Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Real Jewish Brides – Mel: Our Ceremony, Our Way

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Mel  will be marrying Mitch on Sunday 18 March 2018, in a Jewish wedding at Warren Weir at Luton Hoo, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Mel and Mitch met online on JDate (2) Their Jewish wedding will be classy and traditional with plenty of modern touches  (3) Mel is a member of Smashing The Glass’s private Jewish & Jew-ish Brides Facebook Group. Not yet a member? Come join us here!


As I eluded to in my previous post, it’s so easy to get lost in the ‘luxuries’ of a wedding and forget about the actual marriage part!

Like most brides I got extremely excited to start planning our wedding as soon as we got engaged. The first task for us was finding a venue. We were really clear about what we wanted, and what we didn’t want. Which meant our search for a venue was proving difficult — it wasn’t as easy as I expected to find a venue outside of London that was big enough to accommodate our guests and have enough indoor space to avoid ‘changing over’ rooms between the ceremony and meal. Having a March wedding, we couldn’t rely on the weather being good enough to have an outdoor ceremony. After hours of research and many trips visiting venues all over Essex and Hertfordshire, we found our dream venue –Warren Weir… in Bedfordshire.

Our next task was finding a band. Followed by a photographer, videographer and florist.

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Jodie & Joel’s Jewish wedding at Warren Weir by Claudine Hartzel Photography

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A Destination Jewish Wedding with a Beach Chuppah and Midnight Fire Dancers at Kempinski Hotel, Marbella, Spain

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Perfect clear skies, a deep blue sea and one very happy Jewish couple form the ingredients for today’s gorgeous Marbella real wedding.

Childhood friends, Steph and John, reunited in 2014 and, in the infamous words of one of our favourite movies, Fiddler on the Roof “from such children come other children”. Together they have a gorgeous son, Joey, and their beautiful Spanish wedding consolidated that commitment. 

Their theme was a white wedding with accents of silver and blush in the floral arrangements and bridesmaids’ dresses. The white color scheme added to the serene atmosphere of the day – just look at that chuppah against the beautiful seaside backdrop!

Beautiful bride, Steph, showcased her fabulous tattoos in a stunning lace-illusion Pronovias gown, with old Hollywood hair and makeup completing the look.

The big day ended with a bang – or a blaze, with surprise midnight fire dancers! Fantastic!

Of course, like so many STG weddings, one of our brilliant Recommended Vendors was involved. outstanding photographer, Jeremy Standley, is responsible for the sensational spread of images below. And, if that wasn’t enough, it’s supplemented by an absolutely sensational, atmospheric and beautifully filmed wedding video by Antonio de Perez.

We’ll leave you in Steph’s capable hands now for all of the divine details – over to Steph!

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How we met

Steph, the bride: I’m from Manchester originally, and my mum knew John’s mum, Pauline from before we moved to Spain. They actually lived on the next road from me, and our sisters were friends!

I was up in Manchester for a wedding in 2014 with my mum and dad, and we bumped into Pauline in a shop, having lost touch for years. They suggested we should meet up for a drink sometime, and it all happened from there! Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Stunning Super Luxe Peony-filled Jew-ish Destination Wedding at Buranco Vineyard, Cinque Terre, Italy

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SWOON! That’s us right now, at STG HQ, swooning away at this jaw-dropping Jew-ish Italian destination wedding. 

Now that we’ve picked ourselves up off the floor, let’s get into the reasons Maggie and Ben’s super luxe celebration in stunning Cinque Terre is just SO sublime!

Let’s start with the fabulous destination. Maggie and Ben love to travel, and together they’ve seen the world. In keeping with their globetrotting history, they felt a divine destination was the way to go, so just think of the competition Cinque Terre had to beat to be selected for such an honor. 

Cinque Terre, of course, is that gorgeous, colorful Italian coastal town you see every time you open a travel guide on the world’s most beautiful places. 

Just when you think a place like that couldn’t get any more beautiful, enter Maggie and Ben, with their incredible, chic and fashion-forward wedding dà©cor, bright and bold color scheme and sensational floral arrangements. The result? A total feast for the eyes. 

Beautiful bride, Maggie, is in architecture and design, so of course every last detail was perfect, especially with the help and keen eye of Cinque Terre Wedding. 

A wedding that was just as lovely on the inside as it was to look at, both the bride and groom’s respective fathers officiated their Jew-ish ceremony, and every choice was filled with heart and personal meaning for the couple.

Photographer, Facibeni Fotografia, and videographer, S-Bros, each did an amazing job of capturing the day- it almost feels like we were there! We’ll hand you over to Maggie now for the full writeup of her magical destination wedding. 

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How we met

Maggie, the bride: We met on match.com in 2007, and quickly learned that our paths should have crossed more than once over the course of our lives; we were both born and raised in Massachusetts, both had some history in Scottsdale, Arizona, and both finally settled in Los Angeles.

Ben finally proposed after almost nine years of dating, on a trip we had been planning to Bali and Vietnam over the holidays in 2015. Our family and friends were already expecting a destination wedding, and after a proposal in Bali and engagement celebration “tour” through Vietnam, we knew we had to follow it with an equally amazing wedding!

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How to Decide Whether or Not To Invite Children to Your Wedding

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Every engaged couple must, at some point in their wedding planning journey, address the eternal question: to invite kids or not to invite kids? For some, it’s an absolute no brainer – but for others, the issue can be agonizing and even divisive.

So we thought we’d write up a little pros and cons piece for those of you grappling with whether or not to involve children in your big-day plans! Here is our entirely objective take on the issue:

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The case for inviting kids

1. There are many advantages to having children present at your special day. Kids are full of joy – there’s nothing more heartwarming than looking over at your wedding and seeing kids playing, perhaps symbolizing the family in your own future, if you want to have one. Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Jewish Outdoor Wedding with a Hand-Embroidered Chuppah at Stellenbosch Winelands, Cape Town, South Africa

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As far as romantic and dreamy destination weddings go, a dusty, beautiful vineyard in South Africa is definitely up there! And that’s where we’ll be whisking you off to today to celebrate Jenna and Blake’s moving Jewish wedding.

Jenna and Blake are living proof that long-distance relationships can definitely have their happily ever after. Being apart for nine years, Jenna and Blake demonstrated how good things certainly come to those who wait.

Family was at the heart of this gorgeous big day – with a chuppah hand embroidered by Blake’s mother, which now serves as a quilt in the couple’s home, and Jenna’s moving tributes to her own mother, who had sadly passed away. 

Gorgeous bride Jenna looked like a vision in her La Sposa gown – unsurprising, given that she owns a small clothing boutique and really knows her stuff. We particularly loved her advice on finding the perfect wedding dress.

All of the details and whimsical couple shots were captured by Organictales Photography, and the cool and cinematic trailer below was created by Latsky Multimedia.

Jenna’s wonderful writeup is full of pearls of wisdom, so take a moment out of your day and dig into this stunning South African wedding! 

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How we met

Jenna, the bride: Blake and I met straight out of high school in 2002 while he was visiting from Johannesburg for summer vacation. We started dating the following year, and had a long-distance relationship for nearly nine years until he moved to Cape Town. He proposed in October 2015 and the rest, as they say, is history.

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