Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Real Blogging Brides: Clare – All About My Wedding Inspiration Session with Karen, Founder of Smashing The Glass

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Karen Cinnamon, founder of Smashing The Glass. Image: Blake Ezra Photography

Clare is one of  seven brides-to-be currently blogging her wedding planning process on Smashing The Glass. She is marrying Chris on 5th May 2018 at Laura Ashley The Manor in Elstree, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Clare is not Jewish but discovered Smashing The Glass via her Jewish sister-in-law and during her wedding planning journey it has (in her own words! became her favorite and most useful wedding blog (2) She finds STG refreshing in a sea of wedding blogs as she loves reading stories of couples for whom the ceremony itself is as pivotal as all the other details. (3) Due to falling in love with so many amazing Jewish weddings through the blog, and then booking a wedding consultancy session with STG founder, Karen, it confirmed to her that there were a number of Jewish elements she was going to bring into her wedding that symbolise a lot of things that are very important to her and her fiancà© in their future marriage – she will be having a ‘Jewish-inspired’ wedding!


Being Engaged: The First Couple of Months 

Due to getting engaged back in June 2016 and setting a date of May 2018 I  figured that the planning process would be a breeze with this long engagement….. 

The first couple of months were filled with the excitement that this was actually happening! My living room was a sea of engagement cards (which were only begrudgingly brought down three months later because we were moving!) and I whiled away many hours of perusing blog posts and every form of social media containing wedding inspiration.

Our choice of venue was easy- in the February before our engagement Chris had taken me for valentines dinner at the Laura Ashley The Manor and I fell in love with its beautiful simplicity and the stunning mix of modern and traditional. I couldn’t bear the thought of swirly patterned red carpets or dark wood panelling which seem to have featured in many of the wedding venues I’ve attended, and a castle or big stately home didn’t really feel like me so this seemed the perfect balance for us. 

Excitingly Booking our First Wedding Vendors

Following the booking of the venue I also was quick to book our photographer and videographer. Catherine Carter did one of my very good friends weddings and came highly recommended. She produces some beautiful images and I felt I could trust her to capture our day. 

The video was perhaps most important to get right to both Chris and I. Jeff Woods had come on my radar years before I was even engaged after an acquaintance of mine shared her wedding trailer on Facebook. I fell in love with the cinematic style and his films are truly a work of art and feel like you’re watching an actual movie, which I cannot wait to star in next year! Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Cute and Quirky Springtime Jewish Wedding With a Blush Watters Gown at Royal Horticultural Halls, London UK

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WOW.

That was our first reaction when we clapped eyes on this ridiculous stunner of a Jewish wedding. It remained our reaction throughout every moment of gazing at, editing and reading all of the fabulous details of Michal and Sam’s quirky and incredible Big Day. Every single second produced a fresh ‘wow’ and we’re pretty sure you guys are going to agree. 

Where to start? We’re crazy about the adorable story of how Michal and Sam met and kept coming back together over the years. We can’t stress how much we rate beautiful bride Michal’s eye-popping, jaw-dropping wedding ensemble (including her ludicrously flattering blush Watters gown), in which she looked so ethereal and gorgeous, that we can’t imagine anyone in attendance could take their eyes off her for a second.

Attention also needs to be paid to the super cute, vintage-inspired aesthetic, and springtime color scheme, embellished with fabulous floral designs from none other than our ridiculously talented and much-loved Recommended Vendor, Liz at Blue Sky Flowers.

Another couple of honorable mentions go to the plethora of origami tulips, made by friends and provided by Etsy, and the ingenious idea for the kippot from Circes of Life – no spoilers!

Every last divine detail wast captured by fabulous photographer, and frequent STG photographer, Marianne Chua, and the goosebump-inducing video below was created by Uri v’Tamar. We adore Michal’s fantastic writeup, and hope you enjoy this visual and emotional treat as much as we did.

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How we met

Michal, the bride: We met when we were 17 on a trip to Europe with our Jewish youth movements. We sat next to each other on the coach and got on well enough that Sam invited me to his school prom.

After a few years as friends, and a false start on our gap year, we finally got together at Limmud on New Years, and got engaged on our anniversary seven years later.
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Four Designer Wedding Dresses for a Jew-ish, Chinese destination wedding at Castello Di Casole in Chianti Tuscany Italy

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What’s better than one gorgeous wedding dress? FOUR gorgeous wedding dresses, that’s what! That’s just one of the many wow-factor details of Cher and Tim’s Jew-ish wedding set in the Tuscan Hills of Italy, planned to perfection by Katy Cresner.

