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Home > Real Jewish Weddings > Jewish Rustic Weddings > Page 23

Bringing the countryside to the city – a rustic Jewish wedding with a Phillipa Lepley bride at St Pancras Hotel, London, UK

22/05/2017 by Karen

rustic-Jewish-wedding-with-a-Phillipa-Lepley-bride-at-St-Pancras-Hotel,-London,-UK
If it’s impractical to have a countryside wedding, there’s one clear solution: bring the countryside to the city – and that’s exactly what rustic-loving couple, Miranda and Gabriel, decided to do. 

Their beautiful wedding incorporated elements of farmhouse chic, including doodled dress codes (what a fantastic idea) a multitude of painstakingly collected jam jars, and loose, tumbling floral arrangements – oh, and a Chuppah (designed by the amazing Blue Sky Flowers)  to stop you in your tracks. Have you ever seen such a thing of beauty? We are in LOVE! 

All of this was lovingly captured by our beloved Recommended Vendor, Ria Mishaal, whose work has graced the pages of STG many times before. 

In fact, it was one of her past real weddings, Claudia & Ed, who inspired much of the cast of Miranda and Gabriel’s big day. Miranda actually attended that wedding as a guest, and when she later saw the feature on STG, she knew that she couldn’t go wrong by contacting a few of their vendors!

Miranda and Gabriel ended up using Claudia and Ed’s photographer, planner AND florist, and were delighted with their choices.

There’s so much more to talk about, including the bride’s beautiful Philippa Lepley gown, the couple’s egalitarian ceremony and speeches and the simplification of bridesmaid politics, so we’ll hand over to Miranda to tell you all about it! 

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How we met

Miranda, the bride: I’m a teacher and Gabriel is a doctor. We met through a fix up – his brother and my sister were friends from university, and my sister passed on my number to Gabriel at a dinner party.

Then, after an awkward phone call, and some unsuccessful attempts at Facebook stalking on my part, we went on a completely blind date (all I had to go on was my sister’s description – “he is extremely tall with large hair”) to the extremely romantic (!) Cottons Rum Shack in Chalk Farm. We met at eight and stayed out until 2am, talking and laughing – it just went from there!

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A magical, lush outdoor Jewish wedding at Claxton Farm, Weaverville, North Carolina, USA

17/04/2017 by Karen

Outdoor-Jewish-wedding-at-Claxton-Farm,-Weaverville,-North-Carolina,-USA
Hello and a very happy Easter Monday to our non-Jewish and Jewish readers alike. It’s a holiday here in the UK, and hopefully you’ve all got some fabulous plans to enjoy. If, for some reason, you can’t get out today, never fear – you can experience the great outdoors vicariously through Hannah and Harrison’s earthy and sublime real wedding.

There’s an extraordinary amount to feast your eyes, and heart, on. We were blown away by all of the rustic little touches, the phenomenal attention to detail, the lush green hues and foliage accented with pops of rich burgundy and woody tones. The venue was lit with bulb lights in the evening – positively magical!

The outdoor wedding symbolised everything that Hannah and Harrison hold dear as a couple, including the way that they met (spoiler alert: SO romantic) and a heartfelt Jewish ceremony conducted by a rabbi who had known Hannah since she was a child. 

Hannah looked positively radiant in her stunning gown, with flowers in her hair – a perfect picture of a bride on the happiest day of her life. Photographer Jill Schwarzkopf of Realities Photography expertly captured all of the emotionally charged, important moments of the day.

We also love Hannah and Harrison’s beautifully steal-able idea of taking the wedding morning to do your favourite, most relaxing thing. Why not start such an important occasion in a way that will make you the most happy? 

Well we’ve done just about all the gushing, time to pass you over to beautiful bride, Hannah, for a full recap of the big day.

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How we met

Hannah, the bride: Harrison and I met at summer camp and started dating a few years later when we went back to work as staff. We stayed together through four years of long, and very very long, distance and now live together in Athens, Georgia. I’m a graduate student at the University of Georgia and he works for his parents’ software company for wine and spirits wholesalers. 

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A rustic, horse farm Jewish wedding with an Enzoani bride at The Stables at Fox Crossing, Cochranville, Pennsylvania, USA

14/04/2017 by Karen

A-rustic,-horse-farm-Jewish-wedding-with-an-Enzoani-bride-at-The-Stables-at-Fox-Crossing,-Cochranville,-Pennsylvania,-USA
Happy Friday, everybody! To celebrate, we’re treating you to the ultimate authentic rustic American wedding.

In typical ‘Smashing The Glass’ style, Sara and Justin didn’t want a cookie-cutter wedding and chose a blank canvas venue (a working horse farm) and filled it with stunning chandeliers, decadent dà©cor and so much love. The juxtaposition of a colourful, yet vintage-looking chuppah against the rustic dark wood of the barn is truly a sight to behold. 

Their Jewish wedding was captured in all its glory by photographer Gary Nevitt, including the bride’s epic cowboy (girl) boots – we have serious boot envy over here – and the stunning floral and mossy details, put together by Tonia of Aribella Events.

It also always strikes us how many Jewish weddings are filled with precious family heirlooms passed down through the generations. Sara and Justin’s wedding was no exception, with beautiful relics that even survived the Holocaust. This solemn tribute to our collective history can seem odd to some, but it says so much about the Jewish soul – the ability to commemorate our difficult past in a way that somehow makes the celebration feel all the more necessary in the present. 

