Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Clare + Chris… How They Met to the Present Day

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 5th gorgeous bride from our crop of 2017 and 2018 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Clare who will be 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 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!

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How We Met

Chris and I met in the summer of 2014 through that wonderful medium that I never wanted to admit… Tinder! Needless to say I was certainly not looking for a partner at the time and having both downloaded the app without much thought on the weekend (and most definitely with a bit of alcoholic influence!) we had begun chatting by the Monday. After what seemed like endless hours of funny messages where I genuinely laughed out loud he took me for a drink which turned into a dinner and a walk along the river by night. Following that I’m pretty sure we never went a day without talking and with a few ups and downs along the way, the rest is history….

A lucky auction

Our engagement in June 2016 wasn’t a complete surprise in that we had spoken very openly about marriage for some time and had begun looking for a house to buy together and generally planning a future. Chris had asked my views on rings and there had been plenty of screenshots sent over a good six months or so of the dream rock!

Several months before he popped the question, his parents had come across a beautiful vintage ring at an auction house where they were looking for furniture. I had been away for the weekend and Chris had received a phone call from his step mother and a multitude of texts with pictures. After she sweet talked the auction rooms staying open long enough for Chris to make the last minute dash down there to see the ring he decided it was the one!

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A Nicole Miller Bride for a rustic, outdoor Jewish wedding at Shady Lane​ Farm, Maine, USA

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Wellies on – it’s time for a good, old-fashioned farm wedding. Sophie and Henry’s rustic big day was everything you’d want and more – rustic, natural and simply gorgeous.

New York couple Sophia, a social worker, and Henry, a non-profit professional at a human rights NGO, met at college, on Sophia’s birthday, ten years ago. As it turned out that a boyfriend is for life, not just for birthdays, and, a decade on, the pair made it official!

The couple tied the knot at Shady Lane Farm, a childhood haunt of bride, Sophia. The wedding was adorned with beautiful, laid-back wildflower bouquets, the most woven stunning birch sapling chuppah, with a lovely story behind it and bridesmaids in blush. In fact, the entire wedding was handmade, with friends and family pitching in, in an all-hands-on-deck effort to make everything as beautiful as it turned out to be.

The love and personal details were perfectly reflected in the pictures by A.Fogarty Photography

Stunning Sophia wore a divine lace Nicole Miller dress, with beautifully braided hair – a vision of boho chic. 

Over to Sophia for the full story behind her and Henry’s perfect Jewish farm wedding!

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How we met

Sophia, the bride: We met in college, when we were introduced by two of our closest friends, on Sophia’s birthday! This was ten years ago in March.

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An intimate traditional-meets-modern orthodox Jewish wedding with a Monique Lhuillier bride at The Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg, Canada

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Wrap up warm, everybody, today’s real wedding comes to you from the deepest of winter in Winnipeg, Canada, submitted by beautiful bride, Lindsay. 

With limited Jewish community resources, David, a doctor (a Jewish doctor – living the dream) and dance choreographer, Lindsay, were determined to plan their perfect modern orthodox day, and through the powers of persuasion, imagination and determination, that’s exactly what they did.

David and Lindsay proved that it’s not about what denomination of Judaism you follow, nor how observant you are – at the end of the day, our shared community and spirit is what matters.

The theme was clean, elegant and white with an abundance of flowers and candles (I mean, look at that chuppah – and the seven-tier ruffled cake. Divine!). It was a small, intimate day with just 75 guests and a heartwarming focus on the importance of family. The chic big day was captured by photographer and a close friend of the bride, Kristen Sawatzky.

Lindsay looked simply divine in her Monique Lhuillier, with its adorable, quirky bow detail and sheer veil covering her during the chuppah ceremony. 

Over to Lindsay for the rest of the details – take it away, Lindsay! 

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How we met

Lindsay, the bride: How we met was the greatest shidduch, in my opinion. Three separate active Jewish families in the Winnipeg community strived to set up the Jewish doctor from Montreal with a successful professional dance choreographer, Winnipeg born and raised. They all thought we would be the perfect match.

After several phone calls and emails, we finally met on a blind date at Starbucks! That was five and a half years ago. Soul mates we truly are, it was completely beshert. Our lives changed for the better and we can’t imagine our lives without each other.
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12 Wedding Thank You Gift Ideas for Parents

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In Jewish culture, there is a great emphasis on respecting and appreciating our parents, and often we hear from our thoughtful brides-to-be inside Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club wanting to know where they can find some gorgeous, personalized ‘thank you’ gifts for parents and in laws. 

So we thought the topic deserved its very own post. Here are some of our favourite finds to inspire the perfect ‘thank you’ gift for the amazing people who raised you. We hope you find exactly what you’re looking for here, or that the ideas lead you to your ideal find.

For Mothers


For mums with style, this chic ‘maman’ necklace by our fabulous Recommended Vendor, Litzi, is a perfect choice.


An adorable way to present your mum with a gorgeous little trinket – and a hanky, for the inevitable. Find it here on Etsy.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Amanda + Adam… how they met to the present day

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 4th gorgeous bride from our crop of 2017 and 2018 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Amanda who will be marrying Adam on 25th March 2018 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.

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How We Met

Both Adam and I will tell you that we weren’t attracted to each-other when we met outside a bar in Tel Aviv. In fact, we spent the entire evening trying to set our friends up. This led to hours of drunken giggling together as we discussed how excellent our matchmaking skills were. (Needless to say, they had no interest in each other). At 3am we were still high-fiving and I really felt like I had made a new friend.

A few days later, his friends were hosting a BBQ and he asked us to come along. A bottle of wine later and I was starting to wonder if this tall blonde man could be somebody I might like to see at home in London.

I was drawn to Adam’s ridiculous sense of humour and whilst he never managed to convince me that his job included ‘picking up penguins who have fallen over’, his silliness and laid back nature are still my favourite things about him now, almost 3 years later.

Our First Date

Our first official date was carefully planned by Adam at St Catherine’s docks in London, at the height of summer. But my favourite story from our early days took place just 4 days after we’d met.

We were back in London and Adam showed up to the local pub quiz where I’d told him my friends and I were regulars. He stuck out like a sore thumb in his suit and tie, but soon broke the ice with my friends by offering them all a pad of paper and a pen that he’d brought with him, ‘just in case’.

I think it’s fair to say that when he handed me the jar of pickles he’d bought on the way, my heart melted a little bit. Forget chocolates and roses, pickles are the way to my heart!

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