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An Atelier Acqua Chiara Bride for an Enchanted Forest Fairy Tale Wedding at Castello di Tor Crescenza, Rome, Italy

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A lot of weddings draw inspiration from fairy tales. But the Jewish wedding of Benedetta, who works in sales, and Ilya, in finance, really takes it up to the next level. Seriously, we’re still picking our jaws up off the floor after scrolling through their incredible photos, which really look like they could’ve come out of the latest live action Disney blockbuster.

When the couple first met with their amazing planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Deborah Di Castro, they knew she was the one when, on hearing the bride’s vision, she said, “It will be exactly like going to Snow White’s wedding!” And honestly, we’d be hard pressed to come up with a better description ourselves. You don’t want to miss Antonio Carneroli’s incredible photos and Sesame Films’ moving vide of the day.

There’s no better spot for a fairy tale wedding than a castle, and so Castello di Tor Crescenza was a fitting choice of venue. The whole affair, from outdoor chuppah to indoor reception, had a distinctly enchanted forest feel to it, bursting with peonies, roses, and hydrangeas in all shades of pinks and reds, plus some artfully arranged berries and forest foliage. Abundant candles, crystal chandeliers, and metallics brought in more than a hint of Beauty and the Beast’s enchanted castle, too.

Oh, and did we mention that that the couple had a henna in honor of Benedetta’s Libyan heritage? Looks like so much fun!

We could go on and on about this dreamy day, but we’ll leave it to the bride, who looked ravishingly romantic in her custom gown from Atelier Acqua Chiara, to fill you in on the rest…

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Jewish wedding at Castello di Tor Crescenza Rome Italy_0025

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How we met

Benedetta, the bride: Ilya and I met in South Africa during a holiday with friends. We immediately felt a connection and became friends straight away,  and that friendship turned into a relationship very early on!

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An Ella Levy and Shani Zimmerman Bride for a Festival Jewish Wedding at the Elma Hotel in Zichron Ya’akov, Israel

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We love it when a couple really goes all out to create a unique, one-of-a-kind Jewish wedding that’s truly a reflection of who they are as a couple. And that’s exactly what Israeli couple Amit and Orr did – with some help from the masterful planning team at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Bebke Productions.

Bebke helped the pair put together a fun, non-traditional festival-themed celebration of their love, complete with plenty of bright colors and neon, a variety of short performances – including a water show and a fire show! – a DIY cocktail stand, and even a hookah area. Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Maasia provided a delectable dairy menu, featuring a range of dishes from luxe classics like caviar to carnival-appropriate treats like French toast and sloppy Joes!

Amit and Orr opted to go non-traditional for their ceremony too. Instead of a rabbi, they opted to bring in a standup comedian to officiate (yes, really!), and in place of a traditional chuppah they went for a geometric floral backdrop.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Noam Salach captured the day in all its vibrancy so perfectly, and he made the camera-shy couple feel completely at ease. We’re pretty sure you’ll agree he captured some truly incredible moments, as did videographer Guy Lahav.

We’ll let the bride – who started out the day in an Ella Levy dress before changing into a pants and top ensemble by Shani Zimmerman – fill you in on the rest…


Planning Perfection

Amit, the bride: We knew from the first moment that we wanted to make a different wedding and give our guests a special experience – one that you don’t see every day. It was clear to us that there would be no event hall, no slow dance, and that this would not be a “wedding” like everyone else’s.

But among all these “no”s – what did we want to say yes to? We did not know. One thing we knew – in this area there are a pair of magicians, called them Inbar and Gev, or by their professional name Bebke Productions. Inbar and Gev know how to take a range of requirements, whatever they may be, and make them a reality.

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A Berta and Dana Harel Bride for a Romantic Italian-Inspired Jewish Wedding at Hagiva Event Garden, Givat Brenner, Israel

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Okay, HOW incredible are Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si’s photos of today’s Jewish wedding?The composition, the lighting, the emotion… they’re somehow totally natural and full of personality, yet also look like they could’ve come straight out of the pages of a glossy magazine.

It doesn’t hurt that Nofar, a project manager, and Zahi, a developer, are a super stylish couple – though believe it or not, they actually hate having their pictures taken, and they put the effortless, natural shots they ended up with down to Jossef’s calming demeanor and warm sense of humor.

