Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

5 Minutes with… Mindy Weiss – the World’s Most Sought-After Celebrity Wedding Planner

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Mindy-Weiss-Jewish-weddings
Welcome to our second instalment of ‘Five Minutes With…’ our series that spends five minutes with the Jewish wedding industry’s top-ranking movers and shakers.

Last time, we were falling-off-our-chairs stunned to have the indescribably incredible Ron Ben Israel in our hot seat, and we’re having similar dizzies today because our guest is (and we can’t quite believe it) the absolutely MEGA international celebrity wedding planner and bestselling author Mindy Weiss!!!

Yes, the Mindy Weiss (the one from your bookshelves) is such a bright Jewish wedding industry superstar (as you can tell from our very gratuitous use of exclamation points) that she needs no introduction. But, just because someone doesn’t need an introduction, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve one! 

Mindy Weiss Jewish weddingsBased out of Beverly Hills, Mindy Weiss, a member of the tribe, is a full-service event planner, who has successfully grown her brand to become a lifestyle expert with books, product lines and spokesperson partnerships.

Since Mindy started her career in party planning, more than twenty years ago, she has planned celebrations all over the world, and written three bestselling books. THREE! We mere mortals can only gape in awe.

We’re so honored and humbled to host Mindy on the STG pages, and we just know you’ll love her quickfire answers as much as we do.

MINDY-WEISS

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A Jewish-French-Greek-British Animal-Filled Wedding at London Zoo, London, UK

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Jewish wedding London Zoo UK_0077
Before we get started, we need to present today’s bride, Clelia, with a medal for THE most Smashing The Glass-obsessed bride ever to grace these pages. Clelia took an extraordinary amount of inspiration from the blog, including sourcing almost every vendor and having one of our past real brides, Lauren, create her incredible chuppah design.

Helping Jewish brides to plan their weddings is exactly what Smashing The Glass is all about, and Clelia embodies our spirit and ethos and then some! Thanks for making us such a huge part of your journey, Clelia, we are truly honored.

Now back to staring at wedding pretty and getting inspired, which is what we’re all here for. If you’re a fan of adorable monkeys and meerkats (and if you’re not, who even ARE you??) you’ll love today’s into-the-wild venue, London Zoo. We’re SO here for Clelia and George’s animal kingdom selfie competition – what an inspired way to make the most of such a unique venue! 

Clelia and George were full of gratitude for the way their loved ones came together to help make their dream day perfect, and it really shows in the images and Clelia’s moving writeup. We’re all also totally behind Clelia’s words about body positivity and self love, and are so grateful to her for sharing her feelings on this. 

It was also, as we mentioned, a wedding packed with STG Recommended Vendors, including ludicrously talented klezmer band, Shir, wonderful rabbi, Paul Glantz, and ultimate gift-list service, Prezola.

Famed photographer, Laura Babb, and her partner in crime, videographer Peter Wilbourne, did an outstanding job of telling the story of the day through their stunning spread of images and Peter’s cinematic wedding video. We feel like we were there in person! 

It’s finally Clelia’s well-deserved and long-awaited turn to take over the blog for a post. Take it away, Clelia!

Jewish wedding London Zoo UK

Jewish wedding London Zoo UK

Jewish wedding London Zoo UK_0077

Jewish wedding London Zoo UK

Jewish wedding London Zoo UK
How we met

Clelia, the bride: We met in a car park in Northampton when our colleague, Richard, offered to drive us both back to London. Instead of awkward work chat, I asked George every question in the Proust questionnaire. 

When Richard dropped us off at a north London tube station, George asked me out on a date. I introduced him to long haul-holidays, he introduced me to beans on toast and football. I agreed the kids would support Spurs, he agreed the kids would be raised Jewish and proposed under Tower Bridge, a few meters from where he’d first seen me in the office.
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Real Jewish Brides – Amanda: My New Perspective

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Amanda will be marrying Adam on 25th March 2018 in a Jewish wedding at Braxted Park, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Amanda & Adam met outside in a bar in Tel Aviv (2) Adam has a ridiculous sense of humor (as described by Amanda!) and we love him all the more for it (3) Amanda & Adam’s wedding is 100% focused on all the people and things that mean the most to them. You can click here to read all Amanda’s planning posts to date.


Eight weddings in 15 months…

It most certainly is wedding season in the Yaffe-Parker household. In the 15 months between our engagement and our wedding, Adam and I will have attended no fewer than 8 weddings and, one manic week in September. We actually attended 3 weddings in 3 different cities, across 2 different countries.

So it really is fortunate that we love attending weddings. There’s something about celebrating the marriage of close friends through song, dance and food that never gets old. In fact, I’d bet that if you watched the highlights of any weddings we’ve been to, you’ll see Adam and I throwing shapes like madmen.

