Real Jewish Weddings Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Helena Kolan Bride for a Tarrytown-Meets-Tel Aviv Jewish Wedding at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, New York, USA

14/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Tel Aviv-based couple Maya, who works in marketing, and David, who works in tech as a front end developer, opted to get married in Tarrytown, close to both of their hometowns. But naturally they wanted to bring the epic vibes that come with a good Israeli wedding all the way to New York – and did they ever pull it off!

First off, how elegant is Maya’s dress from Israeli designer Helena Kolan, purchased at her atelier in Tel Aviv?! And we love that Maya and David flew in an Israeli singer to perform their favorite Israeli pop hits and help cultivate that unmistakable Israeli wedding atmosphere. The pair even incorporated some Middle Eastern style foods into their menus for the cocktail hour and dinner!

We’re so in love with Maya and David’s incredible trailer from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kiss the Bride Films and photos by Amy Sims. We’re obsessed with the way, as Maya says, both teams captured the special “in-between” moments of the day, with so much emotion and love.

Now over to Maya…

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How we Met

Maya, the bride: We met in college through a very close mutual friend, thanks Taco! We were friends for a few months before we started dating.Continue Reading

A Winnie Couture Bride for a Boho Chic Jewish Wedding on the Beach at Mahayana Tulum, Tulum, Mexico

10/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

How gorgeous is the beachy boho Jewish wedding of California couple Amber, who works for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and Elliot, the owner of Golden State Corals?! This travel-loving pair opted for a destination wedding weekend in Tulum.

Amber had always dreamed of an intimate, laid-back celebration with the couple’s nearest and dearest – and fortunately, she was able to make that dream come true despite getting married during the pandemic. The couple’s fantastic planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Lucy Gallagher, helped them bring it all together – which is no easy feat when planning from abroad in the best of times, let alone during COVID.

We love the relaxed California vibes of the day, and Moni Adri Photography’s wonderful pics make us feel as if we were right there with Amber and Elliot.

Now over to the bride, who looked stunning in her custom Winnie Couture gown…

How we Met

Amber, the bride: I’m from New Jersey and Elliot is from Maryland. We moved to California separately, around the same time. We both adopted German Shepherds, his a female and mine a male, around the same time. We met at the dog park. Our dogs became obsessed with each other first. We got engaged on the Amalfi Coast in September 2019.Continue Reading

A Vera Wang Bride for a Multicultural Jewish Wedding where the Jerusalem Lion Meets the Chinese Lion at Kedma Mamilla, Jerusalem, Israel

07/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We are absolutely in love with the joyous multicultural Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Monica to David! Monica, who has a background in design, is Chinese American, David, who has a manufacturing company, is Israeli; they live in London; and they opted to wed in Jerusalem – so they had some seriously great material to work with.

The couple’s amazing wedding planner, Vanessa Ohayon of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Vanessa Events, helped the couple pull everything together to create the wedding of their dreams – complete with swoonworthy views overlooking the Old City walls – do chuppah backdrops get any better than that?!

One of our very favorite things about this gorgeous wedding is the fact that, with Vanessa’s help, Monica arranged a surprise Chinese Lion Dance, which is performed during major celebrations. Once the guests were seated for the reception, Monica and David made their entrance – followed by a bright yellow Chinese Lion, who wove in and out among the tables before giving the couple a marriage blessing. Then, the music changed, and it was hora time – what an awesome contrast in traditions! In Monica’s words, “it was the Jerusalem Lion meets the Chinese Lion moment.”

We also love that Monica put her design background to work in implementing the pair’s chosen theme of geodes and geometrics in blue and gold, learning modern calligraphy and hand-crafting the exquisite blue agate place cards. There was a spectacular geode-themed cake to match, and the floral centerpieces, designed by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Craspedia, continued the geometric theme and blue color scheme too. It wasn’t easy to find locally grown flowers in the right colors during the Israeli summer, but Yana of Craspedia took Monica on a scouting trip to a flower market where together they were able to find the perfect blooms.

There’s so much more to say about this beautiful day, but we’ll let Monica – who looked so elegant in Vera Wang – take it from here…

How we Met

Monica, the bride: We met online in London, but it took 5 months for us to meet up due to conflicting travel schedules. Instead, we had an old fashion email and skype correspondence until our first date at the Holland Park Opera. The rest is history!Continue Reading

A Beachy Jewish Wedding Weekend at Nautical Club, Limassol, Cyprus

03/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Israeli couple Hila and Tamir wanted the magic of their Jewish wedding to last more than a few hours – and so they decided to make a magical destination weekend of it! With the help of their fantastic planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Moran Goldstein, the couple settled on Limassol, Cyprus, a breathtakingly beautiful spot just a 30-minute flight from Tel Aviv.

The celebration was spread out over four days, with different activities each day – including fun stuff like a boat trip to a blue lagoon (complete with DJ!) and a pool party – with the centerpiece being Hila and Tamir’s gorgeous oceanfront outdoor ceremony. We love that the pair had two of their best friends officiate, and instead of the traditional Seven Blessings, they had friends and relatives come up and give brief original speeches.

We’re in love with photographer Chen Belachnes’s vibrant images, and we bet you will be too.

Now over to Hila…

How we Met

Hila, the bride: We met at a 24h cross-country relay race. Continue Reading

An Amsale Bride for a Backyard Jewish Micro Wedding in Boynton Beach, Florida, USA

30/04/2021 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Like so many 2020 couples, Marissa, a physical therapist and reiki master, and Rory, an accountant, ended up with a Jewish wedding very different from the one they’d originally planned. The NYC couple had originally opted for a jam-packed wedding weekend on the beach at a private club in Florida’s Palm Beaches. Everything was just about ready to go for their May 2020 date when the pandemic hit.

Despite all the work and dreams that went into planning their dream wedding, two changes of date later Marissa and Rory ultimately had to make the hard decision to cancel their original celebration and plan a micro wedding for ten in Marissa’s parents’ backyard from scratch. For the most part, the pair had to find new vendors, but two of the ones they’d originally booked were able to make the shift: first, there was Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Nava Shoham, Marissa and Rory’s rock star ketubah designer, who came through with not one, not two, but THREE versions of the couple’s gorgeous ketubah, to account for all of their changes of date. Second was Emily Harris Photography, who’s responsible for the couple’s exquisitely joyous pics.

In Marissa’s words, “The day and night was the most perfect imperfect celebration and ended up being so much more than we imagined. We do hope to get the big party eventually but the night will always be so incredibly memorable.” We’ll let her take it from here…