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A Mira Zwillinger bride for a snowy ski-themed Jewish wedding in the mountains of Verbier, Switzerland

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Verbier-wedding
I’m a bit of a  ski-ing nut  and LOVE  everything that goes with the sport  —  the  breathtaking scenery, the high altitude vibe, and the aprà¨s-ski   life. So when I first clapped eyes on this wintery mountain wedding, I can hand on heart say that my breath was momentarily taken away. Then when I spotted  the images of the bride and groom in ski boots having fun on the powder, I seriously couldn’t believe my eyes  – my goodness…  how lucky are we this morning?!

With a bride called Summer, this winter wedding is  everything. I’m talking killer photography by Ronen Boidek, a Swiss mountain  backdrop complete with sunshine, snow, alphorns, mulled wine, cheese fondue, St Bernard dogs, lanterns, candles, and  a  Mira Zwillinger gown so pretty it could move  you to tears. But even more than that, it’s the sheer joy captured in every last image. Summer, take it away…

Verbier wedding
Our wedding in a nutshell

Summer, the Bride: I think the mountain setting helped make the wedding unusual! The alphorns, mulled wine, cheese fondue, cow bells, lanterns, candles and mountain tent all helped create a special day. We made a whole weekend of it with a mountain lunch and dinners and I hope that our guests  had a really different and fun wedding weekend!

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‘Old Hollywood’ destination Jewish wedding at The Great Synagogue of Florence and Villa Di Maiano, Florence, Italy

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Jewish-wedding-Florence
Olivia and Jacob  are one seriously hot couple  —  I mean just  look at  David Bastianoni‘s gorgeous  images of them both… And it gets even better. They chose a wedding theme of  50’s / Old Hollywood glamour meets The Godfather. Off the scale, right?!

Both  Londoners,  (they met 7 years ago at Nottingham University) the bride and groom opted  to marry in Florence, as that’s where Jacob proposed to Olivia. They chose the  breathtaking  Great Synagogue of Florence followed by a magnificent party at  Villa Di Maiano,  and their big day is every bit as glamorous and romantic as you’d expect. There’s an  immense  chuppah made from gypsophila, pretty blush  pink roses  and candles, beautifully ornate calligraphic decor, a classic convertible  wedding car, a mille-feuille wedding cake constructed in front of the guests, a phenomenal firework display… I could go on and on  and on!

As you’d expect, our bride and groom look impeccable stylish too — Olivia  in a beautifully cut bespoke  Suzanne Neville gown (based on a design that her and her  mother created), and Jacob  in a bespoke suit by  Cad and the Dandy. It’s a super chic  wedding, full of  panache, and lots and lots of heart.

Not only do we have the insane  images by STG fave,  David Bastianoni,  but we also have the 8mm film by  Marriage à  la Mode.Jewish wedding Florence
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A super cool and creative, colourful Jewish wedding at Middle Street Synagogue, and The Grand, Brighton, UK

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Oh my goodness. Where on earth do I start with this wedding?! It’s such fun, and it’s just bursting at the seams with creative details that will make you squeal. Seriously — it’s that good!

There are gold pineapples, the most exquisitely branded stationery (all designed by the bride), an enchanting alternative to a guest book, bridesmaids in the most epic shade of coral, a personalised head-in-hole board (a must-have when your wedding is by the English seaside!) and beautifully designed welcome bag totes (again designed by bride) filled with Brighton Rock, fish & chips shaped crackers, and all sorts of other seaside-themed treats.

It’s clear from looking at all of the delicious details in this big day that Danielle poured her heart and soul into all of the planning. Everything was evidently created with the greatest care and love, and, not surprisingly, her wedding features some of my much-loved Smashing Suppliers doing an AMAZING job.

I’m talking about Jonny Mosesson (their incredible chazan under the chuppah —who also was the chazan at my wedding!) and Stephanie Allin, Danielle’s sensational wedding dress designer, who bizarrely enough, designed my wedding dress too! Danielle says, “I hope that anyone reading this who likes the sound of anything we did gets in touch with our vendors because they made our day so incredible — they were absolutely brilliant.”

This wedding is literally the perfect mix of Jewish tradition and super cool creativity and I think you’re going to love it. I certainly did!

Oh, and their ‘How We Met’ story is beyond… their mums set them up!!

All of the laughter was captured by one of my favourite photographers, Kristian Leven, making a very welcome debut on STG today. 

