Jewish City Chic Weddings Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Le Spose di Gio Bride for a Winter Jewish Wedding at Home in Liverpool, UK

18/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Today’s Jewish wedding is a rather special one for me to blog as it’s the beautiful wedding of my right hand woman at Smashing The Glass, wonderful Claire who I work extremely closely with day in, day out!

Claire came on board just over a year ago and is literally the backbone of everything we do at Smashing The Glass. Having her on board, doing her fabulous thing, has enabled brand STG to grow in all sorts of wonderful ways.

It’s an absolute honor to feature Claire’s joyous wedding to Mark (held in a marquee at her parents house filled with family and friends) and even though their big day happened prior to Claire joining Team STG, it’s no surprise that it features not one, not two, but THREE incredible STG Recommended Vendors: photography superstar David Pullum (his images are everything), Sensation Band who rocked the night in the imitable way that only they can do, and the fabulous and meticulous Qube Events who we couldn’t love any more (read on to see what Claire has to say about each of them!).

And on a creative level, their chuppah is jaw-on-the-floor EVERYTHING!! Oh.. and you’re going to want to steal an amazing creative / favour idea that the guests went nuts for involving (wait for it…) napkins! Oh yeah. All I can say is that I wish I had one too…

Let’s hand over to Claire (dressed to perfection in Le Spose di Gio) for the full scoop!

A Wedding at Home

Claire, the bride: We got married in the garden of my family home. Ever since I was a little girl I had always dreamt of getting married there. With so many happy memories, it felt so special and perfect for us.

My family are from Liverpool and my husband’s are from London, so we also thought that creating our own “venue” would be a fun change from the norm and make it a little more exciting for those who were making the trip up north to Liverpool!

A Carol Hannah Bride for an International Jewish Wedding at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, New York, New York, USA

06/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

You don’t get much more cosmopolitan than today’s couple. Hayley, from New York, and Emmanuel, from Paris, met while living in London, and chose to hold their Jewish wedding (well, one of them…) in the bride’s super-cool hometown, whilst including so many gorgeous creative details!

Their wedding at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers celebrated their international backgrounds through details like bilingual French-English invitations and a custom designed map displaying all of the places both Hayley and Emmanuel have lived, and that have been important in their relationship.

We love this idea for an ultra-personal touch, and Smartup Visuals came up with the most fun design – you’ve got to see Corey Torpie’s photos of it!

You know how we said in the intro that one of the duo’s weddings took place in NYC? Well, that’s because these two had already gotten legally married in a civil wedding in France, the groom’s home country, which let them let loose and enjoy the celebration and religious ceremony at wedding part 2.

With guests from all over the world, making sure everyone felt included was paramount. One lovely way Hayley and Emmanuel made all of their guests feel part of the day was by having a group reading of the Seven Blessings. They found some modern interpretations of the Seven Blessings they liked, printed out copies for all the guests, and asked everyone to join in during the ceremony – isn’t that beautiful?

Hayley, who looked stunning in her modern, almost sculptural Carol Hannah gown, will fill you in on the rest…

How we met

Hayley, the bride: Emmanuel and I met a few years ago when we were both living in London. Ironically, I had lived in Paris – where Emmanuel is from – for a few years before moving to London, and Emmanuel had lived in New York (my hometown) before moving to London. We had lived in the exact same places but at different times, so we connected right away.

A Pronovias Bride for an Intimate Last-Minute Jewish-Australian-Danish Wedding at Spring Restaurant, Somerset House, London, UK

01/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We dare you to take one look at today’s stunner of a Jew-ish wedding and guess how long the couple spent planning it. Two years? One year? Six months? No, no, and no! Lauren, a travel writer (of Princess with a Backpack fame!) and Christopher, a tax lawyer, planned their wedding in a mere eight weeks! SAY WHAAAAT?!

That’s not a typo – this fab day really did come together in a mere two months, without even a planner to expedite the process. And not only that, the couple planned their ultra-chic London day just shortly after relocating to the city from NYC!

The globetrotting duo (Lauren is Australian, while Christopher hails from Denmark) found a perfect venue in Spring Restaurant.

The elegant space had tons of built-in décor, from hanging foliage to fairy lights; all the couple needed to do was throw in some stylish modern florals in white and green from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hayford & Rhodes to make their venue was 100% wedding-ready.

You might expect that a Jewish-Australian-Danish wedding would yield some cool cultural fusions – and Lauren and Christopher didn’t disappoint. It just takes one look at Ivan Franchet’s stunning photos to see the energy and the love that went into the day.

