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An Eddy K. Bride for a Jewish Interfaith Backyard Micro Wedding in Connecticut, USA

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We’re so delighted to be sharing the gorgeous interfaith Jewish micro wedding of our Brides Club member Julia, a social worker for the Department of Veteran’s affairs working to hose homeless veterans, and Josh, an EMT and US Army veteran!

Julia and Josh had originally planned for a 200-person wedding at a local park, but when COVID hit they downsized their guest list and shifted the festivities to Julia’s mom’s property – which, luckily for the couple, just happens to be a beautiful farm filled with green fields of wildflowers.

Regardless of the location, Julia’s top priority was always to create a relaxed and inclusive celebration that embraced both her Jewish faith and Josh’s Puerto Rican heritage. In her words,

My husband is Puerto Rican and most of my friends are not Jewish. While I am rooted deeply in my faith, sometimes I feel isolated by my Jew-ishness. Brides Club felt like this beautiful validating hug. I was able to get so much out of the articles and vendor tips. I wish I had found Smashing the Glass earlier!

The pair opted for a mostly Jewish ceremony under a chuppah (covered by a Puerto Rican flag with a Star of David at is center – designed by the groom!), officiated by Julia’s mom’s best friend, who is the rabbi of an interfaith Jewish congregation. And we love that they incorporated their daughter (who also gave a beautiful speech and sang a song for the couple!) into the ceremony, too.

Don’t miss the beautiful images from Abigail Renee Photography – or the rest of the story of this very special day, as narrated by the bride…

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How we met

Julia, the bride: Josh and I met working at a group home for teen girls. We both worked third shift at the time. When he started, he requested to have Fridays off and I lost my Shabbats off, so I decided I was not going to like him. (Boy did that backfire!) Turns out the reason he couldn’t work Fridays was because of his daughter. He used his weird sense of humour and a few honeydew melons to get me to talk to him.

When the group home closed, he asked me out (I was his supervisor). I said no. Josh was deployed a few weeks later and when he got to his post, he asked me if he could take me on a date. I agreed when he got home to go on a date with him. When he got home, he drove four hours from the airport home, showered and came right to pick me up.

About four years later he proposed in front of Boston Harbour.

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A Vera Wang Bride for a Brooklyn Meets Tropical Paradise Jewish Wedding at 501 Union, Brooklyn, New York, USA

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There’s nothing like a little hometown pride – and what better to serve as inspiration for your Jewish wedding? Today’s bride and groom, Rebecca and Brandon, are both passionate Brooklynites – and they used their love of their home borough as inspiration for their big day.

Their venue, 501 Union, in Brooklyn neighborhood Gowanus, is SO industrial chic, and the couple complemented it with fun touches like a personalized map of Brooklyn on the back of their invitations (with key spots in the couple’s lives marked), mini Junior’s cheesecakes as favors, a Brooklyn-fabulous cocktail hour menu including lox on everything bagel chips, pastrami bites, and Coney Island hot dogs, and even a Coolhaus ice cream sandwich truck!

We’re also digging the urban jungle vibes Rebecca and Brandon went with for their florals – how fun is their chuppah?! Don’t miss it in Billye Donya Photography’s wonderful pics.

We’ll leave it to the bride, who looked utterly urban chic in Vera Wang…


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How we met

Rebecca, the bride: We swiped right on Tinder, so obviously didn’t know much about each other before we met. For our first date, he suggested we meet after work near the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park, since it was right in between our apartments, and grab a drink from there.

I had certain hesitations about meeting a random internet man at the park at dusk so I told a good handful of friends about the date, so they’d know what to tell the authorities if I never came back… Anyway, once I saw Brandon in his Canadian tuxedo (denim on denim, baby!), I knew I had nothing to worry about (;

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An Asaf Dadush Bride for an Ultra-Personal Summer Jewish Wedding at Luca, Israel

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Can’t you just feel the love seeping out of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si’s photos of bride Stav, an M.Sc student in biomedical engineering, and groom Ran, a CPA?

This beautiful Israeli Jewish wedding was SO full of emotion, and we are here for it! We love that Stav and Ran read letters they’d written to each other aloud during their ceremony – and how sweet is it that the couple’s families and friends wrote new lyrics to a favorite song all about the pair’s relationship, along with a cute video?! Possibly even more adorable, Stav’s father wrote new lyrics to‘What a Wonderful World,’a song they’d often danced to together when Stav was little, and which turned into the soundtrack to their father-daughter dance – awwwww!

Back to those incredible photos by mega-talentedSmashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si – it’s worth saying again that we just can’t get over how dreamy these pics are. And we’re not at all surprised to hear that on the day, Jossef was a calming presence who made the camera-shy couple feel totally comfortable.

