Jewish Rustic Weddings Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Dorit Izbizki Bride for a Pandemic Jewish Wedding at Xanadu, Petach Tikva, Israel

23/05/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

When they first started planning their wedding, Eliana and Pinny, both Americans who made aliyah on their own, put a premium on choosing a date that would allow their parents and siblings to fly in for the simcha.

However, the Omicron variant had other plans, and the week before the wedding, Israel shut its borders – even to first-degree relatives. As devastating as it was for the couple to accept that so many important family members wouldn’t be able to make it, they decided to forge on – and despite the sadness that comes with being far away from loved ones (though Eliana and Pinny did find some clever ways for their long-distance siblings to participate via Zoom!), the pair pulled off a truly amazing day. And that was largely thanks to the incredible network they’ve grown in their time in Israel – so much so that, even with international guests out of the picture, they still had a 300-person wedding!

Lucky for Eliana and Pinny, one key VIP who was able to make it was their photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Herschel Gutman Photography. From the moment they got engaged, these two knew Herschel was the only photographer for them – so much so that, in Eliana’s words, “I wouldn’t have considered a date that we couldn’t have had Herschel Gutman as our photographer!” And Herschel and his team didn’t disappoint – in addition to being a total delight to work with on the day, they also did an incredible job capturing all the emotion and energy of this very special day.

There’s so much more we could say about this wonderful Jewish wedding, but we’ll leave it to the bride – who looked radiant in Dorit Izbizki – to fill you in on the details…

How we Met

Eliana, the bride: Mine and Pinny’s older sisters, Shosh and Yael, have been friends for years now. Ever since I moved to Israel, 2 years after Pinny did, my sister has been saying “You have got to go out with Shosh’s little brother!” For years though the timing was never right. He’s in his fourth year of the army, and I just began law school. Finally, last May, my sister brought up his name again and we both said yes.

The day after his first text to me we went out on our first date… and we just clicked right away. Six months later, on my 21st birthday, he proposed!

After our engagement, with both of our parents and most of our siblings living in America, it was important to choose a date that everyone would be able to fly in and share in the simcha! (We had no idea of the impending omicron variant…at the time, it really seemed like we arrived at the light at the end of the tunnel with the third vaccine open for everyone in both Israel and America.) We then chose a date in December that would be the last time all of our siblings can fly in for a while, with that said, we had a pretty short engagement.Continue Reading

An Intimate Romantic Jewish Wedding at Home on Long Island, New York, USA

11/04/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

Do you love soft romantic vibes? Mismatched florals? The brand Love Shack Fancy? If so, have we got the wedding for you! NYC couple Dariana, who owns a children’s modelling agency, and Dylan, a mural artist, had the loveliest, most intimate garden Jewish wedding at the bride’s dad’s house on the East End of Long Island.

The pair worked with Susie Blumenfeld at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Pink House Productions to make their dream day a reality – and she completely nailed it, in just 8 weeks (and during peak COVID, no less)! Susie made the process totally stress-free for the couple – so much so that their top piece of advice for engaged couples is to hire an event planner! Pink House Productions also designed the couple’s gorgeous paper goods – don’t miss them in the beautiful photos by Andreas and Nico.

We love the duo’s colorful ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor ketubah.com – and Darianaand Dylan can’t say enough about how helpful and fast the service was!

Dariana was five months pregnant with the couple’s first child on the big day, and she found the most perfect maternity gown from Seraphine – absolutely a perfect fit for a romantic garden wedding, especially when topped with the most exquisite veil from Monvieve-Milano.

We also love that Dariana and Dylan ended off their wedding with a Mr Softee truck! The iconic NYC ice cream truck was the perfect nod to the couple’s home city – plus, who doesn’t love a surprise soft serve?!

A Wedding on the Water

Dariana, the bride: The wedding took place at my Dad’s house which in on the East End of Long island NY. It is on the water and has so much sentimental meaning. This was a small family wedding so it was quite intimate there.Continue Reading

A Madi Lane Bride for a Rustic and Relaxed Backyard Jewish Wedding in London, UK

25/03/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

There’s something so special about a backyard Jewish wedding. That personal touch of making things official in your family home – there’s nothing like it. Even though today’s couple, Sara, a speech and language therapist, and Jason, a payments manager, didn’t initially plan to hold their wedding in the bride’s parent’s garden – their pre-pandemic plan A was Israel – in the end their day turned out to be everything they could’ve hoped for and then some.

