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A Milla Nova Bride for a Whimsical Jewish Wedding Weekend in Lilac at Langley Park, Chippenham, UK

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We absolutely love Amy and Sammy’s vision for what we like to call a local destination wedding for their big day: the London-based duo wanted to “create the feeling of an abroad-style wedding without actually having to travel overseas, as we wanted to have as many of our friends and family there as possible to celebrate with us.” In gorgeous Langley Park, they found the perfect countryside venue to bring their loved ones together for a full-on wedding weekend away from it all, no flights required.

Amy and Sammy love a party, and it was important to them that their guests had an amazing time at their wedding. Enter Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ambassador Band. Music was a top priority for the duo, and in Amy’s words, “after coming across a ‘Sean Paul Remix’ by Ambassador Band on TikTok, we instantly knew they were the ones for us. They were so cool, had incredible voices, and their repertoire was unlike a typical wedding playlist, which really helped create the atmosphere and keep everyone on the dance floor… Geoff and the band were amazing throughout the entire process. They went above and beyond, helping us with everything from production and staging to lighting, and nothing was ever too much trouble.”

We’re also obsessed with Amy and Sammy’s whimsical floral outdoor-chuppah – don’t miss it (and all the other fab details) in the wonderful photos from Stories from Eros!

Now over to Amy… 

How We Met

Amy, the bride: Sammy was in the year below me at school. He went to Yavneh with my cousin, so although we had crossed paths a number of times we had never actually spoken. We met properly 5 years ago at a mutual friends birthday at Pergola, and went on our first date a week later – as  they say, the rest is history!

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A Grace Loves Lace Bride for an Ultra-Personal Jewish Wedding at Home in Old Westbury, New York, USA

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Elana and Seth, Old Westbury, New York, USA

We love it when a couple makes their Jewish wedding totally, completely them – and that’s exactly what Elana and Seth did. Every single choice they made – from incorporating family and friends at every step of the process to deciding to wed at their family homestead, where Elana’s family has lived for more than thirty years and the couple now make their home – was rooted in their desire to plan a celebration that felt more like, in the couple’s words, a “participatory cultural gathering” than a conventional wedding.

Elana and Seth, along with Elana’s parents and other family and friends, spent months preparing the property for the big day, doing everything from growing flowers to clearing paths and rigging infrastructure. The couple’s intimate Jewish ceremony, which took place on a Friday, featured so many personal touches, from a pre-wedding bathtub mikvah to an elemental procession involving all the guests to Seth’s family chuppah to the couple’s fabulous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Once Upon a Paper.

The duo worked with artist Elena to create a bespoke design, and, in Seth’s words, “She welcomed every out there idea we brought to her and created something that felt both ancient and entirely personal. The final result is a true reflection of us.” Don’t miss her incredible work in the images by Kali Taylor and Thais Aquino.

There’s so much more to say about this very special celebration (which included a Wedding Crashers-themed party the Saturday following the chuppah), but we’ll let the couple fill you in on the rest…

 

Elana and Seth, Old Westbury, New York, USA Elana and Seth, Old Westbury, New York, USA Elana and Seth, Old Westbury, New York, USA Elana and Seth, Old Westbury, New York, USA

How We Met

Seth: We first crossed paths in Lake Tahoe in 2014, when Elana was touring as a performing artist. I remember feeling her energy before we had even properly met or had a deep conversation. We remained loosely connected through overlapping community throughout the years, but it was not until 2022 that we truly sat down together and started to get to know one another.

Elana: I thought it was a business meeting. Seth had other ideas.

Seth: I remember saying jokingly, not jokingly, “I’m Jewish, you’re Jewish… our mothers are going to love each other ;)” Elana rolled her eyes but was intrigued at my boldness.

Elana: At the time, I was amidst a year of celibacy and consciously creating space to call in a life partner. Seth arrived right at the threshold of that year. It gave us space to deepen a genuine friendship while our love organically revealed itself to both of us.

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An International Interfaith Jewish Wedding Focused on Friends and Family at South Farm, Royston, UK

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Kelsey and Owen, South Farm, Royston, UK

We love it when a couple makes their wedding totally, 100% them – and that’s exactly what Kelsey, hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, and Owen, from Sydney, Australia, did. The pair met at the University of Cambridge in 2019, and ever since they’ve been building a life together in the UK. When it came time to plan their big day, they knew they wanted to showcase their newfound home while reflecting the places they came from – and did they ever do an awesome job, with everything from Australian meat pies for late-night snacks to cranberry cocktails as a nod to the bride’s family home on Cape Cod!

Kelsey and Owen opted to wed at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor South Farm, a beautiful working farm that showcases the best of the English countryside. In addition to the gorgeous indoor and outdoor spaces (and the fact that the venue grows lots of the produce used in their catering on-site), in Kelsey’s words,

We also immediately found the entire South Farm team to be consistently kind, welcoming, and supportive throughout the planning process. We felt completely looked after from start to finish… Even though South Farm host weddings almost every day of the year, they made us feel like ours was the only wedding they had to pay attention to.

Friends and family also played a huge part in the day: a friend served as the couple’s celebrant, another friend created all the floral arrangements, and various loved ones offered personalized blessings to the couple instead of the traditional Sheva Brachot. We also love that Owen composed the piece of music to which Kelsey walked down the aisle – which was performed by friends! Don’t miss all the love and emotion in the wonderful photos by Lee Allison.