The dreamy Tuscan destination played host to a beautiful fusion of cultures, with Tim’s Jewish background and traditions meeting Cher’s Chinese customs. A Chinese tea ceremony followed by a Chuppah is about as delightfully diverse as it gets, with the inclusion of a traditional red dress for the tea ceremony, in which bride Cher looked simply divine.

We love the soft pastel color palette, juxtaposed against the natural backdrop of rolling Tuscan countryside – a mesmerizing, fairytale aesthetic. 

As it was a destination wedding, the couple turned it into an opportunity to provide a luxury resort weekend for their guests, looking after them with multiple events over the weekend. It looked, in a word, lush. We are VERY envious! 

The big day, of course, had several bridal outfit, hair and makeup changes, each stunning in its own right. The bride wore gowns by Zuhair Murad, Monique Lhuillier and Valentino respectively, as well as heels by both Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin.

All of the day’s details were captured beautifully by fabulous photographer, Chiko, supreme wedding videographer, AT Motion, and the write up is by lovely bride, Cher. 

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How we met

Cher, the bride: We first met at Tim’s friend’s engagement party. He was playing pool for money when I started to mess with the game by lying on the pool table and disrupting the game. Although he went on to lose the game, and his money, it was the start of something special…
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10 Couples Who Totally Made Their Jewish Wedding Their Own

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It is very easy to make the mistake of assuming that Jewish weddings are quite predictable and similar to one another. But Smashing The Glass‘s entire raison d’àªtre is to demonstrate how this is absolutely not the case.

Jewish traditions are templates, ready to have a couple’s unique and original personalities stamped onto them. Every Jewish or Jew-ish wedding we feature is a total one off — a unique celebration encompassing all of our couples’ quirks, tastes and influences.

To prove it, we’ve put together a list of ten incredible past STG couples (in no particular order) to illustrate exactly how they did things their way. The list we’ve chosen incorporates vastly different budgets, themes, cultures, sexual orientations and styles – and we wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Prepare thyselves for a full on Pinning session, because there’s simply too much pretty (and creative ideas galore) to handle.

1. Danny and Aaron’s Jewish wedding, complete with an entrance on the back of a Jew-nicorn


Image: Maya Myers

When it came to doing things their way, Danny and Aaron went EPIC. They rode down the aisle to their chuppah atop a tallit-wearing horse dressed as a unicorn (or Jew-nicorn, as they dubbed it!) to the tune of Madonna’s Like a Virgin. What’s more Joss Stone (yes, the Joss Stone) undertook the role of cantor, singing Circle of Life as Danny and Aaron circled each other under the chuppah, and, if Joss Stone herself wasn’t enough, they also had a a 16-person-strong gospel choir.

> Read more about Danny and Aaron’s Jewish wedding here

2. Charlotte and Ellie’s industrial, Victoriana Jew-ish wedding


Image: Dale Weeks

Charlotte and Ellie’s same-sex Jew-ish big day had a dramatic and industrial meets romantic, dark florals theme, and took place at the iconic St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London. Special touches included home-designed invitations, rust-coloured chairs, Victoriana table decorations and whole flower stems strewn down the aisle. ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ from Fiddler on the Roof signalled the start of their Jewish ceremony.

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A Bride in Cowboy Boots for a Jewish Wedding at Texas Federation Women’s Club Mansion, Austin, Texas, USA

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Ladies and gentlemen, if you’d please pull up your cowboy boots and saddle up, we’re off to Texas for Rachel and Ben’s super sweet, family-oriented Jewish wedding day, beautifully planned by Eclipse Event Co.

First of all, let’s talk about those cowboy boots – those beautiful, floral, bridal cowboy boots. We would sincerely like a pair kicking about STG HQ – what a gorgeous touch! 

The theme of the wedding was a marriage of tradition and modernization, with a color scheme in hues of gorgeous greens and glamorous gold accents. This carried through from the stationery to the floristry to the beautiful Alfred Angelo Bridal bridesmaids’ dresses. 

Stunning bride, Rachel, also wore Alfred Angelo over her standout DiJore boots.

Another incredibly cute touch was an actual honest-to-goodness PIE BAR! We’re getting hungry just typing the words ‘pie bar’, so we’ll hand over to the beautiful spread of images by Awake Photography, the moving video by Marty Robbins and bride, Rachel, to give you the full lowdown on their Texas knees up. 

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How we met

Rachel, the bride: We met online, but not on a dating site. It was a unique occurrence where I was online for a class in college and Ben was working on the channel I happened to be in. We got talking, and just didn’t stop.

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