Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

A Lyn Ashworth Bride for a Country-Meets-City Jewish Wedding at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue and the Savile Club in London, UK

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A country house-style Jewish wedding with all the convenience (and fun contemporary touches) of central London? Um, yes please!

Busy Abbie and Alastair are both doctors: she’s an obstetrician/gynecologist, he’s doing a PhD in trauma and orthopedics – so it’s a good thing they found dreamy venue the Savile Club close to home: see Miki Studios’ breathtaking photography and videography for evidence.

We’re crazy about the juxtaposition of classic and quirky they worked into their big day – from the custom-designed invitations honoring the groom’s love of succulents, by wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Bigday Designs (who, the bride says, were “totally charming in indulging my bizarre ideas”!) to the beautiful cake Alistair’s grandmother made the couple, covered in hundreds of handmade sugar rose petals she spent the couple’s whole engagement year making!

The pair’s music choice also mixed the traditional with the contemporary: it was key for them to find a live band who could nail both the Israeli music and party music for afterwards, and they found their perfect match in the Matzoh Boys – their singer is fantastic Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jonny Mosesson!

And we love that, after having heard friends’ regrets about not having spent enough time with their other half on the big day, Abbie and Alastair decided to make the not-so-traditional choice of a sweetheart table, which gave them some precious quality time to enjoy each other’s company during the meal.

Oh, and we can’t hand you over to Abbie without mentioning her romantic Lyn Ashworth gown with 3/4 French lace sleeves and a full silk chiffon skirt…

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How we met

Abbie, the bride: We actually met at medical school, when Abbie’s mum forced her to go to the Jewish Society Rosh Hashanah dinner in Nottingham! It was all going really well until Abbie realised that Alastair was a fresher and two years younger than her! Luckily Alastair won her back with his charms and the rest is history!

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Why LUZ’s Urban Photography Style Might Be Right for You

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This is a guest post by the team at international wedding photographers LUZ. 

Nowadays, there’s more diversity of style within the wedding industry than ever before: the event’s design, the wedding dress and groom suit’s styles, and of course the wedding photography style.

More often than not, when asked to imagine and describe wedding photography, people will refer to romantic photoshoot at sunset, or in a magical Norwegian forest.

But there is an up and coming alternative wedding photography style, one that appeals to couples who value an urban lifestyle — we’re talking about urban wedding photography.

What is urban photography?

While the focus of a photoshoot in a natural environment is the romance, the tenderness, and the fantasy of fairytales, urban wedding photography is all about using the day to day environment – the city – from a completely different perspective.

Different colors and textures of walls, light and shadow, movement, composition – these are all tools that we use to create an interesting (and beautiful) photoshoot. There are also different personal elements that can be integrated into the photoshoot: a specific color that excites you, the place you first met, or even just an amazing structure with architecture that takes your breath away and makes you want to look at it forever.

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A Meaningful Family-Forward Jewish Wedding at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, Santa Susana, California, USA

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What a treat to be blogging a beautiful Jewish wedding at one of our very favorite venues: SoCal’s stunning, Spanish-style Hummingbird Nest Ranch.

We’re obviously smitten with the lovely visuals Jessica, who works in entertainment marketing, and Michael, a high school statistics teacher, pulled together to make their big day pop – see the exquisite photos from One Love Photography and video from Fancy Fox for evidence -but we’re even more in love with all the wonderful meaning they brought to their wedding.

First off, the ketubah: sure, these two chose a gorgeous, fresh floral design from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent. But that’s just the beginning – to make the ketubah ultra-meaningful, the couple decided to write their own personal vows into their custom text (which they translated into Hebrew with some help from their families). Then, under the chuppah, Jessica and Michael read their own ketubah aloud together – isn’t that beautiful?!

We also love that – inspired by the memories of their late grandparents – the bride and groom worked with charity Petals for Patients to donate their wedding flowers to a local hospice at the end of the day. Such a wonderful way to make your wedding give back!

Jessica will fill you in on the rest of the details of this fab day…

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How we met

Jessica, the bride: We probably met way back in 2009 at a youth group convention that we both attended. Of course, there are pictures of Jessica with Michael’s friends and Michael with Jessica’s friends, but unfortunately none of us together. High school Jessica and Michael must not have made a good enough impression on each other but luckily, the universe had other plans and decided to give us one more shot at getting to know each other.

We reconnected online in 2013, after Jessica graduated from UCLA and Michael from the University of Michigan. Michael took Jessica out on their first date on December 5th, 2013 where we really hit it off. A few amazing dates, and less than a month later, we decided to kick off 2014 as an official couple.

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Real Jewish Brides: Gaby And Her 7-Week Countdown

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Gaby will be marrying David on 26th May 2019 at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, UK. Click here to read all Gaby’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Gaby and David met at work at an advertising agency in London (2) Gaby is Jewish and David is Christian, and they are planning an inclusive ceremony and party that will embrace both of their cultures (3) They are planning an urban luxe wedding in a converted London lighthouse – we LOVE the sound of this!


The 7-week countdown

We’ve reached April (and spring, Hurrah!), which means it is the penultimate month before my wedding, MADNESS! Since January came, it really has been full steam ahead. Time really has flown by.

Juggling a busy work schedule and planning a wedding has presented challenges, which I am sure all brides can relate to this. It is the mental exhaustion of never switching off. After a long day of work, the last thing you want to do is re-open your laptop and mull through multiple spreadsheets. Nevertheless, with a positive mental attitude and the end goal in sight, I have made my way through so many tasks that it has put my fiancé and in a fairly good place.


Image by Mireia Cordomi from Ruthie and Dan’s wedding

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A Limor Rosen Bride for a Jewish-Scottish Wedding at Winter Gardens Botanical Gardens and West Brewery, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

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When Tel Aviv chic meets Scottish tradition… We’re crazy about the way STG Brides Club member, Arden and Steven brought modern Tel Avivian colors and geometrics into their very Scottish venues, and we can’t get enough of PJ Phillips’ wonderful photos and videographer Sandy Butler’s gorgeous trailer.

Arden, a writer originally from Florida, and Steven, a Scottish developer, both work in tech in Tel Aviv, but they opted to marry in the groom’s hometown of Glasgow.

We love how they incorporated both Jewish and Scottish customs into their humanist ceremony – the traditional handfasting is really not to be missed! And neither is the gorgeous ketubah from wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubata.

And how perfect were their favors: mini bottles of oh-so-Scottish whiskey and gin from Tel Aviv’s own Milk & Honey Whisky Distillery?!

Arden, who looked stunning in Limor Rosen, will fill you in on the rest…


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How we met

Arden, the bride: We actually met at AM:PM (convenience store) in the neighborhood we used to live in! Not long after meeting, a friend connected us on Facebook and we started dating shortly after.

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