The touching ceremony embraced Lauren’s Jewish heritage with touches like a gorgeous pared-down chuppah from The Chuppah Design Co (the creation of our own former blogging bride Lauren Beadle!) as well as Danish tradition, in the form of a beautiful Danish love prayer.

And the couple incorporated some fun Danish traditions into their reception (hint: one involves kissing under the table!). Read on for all the details from lovely Lauren, who looked absolutely model-perfect in her elegant lace Pronovias gown…

A London Wedding

Lauren, the bride: We got married at Spring Restaurant, Somerset House, London. We had just recently moved from New York to London a few months before and because our friends and families are based all over the world (my family is based in Australia and my husband’s friends and family are in Denmark), we thought London would be the perfect neutral ground to celebrate our wedding in our new city.

When I was looking for venues in London, I walked into Spring and immediately fell in love with the space. It was perfect: blue pastels on the walls, matched perfectly with the soft pink velvet lounges, tan leather dining chairs, blonde wood floorboards and crisp white tables.

As it was the end of March, spring had officially begun, and what better place to celebrate than Spring in London. Spring also happens to be run by celebrity chef Skye Gyngell who is originally Australian; her signature style is seasonal and elegant, providing dishes that are unique with a farm-to-table approach.

Our hotel (Langham London) was perfect for getting ready and staying the night of the wedding. Clearly, they have had many brides stay there before, so nothing was too much to ask, and the service was incredible. We also had a fantastic large suite, which gave 3 of us (mum and sister included) plenty of space to get ready for the big day.

A Theia Bride for an Intimate Rooftop Destination Jewish Wedding at Sugar, Miami, Florida, USA

30/05/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Wow – that chuppah! The colors! The smiles! Looking at the fab photos of today’s colorful, laid-back wedding, you’d never guess what a bumpy wedding planning ride Dana, a product manager,, and Alex, who works in corporate strategy, had!

After a venue mishap forced the San Francisco-based couple to cancel their original wedding plans – for a large, traditional event – Dana and Alex decided to take a step back and rethink what really mattered to them on their day. Their “wedding planning reboot” inspired them to start from scratch and create an ultra-personal day reflecting their personalities and values.

Oh, and just three weeks before the wedding, Dana broke her elbow snowboarding – not that you’d be able to tell from how gorgeous she looked in her delicate petal-covered Theia dress.

The silver lining of all this drama was that it made Dana and Alex focus on what really mattered to them – which meant that their fun-filled, close-knit brunch (yes, brunch!) wedding at Sugar on the rooftop of the East Hotel in downtown Miami turned out to be such a wonderful reflection of their personalities. You can really feel the joy shining through Andrea Harborne and Diana Hogan’s vibrant photos of the day.

We love how the duo incorporated their values into the day was by authoring their own ketubah text. Dana reports that writing their own marriage contract was a great way to stay grounded during wedding planning, and what a special memento of this phase of their relationship. It doesn’t hurt that the finished product is stunning, with a lovely modern floral design courtesy of much-loved STG Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent.

And we can’t get enough of the couple’s DIY handheld chuppah. Constructed by Dana’s family (with a gorgeous, colorful tablecloth standing in as the canopy, which Dana and Alex can continue using in their home!) and held up by friends during the ceremony, it added an ultra-meaningful touch to the day. Now over to the bride…

How we met

Dana, the bride: We met around 6 years ago when we were both working at the same company in Manhattan, and we moved out to San Francisco together 3 years ago.

A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Texan Jewish Wedding with a Beer Bar at the Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas, USA

23/05/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Happy Wednesday, y’all! Today we’re headed to super cool Austin, where Meredith and Phillip held a Texas-themed wedding for the records. Marrying at the iconic, historic Driskill Hotel in the city center, the couple had one objective: to make their day “as Texas as possible.”

They incorporated their fab theme in so many ways, but our favorite has got to be the beer bar! They had 6 local Texas beers on tap for guests to sample – no generic alcohol for this pair! And as a surprise, Meredith’s parents had customized glasses made as wedding favors for the guests, with the couple’s names and wedding date as well as following text: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something brewed” How clever?!

Neither Meredith nor Phillip being huge cake fans, they decided to buck tradition and serve pie for their dessert instead – so on-theme, too! They had four luscious-sounding flavors: blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, chocolate, and pecan. We’d like a slice of each, please! And they still did a traditional cutting picture – just with pie.

Cory Ryan Photography captured all the details of the day beautifully. Now we’ll turn you over to Meredith, who looked gorgeous in her classic lace Monique Lhuillier gown…

How we met

Meredith, the bride: We met in college at the University of Richmond, at a Hillel event. We were together for nine years and three cities before tying the knot.