Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog - Page 247 of 256

Freya & Tim | Outdoor Fun ‘n’ Games Jewish Wedding at Ketchum Rotary Park, Idaho, USA

18/10/2013 by Karen

This is a great example of a wedding that shows what you can achieve if you put a bit of time and effort in to doing something, and that a wedding doesn’t have to cost an absolute fortune! With the sun shining and your best friends and family around you, it’s easy to remember that the best things in life are free…cheesy but true.

Freya and Tim are both farmers – Tim is a 6th generation farmer in rural southern Minnesota and Freya is an organic farmer by profession and runs her own small produce business. Agriculture, food, and the outdoors is the core of who they are and being a totally ‘smashing’ couple and essentially being truly authentic to themselves, these elements came through beautifully and personally in their relaxed outdoor wedding.

A HOMEMADE, HANDMADE OUTDOOR WEDDING
Freya, The Bride: Our wedding was in Ketchum, Idaho and we held the ceremony and reception in Ketchum Rotary Park along the Bigwood river, the river upon which I grew up and love dearly. Tim and I didn’t really go for a theme or colour scheme. Everything was very simple and natural and the whole event was homemade and handmade – DIY style – very relaxed, like an afternoon picnic. We had lots of games like bean bag toss, ladder golf, hula hoops, bubbles, etc and these were played by both adult (and little) kids!

We had directional signs, chalkboards and such, all made by my husband. There was not much need for more decoration than that as it was such a beautiful venue.

MY OWN BRIDAL STYLE
I knew I wanted to be comfortable and feel like myself, not all made-up and princess-like. After trying on too many “cupcake” dresses, I found the “mini-cupcake” and loved it. I paired the dress with Canadian-made handcrafted Boulet western boots, that were a gift from my husband a few months before we got engaged. He knows I love my boots, and the collection keeps growing.

In terms of jewellery, I wore my mothers, sisters, late-grandmothers and my pearl bracelets. It meant a lot to me to have all those women with me under the chuppah….

My interview with Blake Ezra, one of the UK’s leading wedding photographers

17/10/2013 by Karen

Continuing with the Wedding Smashers series where I interview some of the best in the business, today I’m thrilled to be talking to Blake Ezra, one of my favourite wedding photographers.

I’ve admired Blake and his work for some time now. I’m not only incredibly enthralled by his energetic photography and attitude to business (and a tough business at that!) but the fact that he has an eye for love and emotion like no other.

I’ve been lucky enough to feature his work on the pages of my blog earlier on in the year, and today I’m going one step further, peeling back the layers, peering behind that lens and talking to the man himself.

For those of my readers who might not have heard of you can you introduce yourself — who you are, what you do, and your journey to where you are today?

My name is Blake Ezra, I live in north London with my wife and baby boy, and I’m pretty much addicted to taking photographs. The company I set up a couple of years ago, which now has a permanent studio and dedicated team of photographers and retouchers, photographs all manner of events, from beautiful weddings to corporate dinners and everything in between.

My professional photography journey actually started off in news, where I was thrown into all manner of situations as a full-time press photographer for four years — working for every major national newspaper in Britain and plenty of magazines too. The versatility needed for this type of work has certainly made me a much better all round photographer. I was shooting up to five jobs per day, every day — often on tight deadlines and in pressurized situations. A day could involve an early property shoot, a late morning Royal engagement, and some aerial helicopter based work in the early afternoon, followed by an evening riot!

When my wife and I got married last year, we hired two news photographers to cover the day, such is our belief that those trained in news photography are simply better prepared for any eventuality. I was first asked to shoot a wedding in 2010 (thank you Donna and Mark for taking a risk) and since then word has spread about my approach to wedding photography, resulting in being commissioned to shoot 32 amazing weddings in 2013, and being booked up well in advance for much of 2014 and 2015.

Michelle & Richard | Jewish/Celtic Winter Wedding at Babington House, Somerset, UK

16/10/2013 by Karen

I have no words for Michelle and Richard’s wedding. Truly. I will run out of adjectives trying to describe how magnificent everything is. The details are quite astonishing, the setting is magical, and I love the embracing of both the Scottish and Jewish cultures. The mix of traditions meld surprisingly beautifully (think the Hora followed by the Ceilidh; haggis bites served alongside potato latkes.. you get the picture – and it works!).

