Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

An Estee Couture Bride for an Interfaith Jewish-Nigerian Wedding at Heritage Club at Bethpage, Farmingdale, New York, USA

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Jewish-Nigerian wedding
We’re so excited to be featuring STG’s very first Jewish-Nigerian wedding – and it’s totally gorgeous! Bride Julia, an OB/-GYN and groom ChiChi, who is training to be a cardiologist, combined their backgrounds – hers Jewish, his Nigerian – into such a beautiful, memorable day.

Incorporating so many wonderful traditions from both cultures – an exquisite ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com and a lovely floral chuppah meet traditional Nigerian outfits and festive touches like the customary money dance – these two managed to craft  a one-of-a-kind celebration of their love.

We adore Janelle Brooke Photography’s spontaneous and natural action shots – she captures the energy and fun of the big day so well!

Now over to the bride, who looked stunning in Estee Couture…

PS Can we have a slice of that Sprinkles Wedding Cake?! 


How we met

Julia, the bride: We met in medical school, and were friends for a year before we started dating.

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How to handle overwhelm + stress during wedding planning {with Howard Cooper and Blake Ezra}

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Planning a wedding is exciting, there’s no question about that. But it can also be stressful – from dealing with family drama and pressure along the way to feeling less than comfortable being the center of attention on the big day, there are so many elements that can be anxiety-provoking.

Usually we focus on the fun and meaningful aspects of a wedding, and while those are always front of mind for us, the truth is there are a lot of difficult issues wedding planning can bring out (and that’s one of the big reasons why I started Smashing The Glass’s bride-to-be community, Brides Club – a safe space for everyone to be open and honest about the real ups and downs of the engaged life.). 

Meaningful conversations, and talking about mental health and weddings are so important – and that’s what I’m so excited to be chatting live with one of my favorite Jewish wedding photographers, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Blake Ezra, and Howard Cooper, one of Britain’s leading rapid change therapists, all about dealing with wedding anxiety.

Known for helping people to create rapid shifts in their thinking, Howard’s rapid change approach rejects the notion that deep and lasting change needs to take a long time. Drawing on a variety of psychological tools, Howard has supported thousands of individuals over the past 15 years on an international level, bringing about transformational changes to their lives. A specialist in helping people tackle fears and phobias, Howard uses a practical, dynamic and innovative approach to help people from all walks of life and ages.

With over 150 Jewish weddings under his belt (many of which have appeared here on Smashing The Glass) plus a BA (Hons) in Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Blake has a deep understanding of the traditions and rituals of a Jewish wedding and the ways brides, grooms, and families tend to respond to the unique dynamics a Jewish (or Jew-ish) wedding can bring out.

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A Stella York Bride for a Family-Centered Jewish Wedding at The Waldorf Hilton Aldwych, London, UK

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We are totally and completely in awe of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel’s exquisite photos from today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding. The way she captures the emotion, the details, and of course the Israeli dancing (there are some seriously unmissable action shots below!) – Claudine’s work never fails to bowl us over.

Another thing that consistently gives us the warm and fuzzies? When a couple prioritizes incorporating family into their big day. Danni, who works as a fundraiser for a Jewish charity, and Sam, an accountant, did just that, from having their parents help out with the planning to including as many family members as possible in their procession to the chuppah.

Both the bride and groom’s fathers drive black cabs in London, and in honour of their dads the pair opted to incorporate black cabs as a motif – love how they included a little black cab on their invitations!

And we love that Danni opted to pair her Stella York dress with her mum’s veil – which, with a few alterations, fit seamlessly into her bridal style. We’ll let her take things from here…


How we met

Danni, the bride: Before getting married we had been together for six and a half years. We met while at university, Sam came up to Leeds to surprise my housemate (and bridesmaid) and we got chatting… a few months later we met again and started going out. We’ve been together ever since.

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Real Jewish Brides: How Nargiz Picked Out The Right Vendors

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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! 


How I choose my vendors

Nobody tells you the amount of time goes into finding and picking out the right vendors for your wedding, and that’s probably because everyone has a different experience.
 
Whether it is picking out the right band, photographer, videographer, florist, planner, hair stylist, makeup artist (the list is endless), some brides (and grooms) need only meet with one company and choose them.
 
Others, on the other hand (like me), have to meet and/or talk to at least three different companies or individuals before making up my mind.

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A Suzanne Neville Bride for an Elegant Jewish Wedding at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London, UK

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Suzanne-Neville-Bride
We love it when a couple really brings their skills and passions into their Jewish wedding – and Samantha and Alex did just that. The bride, a video editor by profession and lifelong music lover on the side, added THE most special, personal touches to her big day – teaming up with some of our very favourite London vendors to make it happen.

Given Samantha’s career, it’s no surprise she wanted only the best when it came to choosing a wedding videographer – and indeed, she opted for beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion. But instead of having her videography handle the whole business from start to finish, the team at Denee Motion handed their stunning footage over to Samantha and she edited it into her very own highlights film and wedding video – so special! (As if that’s not awesome enough, she also made a save-the-date video rather than sending out a standard paper note.)

This multitalented bride also happens to be an AMAZING singer, and she wanted to surprise Alex by performing at the wedding. She worked with the couple’s band, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Totem – who are just beyond awesome; in Samantha’s words, “watching them perform is like being at the greatest concert of your life” – to perform a song with Totem’s newly formed gospel choir. It made for such a special moment; please do scroll down and check out the video of her performance!

We love how photographer Paul Toeman captured all the emotion and energy of the day (and we’re totally obsessed with the post-wedding shoot he did of the couple wandering around London at midnight!). There’s lots more we could say about this wonderful wedding, but we’ll let the bride – who looked smashing in Suzanne Neville – tell you the rest…

Oh… and one final detail – the groom’s mother is the the manager at my daughter’s much-loved nursery. Mazal Tov Tina and family!


 
How we met

Samantha, the bride: We met at 18, he moved into the same flat as one of my best friends when he was at university in Manchester. I went up to visit my friend Anthony and ended up speaking to Alex for 2 hours instead. Fast forward 7 years when I happened to join his gym and bumped straight into him, a couple weeks later we went on a 3 hour dog walk and the rest is history.

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