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An Outdoor Jewish Wedding in the Bride’s Parents’ Garden, in Northamptonshire, UK

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We have a HUGE treat on the blog today – not only was Susannah and Simon’s absolutely gorgeous backyard wedding shot by one of our phenomenal Recommended Vendors, the inimitable John Nassari, but beautiful bride, Susannah, is one of our founder, Karen’s, oldest childhood friends — they first met at school back in 1987 (yes we know that’s a VERY long time ago!). So, it’s safe to say, we have a lot of personal investment in this gorgeous big day, and for good reason – read on!

Susannah’s parents hosted the celebration, which took place in a field of golden buttercups, under a simple, portable chuppah, covered in twigs and wildflowers. The atmosphere was so fantastic and festive, that even the sheep were having a great time!

A hybrid of classic country garden chic and boho beautiful blooms, the big day was the absolute envy of all summer weddings.

And, speaking of envy, can we just talk about what an absolute vision Susannah looked in her breathtaking strapless gown? It could not have flattered her more, what a perfect choice for an already stunning woman. 

We adore the heart and soul of the family’s involvement, the joy that is conveyed so clearly and perfectly through the photos – oh, and we’d quite like a slice of that divine buttercream cake if there’s any going! 

We’ll let Susannah take over now for the full story – we hope you love it as much as we did!

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How we met 

Susannah, the bride: We met in a yoga class (I run a yoga studio)! Simon turned up one day and then kept coming back!

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A fun festival Masorti Jewish wedding with a bride in an Alice Temperley dress at South Farm, Hertfordshire, UK

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Every now and then, one of those real weddings lands in the STG inbox that just genuinely looks like so much fun that we wish we would have been invited too!

Between the vintage funfair games, pink flamingos, glamping, bouncy castle, ice cream truck (in that order, we hope) and photobooth, as well as providing a crà¨che for their friends’ kids, this conscientious couple could not have put more effort into keeping their guests entertained.

Charlotte and Dan’s fun-filled, laid-back, festival-style wedding took place at South Farm in Royston, Hertfordshire and was shot by photographer Kristian Leven.

Bride, Charlotte, wowed with fresh flowers in her hair and an an Alice Temperley dress fit for a boho bride (and for a quick go on the bouncy castle!).

Charlotte and Dan didn’t let the disappointment of their outdoor ceremony being rained off spoil their big day. Instead, they ran with their plan B, moving the ceremony to the barn. Forget crying babies, this couple had to contend with oinking pigs and crowing cockerels, making their Masorti ceremony all the more interesting.

Equality was also an important factor in the planning of the day. The Masorti ceremony was chosen due to its inclusivity and Charlotte delivered a speech, as did her close, female friends. Who runs the world?

In true festival style, the party went on until the early hours — a roaring success all round. Let’s hand over to Charlotte to tell us more about her and Dan’s special day.

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How we met

Charlotte, the bride: Dan is my big brother Paul’s best friend. Naughty naughty…

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A quirky, outdoorsy venue at South Farm in Royston, UK

We chose to get married at South Farm in Royston due to its laid-back style and country feel. It was the only venue we looked at because we knew exactly what we wanted. We aren’t into fussy formal weddings and we wanted everyone to feel relaxed and happy.

The venue is quirky yet beautiful and we had free range to personalise it which was really important to us. I grew up in the country and am quite outdoorsy and so wanted the venue to reflect that.

South Farm is not too far from London (50 minutes) but still has that rural feel. We wanted to make the wedding as stress free as possible for everyone especially seeing as were married on a Monday.

Everyone that worked at South Farm was so passionate about the venue, in particular the incredible chef Matt and our beyond amazing event organizer Becky. I could not have asked for more helpful, dedicated and lovely people to help plan the day with.

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Naomi & Michael | free spirited ‘Wedstival’ Jewish wedding in a field in Epping Forest, Essex, UK

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Now this folks, this is how you do a ‘Wedstival’ wedding. Naomi and Michael have, in my opinion, only gone and nailed the most perfect laid back, fun-filled outdoor field wedding with a real festival vibe. There’s a Volkswagen Beetle photo booth, super sized balloons, wild flowers galore, madcap crazy Jewish dancing, a surprise speech by the bride especially for her groom, and a tent village for the glamping guests.

One of my favourite details from the wedding has to be Naomi’s bouquet made entirely of brooches. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and it’s such a heart-warming and impactful idea. Naomi told me. “I asked all the women to give me a brooch but didn’t tell them why and then used them in my bouquet. This meant all the women were walking down the aisle with me. I also used a couple of brooches from my grandmas, which was nice as they are no longer with us.”

