Jewish Vintage Weddings Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Smashing the Glass

Two extraordinary brides for a sumptuous bohemian Jew-ish Wedding at Broger’s End Kangaroo Valley, Australia

10/05/2016 by Karen

Today’s wedding reaches new heights on the wedding spectrum and I am entirely and whole-heartedly in love with every little bit of it. The attention to detail and the amount of creativity is phenomenal. I hardly know what to talk about first because it’s such a total feast for the eyes, but what I love the most is that Lara and Cass’s union remains as the focal point throughout.

On the other side of the lens for a change, Lara is one of the world’s most renowned creative wedding photographers, and indeed I have featured her work on Smashing The Glass several times. She’s a girl after my own heart wearing not one, not two, but THREE wedding gowns, accessorised by a simply astonishing bouquet by Mikarla Bauer + Jardine Botanics — truly one of the best I’ve ever seen.

So much originality permeates Lara and Cass’s day from choosing to get ready and walk down the aisle together, to all sorts of gorgeous DIY like a ‘Guess Who’ game handmade by Cass using their family members, to an idea that I’ve never seen before: a flower crown station for the guests to accessorise with before the ceremony so that when the couple walked down the aisle they saw all their guests with flowers in their hair. Love love LOVE!

Sheree from She Designs Events blended their two very different loves into one creative theme which works brilliantly even though it combines everything from Country & Western to Vintage Romance! I love the idea of not compromising to one theme but rather merging both your loves.

Our two brides come from different religious backgrounds and chose to incorporate Lara’s Jewish culture with some crazy Jewish Dancing that really set the tone for the evening. Lara said:

We had the Jewish dancing before entering the reception and it really loosened everyone up! We were being thrown up and down on chairs and tossed in the air and running around in circles and forming conga lines around the fire pit! It was a definite highlight.”

And there are so many… You truly have to savour every one of Dan O’Day‘s astonishing images to take it all in. Oh, and there is a wonderful film by Light Noise Films at the end which you just must watch. What a total treat!

Planning the wedding ourselves

Lara: I think I completely underestimated how time consuming planning an entire wedding from start to finish can be, never mind running a business at the same time.

Cass was great as she really let me take full control of everything but was always there when I needed her to bounce ideas with and make final decisions or to get things done.

We had spread sheets and documentation for everything — its really quite overwhelming how many things / vendors there are to keep track of and all the little details to organise — but well worth all the effort in the end.

Amy & Anthony | Vintage themed Jewish wedding, with Route 66 details, at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, UK

06/07/2015 by Karen

Meet Amy and Anthony who married in the evocative and enchanting Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, where none other than Queen Elizabeth I — England’s most elusive bride – tudored away much of her childhood. I’ve visited this gem north of London and the sense of history is absolutely spell-binding.

Amy chose a vintage vibe — not so vintage that she wore an Elizabethan ruffle – but as far back as the 1920’s where her sweeping gown and ridiculously beautiful beaded caplet stole the show. Pure and utter glamour.

I love this wedding because whilst it has clear direction — Amy knew what colour scheme and look she wanted from the outset – it’s also nostalgic and sentimental, all in the right measure.

Amy and Anthony chose a Route 66 theme throughout their day, an ode to the famous highway where the couple got engaged. How romantic is that? And quite appropriately, their first dance was Chuck Berry’s Get your kicks on Route 66.

…And those sentimental touches — Amy wore her two beloved grandmothers’ jewels — a gorgeous gesture.

Amy and Anthony didn’t use a wedding planner— they organised what they could (please lay your peepers on those sensational bridesmaids multi-wrap, one size fits all dresses by Two Birds) took advice when they should (the inspired churros and shots), and delegated with instruction elsewhere.

Take the flower arrangement, let’s face it flowers are super important but you don’t want to be a Bridezilla obsessing about exactly which colour flower spray goes where, it’s more about choosing the right florist who “gets you”. Give them clear direction and then leave it in their capable green-fingered hands. That’s exactly what Amy did and her seasonal freshly-picked-that-morning flowers were a sensation.

Anyway enough of me waxing lyrical about Amy and Anthony’s day — award-winning photo journalist Paul Rogers will give you thousands of words in a few stunning pictures.

how we met

Amy, the Bride: We met on JDate… it does work! We actually grew up on the roads backing onto each other and our families knew each other but we had never actually met.

Ruth & Steven | An ‘English afternoon tea garden party’ daytime Jewish wedding in Israel

17/02/2015 by Karen

I absolutely adore the sunshine and fun factor of Israeli weddings but they very rarely incorporate quintessentially British traditions like afternoon tea and scones, finger sandwiches, croquet, and (well it’s not quite an english tradition, but) a barbershop quartet!

