Search Results for: ceremony

Phenomenal photography illustrating wedding rituals from around the world

08/11/2013 by Karen

My wonderful Smashing The Glass teammate, Sharon, found these incredible wedding images on National Geographic. They focus on wedding ceremonies from around the world (some Jewish, some not) and the fascinating cultural influences on generations, in both modern and traditional ways. Feast your eyes on these…

A YEMENITE WEDDING

[image: Stephanie Sinclair]
Friends and family fete the 21 year old yemenite bridegroom (in the centre wearing a floral head scarf) at his wedding in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen. In a country where nearly half the population lives on £1 a day, wedding expenses–which can exceed £3000–are prohibitive. Many couples pool resources and marry in groups.

A MORROCAN WEDDING

[image: Alexandra Boulat]
In the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Berber brides dress for a traditional wedding that often includes four days of ceremonial rituals. In one of the rituals, brides purify themselves with water gathered from the local river.

Robin & Joe | Intimate + whimsical ‘dinner party’ Jewish wedding, Washington DC, USA

07/11/2013 by Karen

Today’s bride, Robin, has the most exquisite bridal style. As her wonderful wedding photographer, Piper Watson, puts it, “a mix of old school classy gal and modern minx”. Her stunning black and white ensemble is achingly chic and in fact, the couple’s whole event manages to be simultaneously stylish and elegant, yet warm and homely.

In their own words, Robin and Joe say they had a very non-traditional wedding by design. They truly wanted the feel of a of an informal dinner party, where two people happen to be getting married. They didn’t have many of the traditional wedding staples – only 45 guests, no flowers, bridesmaids, or first dance – and this gave the evening a truly intimate, unique and personal feel.

Their wedding report is a joint effort written by both the bride and groom, and the beautiful set of images produced by the lovely Piper Watson, will ensure that all those fantastic memories stay fresh and vibrant for many years to come.

AN INTIMATE VENUE + BLACK & WHITE COLOUR SCHEME
Robin the bride and Joe the groom: Ultimately, we wanted our wedding to feel like a dinner party (with a ceremony beforehand) for our closest family and friends. It was very modern and a bit whimsical; it was really a perfect reflection of our sensibilities and who we are as a couple.

The ceremony was held at Joe’s cousins’ (Martha and Bob) house in Washington, DC. She and her family have an amazing house that had been fully redesigned. Martha is an interior decorator and it shows! The reception was at Elizabeth’s on L, a converted town house in downtown DC which added to the intimate feel we were going for.

Our colour scheme was black and white (to match Robin’s dress) and green as an accent colour.

HAIR + MAKE-UP
Robin and Joe’s long time stylist, Gregg, did the hair for Joe, Robin, Joe’s sister Rachel, and Robin’s mother Ann. Robin had a really unique hair style at the time and only her stylist was good enough to style her hair. Robin’s makeup was done by a woman named Keisha from beautiful.flawless.face makeup. She was fantastic! Robin wanted to look like a more glamorous version of herself, but still look relatively natural. She made Robin look like herself, only better and also did the makeup for Ann and Rachel, who looked fantastic as well.

Kim & Shay | 1920’s Inspired Israeli Wedding at Citrus, Even Yehuda, Israel

04/11/2013 by Karen

Today’s uber-stylish bride, Kim, was born in New Zealand to a non- Jewish family but has lived in Israel for the last 20 years. Kim says that she wanted to take the plunge and convert to Judaism for many years but never found the right time.

So a few years ago, having dated her then-boyfriend, Shay, for three years, they decided that they wanted to get married and that it was the right time for Kim to convert. She studied and converted at Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv and officially became Jewish in May 2011.

Being a wedding planner and designer Kim had a blast planning things. “Finally I could do things exactly how I wanted – the only problem was making up m mind – I have too many ideas!” Let’s see what she chose to do…

VENUE + THEME
Kim, The Bride: We got married at Citrus in Even Yehuda, Israel. I wanted a classic wedding and loving the 1920’s, I adored the way the venue was decorated in an elegant soft way that complimented the whole vision that I had for the day. We also chose this venue because it was new and I had never done a wedding there. I wanted something fresh – I have been in the wedding industry for over 10 years now and done weddings in so many venues I wanted it to feel special for me and really different.