Jewish-wedding
Image: Adam Van Bunnens

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A Julie Vino Bride for a Super Luxe Jewish Wedding with a Breathtaking Floral Chuppah at Current at Chelsea Piers, New York City, USA

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Jewish wedding at Current at Chelsea Piers, New York City, USA
STOP EVERYTHING! Have you stopped? Are you paying attention? Good. Because that chuppah deserves to have ALL eyes on it!

That’s right, folks, get your finest pinning fingers ready, because you are not going to be able to stop yourself from saving all of this wedding pretty to boards with titles like “dream wedding, yes please” and “I’ll be having some of that, thanks.”

In fact, it was your epic reaction to a picture of this big day on our Instagram that made us feel we just HAD to blog the whole thing.

The couple’s son and total cutie, three-year-old Cayden, totally stole the show with his smashing-the-glass and chair-dancing adventures. The day was all about family, with emotional moments during the ceremony and a surprise speech by the bride’s mom. 

The dà©cor was so cohesive, without a detail out of place, that the big day looked like absolute heaven. From the cake to the stationery, provided by much-loved Recommended Vendor, Bella Figura, everything looked picture perfect and totally fashion forward.

Jeremy and Alese’s chic Jewish wedding took place in New York City, and was the epitome of old-meets-new Hollywood glamor. Alese looked totally red carpet ready in her sensational, sparkling  Julie Vino gown and soft side waves – just look at Jeremy’s face in that first-look moment, which can be seen in the stunning video provided by supremely talented photographer and videographer Susan Shek.

We’ll let Alese take center stage now with her wonderful writeup – prepare yourself for an avalanche of wedding gorgeousness that’ll make you want to totally emulate or, if you’re already married, do it all over again (don’t say we didn’t warn you).

Jewish wedding at Current at Chelsea Piers, New York City, USA

Jewish wedding Current at Chelsea Piers, New York City, USA

Jewish wedding Current at Chelsea Piers, New York City, USA

Jewish wedding Current at Chelsea Piers, New York City, USA

Jewish wedding Current at Chelsea Piers, New York City, USA
How we met

Alese, the bride: We met at a Mexican restaurant in NYC! It was downstairs from my apartment at the time and across the street from Jeremy’s. My bridesmaids threw me a Mexican bridal shower, since that’s where we met!
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A Tropical-Themed Israeli-Canadian Jewish Wedding at The Q, Kibbutz Glil Yam, Israel

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Pineapple-wedding
What do you get when you cross the laid-back Israeli attitude with a Canadian sense of ceremony? The best of both worlds, that’s what, and a simply beautiful Jewish wedding… complete with pineapples! SQUEAL!

Yes, Samara and Joe went with a terrific tropical theme, bursting with color, vibrance and fun. How super cute were all the little details? We adored the clothes-peg seating plan, and the positively popping welcome setup, complete with stunning tropical flowers.

Planning an overseas wedding can be stressful, but Samara and Joe sourced both information and vendors from none other than yours truly, Smashing The Glass. We were honored to hear that we played such a direct role in helping to bring this very special big day together. 

Samara looked sensational in her beautiful backless Truvelle gown, and her ‘something borrowed’ veil – we love, love, LOVE The story behind this. 

Photographer Ariel Aricha captured the story of the day in the beautiful spread of images below, and Samara has provided a beautiful recap of her and Joe’s big day. Over to Samara now – we bet you’ll wish you’d been there as much as we do!

Jewish wedding at The Q, Kibbutz Glil Yam, Israel_0002Jewish wedding at The Q, Kibbutz Glil Yam, Israel_0002Jewish wedding at The Q, Kibbutz Glil Yam, Israel_0002Jewish wedding at The Q, Kibbutz Glil Yam, Israel_0002Jewish wedding at The Q, Kibbutz Glil Yam, Israel_0010
An incredible Israeli venue

Samara, the bride: We got married at The Q, Kibbutz Glil Yam, in the city of Herzliya, in Israel. My husband, Joe, grew up in Jerusalem, and his father, sister, and all his dear friends (high school and army) live in Israel. My father’s side of the family also all live in Israel, including my 97-year-old Safta, who is in excellent form, but would not be able to travel to Canada.

Israel was the first place we travelled to as a couple, and is a place that holds a tremendous amount of meaning for both of us. Over the past four years, we have travelled to Israel every June, first for Joe’s sister’s wedding, then his best friend, and then his next best friend.

Having experienced an Israeli wedding, and one of his best friend’s wedding at the Q, we knew that an Israeli wedding was exactly want we wanted! Montreal weather, even in the summer, is temperamental, and we knew we wanted to be outside be relaxed, breathe in that amazing air and spirit, eat the yummy food that Israel has to offer. 

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