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A 50’s inspired bride for a chic Jewish wedding at New London Synagogue and the Royal Institute of British Architects, London, UK

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Rachel and Stephen  won their wedding photography through  a competition on this very wedding blog, and  when their fabulous photographer, Kate Nielen,  excitedly emailed me with the resulting gorgeous photos, I couldn’t wait to post them! Part of what Kate Nielen and I loved about Rachel’s winning entry was what she wrote below:

A Jewish wedding ceremony is steeped in tradition, ritual and spirituality. These are the elements I want to capture at the beginning of the ceremony whilst RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) is a classy and classic venue. We also have a New Orleans jazz band who will be playing klezmer.”

To me,  this  epitomises a Smashing The Glass couple. The desire to blend wonderful ancient Jewish wedding rituals  with twists like a  New Orleans jazz band playing traditional Jewish klezmer.  I just wish I could have been a guest at the wedding myself!

There were so many lovely personal  touches, like the mother of the bride  creating a beautiful painting that was incorporated  on all the stationery  and was also displayed on a  screen at the entrance of their gorgeous reception venue,  RIBA,  in the heart of central London. She also made their very arty three-tier wedding cake – what a talented mama!

One of the best things about this job is how uplifting it is to look at images of people in love. And I think it’s fair to say that Rachel and Stephen  are insanely, crazily, and meant-to-be-together-forever in love. That besottedness radiates from every  image captured by Kate Nielen.  Enjoy this one folks!

Royal Institute of British Architects Jewish weddingRoyal Institute of British Architects Jewish wedding

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A Berta Bride for an interfaith Jewish wedding (with four guys smashing the glass!) at Riverbend, Kohler, Wisconsin USA

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I bet you’re intrigued by the idea of four men breaking the glass under the chuppah, right? Well let me explain…

The groom in today’s wedding has three wonderful boys from a previous marriage and all three were included in the vows (the Bride created a set that she recited just for them). Then when it came to the big moment, all the boys joined in with their father for the smashing of the glass. Um – how brilliant is that? I absolutely love how symbolic and meaningful that is, and Molly Michel from M Three Studio captures the moment perfectly in the image below.

But that’s just one of a ridiculous amount of reasons why I love today’s wedding.

Reason #2: I love that Leah and Phil only invited 20 guests. I’m a big advocator of not inviting too many people, as I highlight in my Top 5 Do’s and Don’t’s for the Perfect Jewish Wedding. Fewer and closely connected is far better than inviting a cast of unknowns, and makes for a much more meaningful, intimate atmosphere in my opinion.

Reason #3: Leah rocks a life-changingly gorgeous Berta gown. That plunging neckline! All that lace! It’s super sexy and daring, yet oh so feminine and elegant at the same time. And if that’s got you all green with envy just wait until you see reason #4, her snakeskin Jimmy Choo‘s!

OK, enough with my reasons, I’m going to hand you over to the Bride to hear the wedding story from her, but before I do, let’s hear from her wedding photographer, Molly Michel. She’s going to tell you a little bit about the ‘rai-ayy-ann on [their] wedding day’ as Alanis Morissette famously sang. And no, it’s not ironic, it’s really rather lucky, as Molly explains:

Rain was definitely not part of Leah & Phil’s plans as they created their wedding day. Watching the forecast that week, the rain stubbornly took hold on their day and refused to budge. By Saturday morning, there was no denying that buckets of rain (and all the luck that comes with it) was what would come to define their day. And then a funny thing happened. Their intimate wedding became more intimate. People huddled closer together to dodge the raindrops. They hugged to bring about warmth. They sat closer, shared stories, snuggled by the fireplace, stood arm in arm, swaying to the band, poured the wine a little more liberally. The intimate, close-knit wedding that Leah & Phil had hoped for was somehow even more so because of the rain. Lucky thing, those raindrops.”

breaking the glassKohler Wisconsin wedding
How we met

Leah, the Bride: Phil and I met through a mutual friend in September 2010. He put his number in my phone with the name “Mr. Wonderful.” After our initial introduction, we made plans to meet for drinks at NoMI at the Park Hyatt the following week. Leading up to the date, I was really nervous so asked if we could reschedule. He wouldn’t. He replied with, “I don’t take rain checks.” And, the rest is history!

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A Pink ‘geeky-fairytale’ Jewish wedding at East-TLV, Tel Aviv, Israel

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I really REALLY love today’s wedding. I mean how can you not adore a wedding that includes Jazz mixed with Japanese pop and Disney tunes, a Star Wars wedding cake, Pokemon Pokà© Balls for ring boxes, and an astonishing bride with a hot pink petticoat and epic My Little Pony trainers (plus several more shoes changes!). This Jewish wedding has heart and personality at it’s core and I absolutely love it.

Today’s bride has monumental style and really knows her own mind… Anyone who is considering stepping away from the white/ivory/champagne norm — I hope this wedding gives you the confidence to do so!

There are so many fun creative touches. Take the bride’s oh so pretty floral crown and her glittery 50’s make up and the cat magnets designed by the bride, as well as rustically styled tables (proof that you don’t need to go overboard to make something look absolutely gorgeous) and the creative cartoon-style table numbers and… oh I could go on and on and on.

What a wonderful glorious mix! Come on and have a peek and enjoy the images by Noa Magger plus the film courtesy of Shahar Lev.

A ‘geeky-fairytale ball’ Jewish wedding at East-TLV, Tel Aviv, Israel
How we met

Ravid, the Bride: We actually met at…….. McDonalds! Some eight and a half years ago. Avishai was a cashier and I was a cook, and we also used to work opposite shifts. I was dating someone else at the time. Somehow we ended up on the same shift one day and clicked right away. He did all he could to have me break up with the other guy(!) and our boss, who saw the chemistry, kept suggesting we should go out.