Now over to Stav, who looked ravishing in her Asaf Dadush gown…


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How we Met

Stav, the bride: We have been dating for the past 5 years, but we know each other from before. It all started ten years ago, in 2010. Ran had just resigned the army and I was a senior in high-school, we met at the beach in Eilat city, where we both went on vacation with friends. Ran played the guitar and sang funny songs with his friends, and we all bonded. Since then, I had my eye on him, and tried to start a little conversation afterwards on Facebook but it didn’t go well.

A year after I decided to do the SAT test before joining the army, and Ran took the same course at the very same time. We met again, started learning together, had a very good time (very platonic I must say) and when I joined the army the connection faded. 5 year later when I came back from my after-army trip around the world and Ran was a CPA student, he sent me a message, we went out and from that point on it’s all history.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A David’s Bride for a Winter Jewish Wedding with an Epic Dessert Indulgence Bar at The Grove, Watford, UK

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We’re so excited to be sharing the gorgeous winter wonderland Jewish wedding of Dorothy, who’s not only a beloved Brides Club member but also happens to be the winner of a very special competition we ran last year with luxury sweet purveyors GC Couture.

Dorothy and Dan were the lucky winners of an amazing kosher Indulgence Bar® by GC Couture, an assortment of luxe sweet treats from cookies to cake pops to macarons to brownie bites to cupcakes plus a fabulous centerpiece wedding cake. The pair can’t stop raving about their tasting at GC Couture‘s Mayfair offices, where they settled on red velvet as their cake flavor – along with intricately decorated biscuits, cake pops, cakes, and macaroons matching the couple’s winter white color scheme. Everything looks SO mouthwateringly delicious – don’t miss this epic spread in Chiko Photography’s images and Yoni Cohen’s trailer!

Lest you think the party ended there, Dorothy and Dan also booked phenomenal Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Function Band, who, true to form, kept guests on the dancefloor all night with their incredible energy and played something for everyone. The couple also worked with the wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Toastmaster Jango, who kept everything in check and ensured things ran smoothly on the day.

Before we turn you over to Dorothy, we just have to share some of her kind words about her experience as a member of Brides Club: “During the lead up to the wedding my biggest saviour were the girls in Brides Club! Any question you ask, no matter how silly you might think you are for asking, anything that’s on your mind they’re there within seconds to help you!” We couldn’t agree more!

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Cosy Meets Luxe

Dorothy, the bride: We got married at the Grove in Watford. Set within the most beautiful grounds, it’s the perfect mix of cosy and comfortable with luxury hotel all rolled into one. 

I fell in love with it after a family visit over 10 years ago and knew then I wanted to get married there one day. Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Picture-Perfect 25-Person Backyard Jewish Micro Wedding at an Airbnb in Connecticut, USA

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We are consistently so, SO impressed with the gorgeous Jewish micro weddings flooding our inbox these days. We know not too many 2020 couples planned on getting married in a backyard with a guest count that, in some cases, barely climbs above the single digits – and yet you’re all totally rocking it.

Take Rebecca, a consultant, and Yosef, a third-year law student. These two had originally planned a big wedding near the bride’s home of Potomac, Maryland, but when the pandemic struck they had to go back to the drawing board to come up with a COVID-safe outdoor affair for 25.

The couple, who live in the New York area, found the perfect solution in a Connecticut Airbnb that happened to have not only a stunning backyard, where the festivities were held, but also super considerate owners who went above and beyond to make Rebecca and Yosef feel at home on their big day.

Rebecca’s dad, who happens to be a rabbi, not only married the couple but also built their chuppah, Rebecca did her own makeup and found the perfect simple white dress to wear in lieu of her gown – which she’s planning on saving for the bigger celebration she and Yosef hope to have when it’s safe to do so – and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor C. Schvarcz photographed the day SO beautifully. Initially, Rebecca and Yosef were considering skipping pro photography altogether, given the tight limit on the number of people who could be present, but now, looking back, they are unreservedly delighted that they opted to work with Chaim. In Rebecca’s words, “Having the photos to look back on feels like the only sense of normalcy from the entire event.”

Relatedly, we love Rebecca’s advice that, even though a micro wedding will likely feel very different than the wedding you had originally hoped for, it’s still absolutely worth treating it like the real thing! Whether or not you plan to have a big celebration later on, don’t skimp on the touches that will make your small wedding special – whether that’s hiring an amazing photographer like C. Schvarcz, wearing something that makes you feel amazing, having an epic cake, or anything else.

Now over to the bride…

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How we Met

Rebecca, the bride: We met 3 years ago at a Simchat Torah party, we actually lived a block away from each other so he offered to walk me home, and then we ended up seeing each other a lot after that and naturally drew closer to each other.

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