Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

An Essense of Australia for a Rustic Rave Interfaith Jewish Wedding at a Private Residence in Morgan Hill, CA, USA

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We’re so excited to be sharing the joyous, colorful interfaith Jewish wedding of our beloved Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Gina, an executive admin, and Mike, a college soccer coach! This wedding was SO full of personal touches, and we are totally and completely obsessed.

From the couple’s choice to wed at Gina’s aunt and uncle’s home, to making the bouquets and boutonnières from flowers grown in Gina’s mother’s garden, to the unique and fabulous theme of rustic rave, to the bride’s decision to pair her Essense of Australia gown with white sneakers with fiber optic lighting that changed colors, this wedding was SO Gina and Mike. The couple even booked some mega-talented friends of theirs as vendors on the day, including their photographer and videographer!

The bride, who isn’t Jewish, and the groom, whose family is Orthodox, made sure to craft a ceremony that reflected both of their backgrounds. They chose to have Mike’s best friend officiate, and incorporated lots of Jewish traditions – some with a unique twist. We love that Gina and Mike asked seven friends and family to each read one blessing in English, with Mike’s brothers repeating it in Hebrew. Such a special way to honor loved ones in your day!

We also love the simple floral chuppah, built by Gina’s dad! Oh, and those fab colorful flowers adorning it? They’re fake!

Of course we’re so touched to hear Gina’s kind words about Brides Club – especially that the group gave her the freedom to plan exactly the wedding she and Mike wanted.

Take it away, Gina!


How we Met

Gina, the bride: We met on Tinder in Nov 2014. On our first date, Mike picked me up at my parents’ house and met my parents!

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Everything You Need to Know about Jewish Genetic Carrier Screening {Facebook Recap with JScreen}

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I’m so excited to share with you my latest Facebook Live with Hillary Kener Regelman, Director of National Outreach at JScreen, a US-based not-for-profit at-home education and carrier screening program for Jewish genetic diseases.Jewish genetic screening is SUCH an important topic for every couple thinking of having children, and I’m so glad Hillary was able to help demystify the process.

I admit it isn’t something I knew much about before speaking with Hillary, but after chatting with her I see both how essential testing is to every couple’s family planning process AND how easy and accessible JScreen has made it. They’re on a mission to put genetic screening on every prospective parent’s radar and to clear up the misconceptions so many of us have about the process – and after chatting with Hillary, I’m totally convinced that, as she says, genetic screening should be an essential item on every couple’s wedding checklist.  

What is genetic carrier screening?

Hillary started off by explaining exactly what genetic carrier screening is – and isn’t. It’s not a diagnostic test. Rather, JScreen’s testing lets people know if they are healthy carriers of genetic diseases who have mutations that they could pass on to their children.

Who should get screened?

While genetic screening is sometimes thought of as something relevant only to Ashkenazi Jews, the truth is that everyone planning on having children should get screened, regardless of background (and, as far as Jewish genetic diseases go, there are plenty that affect Sephardi and Mizrahi populations too).

JScreen offers a pan-ethnic panel, testing for all kinds of genetic diseases, not just those common among Jews – so it’s very much worth screening if one or both of you are not ethnically Jewish.

And even if your parents did testing, it’s still important to do it yourself before starting a family, since so many more diseases are testable today than even five years ago (which means that if you yourself were screened a number of years ago, it’s worth considering retesting with JScreen).

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Real Jewish Brides: Erin on planning during Covid-19

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Erin will be marrying Josh on 1st November 2020 at Congregation Beth Israel, in Charlottesville, VA, USA. Click here to read all Erin’ planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Erin and Josh are planning an outdoorsy fall wedding on a budget in Virginia’s Shenandoah mountains. (2) Erin recently completed her conversion to Judaism, and she and Josh are looking forward to filling their big day with Jewish traditions while keeping it enjoyable and understandable to friends and family from all backgrounds. (3) Erin is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!

So, it’s been a while since I actually talked about my wedding. (Mostly thanks to COVID-19 and how it’s turned life upside down.)

In late February, my fiancé and I went to Boston (him for a work trip, me to visit one of my best friends/bridesmaids.)


My friend and I cheesing in the gift shop of the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston.

While we were in Boston, I took the chance to go to several bridal stores. One of the ones that was definitely on my list was BHLDN. I had a wonderful appointment there (probably aided by the fact that I had religiously stalked their website for months), and I ended up saying “yes” to the dress. Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Maggie Sottero Bride for an Industrial Rustic Jewish Wedding at the Art Factory in Paterson, New Jersey, USA

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Okay, HOW gorgeous is Avi and Daniel’s birch chuppah?! We adore every detail of the rustic industrial Jewish wedding of Avi, a pediatric audiologist, and Daniel, who works in real estate, but this chuppah really takes the (wedding) cake. Artfully adorned with occasional pops of red, white, and pink flowers plus hanging greenery – and covered with family tallitot – we’re totally in love with the overall effect.

The chuppah was the perfect fit for Avi and Daniel’s super cool venue, the Art Factory in Paterson, New Jersey. We love the eclectic warehouse vibe, the big windows and abundant natural light, and even comes with its own prop room! These two dressed the space up perfectly with giant paper flowers, vintage sewing machines, and all kinds of other awesome touches. We’re loving every single detail in Amy Sims’ wonderful photos, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kiss the Bride Films’ trailer is so full of emotion and love – pure perfection!

And how special is it that the couple’s beautiful navy paper cut ketubah was crafted by the groom’s mother?! She designed and calligraphed it from start to finish, all by hand.

We’ll let Avi, who looked so lovely in Maggie Sottero, tell you about the rest…

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Warehouse Vibes

We got married at the Art Factory in Paterson, New Jersey. It has a very eclectic warehouse vibe, and you can use the entire space however you want, using their prop room or bringing in whatever materials you want. This made our celebration so personalized because the space was completely naked and we decorated how we wanted to. Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Liancarlo Bride for a Multicultural Hindu-Jewish Wedding at Tarrytown House Estate and Tappan Hill Mansion, Hudson Valley, NY, USA

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We love it when a couple combines their backgrounds into one truly memorable day – and that’s exactly what Laura, a registered dietitian, and Raj, who owns two urgent care facilities in New Jersey, did in planning their interfaith Hindu-Jewish wedding.

With two ceremonies in one day – Hindu during the day, followed by Jewish in the evening – the couple approached planning with the overarching goal of crafting a cohesive day illustrating the true merging of their families, lives, and cultures. Take one look at Dave Robbins Photography’s gorgeous captures of the day and you’ll see just how successfully they pulled it off.

Laura and Raj took advantage of the fact that Hindu and Jewish weddings both take place under a canopy – symbolizing the home the couple will build together – and decided to use the same structure for their mandap and chuppah to symbolize the fact that they are building one home that embraces both of their cultures and religions.

And we totally and completely adore the couple’s custom floral ketubah by Rachel Marks of  Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Tallulah Ketubahs. Laura and Raj wanted their text written in English, Hebrew, and Hindi, and Rachel made it happen – plus she incorporated some of the colors and flowers the pair used in their wedding! And, unsurprisingly, Laura reports that Rachel was an absolute dream to work with.

There’s so much more we could say about this awesome wedding, but we’ll leave the rest to the bride, who looked stunning in both her traditional Indian outfit and red and gold as well as her white wedding dress by Azul by Liancarlo…

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How We Met

Laura, the bride: Raj and I met our sophomore year at Franklin and Marshall College. We were in the same friend circle for many years, but did not start dating until 2014. We were nervous we would break apart our group of friends if things didn’t end up working out. In the end, it was definitely worth taking the risk! 

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