Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Real Jewish Brides: Jay Finds Her Perfect Wedding Dress

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Jay will be marrying Tom on 24th November 2018 at Hyatt Churchill, London, UK. Click here to read all Jay’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: Jay and Tom met on Tinder (Tinder For The Win!) (2) These two are planning a big fat Jew-ish wedding (Jay is Jewish, Tom is not) but in Jay’s words: “Tom was brought up in Edgware and has more of a love for chopped liver and bagels than I do!” (3) Jay is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor and Tom works at Facebook.


Finding My Dress: Where To Start?

From the moment I got engaged, finding my dress was the one thing I was most excited for, but also the most nervous about!

We are surrounded with programmes like ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ and as soon as you get engaged your Instagram and Pinterest boards are filled with images of beautiful women in amazing wedding dresses! Where do you even begin? That was the question I kept asking myself, as I had never really thought about what style of wedding dress I would one day wear.

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Image by Blake Ezra from Francesca and Ziek‘s wedding

Not Like In The Movies

I would like to think of myself as someone who is quite decisive and has a good understanding of what suits me, however, when it came to finding a wedding dress I went in with an open mind and wanted to take on board all the advice I could.

I started to scour Pinterest and pulled together some dresses I liked. I found a dress that I quite liked the look of by Jesus Peiro, and by pure co-incidence my mum had also been doing some online browsing and had come across the same dress (we often do this!). Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Hayley Paige Bride for a Sparkling Winter Jewish Wedding at The Allan House, Austin, Texas, USA

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Jewish wedding The Allan House ​in Austin, Texas USA_0001
You spend so much time and energy coming up with a beautiful chuppah design for your Jewish wedding — isn’t it a shame that it only really features for the duration of the ceremony?

Lindsay, who produces TV commercials, and Ben, a project manager for Google Fiber, thought so. And when you see the photos of their fantastic rose-strewn canopy, by Gia at Cory Ryan Photography, we think you’ll see why.

Loving the symbolism of the chuppah as their“new home,” after the ceremony they set up underneath it so that guests could come talk to them. They even stayed put under the canopy for dinner — such a great way to resolve that mealtime seating dilemma, right?!

Speaking of the meal, we just cannot get over Lindsay and Ben’s Fantastic Mr. Fox-themed wedding cake, inspired by the pair’s favorite movie. The cake topper, naturally, was bride-and-groom foxes, and the bottom layer featured the sweetest quote from the film.

Now over to the bride, who looked smashing in her striped dress by Hayley Paige…

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How we met

Lindsay, the bride: We were introduced by a mutual friend who years later confided in us that “she didn’t think we would hit it off THIS well.” ​

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A Laid-back, Colorful Jewish Wedding (with two glass smashes!) at High& in Tel Aviv, Israel

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What’s better than smashing the glass at a Jewish wedding? How about smashing TWO glasses? Today’s fab couple, Yael, a travel coordinator, and Kfir, an enterprise manager, had a smash glass each at their free-spirited Tel Aviv wedding. What an awesome way to add some gender equality into the traditional Jewish wedding ceremony — and to double the drama of the big moment!

From start to finish, this Jewish wedding is full of one-of-a-kind touches like that, and we love that Yael and Kfir did so much to combine their tastes and personalities with tradition.

For example, Yael followed tradition and chose to wear white — but she went for a super simple, yet very sexy, dress, rather than an OTT ballgown. And to keep the all-white look from getting too cookie-cutter, she made sure to add in fuchsia shoes and an ultra-colorful flower headpiece in fuschia and violet — as brilliantly captured by photographer Lior Rotstein.

And the double smash glasses weren’t the only unusual thing about the ceremony, either. Yael and Kfir opted not to get married through the Israeli Rabbanut, opting instead for a customized ceremony that embodied their own values while remaining true to Jewish tradition. Our favorite (well, second favorite) bit? Their officiant opened the ceremony with a special speech he wrote based on things the pair had told him about themselves and their relationship. Aww!

Yael will fill you in on the rest…

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How we met

Yael, the bride: We met on OK Cupid 🙂

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Paper Wedding Stationery vs Digital Invitations – Which Should You Choose?

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Greenvelope
Invitations: Greenvelope.com | @Greenvelope

Here at Smashing The Glass we are HUGE fans of great design and beautiful typography so it will come as no surprise to you that we LOVE wedding invitations — paper and digital  — with equal  measure. 

Both options have their share of pros and cons, and sometimes the answer isn’t as straightforward as you’d think. In fact, there isn’t a right answer at all. Ultimately, you just need to weigh what details and features make sense for you as a couple.

So today we’ve asked our wonderful friends at Greenvelope to highlight several points to help determine if digital or paper invitations are right for you.

(And by the way this is in NO WAY a promoted post – we love digital and paper stationery in equal measure – and wanted to create a post to help you decide which option might be right for you as a couple!).

Let us know what you’re going for in the comments below.

Greenvelope
Invitations: Greenvelope.com | @Greenvelope

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An Ines Di Santo Bride for a Super Luxe Secret Garden Destination Jewish Wedding at Soho Beach House in Miami, Florida, USA

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Today’s Jewish wedding is through-the-roof glam. From the couple, Alfee and Geoff, who are basically supermodels, to the breathtaking floral chuppah (flowers FOR DAYS), to the bride’s custom Ines Di Santo gown, there’s just SO much we adore.

Alfee dreamed of an enchanted secret garden aesthetic, and does this wedding ever deliver… Between that chuppah — seriously, it almost looks like a rose bush just magically grew into the shape of a perfect canopy — and the luxe florals by Jose Graterol Designs adorning the tabletops, this is basically a floral fantasy.

Oh, and did we mention all the fairy lights, and the super cool lanterns hanging from trees?! Davina and Daniel did such a fab job capturing all the stunning details — which is even more impressive given that this wedding took place at night, with no natural light to lean on.

The day was all made possible by the couple’s fantastic wedding planner Kristen Daniel from Mindy Weiss, the wedding planning superstar you may remember from our epic Smashing Summit earlier this year — and if you don’t, what are you waiting for?! We’ve got the whole thing recorded for you to watch at your leisure.

Now over to beautiful bride, Alfee…

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Jewish wedding at Soho Beach House Miami Florida USA_0001

Jewish wedding at Soho Beach House Miami Florida USA_0001

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A Destination Wedding in Miami

Alfee, the bride: We got married at Soho Beach House in Miami. We wanted to have a destination wedding and loved the vibe of this entire hotel; we essentially took over the whole hotel for the weekend! It was so much fun.

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