Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

An Anna Maier Bride for a NOLA-Meets-Texas Interfaith Jewish Wedding at Race & Religious, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

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There are few cities more atmospheric than New Orleans, the city that bride Jordan, the executive director of Bayou City Waterkeeper, a Houston-based environmental nonprofit that works to protect and restore the waters around the region, lived in for nearly a decade and calls her “heart home.” She moved back to her home state of Texas to be with groom Kent, the owner and manager of Whitener Ranch, one of the oldest continuously family-owned ranches in Texas, but always new she’d want to marry in NOLA.

The couple merged their love of New Orleans and their Texas roots in their breathtaking interfaith Jewish wedding at the breathtakingly eclectic Race + Religious, a breathtaking, eclectic New Orleans venue. They went for a full-on old world vibe, full of deep gem tones of burgundy, gold, indigo, and purple, lush greenery, old wood, and candle light.

Guests entered the venue through a magically wild gate, covered in vines and foliage, the couple’s atmospheric chuppah in deep autumnal shades is one for the books, and the couple’s beautiful ketubah by Enya Keshet for Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com featured exquisite papercut menorahs and detailed artistry illustrating verses from the Song of Songs. An eight-piece brass band, New Orleans jazz, Creole food, sparklers, rounded out this memorable day – we’re obsessed with the gorgeous photos from Heather Schneider of Dark Roux Photography.

There’s so much more to say, but we’ll let the bride, who looked stunning in Anna Maier Couture, tell you the rest…

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How we met

Jordan and Kent, the bride and the groom: Jordan and Kent met in Austin, Texas in 2014 after literally running into one another at a downtown bar. After exchanging playful remarks, they realized they had a lot in common. Despite living a whole state away for a year – Jordan living in New Orleans and Kent in Austin – they started dating. Fortunately, Jordan traveled to Austin often for work, and Kent had no problem visiting New Orleans. In 2015, Jordan made the move to Austin and the rest is history!

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A Julie Vino Bride for a New Orleans-Meets-Israel Jewish Wedding in a Private House Outside Tel Aviv, Israel

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Jewish wedding private house at Moshav, outside of Tel Aviv, Israel_0009

A New Orleans-meets-Tel Aviv wedding?! Yes, please – what’s not to love about a big day that combines the best of two of the world’s greatest party cities? Bride Laura, who runs her own English teaching business in Tel Aviv and teaches high school humanities, knew from the start she wanted to combine her American Southern background with the all-Israeli roots of groom Elad, a front end web developer for a start-up company.

Sounds like a tall order, right? But nothings’ too much for the team at amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Bebke, who understood exactly what the couple wanted and fused together their vision of an eclectic New Orleans style meets funky Israeli vibe to create a one of a kind wedding. Even the catering got in on the game – Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Maasia worked New Orleans French style, American southern, and Mediterranean Israeli food into the menu, and scored a runaway hit with late-night corndogs that guests are still raving about!

As if the theme weren’t awesome enough, we’re equally obsessed with all of the personal touches these two put into their big day. Laura and Elad wanted their brothers – four between the two of them – to hold each corner of their chuppah, so they went with a simple hand-held bamboo setup to make it happen. They also had a “dog of honor” – their beloved Kimchi – join them under the chuppah! We’re in love with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ronen Boidek’s breathtaking photos of it all – as Laura said herself, he is just so skilled at capturing “not only the big moments but the small ones as well.”

Now over to Laura, who looked so beautiful in her Julie Vino dress…

Jewish wedding private house at Moshav, outside of Tel Aviv, Israel_0009Jewish wedding private house at Moshav, outside of Tel Aviv, Israel_0009Jewish wedding private house at Moshav, outside of Tel Aviv, Israel_0009 Jewish wedding private house at Moshav, outside of Tel Aviv, Israel_0009
How we met

Laura, the bride: We met on Tinder believe it or not, when it was brand new in Tel Aviv. We both were receiving hundreds of matches but somehow I ended up answering his message. Our first conversation was about our music taste which wasn’t the standard topic when Tinder first began. I had a gut feeling there was something there. We went on a date a few weeks later and took off from there. That was almost five years ago.

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2020 Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Alexandra + Ian: How They Met To The Present Day…

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 2nd gorgeous bride from our crop of 2020 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Alexandra, who will be marrying Ian on 10th May 2020 at La Corte Dei Messapi in Ostuni, Puglia, Italy.

