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Hedsor House: A Stylish Buckinghamshire Country House Venue Perfect for Your Jewish Wedding

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The struggle is real: you’ve always dreamed of an idyllic, secluded countryside wedding, but also need a venue where the team knows a chuppah from a hora.  

I hear you. It’s not always easy planning a UK Jewish wedding when you’re not going for that big city feel, between kosher catering, easy transportation for guests, and all the other considerations that come into choosing a venue for a Jewish wedding. But there are a handful of fantastic venues out there that let you have your cake (or scone?) and eat it too.

Like Hedsor House, an incredible Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor in the heart of the English countryside, yet only 45 minutes from London. Located in the beautiful Thames Valley, Hedsor House’s Buckinghamshire location embodies that classic English country house splendour with its magnificent Georgian architecture, elegant decor, and sprawling grounds. It’s truly a special backdrop for your big day.

Hedsor House regularly hosts luxury Jewish weddings, and the events team are total pros at handling all the special details that go into a Jewish wedding. Whether your ceremony is Orthodox or Jew-ish, they know what to do — and they’ll be there with you every step of the way, with their mega-attentive service ensuring your ideas are brought to life and your big day runs smoothly.

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A Stephanie Allin Bride for an Ultra-Personal Country House Jewish Wedding at Parklands Quendon Hall, Essex, UK

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We absolutely LOVE today’s bride, Tash, who is an avid Smashing The Glass reader, and looked so elegant in her Stephanie Allin gown (with “the best twirling skirt ever!”).

She made some amazing vendor choices (choosing three STG Recommended Vendors all found on the pages of Smashing The Glass) and she had so many beautiful creative ideas. We particularly love the couple’s extra-meaningful chuppah design inspired by a previous wedding on Smashing The Glass, where the guests helped decorate the canopy with flowers (so gorge).

Their fab florist, the amazing Emma from STG Recommended Vendor Urban Flower Farmer, designed a simple birch pole chuppah laden with greenery and arranged flowers in buckets by the entrance to the ceremony, with a sign asking the guests to add them to the chuppah.

And that’s just one of the beautiful ways Tash and Ian personalized their ceremony while embracing Jewish tradition — you’ve got to read about their ultra-meaningful badeken. Photographer Andy Tyler and videographer Rideout Films did a wonderful job capturing all the emotion of the day.

The pair had a large wedding (230 guests!) with LOTS of children, and to make things easier for the parents in the crowd they hired another fabulous STG Recommended Vendor Safe and Sound Childcare to provide a creche, which kept all the little ones entertained and allowed the adults to enjoy the party.

Tash and Ian knew they wanted a band that could handle some serious Israeli dancing. Turning to Smashing The Glass for ideas, they found STG Recommended Vendor XS Showband. The couple report that the band created a fab atmosphere and kept their guests dancing all evening — and, most important of all, they ably handled not one but two rounds of Israeli dancing! Speaking of which, be sure to check out Tash’s top tips for Israeli dancing in her writeup…

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How we met

Tash, the bride: We met online – if you’d told me 5 years ago that I’d end up marrying someone I met online I would have thought you were mad, but here we are!

We met through Mysinglefriend, which is the site where your friends write your profile, which means you get slightly more interesting descriptions than the classic “I like eating out with friends and country walks.”

But it turns out it doesn’t actually mean you get more truthful profiles, as Ian’s friends Jo and Stu wrote lots of things that I’ve subsequently discovered were complete lies – like the suggestion that Ian is not a football obsessive!

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A Romantic English Country Garden Jew-ish Wedding at Northbrook Park, Surrey, UK

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Today’s real Jew-ish real wedding is a very special one and we’re ridiculously excited about it, as lovely Caroline and Robbie were one of editor Karen’s fabulous consultancy couples and to see their wedding come to life has been a total and utter joy! One of our favorite things about Smashing The Glass is the way we so often feel involved, directly or indirectly, in our couples’ big days, and this is particularly true today!

In fact, Caroline and Robbie were so delightful to work with, that they are one of 12 very special guests at our ‘Your Jewish Wedding Your Way’ Smashing Summit on the 31st January 2018 which we are SO excited for! Mindy Weiss, Monique Lhuillier, Ron Ben-Israel, Galia Lahav‘s Chief Designer, Duke Photography, Bruce Russell, Blake Ezra, Food Story, and a whole host of wedding industry superstars will talk live, covering everything (and we mean EVERYTHING!) you need to know to plan your Jewish (or Jew-ish) wedding your way. It’s going to be unmissable so make sure you reserve your (totally free!) front seat today here.

So onto today’s truly fabulous totally dreamy and romantic English country garden Jew-ish wedding! Caroline and Robbie, with so many international connections, could have tied the knot in many places, but chose picturesque Northbrook Park in Surrey, an area with family connections for the happy couple.

Beautiful bride Caroline absolutely rocked her bold, unique and jaw-droppingly gorgeous Liz Martinez gown, with its stunning plunge neckline and layers of fairytale tulle. 

There were no fewer than three of our much-loved recommended vendors involved in Caroline and Robbie’s wedding. The Function Band, who created magical moments with their music and kept the party going into the early hours, Philippa Louise whose epic makeup skills brought out Caroline’s best features and Rabbi Paul Glantz, who worked with the couple to create the perfect traditional Jew-ish ceremony.