Due to the pandemic, Sara and Jason kept the ceremony and dinner to just immediate family, and then invited a handful of close friends to join afterward for dancing and late-night snacks. Working with a fabulous team of vendors, the pair transformed the garden into the perfect rustic retreat, adorned with flowers and candles and all kinds of soft romantic touches.

Sara and Jason’s chuppah, rented from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Happy Chuppah People (who they found right here on STG!), was the perfect cornerstone for their rustically romantic aesthetic. They opted for “The Finchley,” built on natural branches that looked as if they were just growing out of the garden.

The couple report that one of the best decisions they made in their wedding planning was working with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Events with Grace as their on-the-day coordinator. Grace helped keep things organized during the last month of planning, and on the day she made sure everything ran smoothly and took the pressure off Sara and Jason and their families.

Scroll through Megan Donati Photography’s beautiful imagery and you’ll see what an absolute dream of a day this turned out to be. We’ll let Sara take it from here…

How We Met

Sara, the bride: We first spoke on an Aish trip when were 17. We had actually met a year earlier but I had forgotten on the trip. Jason came up to me and started talking like we were old friends. I wasn’t sure at first but on the trip we became friendly. When we got home, we started a long-distance friendship. The rest is history; we dated for 4 years long distance until Jason made the move to Essex.Continue Reading

A Dreamy Oceanside Jewish Wedding at Al Hayam in Caesarea, Israel

11/03/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

How gorgeous is the fabulous Israeli Jewish wedding of May, a pilot, lawyer, and CEO of two organizations (talk about a busy bride!) and Benjy, the cofounder and CEO of a recruitment software company?!

These two chose to make it official at one of Israel’s most stunning seaside venues, Al Hayam in Caesarea. Al Hayam is totally swoonworthy in its own right, with its fabulous outdoor spaces and serene ocean views, but for this couple it also had tons of sentimental value since May grew up nearby – and the couple even visited the first time they came up to Caesarea to visit May’s family together!

And of course we’re absolutely obsessed with May and Benjy’s incredible photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si. His photos look like they came straight from the pages of the chicest glossy magazine – each image is a true work of art. Not only that, but the couple also report that Jossef and his team were an absolute delight to work with and made them feel super comfortable on the day.

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A Seaside Venue

We got married at Al Hayam in Caesarea, Israel. This venue is outdoors, and over looks the Mediterranean sea. May grew up in Caesarea and spend most her childhood in the sea. It was also the first place May took Benjy to when he came to visit her family for Shabbat. It has great significance to both of us.Continue Reading

An Autumn in the Adirondacks Jewel-Tone Jewish Wedding in Lake Placid, New York, USA

07/03/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

Get ready for a seriously swoonworthy landscape! Today’s couple, Kelilah, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Bobby, a localization and mapping engineer, opted to make things official in New York’s beautiful Adirondacks, near where the bride grew up.

Even better, they held it during the most wonderful time of the year in the Adirondacks: autumn! With an outdoor ceremony on the shores of Lake Placid, Whiteface Mountain in the background, and a fabulous jewel-tone color scheme, there’s so much to love about this fabulous day – don’t miss the wonderful photos by Britt Parr of Parr Photo Co..

We’re also totally obsessed with the couple’s gorgeous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Tallulah Ketubahs. Kelilah and Bobby knew they wanted a design that reflected their wedding venue and theme, and they found the absolute perfect fit in their

laser-cut design with a watercolor wash background of two love birds in the forest. Needless to say, the couple found artist Rachel of Tallulah Ketubahs an absolute joy to work with – and, despite the couple putting off their ketubah choice until the last minute, Rachel still made sure the finished product arrived ahead of schedule.

And how cool is it that after the ceremony, Kelilah and Bobby opted to spend their yichud on a romantic boat ride on Lake Placid?! Love it!

Now over to Kelilah…

How we Met

Kelilah, the bride: We met while we were in grad school at Penn State in 2014; we are both Mechanical Engineers. We first met, unexpectantly, at a bus stop in October 2012. Apparently, Bobby wanted to meet me but had not had the opportunity previously, so he just began a conversation at the bus stop. After that brief chance meeting, our paths did not cross again until I joined the research lab he was working in, in January 2014. We are both relatively shy, so it took us a few months to really start talking about more than just research.

We are both involved with robotics and controls; his research is focused on autonomous vehicles, mine is focused on assistive and rehabilitative robotics, including designing a robotic wheelchair. Eventually, I asked him to join me for a trivia night I went to every Wednesday with a group of my friends. After that evening, we started spending more time together. By the end of July, we had our first “official” date. That December he told me he loved me at Penn State’s Arboretum; four years later he proposed to me in the same spot.Continue Reading