Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

How to Make Your Wedding Wow: You Dream It and Extraordinary Wedding Planner Jenna Keller Will Create It…

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Jenna-Keller-EventsIt’s officially spring, and I don’t know about you but I’m so ready to see a bit more colour. Goodbye grey skies, hello blue!

You’ve just got to love this time of year, with the season’s natural beauty popping with pastels and bursting with vivacity. It’s so incredibly romantic. And with energy, romance and colour in mind – I’m can’t wait to introduce you to a supremely creative, innovative, and exciting wedding planner – Jenna Keller.

Jenna Keller EventsJenna Keller Events_0291Jenna Keller EventsJenna Keller – Manchester born but raised in South Florida – is the ultimate event superstar. She is the brains and beauty behind Jenna Keller Events – a creative, dynamic company, based in gorgeous Cheshire, working on weddings and events all across the UK and abroad.

Jenna and her team specialise in the full management and production of truly memorable events. Transforming ordinary spaces into the extraordinary — think suspended floral installations and chandeliers — she does drama. She brings the buzz and creates the wow moments but behind the scenes Jenna is exceptionally meticulous and detail led.

Jenna Keller EventsKeep it Kosher

Jenna Keller entered the event scene working for Celia Clyne, one of the largest kosher caterers in the UK. She successfully ran their events – a mere 200 a year – and well and truly earned her stripes. That wealth of experience paved the way for Jenna to create her own event company.

Jenna Keller EventsJenna Keller Events_0308Why Jenna Keller?

Jenna Keller is now one of the most renowned and sought after wedding planners in the UK. And for good reason. Her incredible experience, microscopic attention to detail, creativity, passion and USA-level of customer service has got Jenna a pretty darn good reputation.

She puts her heart and soul into every single wedding. In fact Jenna is so dedicated, that she even met her husband through her work. According to former boss, kosher caterer Celia Clyne, it couldn’t have been any other way.

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An uber creative Jewish wedding, with a Needle & Thread bride, at Pearson Air Museum, Vancouver, Washington, USA

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We absolutely love creative Jewish weddings on Smashing The Glass, and creativity OOZES from these two incredible souls.

This astounding power couple met while working at an ad agency. Between them, they have a desktop calendar sold around the world, a New York Times bestselling book and a portable talk show to their names, so it goes without saying that Brooke and Boaz’s big day was always going to be breathtaking. They absolutely did not disappoint. The pair brought all of their skills and inventiveness to their big day, peppering it with adorable, handmade details. 

The dà©cor scheme was abundant with illustrated animals, drawn by talented Brooke, including little raccoon pins as favours — we want one! And we’re obsessed with their choice of quirky venue, Pearson Air Museum, just across the border from the couple’s native Portland, Oregon.

“You’re never alone in a dress full of flies,” said beautiful bride, Brooke, of her stunning Needle & Thread dress, purchased at BHLDN. It turned out that even the flies can’t resist swarming to a dress that beautiful — and Brooke’s fantastic sense of humour turned a potential problem into a standout wedding moment.

Groom Boaz also looked every bit the part of the leading man in his fantastic green suit. We adore his wedding style.

Everything was captured with aplomb by phenomenal photographers Stark Photography, and before we hand over to Brooke and Boaz to tell us all about their big day, can we just take a moment to appreciate Brooke’s adorable kitty shoes? We can’t take our eyes off of them!

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How we met

Brooke, the bride: We’re both advertising copywriters and we met at an ad agency in Portland. When we’re not at work we make the “It’s Different Every Day” calendar, a daily desk calendar with a new theme every day. We’ve been making a new edition together every year since 2015 and this is the first year it’s published by Workman Press and in stores around the world.

I also illustrate and run an Instagram account called @sadanimalfacts, where I illustrate sad facts about adorable animals, it’s pretty much just what it sounds like. Sad Animal Facts is now a New York Times bestselling book that is available in three languages.

Boaz is also the host of the Pedal Powered Talk Show, a portable talk show built into a cargo bike, that travels and interviews around Portland, the Pacific Northwest, and the rest of the world.

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A picture-perfect Jewish wedding overlooking the sea, with an Enzoani gown at Los Monteros Golf and Spa Hotel, Marbella, Spain

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Our absolute favourite thing about destination weddings is that, without fail, they provide epic, awe-inspiring scenery, and today’s beautiful destination celebration in Marbella, Spain, is certainly no exception.

