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

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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…

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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 ReadingContinue Reading

A Bright and Colorful Jewish Wedding at The Lawrence, Tel Aviv, Israel

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Rebecca, an art historian, and Gali, a paediatric cardiologist, had a lot on their plates while planning their stunner of a Jewish wedding: they not only planned their big day in Israeli from abroad, they also did it while caring for their newborn baby (who turned one just before the wedding)!

Not that you’d know any of this from looking at the gorgeous photos by Tzachi Shemesh. The secret to the couple’s success? A great wedding planner. Yael Kfir Frumkes helped Rebecca and Gali bring their vision to life from afar, pulling together the colorful, vibrant, and warm celebration of their dreams.

We’re also obsessed with the way the couple drew on their mega-talented friends and family to make their day not only stunning but ultra-personal as well: Rebecca’s gown was crafted by a close friend who happens to be a designer, and the ketubah was designed by the bride’s brother! And we love that Rebecca went for a gold gown – proof that gorgeous wedding dresses don’t need to be white or ivory!

Now over to Rebecca, who’ll fill you in on the details…

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A Tel Aviv Wedding

Rebecca, the bride: Our venue was The Lawrence in Tel Aviv – Yafo. We saw it online and fell in love with it. Enormous arches and high ceilings, as well as the outdoor rooftop area were highlights. As soon as we saw it in person we knew it was the right space for us. Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Mia Pava Bride for an Ultra-Personal Family-Focused Jewish Wedding at Tur Sinai, Jerusalem, Israel

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We love it when a couple has their Jewish wedding, their way… and that’s exactly what today’s couple did! Laura, a photographer, and Ray, a public health consultant, made it their top priority to craft a wedding that was “so incredibly us,” and they put their own stamp on everything from the color scheme to the vibe, the music to the souvenirs.

Laura and Ray even designed the invitation themselves, along with matching programs and seating cards! And when it came to the ketubah, they opted for a gorgeous design by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush.

Laura is a mother of six mostly grown kids, and it was important to her that they all had major roles in the wedding ceremony. Two of the kids were the emcees, Laura’s oldest daughter was her attendant, two kids sang Laura down the aisle, and her youngest daughter was her maid of honor – so special!

Given that Laura herself is a professional photographer, she naturally wanted only the best when it came to photographing her wedding – and so she opted for none other than Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Herschel Gutman! His images of the day are so full of emotion and love, we can’t stop scrolling through them.

Read on for more fabulous details of the day in the couple’s own words…

 

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How We Met

Once upon a time there was Ray, a public health professional living in the US with no plans to move anywhere. And there was Laura, a divorcee, mom of 6, living in a settlement in Israel. Their mutual friend, Shoshanna, came up with the crazy idea that these two people should date each other. She told them. They were unimpressed… And did nothing about it at the time.

When Covid took Laura’s dad summer of 2020, just a few months after it took Ray’s dad, Ray reached out to Laura via Facebook messenger with a really kind message and even followed up a few weeks later to see how she was. Laura was impressed. With the ice broken they began speaking occasionally via Facebook messenger. Laura was charmed by Ray’s unique sense of humor and skill at SongPop. Ray was astounded by Laura’s seemingly endless cocktail concoctions and her ability to stay up later than God…

Their conversations grew more frequent and deeper and by October they were messaging daily, and starting to add phone calls and FaceTime as well. And yet, they had never met in real life. Because of covid, they could not even entertain the idea of travel for months. Finally, in April 2021, Laura flew to the US and they met for the first time at the airport when Ray came to pick her up. That first date lasted 11 hours and started two weeks of what they dubbed ‘concentrated craziness’.

