Jewish Budget Weddings Archives - Page 12 of 13 - Smashing the Glass

Zina & Igor | Intimate orchard-themed Jewish wedding at Casablanca hotel, Saint Petersburg, Russia

15/10/2014 by Karen

Russian-Jewish-Wedding
Good afternoon lovely readers. The wedding I have for you today is absolutely gorgeous and it’s a Smashing The Glass first! Yes, Zina and Igor wanted to be the first super cool Jewish wedding from Russia on the blog… and they’ve achieved that accolade! Not only are the details divine, the citrus colour scheme to-die-for, and the flowers fabulous but Zina’s write up of her and Igor’s day really comes from the heart; as did Zina’s efforts for the entire wedding.

Zina and Igor managed to pull off their wedding with a modest budget. And what an AWESOME job they did too. Sometimes stripped back, unfussy weddings are the best.

All of the decor was made by Zina’s best friend and so many friends and family were involved with this wedding – it’s really heart-warming.

I particularly love the gingerbread men and women favours. Such a unique idea and all made by Zina’s mum, Zina, and another great friend.

Intimate orchard-themed Jewish wedding at Casablanca hotel, Saint Petersburg, Russia
AN OUTDOOR CEREMONY AND VENUE
Zina, the Bride and Igor, the groom: Our wedding took place at the Casablanca Hotel, a small country hotel, with only about 50 guests made up of our closest friends and relatives. We knew we wanted to have our ceremony outdoors, as the date of our wedding was in the middle of summer and it was one of just a few possible days to have good weather in our rainy city.

We wanted to have the whole day outside the city, ideally in a country hotel where most of our guests could stay overnight. We were very lucky as we chose the first hotel we visited. It was perfect: it had a small, cosy garden with a swimming pool and enough space for a reception, chuppah, dancing and just general ‘hanging out’!

Olya + Yossi | Hand-crafted, rustic, bohemian ‘Instagram’ Israeli wedding at Duce Villa, Tel Aviv, planned in just 3 months!

30/09/2014 by Karen

Oh this is such a beautiful wedding. I’m so very excited to be blogging it, and what’s more, the story of how Olya and Yossi met is quite simply a modern day fairytale, with good ol’ Instagram at the epicentre of their tale!

Olya was looking for a vintage hebrew typewriter and posted a picture on Instagram of what she was looking for. Yossi saw the picture after one of his friends ‘liked’ it, and he then dropped her a message telling her he owned one that she might just be interested in. Originally from Israel, Yossi had just moved to Los Angeles, but that didn’t stop the two of them from carving out a beautiful love story via email, Skype and all manner of 21st century technologies.

Olya says. “We are still wondering how this all magically happened, but here we are now together, sharing the same last name and that turquoise vintage typewriting machine.”

Super creative Olya (the blogger behind the à¼ber-cool boho TLV Birdie blog) handcrafted so many beautiful elements for her wedding, and believe it or not, organised the whole thing in just 3 months! This girl knows a thing or two about originality and artistry so look no further for your D.I.Y. inspiration! Take note of her wise advice the end too. I found myself nodding along in agreement like one of those dogs you find on the back shelf of a car. But I digress… read on for a beautiful story, and some sensational imagery by Irina Yakobson.

PLANNING OUR ENTIRE WEDDING IN JUST 3 MONTHS
Olya, the Bride: When it came to planning the wedding, we had a vision of a simple, cosy, small bohemian wedding. We organised the entire do in just 3 months, and the wedding day fell upon the beautiful date of 4/4/14.

Hannah & Raf | Laidback, colourful ‘English Garden’ Jewish wedding at The Priory Barn, Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire, UK

20/08/2014 by Karen

An english country garden jewish wedding
Hannah and Raf’s big day is bursting at the seams with colour, fun and some very original ideas, and if I had to describe their wedding in one (ok two) words, it would be utterly joyous. From Raf’s beaming smile to Hannah’s multi-coloured nails, through to the wild summer flowers dotted about everywhere, and the most original first dance I’ve heard about in a long while (I’ll let Hannah surprise you with that one).

I want to be a guest at this wedding. I want to receive a homemade invitation designed by the bride. I want to stand amongst the moorhens and weeping willows. I want to hear a klezmer version of The Final Countdown. I want to have a slice of hundreds and thousands cake. And I want to have every moment captured by Marianne Chua whose images are appearing for the first time on STG which I’m so very thrilled about!

Get ready because you gorgeous lot are going to be pinning until your fingers are raw.

colourful English garden Jewish wedding_0033

A MIDWEEK WEDDING AT A WONDERFUL GARDEN VENUE
Hannah, the Bride: We chose to get married at The Priory Barn in Little Wymondley. We researched various venues, but had difficulties in that a lot of the London venues wouldn’t allow religious ceremonies and we didn’t want a hotel. We also wanted outside space and The Priory has an amazing garden complete with a stream, weeping willows and baby moorhens! We had budget concerns and The Priory had a great midweek deal. Our wedding was on a Thursday but this really didn’t seem to affect turnout.

Natalie & Eli | Informal DIY Boho Jewish Wedding at House Plantation, Texas

17/07/2014 by Karen

I think it took me exactly 3.6 seconds from the moment I first read Shaun Taylor‘s email, detailing Natalie and Eli’s wedding, to thinking oh yes, this has crashed through my submission barriers — I’ve got a killer Smashing The Glass wedding on my hands here!

I love that Natalie made her own dress and wore cowboy boots. I love that Natalie’s mum made her jewellery. I love that the couple flew out their photographer, Shaun Taylor all the way from Derby to Texas because they loved his work so much. I love what Natalie says about working together with your fiancà© as a team in the planning stages. And I love that it rained and then rained some more, but far from letting the weather dampen their spirits, they embraced it and the results are even better than they imagined, as Natalie describes below.

You’ll also see the most exquisite henna tattoos covering Natalie’s arms. A traditional Yemenite henna party is a popular pre-wedding ritual for Sephardi Jews and you can see theirs in full swing over on Shaun’s blog. It just goes to show you can stamp your personality onto your wedding weekend and dig deep into your culture’s traditions too. The two are not mutually exclusive and that’s exactly what this blog is all about.

Michal & Samuel | Intimate Israeli-Swiss Wedding at Kibbutz Ein Gev, Sea of Galilee, Israel, with the bride and groom in flip flops!

29/04/2014 by Karen

Michal and Samuel met whilst traveling across South America and dated long distance for some time, flying back and forth between Switzerland (where Samuel is from) and Israel, until they decided to make a life together in Tel Aviv.

For their wedding they wanted everyone to have an amazing, relaxed time and didn’t want anything too formal or stuffy. Their focus from the start was on food, drink and intimacy and they held their wedding where Michal grew up, and her parents still live, in a kibbutz in the north of Israel called Ein Gev on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (or Lake Kinneret as it’s known in Israel).

It’s an amazing kibbutz all about family and togetherness, with a communal, peaceful and natural atmosphere. This is the exact ambience that they wanted for their wedding, and is very much in the spirit of who they are. Michal in her own words even “went for the most untypical bride shoes – flip flops. April on the beach… who needs anything more?!”

Samuel’s close family and friends flew in from Switzerland, and with the couple wanting to bring a mixture of Israeli and Swiss culture to their wedding, Samuel’s family brought over Swiss wine, cheese and meats for the party (all spread out and packed in their suitcases)! They also had what I personally think is a genius idea of an ice cream bar for dessert.

It’s a beautiful authentic wedding with the chuppah taking place just after sunset. Michal, the Bride, is here to tell you all about it, along with images from the fabulous Newman Photography.

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