It was a classic yet modern type of an affair and the decor included a lot of pot plants that created a softer natural look (and became great giveaways at the end of the night).

A 1920s STYLED DRESS
My mother made my dress from a soft lycra type material with pearl button holes and a lace belt. I envisioned something simple and classic and I had seen a similar dress similar on a bride that I had worked with years before but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Lucky for me I could call upon my mother make it and I ended up with the perfect 1920’s styled dress! I matched a short net veil to the dress, and wore my grandmothers pearls to complete the look.

Crystall & Ryan | Jewish/Greek Wedding at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York City, USA

31/10/2013 by Karen

A Greek and a Jewish wedding? Can it get much better than that?! Well in the case of this beauty, it does. Not only do we get the best of both cultures and traditions, it is literally oozing, hell, I’d even say *overflowing*, in style and creativity.

First off, Crystall and Ryan are one seriously hot couple. I’m talking hot with a capital ‘H’ guys, and I just know you’ll agree once you clap eyes on all the imagery below. Then there’s the fusion of the best Jewish and Greek traditions, plus the theme of music running through all the festivities, and on a fashion note, our lovely bride, Crystall wore not one but TWO fabulous dresses: a spectacular customised Oscar de la Renta for the ceremony, and a breathtaking Jenny Packham for the reception. I know — I must admit to being a teeny weeny bit green-eyed over this fact.

The backbone of Crystall and Ryan’s W-day is a certain symbolic willow tree in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden that was central in the early days of their relationship. The same tree went on to survive merciless Hurricane Sandy and the couple decided that this tree would form the framework of their chuppah.

I won’t delay you any further; let’s hear about this beautifully intertwined Jewish / Greek wedding day in the bride’s words. She infuses lots of lovely detail — you’ll feel as if you were right there at her wedding.

VENUE

Crystall, the Bride: The summer that Ryan and I met, we spent a perfect afternoon wandering the grounds of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It was the same day that Ryan moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, closer to where I was. We celebrated sitting under a large weeping willow tree, holding hands and completely in love. We had no way of knowing then that just 3 years later, we would be saying “I do” in that very spot in front of that same tree.

Very soon after getting engaged, we chose to marry in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a place that means so much to us. We wanted our guests to experience the sweeping 52-acre garden in an intimate way and truly be a part of the journey that led us full circle right back to that weeping willow tree.

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Juliana & Elie | Chic Jewish Winter Wedding at The Roosevelt Hotel, Manhattan, New York

30/10/2013 by Karen

Decadent, luxurious and hopelessly romantic, Juliana and Elie’s chic winter wedding held at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan last February is utterly sumptuous.

Despite having a very traditional Jewish Orthodox Wedding, they still wanted to play around on the margins, and incorporate as many of their own details into their W-day as they could.

One of the creative elements I love most is their invitations which Juliana designed herself. She incorporated the most delicious intertwined Hebrew calligraphy and combined it with an english font inspired by Elie’s favourite brand of scotch! Their invitation suite also included a map highlighting milestones in their relationship and had lots of lovely production finishes like a letterpress finish and a wax seal on each envelope.

I also love their idea of ‘donation’ favours where in place of traditional favours they made a contribution to a charity close to their hearts, and placed small notes at each plate with a picture of themselves, explaining the donation.

Juliana and Elie were set up on a blind date by Juliana’s roommate, Rena, who had gone to high school with Elie. Rena thought that Elie might be a good person for Juliana to meet, and she was evidently right! Let’s hear all about the couple’s special day from the lovely bride herself…

A GLAMOROUS VENUE
Juliana the Bride: Our wedding was at the The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Since our wedding was in February, we wanted the location to still be accessible in the event of inclement weather. We loved the Roosevelt as soon as we walked through it; it was the first of the many venues we’d looked at that we could actually envision ourselves getting married in. They had many distinct rooms available, and a fantastic balcony / hallway between the tish room and where the badeken was. Elie being danced down that hallway was one of my favourite moments of the wedding. As one of my friends remarked on her video of the badeken: “That was epic”.

Search Results for: ceremony

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