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Real Jewish Brides: Alexandra’s Wedding Planning’s Ups And Downs

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Alexandra will be marrying Jordan on 26th May 2019 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!


Overcoming family drama: take a deep breath, have a positive mindset, and move forward!

Let’s be real – wedding planning is SO exciting and fun, but it can also be stressful! A LOT goes into a wedding and it may be overwhelming to get it all done (unless you have a wedding planner ????). Everyone has their own story, with ups, downs, and a whole lot in between. Today I’d like to share my three biggest wedding planning struggles with the STG community.

The first hurdle we faced on our wedding journey involved conflict with family. Very shortly after Jordan and I got engaged in May of 2017, we decided that we would get married mid-June 2019! We consistently shared this with family, friends, and strangers alike. About six months after our engagement, my older brother proposed to his girlfriend.

We were overjoyed, until they very quickly decided that they too wanted to be married mid-June 2019, which naturally created tension. Their defense was that they didn’t understand why our wedding was “more important” than theirs. Jordan and I have never felt that our wedding should take priority, however, we were engaged and openly settled on the timeframe for six months, so we did feel that they should concede.

They didn’t, as they had already found a venue and secured the date, whereas we had been taking our time venue-hunting with our long (2-year) engagement.


Image by Catullo Photography

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A Pronovias Bride for a Destination Jewish Wedding with 2400 Roses at La Quinta de Jarama, in Madrid, Spain

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Nothing gives us the warm and fuzzies like hearing that we’ve helped a couple plan their Jewish (or Jew-ish!) wedding. Especially when said wedding is as gorgeous as today’s knockout destination celebration with an absolute stunner of a rose chuppah – yup, that chuppah alone contained a whopping 1500(!) roses.

Deborah, a solicitor in a City firm, and Michael, who works in finance, live in North London, but they opted to marry in sunny Madrid, where the groom grew up (#margolovichwedding).

This is obviously a totally stunning wedding from a visual standpoint – Victor Lax’s emotion-filled photography and Al Agua’s moving trailer attest to that – but we’re seriously touched to hear that we inspired some of the emotional details of the day.

For instance, Deborah reports she got the idea to incorporate her late father’s tallit into the chuppah design right here on STG – such a beautiful way to incorporate a loved one into the ceremony.

The couple also sourced their exquisite papercut ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Danny Azoulay – featuring a gold ldea design of Jerusalem vineyards, in honor of their having met on Birthright in Jerusalem – aww!

There are so many more great details, but Deborah, who looked so elegant in her princess-style Pronovias gown (with pockets!) will fill you in on the rest of the story…

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How we met

Deborah, the bride: We met ten years ago on Birthright in Jerusalem when we were both students and got engaged in November 2016 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, so this wedding has been a long time in the making!

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Facebook Live Catch Up: Luxe Wedding Dress Trends for 2019/20 – Live from Mirror Mirror London

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I’m so excited to share with you my latest Facebook Live from one of the world’s most gorgeous bridal boutiques, London’s Mirror Mirror (a much-loved Recommended Vendor), I was lucky enough to meet with co-founders Maria and Jane, sisters-in-law who started their business 30 years ago out of a shared passion for artisan bridal fashion, and we had wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Adrian Stone behind the camera.


These two inspirational ladies, who I got to know after noticing that so many of our STG Real Brides bought their gowns from Mirror Mirror, are both designers and stockists of some of the hottest international bridal designers, including Nurit Hen, Hayley Paige, YolanCris, Gemy Maalouf, and Atelier Pronovias. So who better to talk us through the top luxury wedding dress trends for 2019/20?

We had the amazing Reportage Gallery on hand to sneak some behind-the-scenes photos. They were a joy to work with, and I’m absolutely delighted to share the images they snapped with you!

Maria and Jane started off showing us some stunning dresses from their own Mirror Mirror Couture collection. We saw some totally gorgeous gowns and chatted about some of the top bridal trends for the coming year. 

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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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