Lizzi and Mark met through a family connection and quickly fell in love. Set in Spain as the perfect backdrop for their big day, the couple enlisted incredible Smashing Supplier, optimum weddings by The Weddings Company to help them to liaise with their suppliers overseas and make their dream day happen. It goes without saying that Lizzi and Mark were overjoyed with the results.

The ceremony took place overlooking the sea with mountains in the distance — the postcard-ready picture was framed by the couple’s stunning Chuppah, with its beautiful floral arrangements. What more could anyone want?

There’s a lot to love about Lizzi and Mark’s big day, but we simply have to mention the phenomenal vibes of the Israeli dancing — as you can see from the pictures, the party was definitely buzzing, and nobody held back!

Fireworks filled the sky as the pair cut their cake, creating a Hollywood-perfect romantic moment to remember forever.

The wedding was shot by Your Wedding Moments.

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How we met

Lizzi, the bride: Funnily enough, we met at my brother’s wedding in Israel in 2014. I thought I knew all of his friends, but turns out… I didn’t. Not his one Northern friend from Leeds. We met, there was an instant chemistry, he then moved down to London, and the rest is history.
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It’s all about the music – Sound Generation make good weddings exceptional…

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Well at least this years Oscars started well. Ahem. Obvious gaffe aside, there’s a reason why Justin Timberlake was asked to open the show with that *stunning* performance of Can’t Stop the Feeling.

Because it was fabulous and music is crucial to kick start and maintain an amazing night. Did you see the stars in the audience caught dancing? Jeff Bridges, Javier Bardem, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman among them – all shaking off the pre-awards tension.

But that’s the Oscars, so how important is music at a wedding? Well, if you want it to be a memorable one, then VERY. Music creates the atmosphere and galvanises the memories of your big day. It’s the heartbeat – coercing cheers, tears and driving the dance floor. And with that in mind, today I’m posting about a live music provider for weddings that you really must know about — Sound Generation.

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Why we heart Sound Generation

Sound Generation are a UK-based outfit that arrange some of the finest singers and bands to play at (good) Jewish weddings. Their acts — all of whom work full time in the industry – are highly sought after, having worked with global music stars including Beyonce, Rhianna, Ed Sheeran and Tony Bennett.

They have artists that cover all traditional Jewish wedding favourites, as well as harpists, pianists, jazz trios, DJs, string quartets, party bands, acoustic duos… you name it. Sound Generation’s acts are so impressive that they’re regularly seen performing at Ronnie Scott’s, Wembley Arena, the O2 and The Royal Albert Hall. This is the real deal folks!

And they so happen to have organised the music at the real wedding I chose to open 2017 with — the sensational Jewish wedding of Amy and Adam. 

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Just imagine the entertainment at YOUR wedding… what style are you leaning towards? Sound Generation can provide oodles of audible food for thought 

How about Louise? A phenomenally talented singer-songwriter who’s performed at Glastonbury and Isle of Wight Festival, is a regular at Ronnie Scott’s and Jazz Cafà©, and has supported the likes of En Vogue, George Benson, Roberta Flack, and The Stylistics.

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A big fat Jewish-Greek wedding with a Catherine Deane gown and a superb bridal entrance on the beach in Crete

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The only type of wedding that compares culturally to a Jewish wedding is, of course, a big fat Greek wedding. So, as you can imagine, a combination of the two makes for a pretty epic Mediterranean family-centric celebration!

Christina and Oryan tied the knot on the beach in beautiful Crete, owing to both the bride and groom’s Greek and Greek-Cypriot backgrounds, and the convenient short hop from Israel, where Oryan has family ties.

We adore the laid-back feel of this gorgeous destination wedding, with the bride making her grand entrance on donkey-back, the couple exchanging vows barefoot on the beach (with one notable moment as an exception) and Greek / Israeli food and dancing.

The pair kept things simple, with no bridal party and ensuring that everything had a natural, organic feel to it. We LOVE the simplicity of the wooden Chuppah with its delicate floral arrangements perfectly framing the view of the sea. Stunning.

Family played a huge role in the ceremony, with both of the bride and groom’s sisters being given a significant part to play.

Oh, and Christina’s Catherine Deane dress was simply perfect — elegant, bridal, flattering and beach-wedding beautiful.  

Christina and Oryan wrote up the story of their real wedding together as a couple, and we’re delighted to hear the story from both of their perspectives, so we’ll hand over to them now to tell us more…

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How we met

Christina and Oryan, the bride and groom: We met through mutual friends in NYC. We had both moved to New York in 2010 and had mutual friends in common through which we were introduced. We remained friends for several years before starting to date in 2014.

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