Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

A chic Israeli wedding with a Tali & Marianna gown at The Q, Galil Yam, Israel

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In true Israeli style, Liron and Rotem’s elegant outdoor wedding was all about family. For beautiful bride, Rotem, the only thing that truly mattered was having her loved ones around her as she married the man of her dreams.

With such a breathtaking venue, not much embellishment was needed. The wedding was tastefully understated, with a real focus on creating an amazing atmosphere, fabulous food and partying late into the night.

Glamourous Rotem looked every bit the red-carpet siren in her stunning Tali & Marianna gown, which was custom made for her by the Tel Aviv designer.

We love the story of the special video that Rotem’s father made for the happy couple — simply adorable and totally worth looking out for.

All of the joy, tears and laughter were captured by Smashing Supplier Dror Einav with whom Rotem and Liron had a special rapport.

We’ll pass you over to Rotem now for all the details on her and Liron’s big day. Take it away, Rotem!

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How we met

Rotem, the bride: We met when we both were in the Israeli navy. We were a group of friends from the base that hung out together a lot of nights and one night he called me to come visit him on his ship. I came as a friend and didn’t really think about him like that, but the rest is history: I just fell in love.
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Review of Sassi Holford’s Twenty17 Collection, Occasionwear, and Mother Of The Bride collections – plus a Facebook Live chat with the designer herself

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All images by Kate Nielen

One of the best things about being a wedding blogger is, undoubtedly, that I get to go and gaze at exquisite wedding gowns — for my job! For that reason and many others, including the impulse to share cutting-edge bridal fashion with you guys, I’m really passionate about promoting incredible bridal designers.

Sassi HolfordSassi Holford EveningwearSassi Holford With that in mind, it was a real treat to be invited to the 2017 Open Day of the one and only Sassi Holford, a leading international designer with a plethora of awards and accolades, earned over 35 years in bridal design. As the official blogger I wanted to get ALL the coverage so I asked Sassi if she would do a Facebook Live showcasing her designs and talking about current wedding trends.

With the opportunity to interview such a wedding world heavyweight, I came dressed for the occasion (even wearing a floral dress to echo one of Sassi’s most sublime designs, and my Emmy London shoes) — and armed with questions.

Sassi Holford_ Sassi Holford_0231Sassi Holford_0252Despite a couple of small hiccoughs with the live feed, it was a fabulous experience, which you can catch up with above — and a couple more at the end of the post. (Also, a very special thank you and shout out to Pamela and Andrea, who did my makeup to perfection).

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A rustic Jewish wedding with an abundance of flowers and a Sophia Tolli dress at Soho Farmhouse, Oxfordshire, UK

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Everyone — stop what you’re doing right now and take a moment to stare at this stunningly floral Chuppah in all its glory. As far as Chuppah game goes, this is seriously top notch: we can’t stop gazing at that abundance of cascading flowers — too beautiful for words!

Now that we’ve got that out of our system: Jade and Adam’s Jewish wedding at the achingly rustic-cool Soho Farmhouse was packed with personalised detail. From the fabulous pink and white floral arrangements that adorned the reception to the incredibly sweet and thoughtful favours created by the couple and their families, no stone was left unturned.

To match the venue, the couple opted for a rustic theme, and this was captured in the stunning photography and incredible wedding video by  Andrew James Photography and Gorgeous Films respectively.

We love Jade’s idea of incorporating small, framed photographs of her late grandparents in her bouquet — a wonderfully personal way to honour departed loved ones. We ADORE her personalised Converse (and when we say personalised, these are something else, go and look now now now!). The speeches sweepstake is a fantastic way to keep guests entertained, a late-night greasy spoon van is absurdly clever (pre-empt those hangovers) and the doggy vodka ice luges in the shape of beloved family pets at a vet’s wedding? Bravo.

Oh, and we literally squealed with excitement when we saw the couple had replicated the bottle dance from Fiddler on The Roof — there are not enough adjectives in the world for how enthusiastic we feel about this.

Before we hand over to Jade, one thing she said is really worth highlighting. When it came to makeup, Jade said that she felt like the best version of herself, which is such a beautiful, empowering thing and we just love her for it. Over to Jade for the full story.

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How we met

Jade, the bride: Adam and I met through my work. I am a veterinary surgeon and I was his family vet.

