Jewish Barn Weddings Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Robert Bullock Bride for a Homegrown Jewish Wedding at Crested Hen Farms, High Falls, New York, USA

14/01/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when a couple plans a Jewish wedding that’s thoroughly, completely them. Which is exactly what Sarah, a bioethicist for a non-profit advocating for dignity at the end of life, and Joshua, a patient care manager for a specialty pharmacy, did.

They involved friends and family in their day as much as possible, and even their venue, Crested Hen Farms, is located in New York’s Catskills, where the groom grew up. Lots of vendors came from the pair’s own circles: the couple found their photographer, Sloane Dakota, through a friend of a friend, and Joshua grew up with videographer Sam Falconi. It was important to Sarah and Joshua to have an egalitarian ceremony – each circled the other three times, and they did one circle together – and they had special people in their lives bless them with the Sheva Brachot.

We’re especially in love with Sarah and Joshua’s incredible hamsa ketubah, featuring gorgeous stained glass elements and sunset colors, which they worked to design alongside Britt Yudel of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor BritColors. In Sarah’s words, “Britt was so amazing in how she helped make our vision a reality. Our ketubah very much feels like our hearts living outside of our bodies in the form of original art.”

Now over to Sarah, who looked so elegant in her ivory crepe gown from designer Robert Bullock…

How we Met

Sarah, the bride: We met in New York City at a synagogue named Romemu on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Joshua had been attending Romemu for years, since it was founded in 2006, and Sarah started attending after she moved to the city for graduate school in bioethics, in the fall of 2015. They were both in relationships at the time that Sarah started attending. One day that Fall, Sarah brought a friend from school to shabbat services on Friday night, who elbowed her and said, “Sarah, look at that guy…I want a partner like that.” Joshua doesn’t remember making eye-contact with Sarah, but she remembers it vividly. We didn’t meet until three years later.

We officially greeted each other in that same Friday-night shabbat space at Romemu in June of 2018, with a smile and a big hug. Most everyone else had left the space for the night, and Joshua was slowly packing up his things. Sarah was helping to tidy up in preparation for shabbat services the next morning. When she saw Joshua, they made eye contact again, and she introduced herself: “Hi, I’ve seen you around but I don’t think we’ve actually met. I’m Sarah. Shabbat shalom.” Joshua smiled, introduced himself, and gave her the biggest, warmest hug.

From there, they slowly started to circle in each other’s orbit, joining community potluck meals and striking up a friendship. By the early spring of 2019, Joshua asked Sarah if she wanted to join him at an event by his favorite Israeli Rabbi, Reb Doniel Katz. But Sarah didn’t realize that Reb Katz’ event was a date… until Joshua again asked her to join him at a performance of Freestyle Love Supreme – an improv comedy rap performance led by Hamilton’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda – at 10pm on a Monday. They ended up going on fun dates for about a month — like going to the Morgan Museum and eating sushi at Kazu Nori (delicious, highly recommend when you are in Manhattan!) – before they shared their first kiss.

Joshua had always desired a partnership that was rooted in seeing what was possible to create in a relationship instead of what’s lacking. Sarah always yearned for a kindred spirit to share life with and grow old together, surrounded by family and community. Today, there remains an underlying resonance of the importance of Judaism to both Sarah and Joshua. Since the beginning, with Sarah’s “Shabbat Shalom,” everything that encompasses Shabbat and larger Jewish life cycle events creates an underlying foundation in their lives. Shabbat, for example, is an important pause from the working bustle of their life, arriving every week like the steady beat of a metronome.Continue Reading

An Elia Vatine Bride for a Ketubah Artist’s Egalitarian Vegan Jewish Wedding at the Great Barn at Headstone Manor, UK

03/07/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

We love seeing what kinds of choices our favorite wedding vendors make for their own Jewish weddings, so naturally we couldn’t wait to hear all about ketubah artist Rachelle’s big day. Rachelle is the mega-talented artist behind Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush, and we knew from the getgo that her wedding to Elan, who’s a sales director for a tech company, was going to be something special.

And was it ever! We’re in love with everything from the gorgeous, vibrant colors and florals to the historic venue (which once belonged to Henry VIII!) to the wonderful rustic wood chuppah supplied by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Happy Chuppah People to the egalitarian ceremony, featuring touches like seven personalized English blessings written by one of the bride’s sisters and read by the bridesmaids.

Then there’s the ketubah. Rachelle is known for her nature-inspired designs, featuring trees, mountains, oceans, and more, and we adore the willow leaf design she chose for her own ketubah. And this busy bride didn’t stop there – she also designed all of the stationery for the day herself! We’re in love with the way photographer Frances Sales and videographer Pristine Videography captured all the exquisite details of this fantastic day.

Scrolling through the images, you’d never know Rachelle and Elan’s wedding took place on March 15, 2020, just as coronavirus was getting serious in the countries where most of this Israeli-British-American couple’s guests reside. In the end, half the couple’s guests were unable to attend – including Elan’s sister, who watched the ceremony via a live stream set up by a friend.

There’s so much more to say, but we’ll leave the rest to Rachelle, who looked stunning in her secondhand Elia Vatine dress…

How we met

Rachelle, the bride: We met on Tinder 4 years ago – our first date was at Tel Aviv University’s student day! We were a couple from day one.