Over to Sara for the full story on her and Justin’s special day. 

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How we met

Sara, the bride: Justin and I met through a mutual friend, Jill. We were the only two Jewish friends she had, so she figured we would be a good fit! I was in graduate school at Syracuse University for broadcast journalism and Justin was a sports reporter an hour away at a small station. Jill was my classmate and interned at Justin’s TV station on the weekends.

Justin and I hit it off immediately and the rest is history! We were long distance for a while, and would meet halfway in Scranton, Pennsylvania on the weekends. We would stay at a local Hampton Inn and go see the Tommy Guns Band play music. Hampton Hotels corporate got wind of our story and featured us in a promotional video, in which we also got engaged! Tommy Guns Band wrote us our wedding song and played it at our engagement.

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A rustic farm venue

We were married at a working horse farm in Cochranville, Pennsylvania called The Stables at Fox Crossing. Justin, my husband, and I dreamed of having a horse farm wedding, but every rustic wedding venue we visited seemed extremely commercial and like a “wedding factory.”

We wanted a space that was truly unique. We wanted guests to feel as if they were attending a wedding at someone’s personal residence, not at a commercial banquet facility. Our wedding planner, Tonia of Aribella Events, found this farm for us, and the owners generously allowed us to use it as our venue. 

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A cactus-themed Jewish wedding at Tubac Golf Resort, Arizona, USA

10/04/2017 by Karen

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Chag sameach! Tonight is the first night of Passover. I’m doing Seder night tonight at my in-laws. What are you guys up to? I’d love to hear all about your plans.

Today’s real wedding is our very own utterly fabulous STG blogging bride, Dara, the first of our wonderful USA crop to get married! The couple tied the knot at Tubac Golf Resort, giving their wedding a fun-filled ‘back to summer camp’ atmosphere. 

Despite being in a desert environment in Arizona, Dara and Alex’s wedding still evoked a romantic, wintry vibe, thanks to chic Dara’s clever choice of colour scheme. 

We have all the love for gorgeous Dara’s stunning dress (and we adore her story – it’s a fantastic lesson in how you should always try something you wouldn’t have though to try). We’re also major fans of the cactus stationery and succulent favours! 

All of the magical moments and delightful details were captured by photographer Lori O’Toole, including the particularly mouth-watering naked cake. Save us a slice?

Over to Dara for the rest of her big-day tale. If you like what you see here, check out her Instagram at @daraboxer and leave her some love in the comments box!

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How we met

Dara, the bride: Alex and I are a match.com success story! After a few emails back and forth, we met up for a first date, which was nothing short of fun, hilarious and wonderful. I knew very early on that I had found my husband.

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A spiritual Jewish wedding with an epic boat journey at Natural Bridge State Park in Slade, Kentucky, USA

24/03/2017 by Karen

Madeline-Alex
Madeline and Alex met through their shared Jewish faith and, after a long friendship, their romance began followed by a beautifully planned literary proposal.

As a wedding planner, bride Madeline had a real head start and the couple had no problems planning their perfect day. From the breathtaking location with its stunning autumnal colours to the grand entrance made by groom Alex on the couple’s boat, affectionately dubbed the ‘Oar Vey’.

Their ‘book of love’ theme was captured by photographer Ben Keeling and incorporated a plethora of literary and library-related details, to celebrate the couple’s shared love of reading and, of course, their unique proposal.

We adore the idea of having themed ID badges to help the wedding party stand out so that people knew where to direct their questions — that’s definitely an idea to steal, especially for festival-themed celebrations!

We’re also totally in love with incredible Smashing Supplier, Ink With Intent’s beautifully crafted Ketubah and the couple’s ‘Tree of Life’ Chuppah, onto which they sewed personal materials, packed with meaning and memories.

Madeline and Alex wrote a beautifully eloquent account of their wedding planning journey, so we’ll hand over to them to tell you all about it! Enjoy!

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How we met

Madeline and Alex, the bride and groom: Alex sat on the interview panel when Madeline applied as choir director at our synagogue. He rolled his eyes and asked snide questions, showed up late for the first rehearsal, and convinced Madeline that he hated her. However, we quickly formed an unconditional friendship. Four years later, in an ironic twist, the friendship went on hiatus when Alex thought Madeline hated him. Convinced Alex was angry with her, Madeline avoided temple for the next two years.

Alex finally called on 25 September, 2015 to let Madeline know a mutual friend had suddenly passed away. He didn’t expect her to answer, and she nearly didn’t. During the brief conversation, she felt prompted to ask him to meet. He told her to call back in an hour, after Erev Shabbat services. She drove to temple and stood in the sukkah as a cold rain began to fall. Alex stood next to her with his arms crossed as she apologised for ending their friendship. He brushed the apology aside, then gave the greatest impromptu, heartfelt speech a man has ever made.

“I had to stop looking for you. I wanted you to be there. I wanted you to be there so bad, and you weren’t. So I had to put it away. I had to put all that in a box, and put it up on the shelf, and close the door. Because I couldn’t keep looking for you anymore.”

After a few minutes of uncertain conversation, we parted. Alex’s final words were, “Call me every five minutes.” Four months later, on a trip to meet her mother in Washington, DC, Alex visited the Library of Congress with Madeline. Having made almost a full circle of the mezzanine, he stopped her in her tracks.

“This is the place for questions, right?” he asked.

“No,” she replied, “This is a library. It’s a place for answers.”Continue ReadingContinue Reading

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