Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

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Everything You Need to Know about Planning an Interfaith Jewish Wedding {with 18Doors}

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Here at Smashing The Glass, we get so many questions from couples looking for guidance on planning their interfaith Jewish weddings. Wedding planning can be a daunting process for anyone, but interfaith couples can face all kinds of extra challenges, from navigating tricky family situations to simply not having a clear roadmap for what your ceremony might look like.
 
That’s why I’m so excited to tell you that this Wednesday, May 19, at 9:00 am PDT / 12:00 pm EDT / 5:00 pm GST, I’ll be chatting on Facebook with Rabbi Robyn Frisch and Nicole Wasilus of 18 Doors, a wonderful organization dedicated to empowering interfaith couples and families to engage in Jewish life, all about how to plan your perfect interfaith Jewish wedding.  

Some of the topics we’ll cover include:

  • Starting the conversation about what’s important to each of you in planning out your ceremony
  • Choosing an officiant
  • Special considerations for interfaith couples planning a wedding (for example, ketubot)
  • Examples of creative touches interfaith couples have used to incorporate background of partner or put a spin on Jewish tradition
  • Advice for navigating family conflict 
  • Discussion of the traditional elements of a Jewish ceremony and what considerations interfaith couples may want to make when deciding whether or not to include each one
  • Understanding elements of the Jewish ceremony in an interfaith way 

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A Helena Kolan Bride for a Tarrytown-Meets-Tel Aviv Jewish Wedding at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, New York, USA

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Tel Aviv-based couple Maya, who works in marketing, and David, who works in tech as a front end developer, opted to get married in Tarrytown, close to both of their hometowns. But naturally they wanted to bring the epic vibes that come with a good Israeli wedding all the way to New York – and did they ever pull it off!

First off, how elegant is Maya’s dress from Israeli designer Helena Kolan, purchased at her atelier in Tel Aviv?! And we love that Maya and David flew in an Israeli singer to perform their favorite Israeli pop hits and help cultivate that unmistakable Israeli wedding atmosphere. The pair even incorporated some Middle Eastern style foods into their menus for the cocktail hour and dinner!

We’re so in love with Maya and David’s incredible trailer from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kiss the Bride Films and photos by Amy Sims. We’re obsessed with the way, as Maya says, both teams captured the special “in-between” moments of the day, with so much emotion and love.

Now over to Maya…

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How we Met

Maya, the bride: We met in college through a very close mutual friend, thanks Taco! We were friends for a few months before we started dating.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Jewish Brides: Chris on creating their Chuppah

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Chris will be marrying Ariel on 6th June 2021 in Chris’ Aunt and Uncle’s front yard. Click here to read all Chris’ planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Ariel proposed to Chris in November 2020 (2) Chris swiped right on Ariel and the rest is history! (3) Chris + Ariel will be having an intimate 10-person wedding.


While visiting her parents during a holiday from Northwestern University, Lucille met a dapper, charming, German Jew named Lothar, who had moved to the States in 1937 after graduating from University of Frankfurt, Germany. On June 28th, 1942, Lothar & Lucille were married at the Erie Tennis and Country Club in Pennsylvania, surrounded by 400 of their closest friends and family. Lucille wore an ivory satin gown with a train and a bodice of lace embroidered with seed pearl. Their altar was adorned with palms and ferns.

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A Winnie Couture Bride for a Boho Chic Jewish Wedding on the Beach at Mahayana Tulum, Tulum, Mexico

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How gorgeous is the beachy boho Jewish wedding of California couple Amber, who works for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and Elliot, the owner of Golden State Corals?! This travel-loving pair opted for a destination wedding weekend in Tulum.

Amber had always dreamed of an intimate, laid-back celebration with the couple’s nearest and dearest – and fortunately, she was able to make that dream come true despite getting married during the pandemic. The couple’s fantastic planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Lucy Gallagher, helped them bring it all together – which is no easy feat when planning from abroad in the best of times, let alone during COVID.

We love the relaxed California vibes of the day, and Moni Adri Photography’s wonderful pics make us feel as if we were right there with Amber and Elliot.

Now over to the bride, who looked stunning in her custom Winnie Couture gown…

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How we Met

Amber, the bride: I’m from New Jersey and Elliot is from Maryland.  We moved to California separately, around the same time.  We both adopted German Shepherds, his a female and mine a male, around the same time.  We met at the dog park.  Our dogs became obsessed with each other first. We got engaged on the Amalfi Coast in September 2019.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Vera Wang Bride for a Multicultural Jewish Wedding where the Jerusalem Lion Meets the Chinese Lion at Kedma Mamilla, Jerusalem, Israel

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We are absolutely in love with the joyous multicultural Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Monica to David! Monica, who has a background in design, is Chinese American, David, who has a manufacturing company, is Israeli; they live in London; and they opted to wed in Jerusalem – so they had some seriously great material to work with.

The couple’s amazing wedding planner, Vanessa Ohayon of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Vanessa Events, helped the couple pull everything together to create the wedding of their dreams – complete with swoonworthy views overlooking the Old City walls – do chuppah backdrops get any better than that?!

One of our very favorite things about this gorgeous wedding is the fact that, with Vanessa’s help, Monica arranged a surprise Chinese Lion Dance, which is performed during major celebrations. Once the guests were seated for the reception, Monica and David made their entrance – followed by a bright yellow Chinese Lion, who wove in and out among the tables before giving the couple a marriage blessing. Then, the music changed, and it was hora time – what an awesome contrast in traditions! In Monica’s words, “it was the Jerusalem Lion meets the Chinese Lion moment.”

We also love that Monica put her design background to work in implementing the pair’s chosen theme of geodes and geometrics in blue and gold, learning modern calligraphy and hand-crafting the exquisite blue agate place cards. There was a spectacular geode-themed cake to match, and the floral centerpieces, designed by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Craspedia, continued the geometric theme and blue color scheme too. It wasn’t easy to find locally grown flowers in the right colors during the Israeli summer, but Yana of Craspedia took Monica on a scouting trip to a flower market where together they were able to find the perfect blooms.

There’s so much more to say about this beautiful day, but we’ll let Monica – who looked so elegant in Vera Wang – take it from here…

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How we Met

Monica, the bride: We met online in London, but it took 5 months for us to meet up due to conflicting travel schedules. Instead, we had an old fashion email and skype correspondence until our first date at the Holland Park Opera. The rest is history!Continue ReadingContinue Reading