THREE FACTS: THREE FACTS: (1) Alexandra and Ian are planning an intimate black-tie destination wedding for 60 of their nearest and dearest in Puglia, Italy. (2) Alexandra is Jewish, and Ian is in the process of converting to Judaism. (3) Alexandra is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!

How we met

Ian and I met when I was a junior at Sarah Lawrence College. Our first date went horribly… I was two hours late because I was babysitting. I still invited him to the opening of an art fair with me a few days later.

The event ended up being right under his work, like I didn’t know, so he agreed to go. I failed to mention that it was a formal event so he showed up in cut off shorts. Shockingly the date went amazing and we shared our first kiss on the High Line that night.

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A Sarah Seven Bride for a Rooftop Jewish Wedding at Fremont Foundry, Seattle, Washington, USA

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There’s nothing like a rooftop chuppah. The great views, the chill outdoor vibes – they’re just the best. And we’re in love with the setup Rachel, a business integration project manager at Nordstrom, and Elliot, a commercial associate at Bank of America, came up with for their beautiful Seattle Jewish wedding.

Their venue, Fremont Foundry, has the most wonderful rooftop space, and the couple wisely opted for a simple wood chuppah adorned with plenty of greenery and accented by ivory roses – the perfect complement to the view. We can’t get enough of Katie Parra’s gorgeous photos capturing it all.

We also love that rather than going for a traditional guestbook, Rachel and Elliot had a selfie book! They provided a blank book, an InstaMax camera, colorful tape, and markers, and asked that their guests take a selfie, tape it in the book, and write a note to the couple. What a fun idea!

Now over to Rachel, who looked stunning in Sarah Seven…

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jewish wedding Fremont Foundry Seattle Washington USA_0006

jewish wedding Fremont Foundry Seattle Washington USA_0006
How we met

Rachel, the bride: We were introduced in high school by our close mutual friend. Our friendship quickly blossomed into a relationship and, eleven years later, we tied the knot!

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An Enzoani Bride for an Interfaith Jewish Wedding with Tons of Creative Touches at Offley Place, Great Offley, Hitchin, Hertfordshire UK

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It’s always a special day when we get to blog the big day of one of our beloved Smashing the Glass Brides Club members, and Shelley’s gorgeous interfaith Jewish wedding is no exception. She and groom and Chris not only crafted an ultra-personal celebration full of creative touches, they used some of our very favourite vendors to pull it off too!

First and foremost, we love that the bride, who’s Jewish, and the groom, who isn’t, chose to work with the wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rabbi Paul Glantz (who they found right here on Smashing The Glass!) to craft an individual Jewish blessing that truly reflected the pair as a couple – complete with a lovely floral ketubah reflecting their theme of rustic elegance from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubata.

This wedding is just so full of love and emotion, perfectly captured by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rafe Abrook in the exquisite photos. And speaking of photos, we love that Shelley and Chris gave each table an ‘Instagram Challenge’ to complete, with instructions like ‘your whole table must take a photo that recreates a famous movie scene’ – what a great way to get everyone involved and socializing, right?!

Lovely Shelley could not have looked more radiant on the day, and we’re in love with her gorgeous bridal beauty look from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Makeup by Katy. Between the beautiful makeup and perfect gown from Enzoani, it’s no wonder she felt like a princess all day!

And we love that Shelley and Chris worked with the wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Abby Taubman of Colletts Travel to plan their fab honeymoon to Singapore, Bali and Hong Kong.

We so loved having Shelley in Brides Club and helping her along as she planned this amazing day – if you’re planning a Jewish or Jew-ish wedding of your own and could use a little support, guidance, community, referrals to great vendors, or anything else you can think of that will help make your day the very best it can be – do sign up for your free 30-day trial and join us!

Now over to Shelley…


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 offley place hotel jewish wedding hester ballroom hertfordshire wedding_0047
How we met

Shelley and Chris, the bride and the groom: It’s Chris writing this part! Shelley and I are teachers, as you probably would have guessed from all the crafty things we incorporated into the wedding! We met training on our PGCE, where I knew that she was the one I was going to ask to be my wife. 6 years, two houses and one cat later, we are now Mr and Mrs Amoss ☺

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