Jewish Interfaith Weddings Archives - Smashing the Glass

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

25/05/2026 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

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…

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!

An Interfaith Vietnamese-Jewish Wedding with Tons of Chemistry at the Hall of State in Fair Park, Dallas, Texas, USA

17/12/2025 by Karen Cinnamon

We’re pretty obsessed with Adam and Thien’s fabulous Vietnamese-Jewish wedding in Dallas. This day has truly got it all: a heartfelt and meaningful fusion of two cultures, a fun theme (chemistry, in honor of the couple’s shared major that first brought them together in college), and absolutely loads of personality.

Adam and Thien crafted an interfaith ceremony blending elements from Jewish and Vietnamese culture – including a tea ceremony, a bamboo chuppah, and, of course, smashing the glass. Adam’s childhood rabbi officiated, and the couple wore Vietnamese áo dài’s for the ceremony before changing into complementary suits for the reception. The duo’s beautiful ketubah, designed by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elena Berlo of Once Upon A Paper, featured a trilingual interfaith text reflecting Adam and Thien’s values and commitment to each other – in English, Hebrew, and Vietnamese. Don’t miss it in Julia Sharapova’s wonderful photos.

The chemistry-themed reception looks like a total blast, between color changing cocktails in beakers and flasks, passed hors d’oeuvres served in test tubes and pipettes, a Periodic Table seating chart with each table assigned a chemical element, and even a chemistry themed cake!

How We Met

We were both Chemistry majors in college, and we discovered that we had chemistry together from Day One! Little did we know that our first movie date would be watching the ever-so-romantic “Lab Safety Orientation” as we prepared to work in research labs on campus. Two years later, we officially started dating, and our bond only grew stronger as we explored Boston on the weekends and took summer trips around New England. We got engaged in 2021 and had our wedding on November 11, 2023.

Two Dancers’ Interfaith Jewish Wedding at Louland Falls, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

04/08/2023 by Karen Cinnamon

When two competitive dancers tie the knot, you know it’s going to be something special! Tori, a musical theatre performer, and Shawn, who works in financial planning, met on the ballroom dance team at the University of Utah, and though they now live in NYC, they decided to return to the state where they met for their interfaith Jewish wedding.

Needless to say, their wedding was quite the party – including an epic first dance that the bride and groom spent three months choreographing and perfecting!

As an interfaith couple – Tori is Jewish, while Shawn isn’t – the duo knew they wanted to plan a ceremony with traditional Jewish elements that would be accessible to all of their guests. They found the perfect ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rachelle of The Delicate Brush, centered on a Tree of Life design with Hebrew on one side and English on the other. Tori and Shawn adored having their ketubah at the wedding, and they love it even more now that it’s on display in their home! Don’t miss it in the wonderful images by Courtney Blair Photography.

There’s so much else to say about this joyous wedding – how fun is it that the couple organized a photo scavenger hunt around the venue for guests, with pics of the bride and groom growing up?! – but we’ll let Tori take it from here…

How We Met

Tori, the bride: Shawn and I met in 2013 on the ballroom dance team at the University of Utah during my freshman year of college! We never danced together on team because of our height difference, but we were drawn to each other. We started dating, got engaged in 2019, and now here we are married!Continue Reading

An Interfaith Jewish Wedding with Tons of Personal Touches at West London Synagogue, London, UK

28/07/2023 by Karen Cinnamon

Get ready for a fabulous interfaith Jewish wedding! We love everything about the way Nicole, a client manager for a technology company, and Pedro, a data analyst, built their relationship with Judaism as a couple, and how that shaped their plans for the big day.

When Nicole, who’s Jewish, got together with Pedro, who isn’t, she knew she’d need to find an open-minded and inclusive Jewish community that would welcome the two of them as a couple. She found exactly that in West London Synagogue, where the couple attended classes and an interfaith marriage workshop together, in addition to celebrating Shabbats and holidays.

Given the important role West London Synagogue plays in the couple’s lives – not to mention the fact that it’s absolutely stunning – getting married there was a no-brainer. We love the personal significance of the venue – as well as the other wonderful personal touches Nicole and Pedro included, like having Pedro’s sister hand paint their ketubah, and assigning close friends to give them original blessings rather than the traditional sheva brachot.

The day was captured so beautifully by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claire Jonas, who not only captured the Jewish traditions fabulously but also took some knockout portraits of Nicole and Pedro on the streets of Marylebone. We’ll let Nicole take it from here…

How We Met

Nicole, the bride: We are both Brazilians, and we met at a bar while we still lived in Rio, back in 2017. It’s a funny story actually – I was about to leave the bar because his friend was being too loud. On top of that, when he approached me he told me he was an airplane pilot, and I thought he was just showing off. But he was cute, and when he asked for my number I thought “why not? If I don’t want to speak with him, I don’t have to answer!”. Nevertheless, on his first message he actually apologized for his friend, so I ended replying – and here we are 6 years later! We currently live in London.Continue Reading

A Multicultural Vietnamese-Jewish Wedding at Temple Akiba and Playa Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA

21/10/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when a couple merges their two backgrounds into a one-of-a-kind LA Jewish wedding – and that’s exactly what today’s duo did! Michelle, an executive search recruiter, and David, a public school teacher and screenwriter, set out to plan a wedding that celebrated both the pair’s shared Jewish faith and Michelle’s Vietnamese heritage.

Right before their chuppah – which was held at the couple’s synagogue – Michelle and David hosted a traditional Vietnamese tea ceremony. They donned áo dais (traditional Vietnamese gowns) and served tea to their elders and relatives.

We also love that Michelle rocked three different fabulous bridal looks throughout her day! First the áo dài, then a classic ballgown from Rita Vinieris for the chuppah, and finally a fusion look for the reception, pairing a clean, minimalist gown from Jill Stuart with a matching, white khăn đóng (Vietnamese headdress).

Read on for more about this wonderful wedding, plus exquisite documentary photography by Rebecca y las otras…