All of the delightful decor details and happy moments were captured by fabulous photographer Philippa James.

It’s finally beautiful Caroline’s turn in the spotlight on the Smashing The Glass pages – please give her a very warm welcome!

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How we met

Caroline, the bride: Robbie and I met five years ago in Sydney, Australia. I was a backpacker on a year’s work and holiday visa, while Robbie was working there as a junior doctor for the year. We met completely by chance in a nightclub in Sydney’s famous Surrey Hills neighbourhood, and the rest is history!

We spent our first three years together traveling the world, including a few months’ journey on the Trans-Siberian Express through China, Mongolia and Russia, and living in Australia and South Africa. Two years ago, we relocated back to Robbie’s hometown of London and have been here ever since.
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A Yolan Cris Bride for a Wonderfully Quirky Jewish Wedding at Aynhoe Park, Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK

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Today’s real wedding comes with two separate, but equally valid, trigger warnings: the first is that it’s incredibly beautiful, and may result in you filling up your living room with Bubblegum Balloons, because they’re just so pretty. The second is that Olivia and Paul’s Jewish wedding day is deeply moving, and you may wish to grab a box of tissues before you read on. 

OK (we’re reaching for the first tissue here), how many childhood sweethearts actually make it to their big day? We’re guessing not that many, which makes Olivia and Paul truly special. The loved-up pair have been together since they were 14 years old. 14 years later, they finally said ‘I do’, which we think is just amazing. To have grown up together and still be just as in love half a lifetime later is something else.

Olivia and Paul were also dealt a devastating blow with the loss of Paul’s mother, Debra, a few months before the wedding. There are no words for the impact of losing someone so loved, and honoring her memory was a huge and vitally important part of the day. Debra managed to be part of the preparations, and had even visited the venue, which was so important to the couple.

And what a venue! We have been waiting to feature an Aynhoe Park wedding in forever! A private residence in Oxfordshire filled with stuffed animals, quirky artwork, sculptures, and an array of curiosities, we are more than obsessed with it for a wedding venue!

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We also love the Bubblegum Balloons adorning the ceiling, and the sprawling, whimsical floral arrangements throughout (including that chuppah!! WOW!!) to the romantic candlelight clusters. 

The entertainment was also varied, from wonderful musical acts to a snakeskin-clad contortionist and burlesque dancer respectively. There was not a moment of the day that was not utterly unique and special – doing it their way and then some.

Speaking of which, Olivia looked every bit the bridal beauty in her absolutely stunning Yolan Cris gown – absolutely awe-inspiring stuff and, as they say, total goals. 

Not one, but TWO of our beloved Recommended Vendors were a part of this gorgeous wedding, with chazan Jonny Mosesson gracing the ceremony with his beautiful voice and fabulous videographers, Imaginarium Cinematography, capturing the most sweet and gorgeous wedding video.  

We’ve gone on long enough – it’s time for Olivia to take over and take in those exceptional images from the wonderful Chiko Photography.

Get ready to fall in love and steal a million ideas, because we guarantee that’s how this is going to go. 

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How we met

Olivia, the bride: We met through one of my best friends when we were just 13/14. She invited me to a party at Paul’s house and we became really friendly.

We starting going out not long after and never looked back so 14 years later our wedding was a long time coming for our family and friends!
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A Stewart Parvin Bride for an Epic Secret Garden Jewish Wedding with a Viral Best Man Video at Thornton Manor, Cheshire, UK

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Jewish wedding at Thornton Manor Lakeside Marquee UK
Shh… can you keep a secret? Well that’s good, because WE CAN’T! Everyone please join us in gazing in awe at Pippa and Josh’s absolutely sublime secret garden-themed wedding! 

Before we start unpicking the absolutely divine details of the day (and there are many), you may have already come across today’s wedding in the form of the viral best man video (below) in which the eight contenders for the job of delivering groom Josh’s best man speech created a hilarious and epic parody of The Apprentice. This had us in absolute stitches, and we highly recommend watching it!

Back to the big day itself, our incredible Recommended Vendor, the inimitable Debbie of Qube Events & Productions, outdid herself on this secret garden production, which took no fewer than four days to set up! 

The romantic lakeside ceremony was conducted under a magical, wild and sprawling floral chuppah, heaped with foliage and tumbling flowers. Does it get any more dreamy than that? The statement floristry was a major focal point of the dà©cor, with stunning table arrangements and flowers throughout. 

Gorgeous bride, Pippa, looked a vision in her elegant and show-stopping Stewart Parvin gown and old Hollywood waves, and their meaningful ceremony was full of love and focused around family. 

Photographers Reportage Gallery created a beautiful spread of images, which we’re so thrilled to be able to show off on these pages, and, thanks to Pippa’s eloquent write up, we almost feel like we were there (if someone could pass us some of those churros through the screen, we’d be very grateful)!

We’ll pass you over to Pippa now for the full report. STG-ers… ready, steady, PIN!  

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A lakeside venue

Pippa, the bride: We got married at Thornton Manor Lakeside Marquee. It was only the second venue we visited but we loved all the beautiful outdoor space and the ability to get married by the lake, which was an amazing setting for the chuppah.
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