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Pop Art Jewish wedding full of creative surprises, at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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“Just because the wedding industry encourages conformity, you don’t have to comply. Do it your way!”

Top advice from this morning’s bride, Melody, and yes she did! This is a wedding EXTRAVAGANZA. Seriously — I’ve never seen anything like it and the truth is, I don’t even know where to begin. Perhaps I should start by saying that I think this is one of my favourite weddings EVER to appear on Smashing The Glass and having blogged over 150 super cool real Jewish weddings I don’t say that lightly.

I love that the chuppah was created by the bride and features multi-coloured pom poms and green grass. I love that Melody walked down the aisle to a mash-up of Forever Young and Canon in D. I love that the bride and groom both wore custom Converse with ‘Let Love Win” embroidered down the side. I love that instead of the usual sit-down dinner, guests were treated to a ‘pop-up’ restaurant, where they had to make a reservation and come back for their table. I love that the bridesmaids wore flower ‘bib’ necklaces (yes Melody made that a thing!). And I love that the wedding theme was inspired by the artist Frida Kahlo and her vibrant colour palate. You see… anything can inspire your wedding theme, literally anything! Think outside of the box, and as far as your mind can take you.

There is also a a drag queen performing as Beyoncà© AND a flash mob of kids ‘interrupting’ the first dance. You have to see it to believe it (check it all out in the highlights video at the end by the super talented Rodinis Films).

Oh and gummy bears are loosely woven into this the big day too.

The whole shebang was documented by photography geniuses, Chrisman Studios. Every time I feature one of their weddings I know it’s going to be a memorable post, but this one is an absolute corker. It’s clear that Melody and Michael invested so much time and effort into making their wedding uniquely them and I can’t wait a moment longer to show it to you.

Come on then… let’s take a look. Over to Melody, today’s awesome bride.

Creative Jewish Wedding Beyonce drag queen
how we met

Melody, the Bride: We met through Mellow Mushroom (a national pizza franchise in the USA). Michael is a multi-unit franchisee, and my father is one of the founders of the company. My dad introduced us, he thought we would make a good match. We fell in love over pizza!

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A Pronovias bride and a Dolce & Gabbana groom for an ‘enchanted garden’ Jewish wedding, at Luton Hoo, Hertfordshire, UK

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I’m absolutely blown away by this morning’s wedding. Not only are the details divine, the Pronovias dress to-die-for and the planning, by Outrage Events, utterly fabulous, but Cassy’s write up of her and Mark’s day really comes from the heart — as did Cassy’s efforts for the entire wedding.

Frankly, any bride who gets married under a chuppah styled out of a giant birdcage adorned with brightly-coloured ribbons and a rainbow of flowers, is an absolute winner in my book. But Cassy takes the originality one step further with beautifully illustrated wedding stationery, matching bespoke smoking slippers for her and Mark (yes really!), a silent disco, and personalised hangover packs for every guest. I’m telling you, I love, love, love this wedding with a cherry on top!

There are all sorts of wonderful wedding vendors involved in this W-Day, including two of my much loved Smashing Suppliers, make-up artist Philippa Louise, and the immensely talented photographer and film-maker John Nassari who alerted me to this wedding in the first place. I’m such a huge fan of John Nassari’s. Not only are his images and film some of the best in the business, but he is a fantastic guy to boot – just a total pleasure to be around. Cassy certainly agrees – just read what she has to say about him! In fact I will hand you over to her right now for the full report.

Happy Friday lovelies… and for any of you that are venturing on down to Brides The Show tomorrow, I would absolutely LOVE to see you there!

Luton Hoo Jewish Wedding
how we met

Cassy, the Bride: Mark and I met when I was 13 years old and Mark was 17! He was a very close friend of my older brother and from the time we first met until we started going out, he was often in and around my life at my brother’s parties and birthday’s. My brother was naturally very protective and made it very clear to all his friends that I was completely, 100%, absolutely out of bounds! That being said, Mark was always ‘my favourite’ out of his friends and we got on amazingly well. When we started hanging out more regularly and on and one on one basis, just over 10 years later, that’s when the true foundation of our realtionship started. From there it went from strength to strength and we soon started going out (much to my brother’s absolute horror) However, once Mark explained his intentions were only honorable and I rationalised that actually this was a good thing, my brother realised it was a great thing one of his best friends would perhaps be his brother in law! Two years after we got together, Mark proposed and the rest, as they say, is history.

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How to add WOW to your wedding day

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This is a guest post by Aron Schlagman, owner and creative director of WHiTEPAPER event

A friend told me recently that the best part about creating that ‘stand-out moment’ for an event, and especially a wedding, is that it doesn’t have to cost very much at all. In fact, some of the most beautiful moments that are created for weddings are done so by the couple themselves – touching moments of real thought that express love for those attending their most special of days – leaving the longest lasting memories in the process.

