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A Cultural-Fusion Chinese-Jewish (Chewish) Wedding with a Vera Wang Bride at Kew Gardens, London, UK

21/04/2017 by Karen

Jewish-wedding-kew-gardens
There’s something so special about Jew-ish weddings. Each one symbolises not only a relatively rare coming together of cultures, but a totally unique interpretation of what that combination looks like in practice. We have yet to see two Jew-ish weddings that are the same – there’s no blueprint and the couple has total license to imprint their own ideas, personalities and elements of their relationship into the proceedings. 

Jackie and Jon’s Chinese-Jewish (Chewish) wedding was a delightful cultural fusion, taking the most meaningful, colourful and exciting traditions from both the bride and the groom’s respective backgrounds and merging them into one heartfelt super-celebration. 

Bride, Jackie, stole the show in her red-carpet worthy gown from Vera Wang‘s White Collection, which is an impressive feat in a botanical paradise venue like Kew Gardens. 

All the details, including a full stationery suite, created by the talented bride herself, were captured with nothing less than expert skill by the phenomenal York Place Studios. A family business, York Place Studio is a cherished Smashing Supplier and responsible for not only the images in today’s post, but also the divinely emotional wedding video at the bottom of this post (SO worth a watch). 

The Smashing family was out in full force at Jackie and Jon’s big day. Sensational Smashing Supplier, Shir, one of the UK’s most sought-after klezmer wedding bands, also made a much-acclaimed appearance, before Creation Show Band also performed a roof-raising set. We have it on good authority that Anna Phoebe’s back-bending dancefloor electric violin solo was also an unmissable experience!

We’ll pass you on to Jackie now who has written up all the exceptionally borrow-able and emotional details of her and Jon’s big day. Enjoy! 

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How we met

Jackie, the bride: Jon is a management consultant and I’m a designer. We were introduced on a netball court in New York City, when we both lived there six years ago. While I had been there for seven years, Jon was on a work/study program with 300 other Brits for a year. The week Jon left for England for good, coincidentally, my work sent me to London. We then spent a phenomenal amount of money flying across the Atlantic to visit each other for the following eight months, before Jon persuaded me to move over to London.

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A magical, lush outdoor Jewish wedding at Claxton Farm, Weaverville, North Carolina, USA

17/04/2017 by Karen

Outdoor-Jewish-wedding-at-Claxton-Farm,-Weaverville,-North-Carolina,-USA
Hello and a very happy Easter Monday to our non-Jewish and Jewish readers alike. It’s a holiday here in the UK, and hopefully you’ve all got some fabulous plans to enjoy. If, for some reason, you can’t get out today, never fear – you can experience the great outdoors vicariously through Hannah and Harrison’s earthy and sublime real wedding.

There’s an extraordinary amount to feast your eyes, and heart, on. We were blown away by all of the rustic little touches, the phenomenal attention to detail, the lush green hues and foliage accented with pops of rich burgundy and woody tones. The venue was lit with bulb lights in the evening – positively magical!

The outdoor wedding symbolised everything that Hannah and Harrison hold dear as a couple, including the way that they met (spoiler alert: SO romantic) and a heartfelt Jewish ceremony conducted by a rabbi who had known Hannah since she was a child. 

Hannah looked positively radiant in her stunning gown, with flowers in her hair – a perfect picture of a bride on the happiest day of her life. Photographer Jill Schwarzkopf of Realities Photography expertly captured all of the emotionally charged, important moments of the day.

We also love Hannah and Harrison’s beautifully steal-able idea of taking the wedding morning to do your favourite, most relaxing thing. Why not start such an important occasion in a way that will make you the most happy? 

Well we’ve done just about all the gushing, time to pass you over to beautiful bride, Hannah, for a full recap of the big day.

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How we met

Hannah, the bride: Harrison and I met at summer camp and started dating a few years later when we went back to work as staff. We stayed together through four years of long, and very very long, distance and now live together in Athens, Georgia. I’m a graduate student at the University of Georgia and he works for his parents’ software company for wine and spirits wholesalers. 

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A rustic, horse farm Jewish wedding with an Enzoani bride at The Stables at Fox Crossing, Cochranville, Pennsylvania, USA

14/04/2017 by Karen

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Happy Friday, everybody! To celebrate, we’re treating you to the ultimate authentic rustic American wedding.

In typical ‘Smashing The Glass’ style, Sara and Justin didn’t want a cookie-cutter wedding and chose a blank canvas venue (a working horse farm) and filled it with stunning chandeliers, decadent dà©cor and so much love. The juxtaposition of a colourful, yet vintage-looking chuppah against the rustic dark wood of the barn is truly a sight to behold. 

Their Jewish wedding was captured in all its glory by photographer Gary Nevitt, including the bride’s epic cowboy (girl) boots – we have serious boot envy over here – and the stunning floral and mossy details, put together by Tonia of Aribella Events.