Take it away Danielle!

Jewish wedding Brighton
how we met

Our mums set us up. Yes, it’s true!

They knew each other when they were kids growing up in Leeds and then happened to be seated together at a wedding two years ago. They figured out that they both had kids the same age. Who were single. My mum had had a few too many cocktails and so Gideon’s mum, someone who will never take no for an answer, ended up going home with my phone number! When I spoke to my mum about the wedding the next day, she never mentioned it because she never thought he would call. And he didn’t. But he texted! And the rest is history!

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A Pronovias bride for a cool, whimsical Jew-ish wedding at The Amadeus Centre, Maida Vale, London, UK

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Amadeus-Centre-Wedding
Today’s gorgeous bride,  Michelle, has some seriously talented friends. The super cool  wedding stationery? Oh, just designed by a friend. That gorgeous ‘brownie tower’ wedding cake? Oh just made  by ANOTHER amazing friend. That beautiful piece of music played during their Jew-ish wedding ceremony? Oh just lovingly  composed by a super talented friend of Michelle’s mother. Michelle  is a lucky girl! But  you can see that her and Ben have created all that love and given it back in bucketloads, not only from her report, but by the fact that almost  50% of their  guests travelled from abroad, from countries including the  USA, Netherlands, South Africa, Canada, Singapore, Russia, Germany, Iceland and many more — and this amazing  detail is perfectly  captured in their interactive ‘heart’ map that  you just have to see…

I love how she and Ben  have incorporated both Jewish and non-Jewish, and both British  and Dutch  themes into their day. They held their wonderfully inclusive  wedding at  the  Amadeus Centre  venue  in Maida Vale which they chose as it’s by Regents Canal which also runs past their home in Camden.  I’ll  hand you over to Michelle  now for the full report, exquisitely documented by the very  talented Martin Beddall, and watch out for, amongst other things, the world’s cutest pageboy…

Amadeus Centre Wedding
how we met

Michelle, the Bride:  We met in Edinburgh at a house party as we were both coming to the end of our masters degrees at the University of Edinburgh. Ben had a week left in Edinburgh before he was set to move back to Amsterdam, and I was heading to London at the end of the summer. After a summer of travelling back and forth between Amsterdam and Edinburgh, Ben decided to take the plunge and move to London, and we both didn’t look back!

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Julie & Abe | Outdoor Jewish wedding, with a vintage botanical theme, at Vineyards at Chappel Lodge, Austin, Texas, USA

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Outdoor-Jewish-Wedding
I’m not sure if you know that when I graduated from university back in 1999, I embarked on a career as a graphic designer, having studied graphic arts & design at university. I’ve always had an enthusiasm for great design, and those were the days before digital so it was ALL about interesting paper stocks and beautiful print techniques. I’ve never lost that passion for creativity  (if anything it’s been amplified since starting my design company in 2002 which I ran until Smashing The Glass became my full-time business) and that’s why I so appreciate today’s wedding with its exquisite creative streak and attention to detail.

The craft and care for everything at this wedding is so apparent and I’ve been lapping it all up! I’m blown away by the stationery for starters – it’s magnificent. Luigi Maldonado, the art director at the creative studio in Austin where Julie works, designed the entire suite as a gift to Julie and Abe and it’s beyond beautiful.

And their wedding is a totally outdoor affair! They had their chuppah under an elegant oak tree, and their reception within a unique open-air ‘dinner tent’. It was essentially a tent structure without the tent itself and was decorated with festoon lighting so that guests could dine and party under the moonlight. Er… WOW.

Julie and Abe managed to mix tradition and creativity together effortlessly. Taking inspiration from vintage botanical sketches and illustrations of cacti and succulents, their colour palette ended up taking on a lot of white and greens, and cacti became a foundational element across floral designs, and decor.

Before I hand over to Julie let me just say that I know you’re going to go pin crazy with all the wonderful images by The Nichols. Enjoy!

Outdoor Jewish Wedding
how we met

Julie, the Bride: Abe and I knew each other growing up, and at one time in our teen-aged years, we lived about two blocks away from one another. I left for college in LA, he went to Israel and then to New York and back. Years later, after I had returned to Austin, we ran into each other while he was in town visiting. After that, we started seeing one another on his trips home and kept in touch long-distance. He eventually moved back to Austin full time and we got married a few years later.

Outdoor Jewish Wedding
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