Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

An Essense of Australia Bride for a Jew-ish Wedding at Poundon House, near Bicester, Buckinghamshire, UK

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Jewish wedding Poundon House, near Bicester, Buckinghamshire, UK_0042

One of the things we most love here at Smashing the Glass is hearing how we’ve helped couples plan the Jew-ish wedding of their dreams. So when lovely bride Philippa (who just happens to be a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club) told us she found STG while looking for interfaith wedding inspo, it melted Team STG’s collective heart — and even more so when she told us reading other brides’ writeups of their Jew-ish weddings “made me realise we weren’t the only ones out there!”

So you can only imagine out delight in finding out that she and groom Jerome booked their officiant, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rabbi Paul Glantz, via STG! Rabbi Paul helped the couple — Philippa is Christian, Jerome’s Jewish — craft an ultra-personal ceremony that reflected both of their backgrounds and traditions, complete with plentiful description of the Jewish parts of the ceremony so everyone could follow along, plus an explanatory order of service crafted by the bride. This is such a smart idea if you know you’ll be having guests who are unfamiliar with Jewish wedding traditions!

We also love that toward the end of the ceremony, after the rabbi recited the traditional Jewish seven blessings in Hebrew, the couple invited some friends and close family to give seven humanist blessings in English!

And with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor the Function Band performing, this wedding was no slouch from an entertainment standpoint either. The Function Band are renowned far and wide for their ability to get the party started, and we’re not surprised that guest after guest came up to the couple to tell them how awesome the band was!

We haven’t even gotten to the fab rustic elegance aesthetic, the gorgeous floral chuppah, or Philippa’s stunner of a dress from Essense of Australia, but we’ll leave it to the bride — with some support from the fab photography by Pascal from Reportage, and videography by Cedar House Productions — to fill you in on all of that…


Jewish wedding Poundon House, near Bicester, Buckinghamshire, UK_0042Jewish wedding Poundon House, near Bicester, Buckinghamshire, UK_0042Jewish wedding Poundon House, near Bicester, Buckinghamshire, UK_0042Jewish wedding Poundon House, near Bicester, Buckinghamshire, UK_0042

How we met

Philippa, the bride: Jerome and I both work in the media industry – I’m a producer at a creative agency making commercials and promotional content, and Jerome is head of strategic development at a creative studio, working in VR and CGI.

We met through a mutual friend whom Jerome lived with at the time and we finally got together on a big group trip to Ibiza where we started kissing in the middle of a Hardwell gig at Ushuaia! We didn’t stop kissing after that. It didn’t take long for us to realise that it was meant to be and we moved into together after 3 months.

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Why York Place Studios’ Street Photography Style Might Be Perfect for Your Wedding

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This is a guest post by Dom & Liam Shaw of York Place Studios 

It’s Time To Stop Saying Cheese

As kids we’re all taught that when someone has a camera we should stop what we’re doing and smile sweetly into the lens. It’s an approach that’s really helpful for group shots but outside of that more formal setting having photographs of people sharing the same fixed smile tells us nothing about who they were or what was really happening.

We all have albums full of friends and family pulling that same pose through the landmark trips and occasions of our lives and we love them: they remind us of happy times and the places we’ve been and show the ways that we and the world around us have changed over time. The thing is though that a photograph has the potential to be so much more powerful than that.

For us a wedding isn’t really about tradition, elaborate settings or decoration (although all those things are wonderful additions!), it’s about sharing something very special with all the people you know and love from all the different phases of your lives so far. In fact it’s probably the only time all of these people will be in the same room at the same time, brought together from all walks of life by one common denominator: their affection for you.

So when we look at a photograph we don’t just want to see practiced smiles and unnatural poses, we want to see the gestures, expressions, private jokes and little personality quirks that remind you who all of these people really were, the dynamic of your relationship with them and what they meant to you.

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A Crystal Design Bride for a Romantic Destination Jewish Wedding with Moody Florals and Fireworks at Villa Montefiano, Fiesole, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

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Today’s Jewish wedding is 100% pure dreamy-misty-eyed romance. The fact that it took place at a totally stunning venue in Florence doesn’t hurt, obviously. But the couple’s excellent (and elegant!) taste, along with the amazing team assembled by their stellar wedding planner, Rossana from The Knot in Italy, is what really made the day.

We’re totally in love with the moody glam look Andrea, an executive assistant/office manager, and Seymone, an attorney, cultivated. Between the lush florals (peonies and eucalyptus!), twinkly lights, and liberal use of candles — not to mention that subtly dramatic chuppah — every single detail is totally on point. Silvia Galora Photography and videographer Waterfall Visuals both captured the romance and visual splendor of the day absolutely exquisitely.

Oh, and did we mention that there were fireworks? And not just the metaphorical kind.