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An authentic experience at Soho Farmhouse, Oxfordshire

Getting married at 36 years old, I no longer wanted the Scottish castle wedding I had dreamed of at 24. Adam and I knew we wanted something different: more us, less formal, more fun, and so when we saw Soho Farmhouse online we were delighted. It was a new venue at the time and the whole Soho House experience just appealed to us. Even though it was still a work in progress at the time of booking, we loved it and instantly knew that it was the perfect venue for us.

I loved that you left your car at the entrance, the only way to get around was by milk float, bicycle, horse or on foot. It felt like I was in another world and it made me instantly relaxed. The bespoke wellies and bicycles with name tags, the ability to collect your own eggs from the chickens, sitting on hay bales at the Chuppah, the outdoor baths, the endless cowshed shampoo and conditioners in the shower, your own personal farm hand… The list goes on! I wanted something different – I like being a bit different – hence why I have a black engagement ring.

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Facebook Live Catch Up: Wedding Photography with Blake Ezra

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On Wednesday, I went ‘Facebook Live’ alongside my much-loved Smashing Supplier, Blake Ezra, for the second episode of our exciting new monthly show especially for the STG worldwide community.

This month it was a ‘Wedding Photography’ special and you all LOVED it!  We answered so many great questions including why photographers vary so much in price, how to go about choosing a wedding photographer, the most stand-out moment of Blake’s photography career (and no it wasn’t Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding that he also photographed), and of course his EPIC beard.

If you missed it, you can still catch up by watching the replay below. Blake was second to none and handed out so much useful advice and photography nuggets you’d be mad not to watch it (again and again!) and catch every last word. We also revealed a BIG exclusive towards the end.

We planned to be live for around 30 minutes but we max-ed out to just over an hour, and even then we couldn’t get through all your brilliant questions. Thank you for being such a fabulous audience — Blake has promised to answer any unanswered questions in the comments section of the video, plus we have a second instalment up our sleeve! Watch this space…

This was the second in a monthly episode of STG shows that will be aired live on the last Wednesday of every month on Facebook at 8pm GMT(that’s 3pm EST, 12pm PST, and 10pm in Israel) to coincide with #WeddingWednesday.

Next month’s show is going out on Wednesday 29th March 2017, and I’ll be joined by one of the best make up artists in the industry, the gorgeous Philippa Louise, for a ‘Wedding Beauty Q&A’ live show. More details nearer the time… Happy Weekend everyone!

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A Boho Beautiful Jewish wedding with a Rue de Seine gown at Northbrook Park, UK

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“WOW” was our first reaction to Erika and Marc’s fantastically floral real Jewish wedding at Northbrook Park. At a glance, the effect is overwhelmingly beautiful, and delving into each detail only serves to foster an even greater appreciation of just how much work, love and incredible taste went into planning the day.

Every last choice was simply bursting with personality, wit and charm, and expertly captured by photographer, David Morgan.

Before we get into the details (of which there are many that you’re definitely going to want to pin — and steal), can we just talk about how lovely Marc and Erika are as a couple? Their extraordinary personalities really shine, especially in the stunning wedding video, filmed by Story Catchers (go on – watch the video of Marc’s eloquent and heartfelt speech and try not to cry… spoiler alert, grab a tissue).

OK, so this is definitely a gratuitous use of all caps and exclamation marks, but we feel it’s warranted: THAT CHUPPAH!!!! Who else is dying of chuppah envy? We didn’t even know that was a thing, but there you go.

The entire day, including beautiful bride Erika’s stunning wedding ensemble (the bride wore a breathtaking dress by Rue De Seine), stuck to a highly detailed colour scheme and a relaxed, bohemian aesthetic.

Erika and Marc creatively crammed the wedding with quirky, clever touches, including an illustrated mini Erika and Marc on their stationery suite, “wedlibs” for their guest book (amazing idea) and personalised escort cards with thoughtful little phrases for each guest.

Erika writes so beautifully about her and Marc’s simcha that there’s no need for us to embellish, so we’ll hand over to her for the full scoop!

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How we met

Erika, the bride: Marc and I met at Limmud Conference 2012 as we were both volunteering in the catering team to make it a more cost-effective experience. Most people find dodgy pasta in the Limmud dining rooms, but we found each other.

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