Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

A Carol Hannah Bride for an International Jewish Wedding at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, New York, New York, USA

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You don’t get much more cosmopolitan than today’s couple. Hayley, from New York, and Emmanuel, from Paris, met while living in London, and chose to hold their Jewish wedding (well, one of them…) in the bride’s super-cool hometown, whilst including so many gorgeous creative details!

Their wedding at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers celebrated their international backgrounds through details like bilingual French-English invitations and a custom designed map displaying all of the places both Hayley and Emmanuel have lived, and that have been important in their relationship.

We love this idea for an ultra-personal touch, and Smartup Visuals came up with the most fun design — you’ve got to see Corey Torpie’s photos of it!

You know how we said in the intro that one of the duo’s weddings took place in NYC? Well, that’s because these two had already gotten legally married in a civil wedding in France, the groom’s home country, which let them let loose and enjoy the celebration and religious ceremony at wedding part 2.

With guests from all over the world, making sure everyone felt included was paramount. One lovely way Hayley and Emmanuel made all of their guests feel part of the day was by having a group reading of the Seven Blessings. They found some modern interpretations of the Seven Blessings they liked, printed out copies for all the guests, and asked everyone to join in during the ceremony — isn’t that beautiful?

Hayley, who looked stunning in her modern, almost sculptural Carol Hannah gown, will fill you in on the rest…

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How we met

Hayley, the bride: Emmanuel and I met a few years ago when we were both living in London. Ironically, I had lived in Paris – where Emmanuel is from – for a few years before moving to London, and Emmanuel had lived in New York (my hometown) before moving to London. We had lived in the exact same places but at different times, so we connected right away.

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It’s Our Birthday and To Celebrate Take 20% off our Smash Glass Pouches – Today Only!

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Smash-Pouch-Jewish-WeddingFive years ago I hit the ‘go live’ button on my very first blog post — the real Jewish wedding of my brother to his incredible wife, (and my one-in-a-million sister-in-law), Lee Ann… Just the most gorgeous wedding for very many reasons!

Five years later we are a fabulous team of five with gorgeous Maria, our fabulous editorial assistant; ever-wonderful Claire, our much-loved client relations manager; amazing Emily, our fantastic features writer, and amazing Megan; our very talented social media manager. And, of course, there’s me, Karen, the founder and editor!

We couldn’t let our 5th birthday pass without a little gift for you, so to celebrate we are slashing our coveted smash glass pouches for under the chuppah by 20%, but the special discounted price is for today only!

More about the Smash Glass Pouch

As founder of Smashing The Glass (and with a background in award-winning creative design and branding), I personally created this gorgeous lined Smash Glass Pouch with you in mind.

Enough already with those chuppah glasses wrapped in foil, a napkin, or an old-fashioned velvet pouch… Your Smash Glass Pouch should be as Instagrammable as the rest of your wedding, right?!

Smash Glass Pouch
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2018/19 Real Blogging Brides: Introducing Jay + Tom: How They Met To The Present Day…

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 6th gorgeous bride from our crop of 2018 and 2019 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Jay who will be marrying Tom on 24th November 2018 at Hyatt Churchill, London, UK.

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.


How we met

I am 26 and met Tom just over 4 years ago. We met on Tinder – something we tried to keep quiet at first, however, Tom’s first introduction to my family over a Friday night dinner back at my parents house, where anything goes – my sister decided to explain to the whole table of sixteen people about Tinder, so the secret was well and truly out of the bag!

We had our first date at a The Fence in Farringdon, I knew straight away I liked this guy, he made me laugh and we just seemed to click. We spent a lot of time together and things were moving forward pretty quickly, spending many weeknights and weekends together.

About six weeks after we met, I was going away for Christmas with my family skiing, we spoke briefly the first few days of me being away and messaged each other Christmas morning to wish each other a wonderful day, I then never heard from Tom again.

I put on a brave face and pretended it didn’t mean much but I was a little bewildered by it all when I saw an email in my inbox with a long apology. I guess when you meet on Tinder you don’t necessarily think you are going to meet The One…

For me I knew what we had was something special, for him I guess he had to come to that decision himself. I was very reluctant to meet him again, as I wasn’t up for playing games… but the rest is history!

