm room, and Yana crashed it. It was only three weeks before summer break began, so this was supposed to be just a fling… but we fell in love before the summer.

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