Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Real Jewish Brides: Alexandra Is Getting Married In Five Days!

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Alexandra will be marrying Jordan this coming Sunday (!) at The Grove in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. Click here to read all Alexandra’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Alexandra and Jordan met in college and have been together ever since. (2) They are planning a romantic fairy tale garden wedding inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream – LOVE! (3) Alexandra’s wearing Galia Lahav for the big day – one of our absolute fave Israeli designers!


My 5-days countdown

Hey STG community – Alexandra here for my final post before I say “I DO” on May 26th! Our wedding is quickly approaching and there is a seemingly never-ending list of to-dos. At the one-month-out point, brides are likely crazed with hair and makeup trials, dress fittings, food tastings, final conversations with the officiant, venue, band, photographer, florist, etc.!

Aside from plans for the wedding, there is also likely much to do for the honeymoon. For our trip to Greece and Paris, we have been researching and booking wine tours, cooking classes, ATV tours, boat days and much more! It is natural to be stressed, but I think that it is important to go with the flow (or at least try your best to) and remember to ENJOY these beautifully precious moments of your life.


Jordan and I in a heated baguette fight at the Eiffel Tower. We cannot wait to go back and also experience Greece for the 1st time!

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A Mira Zwillinger Bride for a Casually Elegant Destination Jewish Wedding at The Lawrence, Old Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel

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Jewish wedding at The Lawrence Old Jaffa Tel Aviv Israel_0083
Planning a wedding from 7,000 miles away isn’t easy. But you’d never know it looking at this gorgeous Jewish wedding, which LA-based Rachel and Yonatan planned all the way on the other side of the world in Tel Aviv.

Their secret? Amazing wedding planners. Specifically, Naama and Yael of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Naama Raicher Event Workshop. These two not only set the couple up with some of the best vendors Tel Aviv’s got to offer, they enabled the pair to actualize their vision of a wedding that felt less like a formal event and more like a casually elegant dinner party.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor LUZ, who managed both photo and video, did an awesome job capturing the vibe. Rachel and Yonatan say booking LUZ was one of the best wedding planning decisions they made, and we love Rachel’s description of LUZ’s stylish work as “something you would see across the room and think, ‘Wow, that’s a beautiful shot,’ and then as you approach closer ‘wait a minute, is that your wedding?’”

We’re obsessed with the pair’s Rothko-inspired ketubah by Stephanie Caplan of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Ketubah, and we love Rachel and Yonatan’s tip for making a destination wedding as painless as possible for your guests: over the months leading up to the big day, they sent a series of custom travel guides covering everything guests needed to know at that point in time, from favorite movies about Israel, to hotels and flight recommendations, to what to expect upon arrival at Israeli immigration, and go-to bars, restaurants and walks about town. Such a great idea!

There’s so much more to say about this stunner of a wedding – from the enchanting venue to the sunset ceremony held on the fly in a public park – but we’ll leave it to Rachel, who looked smashing in her Mira Zwillinger gown (followed by a fun, non-traditional floral party dress from Zimmerman) to tell you about all that…

Jewish wedding at The Lawrence Old Jaffa Tel Aviv Israel_0083
How we met

Rachel, the bride: I am in brand development and global marketing for the beauty industry and Yonatan is in finance and real estate. Although we had offices on the same hallway at the original WeWork location in Soho, it took us a few years to finally meet. We would often say “Hi, there” as we would pass each other but we both were so absorbed in our budding start-ups that there wasn’t much more than that.

Sometime later, I moved to a larger office on the other side of the floor and Yonatan finally felt compelled to knock on my door, introduce himself, and congratulate me on growing my team. Again a few months passed and nothing came of it. Then one day he popped up on my Tinder account. I swiped right and we’ve been together ever since. I came to find out later that I was also the first swipe to come up when he first opened his Bumble account. I guess we are just a match made in the social media stars 😉

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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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