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An Ultra-Personal DIY Gay Jewish Wedding in the Hamptons, Amagansett, New York, USA

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We love a good DIY Jewish wedding here at Smashing The Glass, and Adam and Curtis’s intimate day in the Hamptons ticks ALL of our boxes. NYC couple Adam, a senior news producer for CBS News’ 24/7 live streaming network CBSN, and Curtis, an actor and teaching artist currently performing in Angels In America on Broadway, in search of an affordable place to host a wedding weekend, found a gem of a house (with 17 bedrooms!) in Amagansett, in the Hamptons, via VRBO.

Looking at Libby Christensen’s artistic, emotion-filled photos of the day, you’d never guess this wedding was pulled off on a tight budget. But thanks to plenty of help from family and friends, Adam and Curtis were able to pull off an ultra-chic day without spending a fortune.

One of the biggest labors of love was food. Rather than going for a traditional caterer, the pair ordered food from Fresh Direct. The food was delivered to their NYC apartment the day before the wedding, and friends helped them drive all 70 (!) boxes out to the Hamptons so it would be ready on the day.

The couple’s super-devoted wedding party came through to save the day when some inevitable wedding mishaps occurred, too — you’ve got to see what one of the groomswomen did when the cake topper Adam and Curtis had ordered didn’t arrive on time…

The couple calls their wedding a group effort, and the day was really all about honoring their community. At their super-intimate ceremony Adam and Curtis asked their guests to stand around the chuppah, circling them in support and love.

Now over to the grooms, who looked incredibly handsome in their suits from ASOS, Adam ina tweed and Curt in maroon…

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How we met

Adam and Curtis, the grooms: We met on Tinder.

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A Pronovias Bride for an Intimate Last-Minute Jewish-Australian-Danish Wedding at Spring Restaurant, Somerset House, London, UK

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We dare you to take one look at today’s stunner of a Jew-ish wedding and guess how long the couple spent planning it. Two years? One year? Six months? No, no, and no! Lauren, a travel writer (of Princess with a Backpack fame!) and Christopher, a tax lawyer, planned their wedding in a mere eight weeks! SAY WHAAAAT?!

That’s not a typo – this fab day really did come together in a mere two months, without even a planner to expedite the process. And not only that, the couple planned their ultra-chic London day just shortly after relocating to the city from NYC!

The globetrotting duo (Lauren is Australian, while Christopher hails from Denmark) found a perfect venue in Spring Restaurant.

The elegant space had tons of built-in dà©cor, from hanging foliage to fairy lights; all the couple needed to do was throw in some stylish modern florals in white and green from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hayford & Rhodes to make their venue was 100% wedding-ready.

You might expect that a Jewish-Australian-Danish wedding would yield some cool cultural fusions — and Lauren and Christopher didn’t disappoint. It just takes one look at Ivan Franchet’s stunning photos to see the energy and the love that went into the day.

The touching ceremony embraced Lauren’s Jewish heritage with touches like a gorgeous pared-down chuppah from The Chuppah Design Co (the creation of our own former blogging bride Lauren Beadle!) as well as Danish tradition, in the form of a beautiful Danish love prayer.

And the couple incorporated some fun Danish traditions into their reception (hint: one involves kissing under the table!). Read on for all the details from lovely Lauren, who looked absolutely model-perfect in her elegant lace Pronovias gown…

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A London Wedding

Lauren, the bride: We got married at Spring Restaurant, Somerset House, London. We had just recently moved from New York to London a few months before and because our friends and families are based all over the world (my family is based in Australia and my husband’s friends and family are in Denmark), we thought London would be the perfect neutral ground to celebrate our wedding in our new city.

When I was looking for venues in London, I walked into Spring and immediately fell in love with the space. It was perfect: blue pastels on the walls, matched perfectly with the soft pink velvet lounges, tan leather dining chairs, blonde wood floorboards and crisp white tables. 

As it was the end of March, spring had officially begun, and what better place to celebrate than Spring in London. Spring also happens to be run by celebrity chef Skye Gyngell who is originally Australian; her signature style is seasonal and elegant, providing dishes that are unique with a farm-to-table approach. 

Our hotel (Langham London) was perfect for getting ready and staying the night of the wedding. Clearly, they have had many brides stay there before, so nothing was too much to ask, and the service was incredible. We also had a fantastic large suite, which gave 3 of us (mum and sister included) plenty of space to get ready for the big day.

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