Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

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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Real Jewish Brides – Gillian: DIY-ing Our Own Ketubah

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Gillian will be marrying Pete on 8th September 2017 (just 3 days from now!) in a Jew-ish wedding at the Ballroom at Ellis Preserve in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, so today is her final blog before her Big Day! You can click here to read all Gillian’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Gillian is Jewish and Pete is Catholic (2) A Rabbi and a Priest will officiate at their wedding (3) Gillian is a Health & Wellness Coach and Pete is a Travel Occupational Therapist.

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What’s The Right Ketubah For You?

Anyone who has started planning a Jewish or Interfaith Wedding has thought of what they want their Ketubah to look like. It’s an important part of the Jewish wedding ceremony and it’s something that you will hopefully hang on the walls of your home forever. So where does any modern bride start when planning this element of her wedding? Obviously Smashing The Glass, Pinterest, Etsy, and the World Wide Web. Only to realize that Ketubot (plural form of Ketubah) also come with their own gammat of choices to be made.

What text should you choose, should you have English and Hebrew, who should you ask to sign your Ketubah, what size paper do you want, and how much do you want to spend? The choices are endless, and then you have to pick an aesthetic you like to match – that you and your future spouse both like!

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Gillian’s DIY Ketubah!

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A Jewish-Indian Wedding with an ‘East Meets West’ theme at Sopwell House, St Albans, UK

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What happens when you blend two beautiful, family-oriented cultures? The Jewish-Indian wedding of the year, that’s what! 

Sharon and Simon took their favorite elements from their respective upbringings and brought them together for a gorgeous cultural fusion, celebrating their globetrotting history as a couple, and culminating in an epic party, led by our sensational Recommended Vendor, The Function Band. Check out their incredible dance floor-filling mashup in the video below!

Catering a Jewish-Indian wedding, of course, meant enough food to feed a small army – with a delicious ‘East meets West’ catering theme. We’re getting hungry just thinking about it.

Beautiful bride, Sharon, looked absolutely sublime in her traditional Indian dress, adjusted to incorporated western colors, adorned with antique-inspired accessories, against the picturesque backdrop of her blush pink, navy blue and ivory color scheme. 

The inclusion of family was very important to the happy couple, with thoughtful groom Simon and his family performing a surprise Bollywood dance for his bride.

All of the action was captured by photographer, Ed Godden, and was written up below by Sharon herself. We’ll pass you over to her now for the full story! 

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An ‘East meets West’ theme

Sharon, the bride: We got married at Sopwell House in Hertfordshire. We wanted a venue that could accommodate 200 guests, and Sopwell House was perfect for us, as they are very experienced with dealing with big weddings and have different options of venue rooms, as well as beautiful gardens.

We also had in mind that we wanted the day to bring elements of both of cultures together. We had an idea that we would like to have an ‘east meets west’ theme for the food, and Sopwell House were amazing in creating a bespoke menu that added Indian elements to the dishes.

As we wanted the ceremony and reception to be held in one place, we were conscious that we didn’t want our guests to be confined indoors for the entire day. Sopwell House, as a venue, brings the perfect balance of luxury hotel with a country feel. The gardens were perfect for the drinks reception, and there were lots of great choice for the backdrop of our photos.
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