Now over to Kelsey…

Kelsey and Owen, South Farm, Royston, UK Kelsey and Owen, South Farm, Royston, UK Kelsey and Owen, South Farm, Royston, UK Kelsey and Owen, South Farm, Royston, UK

How We Met

Kelsey, the bride: We both arrived in Cambridge in 2019 to study at the University of Cambridge. Kelsey came from Boston, Massachusetts to do a PhD researching the role of play in children’s healthcare, and Owen came from Sydney, Australia to do an MMus in Music and sing with the Choir of King’s College. We were both members of Hughes Hall and met on our very first night in Cambridge the college hosted welcome drinks at the bar. We got to talking that evening and quickly became close friends during those first few whirlwind months of settling in.

Then, abruptly, the pandemic. As international students, we both made the difficult decision to stay in Cambridge amidst the uncertainty of those early months of 2020. As some of only a handful of people still in our college, we spent an inordinate amount of time together going for long walks, cooking together, online pub quizzes, meeting each other’s family and friends via video calls – we had basically started dating before we were actually dating. Friends and family, both near and far, were constantly asking us what was going on between us… it took nearly nine months of friendship for us to realize it too!

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A Grace Lane London Bride for a Relaxed, Joyful, Sustainable DIY Jew-ish Wedding South Farm, Hertfordshire, UK

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Elsa and Adam, South Farm, Hertfordshire, UK

We love it when a couple brings their family and friends into their big day in a major way – and that’s exactly what Elsa, who’s preparing to start a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and Adam, currently finishing his PhD researching cell-cultured meat, did. Having known each other since age 11 and been together since they were teenagers, they saw their wedding as a celebration of their shared history and the loved ones who’ve been a part of their circle over the years.

As such, Elsa and Adam took a DIY approach to their wedding, using vintage, second-hand, and reusable items wherever they could and bringing friends and family in every step of the way. Elsa designed and made all of the invitations by hand (in both English and Hebrew); the rings were crafted by one of the bridesmaids; Elsa’s cousin who’s a carpenter built the chuppah; and best of all, Elsa’s mum, a gardener and garden designer, took charge of the florals, foraging local evergreen foliage and lovingly handcrafting masses of gorgeous paper flowers used on the chuppah and in the bouquets! Don’t miss it all in the wonderful documentary-style photos by Connor from Linden Photography.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor South Farm in Hertfordshire was the perfect spot for Elsa and Adam to bring together their nearest and dearest. A working farm dating back to the 16th century, with a collection of characterful barns for the ceremonies and plenty of on-site accommodation, it was ideally suited to the duo’s vision for whimsical, laid-back, joyful wedding. Elsa and Adam can’t stop raving about how attentive the events team was – and they also loved South Farm’s sustainability ethos and approach to food, leaning into produce grown on the farm itself!

There’s so much more to say about this very special day – like the fact that Elsa’s mum organized a surprise flash mob of “Hava Nagila” – but we’ll turn you over to Elsa for the rest…

Elsa and Adam, South Farm, Hertfordshire, UK Elsa and Adam, South Farm, Hertfordshire, UK Elsa and Adam, South Farm, Hertfordshire, UK Elsa and Adam, South Farm, Hertfordshire, UK

How We Met

Elsa, the bride: We don’t have a single “first meet” story as our paths first crossed when we were just 11! Although we went to separate schools, we had friends in common and would occasionally see each other at parties and school events.

When Elsa moved schools at 16, we ended up in the same form and A-level biology class. We quickly became part of the same friendship group and spent most lunchtimes together- many of those friends are still in our lives today, and some were even part of our bridal party! We officially started dating in our last year of school, when we were 17/18. Since then, we’ve navigated a couple of years of long distance, attended the same university to study Biochemistry (a year apart), and eventually moved in together. Our wedding came almost exactly 10 years after we started dating in 2014!

Adam is now finishing his PhD researching cell-cultured meat, and Elsa is preparing to start a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. We feel unbelievably lucky to have been able to build such a full life together already, it made our decision to get married an incredibly easy and exciting one!

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A BHLDN Bride for a DIY Jewish Wedding Weekend at River Mountain, Everett, Pennsylvania, USA

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Shoshana and Mark, River Mountain, Everett, Pennsylvania, USA

We love a DIY Jewish wedding, and Shoshana and Mark’s is SO packed with wonderful personal touches. The couple planned every detail of their glamping wedding weekend getaway at River Mountain themselves, from the invitations to the music playlists for every event.

We’re obsessed with Shoshana and Mark’s gorgeous outdoor ceremony, officiated by a humanistic rabbi and attended by no fewer than four family dogs! The bespoke ceremony blended Shoshana’s Jewish upbringing and Mark’s non-religious background and featured a blessing over wine and another over beer, egalitarian circling, and humanistic versions of the seven blessings. And how fun is it that the duo included a crossword puzzle on details and traditions from the ceremony in their wedding program?! Don’t miss all the special details in the wonderful photography by Mariah Fisher!

Shoshana and Mark went for a beautiful custom  ketubah designed and hand-painted by Elena Berlo of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Once Upon a Paper. The art captures the pair’s love of nature, with two trees intertwined and two golden birds sitting amid colored circles representing the changing seasons.

There’s so much more to say about this ultra-personal wedding, but we’ll hand you over to Shoshana for the rest…

Shoshana and Mark, River Mountain, Everett, Pennsylvania, USA Shoshana and Mark, River Mountain, Everett, Pennsylvania, USA Shoshana and Mark, River Mountain, Everett, Pennsylvania, USA Shoshana and Mark, River Mountain, Everett, Pennsylvania, USA

How We Met

Shoshana, the bride: We met by chance at a beer garden in Washington, DC, while out and about for Halloween celebrations. We were engaged nearly 5 years later and married the following June.

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