Real Jewish Weddings Archives - Page 123 of 226 - Smashing the Glass

A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Nature-Inspired Jewish Wedding at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois, USA

01/02/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

We love a good garden wedding. And we love it even more when a couple really goes all out in making the most of their natural surroundings, like Jane, an actor and a voiceover artist, and Adam, who works in digital distribution.

Elegance meets rustic in this beautiful Jewish wedding, inspired by the pair’s love of nature and celebration of the changing of the season from summer to fall at their September celebration, from a seasonal, produce-driven menu (incorporating recipes the foodie duo put together themselves!), earthy clay kiddush cups, anda gorgeous painted ketubah reflecting their love of nature and the changing seasons by artist Jessica Kraft, purchased from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com.

And speaking of beautiful wedding design, Jane and Adam were lucky enough to work with one of our fave

luxury stationers, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor E.Y.I. Love, on their invitations. We’re obsessed with the minimalist chic invitations they came up with together, featuring gold foiled text and gilt edging, a custom cactus print envelope lining, and forest green calligraphy on each envelope. If you love the look as much as we do, be sure to enter the competition we’re running to win your wedding stationery from E.Y.I Love. It closes in a few days – so make sure you don’t miss out!

Now over to Jane, who looked stunning in her beaded strapless princess gown by Monique Lhullier, which she found at wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Wedding Club in South Kensington, London…

Jiho Park from Lilly Photography and Hunter Floyd from Hunter Floyd Films captured all the emotion and elegance of the day so perfectly. Enjoy!

A Garden Wedding

Jane, the bride: We got married at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois, in the USA (2 September, 2018). The venue is located close to the bride’s family’s home. Though then it seemed like a far-away dream, when Jane was around 7, she told her parents that she “would marry either a South-African or British man and get married at the Chicago Botanic Garden.” And so it was, she married a British man and got married at the Botanic Garden!

A Laduree-inspired Jewish Wedding of Two Amazing Event Designers at Pekan Garden, Kibbutz Ramat Hakovesh, Israel

30/01/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

So on Monday we saw a gorgeous destination Jewish wedding where the event planner bride decided to take a hands-off approach, turning the bulk of the work over to her amazing planner to ensure the wedding stayed stress-free. Today, we’ve got the wedding of not one but TWO mega-talented event designers/planners where the couple decided to go all in on their big day.

When we say all in, we really do mean all IN! Bride Tom and groom Matan, who together run Tomka Designs in Israel, were on the job 24/7 in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and even the day before they put in a 12-hour session at the venue.

But all that hard work paid off in a BIG way. The couple’s ultra-romantic Laduree-inspired wedding was nothing short of magical, with epic flowers, candles, soft pastels, and, of course, some seriously impressive macaron towers.

We’re totally obsessed with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ran Bergman’s photos — and to look at them, would you ever guess the wedding fell on a day with absolutely appalling weather? It rained nonstop on Tom and Matan’s wedding day, meaning their original plans for an outdoor photo session were out. But like the true pro he is, Ran stayed calm and scouted out an alternate location for the portrait session that just might have turned out even better than Plan A would’ve: a local patisserie! Okay, so it’s not Laduree, but it’s still pretty adorably on theme.

It just goes to show that a really talented photographer (which Ran most certainly is!) will be able to take amazing photos on even the most dismal of days — so don’t be so quick to snub that winter date your dream venue has open.

Now over to Tom, who looked simply smashing in her gown by Israeli designer Gali Karten…

How We Met

Tom, the bride: Matan and I have been best friends since the age of 15. We were in the same class in high school, lived together in an apartment through our bachelor’s degrees, travelled all around the world together etc…

What seemed to be obvious to everyone around us took us 15 years to realize.

2.5 years ago, alongside a beautiful friendship, we became business partners — we are the proud owners of Tomka Designs, a company for wedding designs in Israel. This partnership turned to be the best decision we ever made as it led to a beautiful love story.

After a year of working together, something we can’t really explain happened and a close friendship turned into a strong relationship. At the age of 30, we both knew “this is it” and that we were heading for a wedding.

