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A Shir Gindi Bride for a Bohemian Jewish Wedding on the Beach at Atlantis Gardens, Limassol, Cyprus

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We love a beach wedding – and this one is a standout! Israeli couple Tamar and Tomer opted for a dreamy destination wedding in Cyprus, featuring the dreamiest outdoor chuppah on a private beach.

Featuring boho vibes, earthy woods, flowing fabrics, and not one but THREE stunning dresses for the bride, each uniquely designed by Shir Gindi, this wedding is just such a stunner – don’t miss the exquisite pictures from Alena Belan Photography.

Planning a destination wedding is no easy feat, and Tamar and Tomer turned to Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kai Wedding Planners to bring the wedding of their dreams to life. The pair worked closely with founder Noam and his team for over 6 months, during which

they ensured that every step of the planning process was smooth and stress-free for us. From the initial ideas to the smallest details, they exceeded our expectations, making our special day truly unforgettable. Their expertise and commitment made all the difference in creating the perfect atmosphere and experience we had envisioned.

Read on for all the details of this very special day in the bride’s own words…

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How We Met

Tamar, the bride: We met at the age of 18 through a dear mutual friend who introduced us, and over the course of 14 wonderful years together, filled with shared experiences, growth, and countless cherished moments, we made the joyful decision to formalize our commitment and get married.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

An Essense of Australia Bride for The Ultimate Pacific Northwest Jewish Wedding Weekend at The Evergreen PDX, Portland, Oregon, USA

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Portland transplants Allison and Dan are understandably smitten with their new home – and when it came time to plan their wedding, they wanted to share their love of the Pacific Northwest with their mostly East Coast guest list.

And did they ever! Crafting a full-on wedding weekend capturing both the natural grandeur and urban charm of the area, this Jewish wedding has it all: trees, bold colors, and of course Portland’s trademark quirky character at full strength.

We’re absolutely in love with Allison and Dan’s outdoor chuppah set in a clearing amidst Hoyt Arboretum’s lush evergreens, made of dark, natural wood and adorned with a canopy of greenery and roses in hues of white, soft oranges and corals – don’t miss it in the wonderful images by Kate Holt Photography!

Read on for all the details of this very special day in the bride’s own words!

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How We Met

Allison, the bride: We met for our first date on June 9, 2017. Dan had just moved back to New Jersey from Oklahoma and Allison was living in Philadelphia, PA. Thanks to Jeff and Anna Fineberg (Dan’s brother and sister-in-law), Dan was dog-sitting Josie Beagle. We both swiped right and, after a few conversations, made a date to meet up for iced coffee. After meeting up, we sat on a bench talking outside of the Benjamin Franklin museum for a few hours. A Philadelphia resident came up and asked when the wedding would be; we still need to locate him to let him know he might be in the running for best man! In late 2018, we moved in together in New Jersey and then in January 2020, across the country to Portland, OR with our cat Zoë.

Since moving to Portland, we have braved a pandemic, job changes, a lot of hard work, nearby fires, a few snow storms, and a flood!

Our Engagement Story: Allison’s maternal grandmother (Renée, also known as Grandma Nay) always valued the finer things in life. In fact, Grandma Nay instructed two year old Allison to ask for rubies, diamonds, and pearls when someone asked her what she wanted as a gift even though at that point, Allison was more focused on toys and puppies! Grandma Nay passed away in August of 2020 and Allison was gifted grandma’s engagement ring. While they didn’t have the same style, Allison was excited to use her grandmother’s center stone in her own engagement ring.

Allison grew up knowing that her mother and father had designed their engagement ring, so always envisioned a custom ring in for her own engagement. Instead of leaving anything to chance, when she and Dan began talking about marriage, Allison worked with a jeweler from Philadelphia and was involved in the entire ring design process, making her dream of a custom engagement ring a reality! In addition to Nay’s center stone being a key element in the design, Allison also included baguettes from Grandma Nay’s ring in her wedding band. We were engaged on October 7, 2021, when the ring came in the mail via FedEx. The package was opened and, in the kitchen in our PJs and exercise clothes, the ring was immediately placed on Allison’s finger. And while it wasn’t exactly a cover of a magazine moment, (Dan had just gotten through with a strenuous bike ride) it was the perfect engagement and 100% true to us!Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Maggie Sottero Bride for an Autumnal Rustic Jewish Wedding with a Joint Speech at The Brewery, London, UK

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We love an autumnal Jewish wedding – and Londoners Rebz and Ben had one of the very best! Rebz, a senior product designer, and Ben, a freelance video editor, love their home city and didn’t want to wed anywhere else. And they found the absolute perfect venue in Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Brewery, right in the heart of the City.

The Brewery ticked all the couple’s boxes – it accommodated their 200-person guest list, was easy for everyone to get to, and fit Rebz and Ben’s brief for a cool industrial aesthetic. And the property’s history was perfectly suited to Ben’s love of beer, as a bonus!

The pair let their wedding date dictate the décor, with autumnal burnt oranges, leafy greens, dark reds, and natural hessians for an urban rustic vibe. David Pullum Photography captured all the detail and emotion of the day exquisitely, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Michael Pearl Films crafted the duo’s ultra-moving wedding video.

