Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Real Jewish Brides: How Juliette Chose Her Florist

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Juliette will be marrying Matt on 9th November 2019 at Ashford Estate in Allentown, New Jersey, USA. Click here to read all Juliette’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Juliette and Matt met in Hebrew school when they were 16 – aww! (2) Juliette and Matt are both Jewish, but they are having a Jew-ish wedding – Juliette’s dad’s side of the family is Catholic, and they want to make sure everyone feels included on the day. (3) Juliette is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club – and she calls STG her “secret weapon” in wedding planning!

Major win: the florist!

My wedding is quickly approaching and this week has made it abundantly clear. Matt and I had some time off of work and we spent the week gathering wedding planning wins. Our major win this week was the florist.

I met and decided to use Adam Leffel Productions about a year ago when I was first beginning my planning. I was obsessed with the visual impact of the day. As I combed through Instagram and Pinterest I became a complete psycho flipping through pictures of floral arrangements, table settings, chairs, lighting and production. 

So quick reminder, I have never been to a wedding. When you are researching and planning, food and music are not what you see on Instagram. Now before every Jewish mother jumps from their seat, I did make sure to give focus to those two important parts of the puzzle. We put our parents in charge of food and hired a trusted DJ for all the dancing festivities.

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A Vesselina Bride for a Romantic Boho Jewish Wedding at Hebrew Order of David Hall, Johannesburg, South Africa

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We’re obsessed with the romantic boho vibe Batia and Darren created for their gorgeous South African Jewish wedding. The bride, a makeup and lash artist, and the groom, a musician and sound engineer working in sales, crafted the most gorgeous day, filled with soft colours, plenty of succulents, and rustic wooden elements galore.

We love their sweet, simple chuppah – and it just goes to show you don’t need to go all out for something mega-opulent to create a gorgeous floral chuppah. A simple wooden structure wrapped in just the right amount of delicate roses and soft green vines – done! The bride’slate grandfather’s tallis formed the canopy, which is such a beautiful touch. Photographers Splendid Productions and videographers White Motion Films captured everything so perfectly.

Batia’s wonderful dress from Vesselina Pentcheva carried on the boho fairy tale theme, with a soft, flowy cut and wonderful 3D rose lace and hand stitched pearls. We’ll let her fill you in on the rest of the details of her wonderful day…

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How we met

Batia, the bride: We met at a mutual friends house 8 years ago and the rest is history! 

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A Delila Fox Bride for a Modern Tropical Jewish Wedding at Villa Ban Suriya, Koh Samui, Thailand

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Tropical weddings are sure having a moment right now – whether in London or the actual tropics, Jewish brides and grooms are going wild for bright colours, laid-back vibes, and palms aplenty, and we’re here for it.

If tropical is your vibe, you can’t do much better than to marry in the tropical island paradise of Koh Samui, and that’s exactly what Bianca, an Australian Pilates instructor, and Ruben, a site manager/builder and carpenter hailing from France, did.

They put together the perfect modern tropical Jewish wedding on the beach, with a simple yet statement-making chuppah covered in tropical leaves. Photographer Toa of Weerayu Janthai and videographer Nok of Janthai Photography captured all the magic of this gorgeous day so perfectly.

Now we’ll hand you over to the bride, who looked simply smashing in Delila Fox (love that bow at the back), which she paired with adorable Marc Jacobs Daisy sneakers – fun and practical!

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How we met

Bianca, the bride: We met in Bondi at one of my favourite bar/restaurants called The Bucket List one sunny summery Sunday in December. I was with a few of my friends and Ruben and his friend joined our table. He noticed we were drinking French Rose so brought over a bottle for us all to enjoy. From then on it was go time!

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Real Jewish Brides: Nargiz’s #NoRegrets Bachelorette Party in Vegas

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Nargiz will be marrying Ryan on 9th November 2019 at Farmington Hills Manor, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA. Click here to read all Nargiz’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Nargiz was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the wedding will combine her family’s traditions – they are Mountain Jews, or Gorski, and their culture is a mix of Persian and Middle Eastern influences – and Ryan’s American Ashkenazi background. (2) Nargiz’s mother tragically passed away last summer, so she has been facing wedding planning without her mom by her side. (3) Nargiz is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club! 

Final Check Off

We’ve been engaged for a year now and we have less than 4 months to go.  So far throughout the wedding planning process, I never felt rushed or stressed because we have had so much time. It has been really nice to have the time to pick and choose vendors, to take the time to make calls and meet with people.
 
I met with my wedding planner June from A June Event last week. We went over a rough timeline of the wedding day and he gave me a list of things I still need to complete. So now that it is getting closer to the wedding day, I need to cross off more and more things off our to do list. Last week was a super productive week thanks to my planner who pushed me to do more like booking valet, party bus, shuttle service for the out of town guests, challah bread, our ketubah, etc.
 

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A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Neon Jungle Jewish Wedding at the Mandarin Oriental, New York, New York, USA

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We are totally obsessed with the neon jungle theme Jessica and Brant chose for their Jewish wedding – it was just the most perfect way to bring the vibe of the tropical destination wedding the couple initially hoped for to their hometown of New York City, where they ended up marrying to keep the big day accessible to their friends and family.

Bride Jessica says she knew from the moment she got engaged she wanted her wedding to be unique, and did she ever pull it off! With bright colors galore, plenty of palms, a tequila bar, neon signs, and so many more Instagramable touches than we even have room to list here, it’s safe to say she achieved her goal of making her guests feel as if they were transported to the chicest jungle. Don’t miss the photos from The Day by Nathan Smith.

Obviously their stunning chuppah was the pinnacle of jungle chic, and we love that, wanting to get the maximum enjoyment out of it, Jessica and Brant opted to repurpose it for the party, displaying their gorgeous cake and a cool neon sign under it.

But don’t let the fab aesthetics make you think these two skimped on the ceremony – far from it. They made it a priority to honor their late grandparents – they used Brant’s grandfather’s tallit under the chuppah, and Jessica’s wedding band originally belonged to her great-great-grandmother (and has been used by all of the women in her family ever since!) – and even got their dog involved with a walk down the aisle. They made it a priority to find a beautiful ketubah that could serve as a cherished piece of art in their home, and opted for a totally stunning paper cut design from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Danny Azoulay.

We’ll let Jessica – who looked stunning in Monique Lhuillier – fill you in on the rest…


A New York Wedding

Jessica, the bride: We got married at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City. Brant and I always thought about having a warm climate destination wedding, and we looked almost everywhere. However, after a few months of looking, and keeping friends and family in mind, we thought Manhattan (our hometown) would be the best and easiest. Me being born and bred in Manhattan, and Brant growing up on Long Island, the city was our perfect destination. When we walked into the Mandarin ballroom for the first time and looked out those huge windows to see Central Park and the city skyline, it took our breath away.Continue ReadingContinue Reading