A Maggie Sottero Bride for a Dog Lovers’ Barnyard Jewish Wedding at Red Gate Farms, Savannah, Georgia, USA

17/01/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

We love a good barn wedding. And a wedding with pets. AND a Jewish wedding where the couple goes the extra mile to personalize their ceremony. Put all those things together, and you’ve got one incredible day.

Jacqui and James pulled off the perfect laid-back barn wedding – the bride wanted all the guests to feel “like they were hanging out in their own backyard,” and based on the gorgeous photos from Sarah Diller, we’d say she definitely succeeded.

And how cute is it that the couple got their beloved dogs in on the fun? We’re obsessed with the pics of the pair walking back down the aisle with their sweet pups in tow.

Although Jacqui and James’ wedding was not religious – they were married by a friend, not a rabbi – we love the way they incorporated Jewish traditions in a way that was authentic and meaningful to them as a couple, opting to wed under a chuppah and sign a gorgeous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com, while forgoing the traditional ceremony in favor of one the bride wrote herself!

There’s so much more we could say, but we’ll let the bride, who looked lovely in Maggie Sottero, take it from here..

Venue

Jacqui, the bride: I have always dreamed of an outdoor, barn yard, casual wedding. Red Gate Farms located in the beautiful, historic city of Savannah, GA was the absolute perfect location!

A Martina Liana Bride for a Destination Jewish Barn Wedding at Blue Sky Ranch in Wanship, Park City, Utah, USA

11/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

We’re so in love with today’s couple’s ultra-personal chuppah. Lennie and Mark combined ten (yes TEN!) family tallits (prayer shawls), from both sides, to make their fantastic canopy — literally weaving together their two families into a new one! Isn’t that beautiful?

And for the poles, the couple used Aspen branches, in a nod to the natural flora of their destination location, the stunning mountain retreat of Park City, Utah. Check out Pepper Nix‘s gorgeous photos of the ceremony — not to mention the fab party, before and after!

Yep, another thing we adore about Lennie and Mark’s Jewish wedding is their pre-chuppah cocktail hour. The pair made a point of attending and enjoying it fully, and clever bride Lennie even took the smart step of sourcing a special cocktail dress (purchased from BCBG on the sale rack for $100!) so she wouldn’t have to worry about anything spilling on her gown. The cocktail dress came in handy again when the bustle on Lennie’s modern, chic Martina Liana gown broke during a very energetic hora!

Oh, and one last detail we can’t get enough of: this pair seriously mixed up the standard hotel welcome bag formula, injecting some serious personality into your regular selection of snacks and water bottles: since Lennie is a dentist and Mark is a gastroenterologist, the goodies they handed out included monogrammed toothbrushes and reflux meds! Now over to Lennie…

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How we met

Lennie, the bride: We met on a blind date! One of my friends was out with her husband and another couple, and the guy happened to be one of Mark’s co-workers. Mark was talking about moving, and his coworker was trying to set him up so he wouldn’t move! He’s now stuck in Tampa (where I grew up 🙂

What’s ironic is that I had messaged Mark on Jswipe a year before we met, and he responded once and then never again. So when my friend called me telling me she was setting me up and describing him I said “oh, he didn’t message me back.” This time, he called me, we made plans, and that was that. (I later found out he was getting back together with his ex-girlfriend at the time when he didn’t message me back.)

A BHLDN Bride for a Rustic Outdoor Jewish Wedding at Beckendorff Farms, Katy, Texas, USA

28/03/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

This is SUCH a perfect country wedding. It’s got it all: a barn venue, a rustic chuppah, plenty of homespun touches, and wide open spaces as far as the eye can see – we are in Texas, after all

And it’s got oodles of sophistication too…. Jenna, the program director at a breast cancer education non-profit, and, Elan, who works in finance at an energy company, crafted a day that embodies effortless rustic elegance. They wanted their day at beautiful Beckendorff Farms in Katy, Texas, to have a comfortable, natural feel, plus a super personal ceremony, and that’s exactly what they got.

To keep the focus on their splendid outdoor surroundings, the couple opted to keep their chuppah simple. But its fresh, rustic looks bely its status as a bona fide family heirloom: the poles were built in Israel by a family member of Elan’s and had been used in multiple family weddings, and the tallit used as the canopy – also used in many family weddings – belongs to Elan’s father. And the tallit that Jenna and Elan were wrapped in during the ceremony belonged to Elan’s late great-grandfather.

As if this pair didn’t bring enough family into their ceremony with that remarkable chuppah, their rabbi was none other than the bride’s brother-in-law (her sister’s husband!). He conducted their very personal ceremony, featuring the couple’s original vows and a ketubah combining the traditional text with their own promises to each other written in English.

Jenna opted for a soft and dreamy gown from BHLDN, but the coolest thing by far about her wedding look was her shoes: custom blush suede 3-inch heels with a peep-toe and cross ankle straps, courtesy of her brother, who co-owns shoe company Huma Blanco. His design was super chic while still comfortable enough to wear all through the dancing.

And there was some hardcore dancing. The couple’s super energetic hora included not just the standard lifting of the couple on chairs; they were also lifted on tablecloths and thrown in the air!

The day was captured so beautifully by Elisheva Golani, who, along with her team, tackled both photography and videography. Now over to Jenna…

How we met

Jenna, the bride: My first job out of college, I worked with Elan’s sister and brother-in-law at the same summer camp/year-round retreat center that Elan grew up attending. We first met one weekend at a retreat. A month later, Elan’s sister had a baby, and we reconnected at his bris! Thanks to that nephew, Elan and I have been together ever since.