Jewish Destination Weddings Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Mediterranean Garden Destination Jewish Wedding at El Cortijo de los Caballos in Marbella, Spain

15/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

We’re always thrilled to blog the weddings of our real blogging brides, and we could not be more excited to feature beautiful Hayley’s sun-drenched Spanish wedding to Ashley at El Cortijo de los Caballos.

We loved reading along with Hayley as she went through the process of converting to Judaism during her engagement, and couldn’t be more proud to see her and Ashley standing under their lovely DIY chuppah, which put folded umbrellas to use as poles, draped in tulle and lace – including a square from Hayley’s dress! Check it out in Anna Gazda’s luminous photos.

This wedding was chock full of personal touches… between custom kippot inscribed with “Man Utd Rule” with footballs printed on them, as a nod to Ashley’s chosen team, to a very memorable rap by the bridesmaids (they turned Ice Ice Baby into “Ash Ash Hayley”!) Hayley and Ashley injected so much personality into their fun-filled day.

And to make sure their wedding was a party to remember, the couple flew out Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Totem as their band! Performing at both the ceremony and reception, Hayley and Ashley credit their fab band with making the party happen – and report that guests are still telling them how great the music was!

Now over to Hayley, who was lucky enough to have her gorgeous princess gown was custom designed for her by her new sister-in-law, who used to be a pro bridal wear designer…
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How we met

Hayley, the bride: We met online through Tinder, although I’m sure Ash told a few people we met at a bar in Shoreditch!

A Jane Yeh Bride for a Multicultural Outdoor Destination Jew-ish Wedding at La Verriere, La Chene Bleu Winery in Provence, France

13/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Okay, who else took one look at that glorious photo of today’s couple seated under their fab floral canopy, in the middle of the breathtaking countryside of Provence, and has resolved to relocate their wedding to France, immediately? Just us?!.

Seriously, we are so in love with today’s Jew-ish wedding. Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jeremy Blode’s photos are nothing short of magical – he took full advantage of the beautiful surroundings of La Verriere, an estate attached to La Chene Bleu winery, and don’t even get us started about that fantastic natural light!

Another thing we adore about this wedding? The way Jess and Octave combined their cultural backgrounds into the big day. The pair embraced Jess’s Jewish background with a Shabbat rehearsal dinner (complete with a surprise announcement!), a hora, and, of course, smashing the glass.

And the setting was a nod to Octave’s French heritage, as was their choice of a reading from Le Petit Prince in both French and English.

Jess, who looked stunning in her Jane Yeh wedding dress (chosen by Jess’s mother, without the bride herself even having tried it on!) and sweet flower crown, will take it from here…

How we met

Jess, the bride: We met in 2012 while completing our MBAs at Harvard Business School. It took over a year for Octave to convince me to go on our first date, but he eventually succeeded by proposing a weekend to visit a friend of his who was living in Barbados.

After business school, I wanted to return to Australia and Octave to Europe, so we compromised and moved to Singapore. Octave planned an elaborate proposal at the Rock Bar in Bali, flying my parents in from Melbourne to surprise me after the proposal.

We now have a 9-month-old baby daughter, Laila, and live in London.

A Martina Liana Bride for a Destination Jewish Barn Wedding at Blue Sky Ranch in Wanship, Park City, Utah, USA

11/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We’re so in love with today’s couple’s ultra-personal chuppah. Lennie and Mark combined ten (yes TEN!) family tallits (prayer shawls), from both sides, to make their fantastic canopy – literally weaving together their two families into a new one! Isn’t that beautiful?

And for the poles, the couple used Aspen branches, in a nod to the natural flora of their destination location, the stunning mountain retreat of Park City, Utah. Check out Pepper Nix‘s gorgeous photos of the ceremony – not to mention the fab party, before and after!

Yep, another thing we adore about Lennie and Mark’s Jewish wedding is their pre-chuppah cocktail hour. The pair made a point of attending and enjoying it fully, and clever bride Lennie even took the smart step of sourcing a special cocktail dress (purchased from BCBG on the sale rack for $100!) so she wouldn’t have to worry about anything spilling on her gown. The cocktail dress came in handy again when the bustle on Lennie’s modern, chic Martina Liana gown broke during a very energetic hora!

Oh, and one last detail we can’t get enough of: this pair seriously mixed up the standard hotel welcome bag formula, injecting some serious personality into your regular selection of snacks and water bottles: since Lennie is a dentist and Mark is a gastroenterologist, the goodies they handed out included monogrammed toothbrushes and reflux meds! Now over to Lennie…

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How we met

Lennie, the bride: We met on a blind date! One of my friends was out with her husband and another couple, and the guy happened to be one of Mark’s co-workers. Mark was talking about moving, and his coworker was trying to set him up so he wouldn’t move! He’s now stuck in Tampa (where I grew up 🙂

What’s ironic is that I had messaged Mark on Jswipe a year before we met, and he responded once and then never again. So when my friend called me telling me she was setting me up and describing him I said “oh, he didn’t message me back.” This time, he called me, we made plans, and that was that. (I later found out he was getting back together with his ex-girlfriend at the time when he didn’t message me back.)

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 Jadore Bride for a Sundrenched Destination Jewish Wedding in Santorini, Greece

28/05/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

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In the five fabulous years since Smashing The Glass’s inception, having lovingly blogged hundreds of incredible real Jewish weddings, we have always ALWAYS wanted to blog a Jewish wedding from Santorini (surely one of the most magical places on earth) and today the day has finally come. and seriously guys… this wedding is EVERYTHING.

It’s a destination Jewish wedding that has us absolutely picking our jaws off the floor. Australian couple Katie, who works in PR, and Aaron, a commercial airline pilot for Virgin Australia, wanted a spectacular backdrop for their once-in-a-lifetime day, and so they chose to marry on the sun-drenched Greek island of Santorini. And did it ever deliver! HannaMonika Wedding Photography’s images from the day are just beyond.

Every photo is its own little work of art – and a whole bunch of them could’ve easily been plucked from the pages of a super-glam travel magazine. Take a scroll through, and we guarantee you’ll be fighting the urge to book yourself a ticket on the next flight to Greece. And don’t even get us started on Orriss Films‘ Hollywood-perfect trailer – seriously, Katie and Aaron look like absolute movie stars, and every scene is shot so exquisitely.

We just can’t get enough of photographers Hanna and Slavomir’s style: bright and crisp, romantic and modern. They could not have done a better job of capturing the amazing light and colors of Santorini. The blue skies, the whitewashed houses, the lush greenery of the chuppah… yep, we’re smitten with this one.

Oh, and did we mention that beautiful Katie – who looked so effortlessly summer chic in her Jadore dress – was an avid Smashing The Glass reader in the lead up to her wedding? She reports that she found the blog especially useful for Jewish music inspo for the horas and the procession. So glad we could help, Katie! Now over to the bride…

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How we met

Katie, the bride: We met at a pub in Sydney. Aaron saw me with a girlfriend sitting at a table and wanted to introduce himself without being sleazy, so he and a friend asked if we minded if they shared a table with us while they ate their dinner.

We said fine, not realizing he had actually already had dinner but ordered a second meal so that he could sit at the table. Slowly they worked their way into our conversations, and soon after he was telling me about his friend that he thought I might like. He handed me a card for his friend if I was interested and that’s when I saw “Aaron” on the card and realised he was telling me about himself, haha.

Needless to say I ended up texting him later in the night after a couple of glasses of wine. It took us about a month to finally catch up after that initial meeting because I was being difficult (sorry hubby!), but the rest is history. I never would have thought that night I was going to meet my future husband.