Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Engagement Ring Inspo {Our Top Picks from Browns Family Jewellers}

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Helen Warner Photography | IG: @helenwarnerphotography | Facebook : @HelenWarnerPhotography

Alright, hands up – how many of you out there are sneaking peeks at STG while waiting to get engaged? Well, today we have something special for you lot: engagement rings! They’re one of the most fun aspects of engagement, but one that we don’t tend to talk about too much here on the blog. 

That’s all changing now, because we have an awesome collection of our top picks for engagement rings from STG fave Browns Family Jewellers. Based in the UK but shipping worldwide, Browns has got a fantastic selection of engagement rings to suit all styles, from vintage to modern, simple to ornate – and  if you’re looking to branch out from the standard diamond, they’ve got some amazing options featuring colorful stones. They’re known for their fantastic and attentive customer service, too. 

We’ve chosen our favorites from their extensive range, and we’re so excited to share them with you – there are some seriously stunning rings on offer, with some really unique styles that will make you stand out from the pack of engagement selfies on Insta – and some classics too, of course! Read on to find your perfect engagement ring from Browns Family Jewellers. 

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An Ines di Santo Bride for a Destination Jewish Wedding at Villa Grabau in Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

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Happy 4th of July to all our American readers! What are you all doing to celebrate? Jetting off on a quick getaway to, say, Tuscany, by any chance? No? Us neither. But we are doing the next best thing, living vicariously through Helen and Jared’s oh-so-romantic Jewish wedding at Villa Grabau #swooooooon

And what a wedding it was. Can we talk about bride Helen’s out-of-this-world Ines di Santo gown? That train! That tulle! And that’s not even mentioning the painfully delicate beadwork on the bodice. It’s just the absolute perfect blend of sweet and sexy, dramatic and effortless. We are such massive fans of Ines di Santo — you may recall our Facebook Live with her last year— and it’s always a privilege to feature one of her brides on STG.

And once Helen had chosen it, she was pretty much good to go. As busy attorneys, Helen and Jared didn’t have  much time to devote to wedding planning, and they were so thrilled that their trusted wedding planners, Benedetta and Elena from Luccaorganizza, were able to give them the dreamy Tuscan day they wanted with minimal guidance.

Benedetta and Elena helped the couple pick everything from their venue(fun fact: it was once featured on the Bachelor), to their phenomenal photographer, Alessandro Colle. 

In Helen’s words, “Our planners made everything SO easy for us that I have to pretend to understand what other brides are talking about when they refer to ‘wedding planning stress.’” That’s some serious praise! Now over to the bride herself, who’ll fill you in on all the details of the day…

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Helen, the bride: We are attorneys in Los Angeles — as most tales of romance go, we met in law school at UCLA. Little did we know, despite only crossing paths for the first time in law school, our parents lived mere minutes from each other our whole lives and my sister and one of Jared’s younger brothers were in the same class together in high school! Truly a small world.

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Real Blogging Brides: Jennifer: Our Trad(ish)ional Egalitarian Jewish Wedding

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Jennifer will be marrying Charlie on 5th August 2018 at Dartmouth House in Mayfair, London, UK. Click here to read all Jennifer’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Jennifer and Charlie first met when they were just 17 years old! (2) They are planning an intimate elegant black tie trad(ish)ional Jewish wedding incorporating plenty of personal touches, their sense of humour, and love of all things rose gold (3) Jennifer is a wedding photographer herself so is planning her wedding as an industry insider!


An egalitarian wedding

I have always had a very strong sense of my Jewish identity. I grew up as a member of Belsize Square Synagogue (editor’s note: see the wedding published yesterday at Belsize Square Synagogue, here). I sang in the choir, taught in the Cheder and really understood what it was to be part of a community.

Belsize Square is an independent Synagogue, with a modern, egalitarian approach to Judaism, which is important for Charlie and I to reflect at our wedding. Charlie joined at the beginning of this year and has also fallen in love with the unique character of the Synagogue.

There is no “right” or “wrong” way to have a Jewish wedding, and this is something I love about our religion, it can be interpreted whilst respecting tradition. For us, having an egalitarian wedding is paramount.

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A Kenneth Winston Bride for a Musical Jewish Wedding with DIY Touches at Belsize Square Synagogue and the Liberal Club, London, UK

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We all know how overwhelming wedding planning can be. There are so many choices to be made, from color schemes to venues to symbolism and more — and so many vendors to choose from. Of course a wedding planner can be a huge help in sorting through everything that’s out there and focusing your vision, but what if you want to do a lot of the planning yourself?

Today’s couple, Bekka, a lecturer in international relations, and Benjamin, a musician and lecturer in music went for a wedding consultancy session with Smashing the Glass’s own Karen to help and advise with their Jewish wedding.

She directed them toward many of their fantastic vendors, from Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor Once Upon A Paper, who provided the couple’s beautiful watercolor guest book, to Adams Photography, who captured all the emotion and excitement so exquisitely, to Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor Prezola registry, which Bekka and Benjamin loved for its wonderful selection of gifts from different stores in the UK, as well as cash funds, Judaica, and charities, to The Wedding Gallery, the world’s first wedding department store, for the groom’s outfit.

All this freed up their time and energy to focus on the many DIY elements the pair incorporated into their wedding.

Bekka and Benjamin designed their invitations themselves and built their own chuppah, but music is where the pair really put their own stamp on the day. For one thing, their ceremony venue, Belsize Square Synagogue, was chosen because Benjamin is the congregation’s music director. So it was only natural that he arranged and composed pieces to be performed during the ceremony, performed by Benjamin’s quartet, bOYbershop, and three (!) choirs that he conducts.

We’ll leave it to Bekka, who looked beautiful in her ivory lace Kenneth Winston dress, to fill you in on the rest…

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A Venue with History

Bekka, the bride, and Benjamin, the groom: We got married at Belsize Square Synagogue. We chose it as Benjamin has worked there as musical director for 12 years.

The evening was at the Liberal Club (1 Whitehall Place). Bekka found the venue online. The venue had a small personal connection as Benjamin’s grandfather was a member of the Liberal Party, and Bekka’s father is fascinated with William Gladstone.

Mainly, however, we just loved the venue when we saw it. We also loved the idea of a dusky double decker bus ride through London from the synagogue (particularly for our international guests).

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5 Ways to Incorporate Jewish spirituality into your wedding and home – with Micaela Ezra, founder of AHYIN

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This Monday July 2, we are going live with the incredible Micaela Ezra, founder of AHYIN, to talk about  how to incorporate Jewish spirituality into your wedding and home.

As brides, we spend so much time thinking about the aesthetics and logistics of our big days, sometimes it’s easy to overlook the spiritual element of your Jewish (or Jew-ish) wedding — and of the home you’re building together.

That’s why I’m SO thrilled to be going live with NYC-based Micaela Ezra, the powerhouse designer behind AHYIN, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous line of contemporary Judaica that we on Team STG are absolutely OBSESSED with.

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You’ll learn all about:

– How to incorporate spirituality in the lead up to your wedding

– How you might want your wedding to “feel” as opposed to material elements

– What spiritual Jewish path you might want to embark on with your partner

and so much more!

There’ll also be an exclusive gift from Micaela for everyone who watches… you won’t want to miss this!

We welcome any questions you may be – either comment live during the broadcast, or you submit a question in advance by emailing karen@smashingtheglass.com

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