Neither does the bride’s stellar fashion sense: she wore not one but two incredible Israeli designers, starting the day in Berta, and later changing into a shorter, lighter, party-ready number by Dana Harel.

And we also love that Nofar made a spontaneous on-the-spot decision to give a wedding speech! We’ll let her fill you in on the rest of this fab day…

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How we met

Nofar, the bride: We first met after Zahi sent me a message and my cousin decided to answer him (although I wasn’t a great believer that I would ever meet my half). After a few minutes of texting from my cousin, I realized ‘this guy is special’.

The first date finally came. I had decided to call it off (typically me…), somehow Zahi convinced me to come and my cousin insisted, as she said ‘worst case you will drink a good beer/wine’… I told Zahi I would come alone without him picking me up from my house, but as I arrived at the place I thought was the location I got stuck and spent 20 minutes looking for a way out of the street where I parked my car…so..I had to tell Zahi eventually to come and look for me.

He came on his motorcycle, took his helmet off, we burst out laughing, and everything is history… ☺

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A David’s Bride for a Rustic DIY Backyard Jewish Wedding on a Budget in Door County, Wisconsin, USA

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We were sold on this DIY Jewish wedding on a budget from the moment we read in the brides writeup, “We wanted the wedding to be about the community coming together.” Because isn’t that really what it’s all about?

Super crafty couple Federica and Nathan did nearly everything either themselves or with the help of family and friends – from building their own birch chuppah (from fallen trees on the groom’s family’s property!) to creating their own playlists to setting up on the day. Nathan’s mother grew and picked the flowers, and designed Federica’s bridal bouquet. Even the photographer, Mandelette, just happened to be the groom’s cousin!

And Federica did her own hair and makeup, baked her own wedding cake, AND designed and illustrated the invitations, on the day stationery, and ketubah – talk about a triple threat!

It’s really touching to hear how this wedding brought the couple’s friends and family together – with the bridal party, the families, and the couple themselves all pitching in to help with setup the morning of the wedding. But we’ll let the bride, who looked stunning in her Davidʼs Bridal dress, tell you about that…

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How we met

Federica, the bride: We met in 2013 attending Ulpan in Israel. The first time I saw him he had just gotten off his Aliyah flight and still had his suitcase with him. We went from the small Kibbutz where we met to living in Tel Aviv, from Tel Aviv to northern Italy and now Rome.

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A Pronovias Bride for a London-Meets-Israel Jewish Wedding at Offley Place, Hitchin, UK

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What do you do when you’re dreaming of a destination wedding in Israel but family obligations keep you closer to home? Well, you could do worse than to follow the example of STG Brides Club member Nicola, a senior business analyst for a technical consultancy, and Dave, the CTO and co-founder of a digital design and marketing consultancy, who made it their goal to bring a little bit of Israel to their Jewish wedding right here in the UK.  

How’d they do it? For starters, they worked with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband to put together two party simcha sets with a mixture of Mizrahi and Israeli music that kept everyone on the dance floor in true Israeli style – Nicola also can’t stop raving about how helpful the XS team were in creating the couple’s day of plan and processional order, plus providing day of coordination.

And in good Israeli wedding style, Nicola and Dave had the “reliable and fantastic” (in the bride’s words) Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Magniv mobile photo magnet team taking photos of everyone throughout the festivities so that people could have a keepsake to take home.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Crawleys photographed the whole day so beautifully in their trademark artsy documentary style, and we’re so touched to hear Nicola say that the ultra-supportive community of STG Brides Club was “literally the only thing that kept me sane” during wedding planning

Now over the bride, who looked simply smashing in Pronovias…

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How we met

Nicola, the bride: We met in the good old fashioned way… on a dating app – Jcrush to be precise (seems this is the only way to meet your soulmate these days).

There was an instant connection when we met but both of us were not long out of relationships and not ready for anything serious so we maintained a strong friendship. Even as friends, we would go out for regular dinners and lunches together, him insisting on paying for every single one being the kind and generous soul that he is.

It wasn’t until a mutual friends party, and the help of a bit of dutch courage (tequila), that we both realised what was right in front of us and shared a kiss. The first of many more to come.

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