Since then Ray and Laura have been back and forth to Israel and the US numerous times, documenting it all with a steady stream of photos. They even managed to meet in ‘neutral territory’ with a trip to Switzerland. Finally, on July 8, 2022, on a bluff overlooking the Sea of Galilee, and over a glass of cabernet, Ray proposed to Laura and the rest is history 🙂 (Meanwhile, there’s no doubt that their dads have met up in heaven and are kvelling together over this beautiful turn of events…)Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Nolé by Noga Bride for a Natural, Egalitarian, International Jewish Wedding at Mata’im, Yad Hanadiv National Park, Israel

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It’s quite a feat planning a Jewish wedding when you’re living between two countries – which is exactly what jet setting couple Meital, a software engineer, and Gilad, a strategy and technology consultant, did. The pair live between London and Tel Aviv – and to add some extra international flair, Meital’s family is from Brazil.

Despite not being on site in Israel full-time, Meital and Gilad opted to plan their day themselves – and they ended up with the perfect laid-back Israeli wedding, drawing on the gorgeous natural surroundings of their outdoor venue, Mata’im.

Meital and Gilad are both passionate about gender equality, and from the beginning they knew they wanted an egalitarian ceremony. Working with Rabbi Dr. Avital Hochstein, an officiating Rabbi at Chuppot, a Liberal-Orthodox organization that challenges the monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel on religious services, the pair crafted the perfect ceremony to reflect their values. Both bride and groom signed an equal rights ketubah and exchanged rings, and the duo received the traditional seven blessing from female and male family members.

Above and beyond all this, Meital and Gilad’s wedding was just plain fun – you can tell from Shani Zadiakario’s photos that everyone was having a blast from start to finish. And we love that the couple opted to work with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Dana from Colorfool for videography. In the couple’s words, “Throughout the day, Dana demonstrated professionalism, creativity, and a keen eye for detail. In addition, she was easy going and very open to our ideas and edits. In just a few minutes, her video captures important moments from start to end.”

Read on for the full story of this fabulous day!

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How We Met

Meital, the bride and Gilad, the groom: It was another long Yom Kippur in Jerusalem. I sat outside and Gilad, wondering too outside the Shul, came along and approached me. We started chatting and got through some of the hardest hours of the fast. A few days later, Gilad texted me and we started dating. Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Pronovias Bride for a Romantic Outdoor Jewish Wedding Filled with Personal Touches at McCormick Home Ranch in Camarillo, California, USA

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We love it when a couple plans a Jewish wedding that’s totally, 100% THEM – and that’s exactly what today’s duo did. Juliet, who works in human resources at a technology company, and Michael, who runs his financial planning company, combined a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony with so many wonderful personal touches, and we are her for it!

One thing we adore is the way Juliet and Michael worked elements not part of a traditional Jewish ceremony into their day, both before and after the chuppah. During their first look pre-chuppah, the pair exchanged private vows, and then after the yichud room they did a private ring exchange.

During the chuppah itself, we love the way Juliet and Michael incorporated friends and family, by asking loved ones to do everything from covering them in Michael’s tallit to reading the signed Ketubah to saying the seven blessings, and more.

When it came time to choose a ketubah, the couple naturally wanted something that both kept to Jewish tradition while at the same time embodied their relationship. The found the perfect design on Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com, where they fell in love with “Sky Over Aquamarine Seas” by Hadass Gerson. Juliet and Michael included both Aramaic and English text and worked with Ketubah.com to get everything exactly how they envisioned. Don’t miss it in the beautiful photos by Jenny Smith and Co.!

There’s so much more to say about this fabulous wedding – we haven’t even touched on the exquisite floral chuppah, or Juliet’s ever-so-chic gown by Pronovias – but we’ll let the bride herself fill you in on the rest…


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How we Met

Juliet, the bride: We met as babies and grew up together as family friends all thanks to a lifelong friendship that our dads shared.

Our dads grew up together in Israel and after not seeing each other for years they reconnected after moving to Los Angeles, CA. It was as if no time had passed. Our families were inseparable with trips to the snow, backyard pool parties, and summer BBQs.

Our families happened to lose touch just as we were heading into our high school years. After not seeing each other for over 10 years, Michael recognized me at a local bar in Sherman Oaks, CA and the rest is history. Continue ReadingContinue Reading