We’ll let Andrea, who looked stunning in her dreamy princess gown from Crystal Design, fill you in on the details…

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Jewish wedding Villa Montefiano Fiesole Florence Tuscany, Italy_0016

Jewish wedding Villa Montefiano Fiesole Florence Tuscany, Italy_0016
How we met

Andrea, the bride: I met Seymone 5 years ago in the basement cafe of our then-office building. This is our story as told on our wedding website:

Andrea captured Seymone’s attention in the basement cafe at their old (now demolished) office building in Century City, CA. Seymone’s first words, “How’s the soup?” led him to finding out Andrea worked at the real estate firm on the 2nd floor.

The next day, Andrea would receive an edible arrangement and a card that read, “It was lovely meeting you in the cafe yesterday, hope the next time I see you is over dinner and drinks – SJ.”

After many adventures and years of getting to know each other Seymone popped the question on February 16, 2017.

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2019 Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Rebekkah + Jakob: How They Met To The Present Day…

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 3rd gorgeous bride from our crop of 2019 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Rebekkah, who will be marrying Jakob on 11th July 2019 at The Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada.

THREE FACTS: (1) Rebekkah and Jakob were introduced by mutual friends while Jakob, who is from Germany, was in Rebekkah’s hometown of Calgary on a specialized work visa. (2) They are getting married at a beautiful mountain resort in a national park in Alberta, Canada! (3) Rebekkah is a “very satisfied member” (her words) of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!


How We Met

Hello everyone, my name is Rebecca Singer. I am 26, I grew up on a farm in southern Alberta (western Canada). I am not your average Jewish bride, but despite my different lifestyle I am still just a Jewish girl with a crazy loving mom and a crazier family.

My fiancà© Jakob and I met August 2015 on wait for it… Tinder, well, half on Tinder. We were also set up by a mutual friend, but it wasn’t till we swiped each other right that I took him up on a date. Jakob is a master gun maker who at the time was living here in Calgary, Canada, on a work visa – he’s from Regensburg, Germany. I was then studying while working at a professional show jumping barn.

We spent our first date walking our dogs along a river, I really wasn’t sure how I felt about Jake other then that I liked him and that I LOVED his dog. I am obsessed with dogs so when this hottie rolled up with a very cute and incredibly well-trained Springer Spaniel I was impressed.

We had a nice time chatting and walking until, as if in a rom com, it started to downpour on us. I made a break for my car and opened the back door for my German Shepherd Zus to jump in, but his dog Pauly bounded in before my Zus had a chance to. Our date continued with us stuck talking in my car with two stinky wet dogs chilling in the back seat. That’s been our relationship ever since, me, him, and our dogs.

Before I met Jakob, I knew exactly the qualities I wanted the love of my life and future husband to have, and Jakob has every one of those things…. except that he is not Jewish. In the beginning I was medium hung up on the him being German thing. I think it’s because I’m the great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. It didn’t take my Jakob long to show me how wrong my preconceptions had been. He truly is the sweetest man’s man I have ever met.

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A Mira Zwillinger Bride for a Garden Oasis Jewish Wedding at the 1 Hotel, South Beach, Miami, Florida, USA

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We’re experiencing some hardcore dress envy today. Seriously, HOW exquisite is bride Alyssa’s soft, whimsical Mira Zwillinger gown? It’s so dreamy, and just the right level of princess-y without being over-the-top. The story of how she ended up choosing it from beloved SoFla bridal boutique Chic Parisien is pretty epic too!

And how about Alyssa and Leon’s AMAZING chuppah?! Constructed from manzanita branches and strewn with a bed of orchids (!), it’s incredibly special — and absolutely perfect for the couple’s natural aesthetic, with a focus on greens and woods accented by bright whites.

This gorgeous wedding featured a seriously star-studded array of vendors, from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ruth Mergi, who provided the couple’s beautiful modern chuppah, to Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ana Paz Cakes, who crafted an oh-so-elegant orchid-studded white tiered cake, to photographer Emily Harris, who captured some incredibly emotion (not to mention a whole lot of pretty).

We love that Alyssa made the bold decision to dress her bridesmaids in white — it’s not for everyone, but the shots of the bridal party all together are pretty stunning!

Take it away, Alyssa!

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Garden Oasis

Alyssa, the bride: We got married at The 1 Hotel. I chose this location because it is absolutely breathtaking. The decor in the hotel is exactly my style and the theme I wanted to portray–everything is green, wooden decor, earthy and organic feeling.

The live green plant wall in the reception room was also a major selling point for me. It really added to the room and made for a great photo back drop for all of my guests!

Also, every time I walked into the hotel I felt like I was in some sort of garden oasis. I wanted my guests to feel like they were at a destination wedding on vacation and I really felt like the 1 Hotel provided that feel.

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