When we actually let our boss know we were dating he exclaimed ‘well finally’ – I guess you can say we owe this to him (and he was also a guest at the wedding – we’ve even introduced him to our parents!).

We went to a movie the day I broke up with the other guy, and it was really a love at first sight. We survived my time at the army as well as his, and went through a lot together – and now we’re married… I’ll stop being a walking cliche now!

A ‘geeky-fairytale ball’ Jewish wedding at East-TLV, Tel Aviv, Israel
A cool urban warehouse venue in Tel Aviv

We got married at the East venue in Tel Aviv, an urban hangar which used to be a factory owned by the national electricity company. We knew two things before we picked the venue: we wanted it to be urban and fresh (not a garden of any kind), and we knew we wanted it to be in Tel Aviv. We found East, which was not only the coolest place for a wedding, but was also in walking distance to our apartment!

We felt like it was a match when we first set foot there. We also knew that we were aiming for a summer wedding. Summer in Israel is terribly hot, so it had to be somewhere with an option for air conditioning and dancing in a closed space. So the chuppah and reception were outside (we handed out fans for people to survive the heat), and the rest of the evening was indoors.

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A Valentine’s Day Jewish Wedding in the snow, at The Liberty Grand, Toronto, Canada

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I first saw today’s wedding on photographer Assaf Friedman’s Instagram feed. I was totally smitten by Danielle and Aaron’s couple portraits in the snow, and I just knew I had to feature their entire Valentine’s Day affair on Smashing The Glass.

Danielle and Aaron are a super stylish couple with really great taste — I’m particularly loving their accessories! I’d like Danielle’s leather jacket AND her heart-shaped sunnies please. And Aaron looks dapper with his slick tux, patterned socks, and polka dot pocket square (and he wore the coolest pair of personalised Nike Hi-Tops that Danielle surprised him with too).

Aaron and Danielle chose to engrave each other’s wedding bands with a surprise inscription  and decided that neither of them would see this message until after the ceremony when they were finally man and wife. And would you believe it, they had both engraved each other’s rings with the same beautiful message! These two are meant to be together…

Read on for lots more treats, surprises, advice, tips and a really wonderful account of a truly stylish, luxe Jewish wedding.

A Valentine’s Day Jewish Wedding in the snowA Valentine’s Day Jewish Wedding in the snow
How we met

Danielle, the Bride: Aaron and I met online. We had our first date at a small craft beer bar in Toronto. On our third or fourth date, Aaron asked me if I was dating other people. At that point, we decided to be exclusive. Things moved fairly quickly and I think that after a few weeks of dating we knew that one day we would get married.

A Valentine’s Day Jewish Wedding in the snow

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A dress designed by the bride, for a Jewish wedding with movie tunes and musicals, at Agadata, Israel

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There is so much wonderful individuality in this gorgeous Jewish wedding that I really don’t know where to start. Dena’s wedding report is wonderful, and my goodness is she a bride that knows her own mind.. and style!

She designed and made her own dress and says it was  exactly what she had imagined it would look like since she dreamt about it as a teenager… And how gorgeous is that  Belgian lace  veil? It’s a family heirloom bought in 1926 by Dena’s  great grandmother,  and has been worn by her  great grandmother,  grandmother,  mother, aunt and even  sister before her at their weddings. How  very special is that?

Dena  is a make-up artist and CB is an actor, and they are both very involved in community theatre in Jerusalem. To reflect their shared love of theatre, they enlisted  two musician friends to play songs from the Broadway  musicals, including of course the ones they had  both acted in.

Then, during the ceremony they integrated many songs from the movies, my favourite examples being the groom walking down to the Gladiator theme, and both of them walking  into the theme from  Ghostbusters  for their wedding entrance!

And a first on  Smashing The Glass, Dena and CB  hired a live-streamer instead of a regular videographer, so that all their  family and friends (mostly abroad) who were not able to attend the wedding, would still able to take part in the celebration. I wonder if we will start to witness more and more livestreaming now that families are so often spread far and wide all over  the globe?

Here is their story from the perspective of their wonderful photographer and all-round Mr Fabulous, Herschel Gutman.  Herschel is one of my much-loved Smashing Suppliers and is available to shoot weddings in both the  UK and Israel. I highly,  highly recommend him!

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How we  met

Dena, the Bride: I am a make-up artist for theatrical productions and CB is an actor, and we met during his first production in Jerusalem, HMS Pinafore, a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, in 2012.

I was making up another man and he told CB that there was a cute make-up girl that he should get his make-up done by. So he came into the make-up room and sat in my chair and that is how we met. At first we just started talking and then we started hanging out more and eventually decided to date each other. We broke up after a few months when CB decided to study acting in the US, and only got back together less than a year ago, after not being in touch at all for the three years he was gone!

It was just meant to be! Our proposal  story is the sweetest thing, I think, and I loved it so much and it was perfect for us! It happened right after a show that we watched together. The producer of that show called CB up onto the stage and at first I had no idea what was going on. Then he started talking about me and about us and he then called up the cast of the recent RENT production (We started dating again during the recent production of Jerusalem’s RENT. I designed costumes for them and knew the cast well) to help him ask a question. The cast proceeded to perform Seasons Of Love, with CB singing the solo, and right afterward he got off the stage, down on one knee and proposed. By that time of course I knew what was about to happen, and he invited my best friends, my parents, and his family to be there for the proposal! It was absolutely perfect and magical!

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