Scroll down and you will see bagpipers playing in the snow, exquisite floral designs, a stunning balletic Mira Zwillinger wedding dress, the most awesome and thoughtful wedding favours, and an incredible video by Gorgeous Films that may very well have you shedding a tear or three with its sheer beauty and sensitivity.

Now on top of that I admit that I whooped, hollered and clapped my hands with glee when I found out that with this wedding I’d be showcasing Especially Amy‘s sensational photography. She captures all the details of the day so emotively and she is a well-deserved Smashing Supplier.

So the lovely Michelle and Richard married back in January of this year (apparently the snowiest January on record) at one of my favourite places in the world, Babington House (part of the Soho House group) in Somerset. They chose this breathtaking venue, not only for its beauty, but because they could also take over the whole place and share the experience with friends and family over a couple of days.

A JEWISH / CELTIC THEME + A BEAUTIFUL VENUE

Michelle, The Bride: The theme of our wedding was to bring both of our cultures together, so essentially to have a Jewish/Celtic mix. Rich is Jewish, and I am half Irish, half Scottish, so it was important that all cultures were represented. So for instance we had a Ceilidh followed by the Hora; we had haggis and Irish soda bread, but equally we had Chanukah doughnuts; we had a rabbi, and we had our friend singing Ave Maria… etc etc. In terms of a colour scheme, we based it loosely around Weathered Kennedy Tartan (which made my Dad very happy!)

Our chosen venue was Babington House because it’s so very beautiful and because we could take over the whole venue and have our friends and family stay with us overnight and continue the celebrations the following morning.

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Smashing Pins: Beautiful chuppah ideas

14/10/2013 by Karen

This is the first in the series of Smashing Pins, where I’ll be choosing one of the Smashing The Glass pinterest boards to share with you. Pinterest is your best friend when it comes to planning your wedding as it’s not only useful for collating inspiring ideas and images, but your boards will also help give guidance to your suppliers.

Today I am looking at some really beautiful ‘chuppahs’ or ‘chuppot’ (for the uninitiated that’s the canopy under which a Jewish couple stand during their wedding ceremony). There never seems to be enough inspiring ideas for the all-important chuppah design and one of my most popular boards is definitely the chuppah ideas board. Here I’ve picked 25 out of the 67 pins currently on the board, from the beautifully simple to the outrageously lavish.

You can see the entire Chuppah pinterest board here, and follow all Smashing The Glass’s boards here. Happy pinning!

1. Keep everything else simple and create the colour in your chuppah for a real ‘wow’ effect.

[ image: mazelmoments.com ]

2. For an interfaith wedding, combine cultures like this chuppah made from sari material for a Jewish Hindu interfaith Wedding.

[ image: mazelmoments.com ]

3. Get inspiration from your ketubah design and pick out creative elements for your chuppah.

[ images: mazelmoments.com ]

Sarit & Ari | DIY ‘Handmade’ Jewish wedding at The Green Building, Brooklyn, New York

08/10/2013 by Karen

Sarit and Ari managed to pull off their NYC wedding on a modest budget, and what an *awesome* job they did. Often I find that the more restrictive the funds, the more creative and resourceful a wedding turns out to be. This one is a very handmade affair filled with friends and family and a true sense of community.

I particularly love the handmade fabric corsages and boutonnià¨res, and the wedding programs printed onto brown kraft paper bags filled with coloured dots and paper hearts cut from books! (The couple had a book theme running through their day).

There are lots of stylish, crafty details to cherish – these two are a ridiculous talented and thrifty pair – and they definitely achieved their aim of creating the greatest party on the smallest budget.

A WAREHOUSE VENUE WITH LOVELY WARM TOUCHES
Sarit, The Bride: Our wedding was at The Green Building in Brooklyn, New York. We’re both from New York and since most of our friends and family live in or near the city we wanted to keep it local and accessible by car or public transportation.Continue Reading