So, where do I get me some of that WOW?!

I’m going to share a few top line tips and ideas in the hope that they may spark a flash of light in your own heads to create your own wedding stand out moments.

A traditional Wedding vs. a DIY Wedding

If you are planing a DIY wedding from the off, the opportunity to WOW might be greater, but so will the potential stress given just how much and how far you can go. For my own wedding, created in a very DIY style for 50 of our closest friends at an outside space in North London, everything had to have a personal touch. From ladies parasols to shade them from the sun to hay bales for seating with vintage throws as covers. Multicoloured water in antique crystal decanters as decor for a cheese table, to the herb used for the wrapping of the napkins. Afternoon tea with a twist through to the vintage 1920’s dress my beautiful bride wore on the day (and of course my yellow Converse). We’re also talking about shawls for the ladies (this was England in June after all and not the South of France) and a great selection of Whiskey’s for the gents.

What was one of the nicest elements though? Possibly the one which didn’t even relate to a design aspect of the day. For us, it was important that all of our friends could be there, and still be home in time to bath and put their kids to bed. Our event began at 3pm, was over by 6.30pm, and we said goodbye to our guests before heading up to town (still dressed up) for dinner at J Sheekey and an evening in a 5* hotel. Our guests appreciated it, stayed until the end, and avoided an expensive evening of babysitters and hangovers.

Some, all, or none of this might have worked had the event been in Claridge’s, but the point is that it might not have had to. A wedding recently attended in this very hotel was simply beautiful because tradition was where the WOW beauty was to be found, in of course, an already stunning space.

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Blue and yellow DIY Jewish beach wedding in Crete, Greece

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How about we all jet off this morning to Crete to revel in the big blue and yellow day of Meline and Damon? These two are just the cutest pair and their couple portraits are so full of warmth and affection that I’ve snuck a fair few into this post.

It’s the first time I’ve blogged a Jewish wedding from the beautiful Greek island of Crete, and the first where the bride is wearing yellow! There’s so much to love about this delicious destination wedding — the ceremony took place on the beach right by the shore, under a stunning talit chuppah overlooking the breathtaking sea views, and there are lots of creative DIY touches throughout the festivities that you’re going to love.

The couple decided to do away with many wedding traditions in favour of creating a day that reflected them as a couple as well as making it an amazing experience for all their friends and, family and I have to say that looking at the wonderful photos by Newman Photography (one of our much-loved Smashing Suppliers) it definitely made for a very special destination W-Day.

I’m totally in awe of Meline’s yellow wedding dress. The girl totally rocked that sunshine shade! She actually wanted to get married dressed up as an Elf princess or Princess Leia from Star Wars but Damon thought that was a bit too cheesy… In the end she went for this absolutely magnificent yellow gown, and in my mind it’s the perfect accompaniment to that scenic backdrop of blue skies and sandy beaches.

Get ready for an intimate, laid back wedding with sublime weather and an even more sublime couple.

Jewish Wedding Crete
how we met

Meline, the Bride: We met on the lawn on the University of Pretoria campus in South Africa over 10 years ago. I was embarking on a veterinary degree and Damon a mathematics degree (such nerds!). Damon had an apartment right next to the campus so people would hang out there a lot. We were friends for a few months before we got together. A few months later we moved in together and the rest, as they say, is history…

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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Adam and Hannah Photography

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A weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of Adam and Hannah from  Adam and Hannah Photography  (and mazal tov to them both – they’ve just become parents to an  adorable  baby daughter!)

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‘Contentment’ by  Adam and Hannah

I think it is impossible to pick one single photo out as the very best, or as our absolute favourite. Each photo comes with a whole story  of the  couple, their personalities, the day leading up to it  and  everything that came together for that  precise moment. But for me and Hannah I think there  is one  category of photographs that we love, perhaps more than others. We love the photos where we have managed to capture the split second where the bride and groom look at  each other, usually under the chuppah or in the badeken  room, and smile (or sometimes  well-up a little bit).

I think that this photo really demonstrates it,  Nicole looking at Josh  under the chuppah with utter contentment. What I really love about this photo, and others like it, is that the bride and groom  probably won’t even remember it happening. They will remember the  glass being smashed at the end of the ceremony, they will remember being thrown up on chairs during the dancing and the other ‘big’ moments, but  sneaking a quick glance at each other under the chuppah is something that will probably only come back to them when they see the photo. It’s one of the  reasons we love the job we do!”

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