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A Suzanne Neville Bride for a Destination Jewish Wedding at the Great Synagogue and Villa Miani, Rome, Italy

28/01/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

We always love seeing what wedding pros choose for their own big days. On one hand, they’ve got a leg up knowing all the ins and outs of the industry. But on the other, when you’re surrounded by amazing wedding vendors day in and day out, how do you choose?!

Today’s beautiful bride Laura is a London-based wedding planner, and we’re not surprised that she and Moshi, a financial adviser, picked a whole roster full of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors for their beautiful destination wedding in Rome: from ultra-creative videographer Denee Motion (love that drone footage!) to a 10-piece band by the amazing Totem to a beautiful, colorful ketubah by artist Veronique Jonas from Ketubah.com, they went for some of the very best of the best.

And then there’s Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Italian Wedding Company. Being a planner’s planner is no easy job, but Stefania and Vanessa handled it with aplomb, helping Laura realize the wedding of her dreams despite her planning from abroad and speaking not a word of Italian.

Photographer Paul Toeman captured all the emotion of the day — not to mention the gorgeous setting — so perfectly, and we can’t get enough of the couple’s adorable wedding hashtag, #moshandbecks.

We’ll let Laura, who looked stunning in Suzanne Neville, fill you in on the rest…

How We Met

Laura, the bride: He was sitting next to a friend’s husband one year and asked who was sitting next to his wife. After cancelling what would have been our first date and re-connecting a year later, we met up and the rest is history!

An Amy Kuschel Bride for a Jewish Wedding at the American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

25/01/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

We love a good museum wedding. We also can’t get enough of edgy post-industrial venues. Today’s Jewish wedding — in a super cool whiskey factory-turned-art museum — combines both, so we’re doubly into it! Exposed brick for daaaaays — don’t miss Sachs Photography‘s pics!

Allison, a nonprofit strategic communications consultant and speechwriter, and Andy, a postdoctoral fellow, also had a super clever idea to make sure their Hora ran smoothly: they assigned three of the bride’s cousins as “hora captains”! The captains were tasked with things like making sure no one brought out chairs too early, using the good chairs that the caterer provided when it was time, and bringing the couple water at the end. Highly recommended!

Oh, and did we mention their stunning ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ruth Mergi, combining a fantastic modern papercut design with a lovely watercolor background in soothing blues and greens?

We’ll leave the rest to the bride, who looked beautiful in her petal pink strapless dress by Amy Kuschel…

Jewish wedding The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD USA_0044

How We Met

From The Baltimore Sun:

“The two met as high school seniors in 2005 while waiting for a flight to an event for prospective Brown University students. The two were at BWI Marshall Airport.

“It was the only place close to Norfolk that offered a direct flight,” Allison said.

There were four prospective students on the flight that day, according to Allison. “He was the only cute one,” she said.

Upon landing, Allison asked her aunt and uncle if they could give Andy a ride to campus with her. They agreed. The two met up again in the fall. By Valentine’s Day, they were an official couple. They have been together since.”

An Industrial Romantic Jewish Wedding at Teppich Fabrik, Halbinsel Stralau, Berlin, Germany

23/01/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

Super exciting day for us here at Smashing The Glass, as this is the first ever Jewish wedding we’ve blogged from Berlin, Germany, and we absolutely LOVE it! Anna and Assaf easily picked one of the coolest Jewish wedding venues we’ve seen yet: Teppich Fabrik (“Old Carpet Factory”), which, as its name suggests, is an old carpet factory loft building near the city center of Berlin (which automatically gives it some edginess cred right there).

The couple loved it for its industrial yet romantic vibes, and we are totally, totally with them — check out the effortlessly glam shots from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ben Kelmer (in the words of the bride: “Nobody has ever made us look this good!”) to see for yourself.

As a very secular couple, Anna, a lawyer, and Assaf, a carpenter and project manager working in real estate, knew a traditional ceremony wasn’t for them, and we love the way they crafted a laid-back, individual ceremony mixing Jewish customs with the duo’s own personal touch: there was a chuppah (built by the groom and his friends!), blessings by friends, children running around, and, of course, a smashing of the glass!

We also love that these two organized a kids’ corner with babysitters, movies, games, and even a few beds, so that parents could dance all night worry-free (and we really do mean all night — the dance floor didn’t close up until 5 a.m.!).

Now over to Anna, who looked super chic in her dress from local designer Chiton…