Ruth and Steven’s phenomenally different Israeli wedding contained all of these lovely ideas and more. In fact, the barbershop singing comes courtesy of the groom who not only sang his bride down the aisle, he also proposed to her with a song he composed and arranged with his barbershop quartet. You must make time to watch it — Steven’s proposal to Ruth is one of the best I’ve seen in a LONG time!

Ruth and Steven’s entire wedding is full of fun-filled, warm, homely details which you will want to replicate. I particularly love the ’round’ chuppah – something I’ve never seen before – and the ketubah, designed and created by Steven’s mother, who picked and dried all the flowers from close to where the couple live to create the most exquisitely beautiful ketubah.

Ruth is a Smashing The Glass reader and she told me that the STG pages were a massive source of inspiration during her planning process. So now, Ruth is here to ‘pay it forward’.

Let’s join the party and enjoy not only her story, but all of the beautiful images from the very talented Dima Vazinovich, together with the heart-warming wedding film at the end of the post by the wonderful Tzachi Asher.

how we met

Ruth, the Bride: Long story short, we met through friends – but when Steven came into my flat (brought by said friend) and saw my 3,000 piece puzzle and sat down and immediately found pieces to fit, I had to know more! To say love at first sight is a bit much but definitely intrigued…

Magda + Eric | Rustic, vintage-chic, relaxed outdoor Jewish wedding with Parisian influences at Bianca, Moshav Ginaton, Israel

18/11/2014 by Karen

I have a sneaking suspicion that you’re going to fall in love with this afternoon’s wedding which is a tale of love crossing continents, culminating in a wedding that combines the al fresco spirit of Israel with some serious Parisian designer chic.

There’s lots to love about this W-day, first off Magda’s bridal style is OFF THE WALL. I adore her wedding dress (actually it’s a two piece skirt and top by French designer, Delphine Manivet) that harks back to a bygone era with its high neckline, 3/4 length sleeves and lashings of feminine lace.

I also love the fact that Magda was inspired by the wedding scene from ‘Fiddler on the roof’. It’s one of my all-time favourite films which I guess doesn’t come as any surprise! Magda and Eric chose the famous Sunrise, Sunset track to be played during their wedding ceremony, as well as choosing their own personal ‘relationship song’ to be played when Magda circled Eric seven times (read more about this Jewish wedding tradition here).

Another moving, but very fitting ceremony detail, was the placing of a picture of Eric’s mother on a table under the chuppah during the ceremony. She sadly passed away a few months before the big day, and it was her dream that Magda and Eric would get married in Israel.

The details are so beautiful in this wedding — I particularly love the delicate flowers and decor by wedding designer (and STG regular), Kim Bulow. So very lovely.

Here is Magda & Eric’s story. Words by Magda, photography by Supanit Riansrivilai and a beautiful wedding film by Alexander Perel at the end. Enjoy!

How we met

Magda, the Bride: Eric and I met in Paris where he was living, and I was on holiday visiting a friend. At the time I was living and studying in New York City (I’m originally from Warsaw, Poland) and we met up for every one of the 10 days that I was holidaying in Paris!

We kept in touch once I returned to New York and after a couple of months, I decided to close the door on my past and move back to Europe, to settle down in Paris.

We started dating, then we moved in together, then we got a pug named Eliot(!), and after 3 and a half years, in July 2014, we tied the knot.

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Ros & Alex | Contemporary cool Jewish wedding with 50’s and 60’s touches, at The ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), London, UK

21/10/2014 by Karen

Ros and Alex mixed contemporary and vintage styling to perfection, and I adore the sleek modern venue they chose: The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). It’s an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square, and is one of the capital’s most beautiful contemporary spaces. I am beyond excited to be blogging what I believe is the only Jewish wedding ever to have taken place there, and a totally jaw-dropping one at that.

Ros’s wedding report is one of the loveliest I’ve ever read so if you can get 5 minutes with a cuppa to sit and read Ros’s words as well as ogle over the stunning photography from Especially Amy I promise you will fall in love with this wedding story. Ros also gives some excellent money-saving tips at the end in her ‘advice to other brides’, as well as some super useful planning advice.

There’s lots to love but I am particularly taken with Ros’s beauty and style and the London theme details such as the London Underground map table plan, and miniature black cabs and double-decker buses on the tables.

Here is their story…

HOW WE MET
Ros, the Bride: We met at Bristol University in September 2002, as Fresher’s living in the same student halls. Our first date was breakfast at a greasy spoon cafe down the road! Alex popped the question in February 2011 at the boutique Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City before whisking me off for dinner and cocktails. We have always loved New York, so it was perfect. That night, the lights on the Empire State shone for us in the snow. After a lot of planning and juggling of dates, we married 18 months later.

Planning the wedding ourselves

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how we met

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how we met

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How we met

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