It also always strikes us how many Jewish weddings are filled with precious family heirlooms passed down through the generations. Sara and Justin’s wedding was no exception, with beautiful relics that even survived the Holocaust. This solemn tribute to our collective history can seem odd to some, but it says so much about the Jewish soul – the ability to commemorate our difficult past in a way that somehow makes the celebration feel all the more necessary in the present. 

Over to Sara for the full story on her and Justin’s special day. 

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How we met

Sara, the bride: Justin and I met through a mutual friend, Jill. We were the only two Jewish friends she had, so she figured we would be a good fit! I was in graduate school at Syracuse University for broadcast journalism and Justin was a sports reporter an hour away at a small station. Jill was my classmate and interned at Justin’s TV station on the weekends.

Justin and I hit it off immediately and the rest is history! We were long distance for a while, and would meet halfway in Scranton, Pennsylvania on the weekends. We would stay at a local Hampton Inn and go see the Tommy Guns Band play music. Hampton Hotels corporate got wind of our story and featured us in a promotional video, in which we also got engaged! Tommy Guns Band wrote us our wedding song and played it at our engagement.

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A rustic farm venue

We were married at a working horse farm in Cochranville, Pennsylvania called The Stables at Fox Crossing. Justin, my husband, and I dreamed of having a horse farm wedding, but every rustic wedding venue we visited seemed extremely commercial and like a “wedding factory.”

We wanted a space that was truly unique. We wanted guests to feel as if they were attending a wedding at someone’s personal residence, not at a commercial banquet facility. Our wedding planner, Tonia of Aribella Events, found this farm for us, and the owners generously allowed us to use it as our venue. 

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Stress Free Wedding Planning with the Tap of an App… Hello Bridebook!

12/04/2017 by Karen

Bridebook-wedding-planning-appDon’t you kick yourself sometimes when someone else comes up with those brilliant inventions that in hindsight are so obvious? Those relatively simple concepts that make life so much easier. Step forward Bridebook.

Bridebook is a sophisticated, FREE digital wedding planner that’s taking the bridal world by storm. And for good reason.

It’s SUCH an inspired idea — a website and app that has EVERYTHING you need to plan your wedding all in one place

And not before time. With the soar in seriously useful apps, we now expect everything to run a bit more smoothly. How often do you hear the phrase “don’t worry I’ll Uber it”? It’s now almost a verb. And Deliveroo, the (quality) takeaway app, has all but revolutionised my world for sure.

And so yes, we are ready to tap an app and do everything ‘wedding’ calmly and un-complicatedly.

Bridebook wedding planning appGood bye wedding stress

If you’re not employing a wedding planner (and let’s face it, not all of us can or want one) creating your dream single-handedly can be a beautifully rewarding thing but for lots, it can be stressful and all consuming.

Did I double-check the venue can give us 10 more places? Shall I spend less on flowers and go for candelabra centrepieces? Do I do paperless invitations? Where’s that RSVP list? Is this the most recent cost sheet?

It can seriously take over your every waking thought.

The entrepreneur founder of Bridebook – Hamish Shepherd – saw brides (who were booking his wedding venue [Hedsor House, above]) drowning under this preparation process and knew a digital solution was needed.

Bridebook wedding planning appSo what does Bridebook actually do?

With Bridebook you can just grab your phone and see in an instant the current status of your wedding planning and action any part of it.   Toodle oo spreadsheets and a million print outs. We’re moving on.

The site is comprised of 5 wedding planning tools, so you can get organising wherever you are …

  1. Checklist
  2. Budget
  3. Supplier Shortlist (and Directory)
  4. Guest list
  5. Advice

Each of these tools has their own special features that set them apart.

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A cactus-themed Jewish wedding at Tubac Golf Resort, Arizona, USA

10/04/2017 by Karen

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Chag sameach! Tonight is the first night of Passover. I’m doing Seder night tonight at my in-laws. What are you guys up to? I’d love to hear all about your plans.

Today’s real wedding is our very own utterly fabulous STG blogging bride, Dara, the first of our wonderful USA crop to get married! The couple tied the knot at Tubac Golf Resort, giving their wedding a fun-filled ‘back to summer camp’ atmosphere. 

Despite being in a desert environment in Arizona, Dara and Alex’s wedding still evoked a romantic, wintry vibe, thanks to chic Dara’s clever choice of colour scheme. 

We have all the love for gorgeous Dara’s stunning dress (and we adore her story – it’s a fantastic lesson in how you should always try something you wouldn’t have though to try). We’re also major fans of the cactus stationery and succulent favours! 

All of the magical moments and delightful details were captured by photographer Lori O’Toole, including the particularly mouth-watering naked cake. Save us a slice?

Over to Dara for the rest of her big-day tale. If you like what you see here, check out her Instagram at @daraboxer and leave her some love in the comments box!

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How we met

Dara, the bride: Alex and I are a match.com success story! After a few emails back and forth, we met up for a first date, which was nothing short of fun, hilarious and wonderful. I knew very early on that I had found my husband.

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