One thing we love is that Rebz and Ben opted to do a joint speech! In Rebz’s words,  “Ben was not keen on doing a speech on his own, he hates public speaking and I’ve never understood why it’s always just the men that get to share stories. I absolutely loved doing a speech together and without blowing my own trumpet, I’ve had lots of people mention to me how much they loved it too.” What a fab idea!

We’ll let the bride take it from here…

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How We Met

Rebecca, the bride: We met on JSwipeContinue ReadingContinue Reading

A Liancarlo Bride for a Jewish Wedding Full of Wildflowers, Tacos, and DIY at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas, USA

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Emily and Brant, Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas, USA

It’s always a special day when we get to feature the gorgeous Jewish wedding of one of our Brides Club members – and that goes doubly for today’s bride, who’s been a beloved member of our Smashing Life community for Jewish women for years prior to her engagement to groom Brant.

When the pair got engaged, it was only natural for Emily to join Brides Club, where she couldn’t get enough of the supportive community, inspiration, and helpful resources. In her words,  

The encouragement and support was also invaluable as my mom passed 9yrs ago, and I just didn’t know who to ask about some of the important things. Coping with decisions I would normally ask my mom is also where Karen and her monthly sessions made me feel less alone – I could again, brag or problem solve or just talk weddings. Karen and the other Brides Club members stepped in, in a way, where I was missing my mom. 

Honoring her mom was a big part of Emily’s wedding planning vision – and the couple’s stunning venue, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas, was chosen in part because Emily had fond memories of visiting with her mom during her student days at The University of Texas at Austin.

We’ve also got to tell you Emily’s hilarious ketubah story. She won her gorgeous tree ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink with Intent via a Smashing The Glass giveaway – before she was even engaged!

There’s so much more to say about this very special wedding, from Emily’s DIY prowess to the chuppah built by the groom to the taco menu – read on for the full story in her own words, plus the most joyous photos by Caitlin McWeeney Photography…

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How We Met

Emily, the bride: I am a professor of health communication and I was working in Tyler, Texas. Brant had moved back to his hometown outside of Tyler (Brownsboro) to take care of his grandparents’ and their home and land. He was working with a company recalibrating gas station pumps at the time. And let me tell you, making friends in East Texas as a single, childless, Jewish 30-something was hard enough. But dating? So, the apps made it a bit easier, especially with a diameter of 100 miles.

But the problem is, I hate notifications: red bubbles, numbers telling me how many unread messages, and so forth. So after work one day, right before heading to Rose City Drafthouse (probably), I attempted to clear all of the notifications on my apps: Mail, Texts, and dating apps. As such, I answered all the “new” messages that had come in and were causing that red bubble to appear. One such message asked me what three movies I would take on a deserted island.

Easy: Remember the Titans, How to Lose a Guy In Ten Days, and apparently I didn’t have a third, so not as easy as I thought. His: Temple of Doom, From Russia with Love, and “maybe Cast Away.” We messaged back and forth about traveling, college, and jobs, this guy, Bobby, asked If I wanted to get dinner that Saturday once he was back in town. The conversation was easy and fun, and his Bumble profile says he’s over 6ft and he sometimes worked out. Sure! But I couldn’t Saturday, because of my friend’s surprise party, but how about Sunday?

As I pulled up to the restaurant (BJ’s Brewhouse, because they have gluten free options he said), I got frantic text messages from a new colleague. I texted Bobby (Brant? Who knows!) to tell him I was in the parking lot but had to take a work call. Only 10min late walking in (he says 30min… in fact every time he tells the story, the time increases), we then spent the next two or more hours talking and having a great time.

Unfortunately, he paid with cash so I couldn’t sneak his last name to stalk him on socials, but I did snag his digits to tell him I got back to Joey, my weenie dog, safely. Although I pretended I wasn’t into dating exclusively, I swept him to Dallas to see Billy Joel, we dressed up for Halloween pretty grandly, picked out pumpkins all basic-like at a pumpkin patch, and he helped me hobble around in my knee high walking boot. I knew by the time I took him to that Texas football game things were different this time.

Continue ReadingContinue Reading

An Aleena Lena Bride for a Rustic Chic Jewish Wedding at The Art Factory, Paterson, New Jersey, USA

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This is one cool wedding! Victoria, an investment banker, and Judah, a medical student, are a super stylish couple, and they planned one of the chicest urban-rustic Jewish weddings EVER at The Art Factory in Paterson, New Jersey.

We love how they leaned into the unique industrial-rustic vibes of their venue, picking green as their wedding color and using tons of greenery in their décor. The couple’s photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Alex Knight, captured it all so perfectly – in Victoria’s words,

Alex and his team are some of the best people we’ve gotten to work with – they are kind, funny and an all around good time. They were great at making us feel comfortable, hyping us up and capturing all of the little moments that we may have overlooked. They’re truly the best!

There’s so much more to say about this fabulous wedding – how fun is it that Victoria and Judah incorporated dancing under the chuppah between each of their sheva brachot?! – but we’ll let the bride take it from here…


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How We Met

Victoria, the bride and Judah, the groom: We met on Victoria’s first day of undergrad. We were both students in the joint program between JTS and Columbia University, Victoria a freshman and Judah a junior. Victoria came to school with her best friend, Sarah, who she made a pact with that they wouldn’t date in college – they were there to get their degrees! On their first day there, however, Sarah saw Judah and noted to Victoria that he looked like her type (he was wearing a kippah). We started talking, and the rest was history!Continue ReadingContinue Reading