This is one of those weddings that radiates a wholesome warmth that I can never seem to put into words. There’s just so much love, and it’s all been captured perfcetly by the super talented Adam and Hannah Photography making their debut on Smashing The Glass. Don’t miss the wonderful wedding film at the end of the post by One Wedding too. No matter what mood you’re in, I guarantee you’ll feel totally uplifted after watching it!

Naomi and Michael met on the first day university and had been together for 8 years when they got married. They have written their wedding report together.

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Jessica & David | Outdoor, rustic, relaxed Jewish wedding, full of handmade and DIY details, at The Bivouac, Swinton Park, North Yorkshire, UK

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I was so thrilled when  the talented  wedding dress designer, Sally Lacock, alerted me to Jessica & David’s unbelievably beautiful and creative  Jewish wedding. I’m almost at a loss as to  where to start when talking about it — I’m like a New Year’s Eve Catherine Wheel spinning off in a hundred and one different directions wanting to tell you about each and every one of the exquisite details that make up their Yorkshire Dales wedding (and it’s actually the first time I’ve featured a wedding from this corner  of England  (NB. Please submit more from this region!)

We’ve got floral crowns, a  highly personalised ceremony, a patchwork  chuppah made by  all the couple’s  friends and family,  sewn together by the groom’s mum, and decorated with Yorkshire wild flowers, fantastic  music choices, the smiliest bride I’ve ever seen,  a “Balkanistic” boogie dance band,  beautiful wild blooms, a  jukebox filled with 100 of the couple’s favourite songs that guests played between sets and throughout the weekend, tipis, personal touches, and not surprisingly,  it looks as if everyone had an absolute hoot judging from the beams on all the guests  faces.  Every picture is  wonderfully happy and fun-filled  and smiley and exactly what a wedding should be.

Bride Jessica’s  report is a joy to read, and Alex Brenner‘s images will make you feel all warm inside and put a lovely big smile on your face. Without further ado I give you one of  Smashing The Glass’s  most immense weddings yet. Jessica and David, I take my hat off to you…

Outdoor, rustic, relaxed Jewish wedding, full of handmade and DIY details, at The Bivouac, Swinton Park, North Yorkshire, UK
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Kiruna & Gareth | Wedstock Festival Theme Jewish Wedding at Holton Lee, Poole

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This is such an awesome wedding on so many levels. First of all, Kiruna’s amazing couture wedding dress is made almost entirely from paper! (mostly with the pages of an old copy of Alice in Wonderland together with that of an erotic novel). Secondly with an actress and a comedian marrying each other the relaxed feeling and originality that shine through this ‘wedstock’ wedding is just fabulous.

Kiruna Stamell, originally from Australia, and Gareth’s paths had crossed a couple of times over the years but as is so often the case, the timing wasn’t right. When a mutual friend re-introduced them in 2011, everything felt like it was meant to be and Gareth proposed to Kiruna after just 4 months.

They meticulously organised a weekend Wedstock wedding that took place in September 2012 complete with a fish ‘n’ chips van, camping, tipis, chill-out tents, a fabulous cake competition, and lots of crafty and DIY details all made by the very talented Kiruna herself!
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Kiruna, the Bride: We wanted a relaxed, bohemian party and Holton Lee, our chosen venue, delivered our festival dreams and then some! Our wedding lasted an entire weekend with guests camping onsite with us. Holton Lee is actually a not-for-profit charity so you’ve got these beautiful camping fields and wonderful facilities but also disability-friendly buildings right next door which was essential as we were hosting several disabled guests who needed accessibility.

THE VENUE + THEME

I wanted a pretty picnic lovely camping theme inspired by my experiences at English music festivals but with more of a civilised touch. I was amazed at how much discrimination I came across when I first started looking for a disability-friendly venue but Honeybells who supplied our romantic and chill-out tents came to the rescue with the suggestion of the beautiful Holton Lee and it ticked all our boxes.

We both wanted a ‘picnic festival’ even ‘Woodstock’ feel. We wanted to create a social / non-wedding / relaxing afternoon during daylight on the Saturday and then we would have this shift as the Sabbath went out at sunset on Saturday evening and it turned into the wedding element of the weekend.

The venue was a godsend and it was wonderful to know that the money we spent was going into their not for profit ethos.

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DIY CREATIVITY

Paper was a massive part of my theme which is why most of my wedding dress was made from paper.

I love the nostalgic element of brown paper packaging and string and as well as collecting lots of it I asked my local cafe to save the coca cola bottles to be my vases on the table and saved loads of money by making all the flowers myself out of paper.

The brown paper was the starting point and I then started collecting recycled scraps of paper in different colours to make festival bunting, and other artefacts in the months leading up to the wedding. The table centres were newspaper-covered K’s and G’s that I also made.

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