Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

STG has been nominated in two categories in the 2016 Wedding Blog Awards!

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I have some really exciting news to share with you — Smashing The Glass  has been  shortlisted in not one, but  TWO  categories in the  2016 Wedding Blog Awards!

It’s an absolute honour to be named alongside so many of my favourite blogging peers (including some of the biggest blogs in the world!) in two fabulous categories — Best Multi-Cultural Weddings Blog and Best LGBT Wedding Blog. (In case you’re interested you can see all my amazing multi-cultural weddings here  and my  incredible  same-sex Jewish weddings here).

My categories includes some  of the biggest wedding blogs in the world so if you would like to signal support for Smashing The Glass, you can follow this link to vote.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all your wonderful  support so far (Oh G-d,  please stop me… I’m starting to sound like Gwyneth!)  but it genuinely means so much to me that you  share in the joint inspiration of Smashing The Glass.

Voting closes on 30 September and the Awards ceremony is being held in London in October. I’ll be sure to update you with all the news and gossip and hopefully a little something for the mantlepiece!

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click here to vote

 

Real Jewish Brides: How I selected all my wedding vendors in under 10 weeks

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We got engaged in January, and within 10 weeks, I had booked  all  our wedding vendors. I know, I know. That seems super fast, and a lot of brides are curious to know how I made such quick decisions in such a little amount of time, so I’m here to share my secrets…..

To preface, Alex and I are tying the knot across the country (in the USA) from where we currently live (think 3,700+ km). Rather than having the luxury of meeting potential vendors in person over coffee, at their respective studios, as many brides do, it meant that I was left with word-of-mouth referrals, online reviews, and phone conversations as the sole resources to make my final decision.

To be perfectly honest, the only vendor I really cared about meeting in person was the photographer, and of course seeing the venue IRL (in real life). The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is pin pointing where you want the wedding to be. The venue! And it’s true with what they say — Once you have that locked down, the rest sort of falls in line.

Securing a venue gives you a date and a place. You literally cannot do anything without those two. Picking our venue was slightly overwhelming, but once we stepped foot on Tubac Golf Resort and Spa, we knew we hit the jackpot. As I said before, we loved everything about it, and it incorporated everything both Alex and I envisioned for our wedding. We signed our contract within a week of our return flight to Washington, DC. Boom! We had our venue.

OK, so moving onto the other vendors: photographer, cake baker, musicians, florist, and a wedding planner! Now that’s when the ten weeks of non-stop planning really began.

Luckily Tubac had a list of their preferred vendors, folks that are (1) reasonably priced, (2) familiar with the space, staff, and (3) previous brides had been happy with — all aspects are important to a bride-to-be. I used Tubacs preferred vendor list as a springboard in my hunt.  I decided to focus on one vendor category at a time, and went in the order of which vendors I booked.

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Wedding Planner

Before I began with anything else, I figured that I wanted to secure a wedding planner. Someone to assist not only the day-of, but also guide me through the planning stages.

I had two phone interviews with two women who had been in the business for a long, long time which is great. I wanted someone with years of experience under their belt. They were both wonderful, but one wasn’t available on our wedding date to assist with day-of coordination, and the other was highly recommended by Tubac. It was a no brainer. We hired Jeri, our wedding planner and moved on.

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There are ketubahs, and there are ketubahs…

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One of the best things about working on Smashing The Glass is stumbling across great finds that I can’t wait to show you, or in this case, being contacted by people who completely get the Smashing The Glass ethos and have something brilliant to share. David Master and his incredible sculptural ketubot are truly one-of-a-kind and it gives me great pleasure to introduce his creations to you today.

David and his wife, Elana, recently opened their boutique online ketubah store — Timeless Ketubah — where they create and sell the world’s first truly sculptural ketubah, and just like the story of Smashing The Glass, their venture started when they were planning their own Jewish wedding. They were unable to find a ketubah that captured both the essence of rich Jewish tradition, as well as their individual and collective personalities, and from that experience their unique ketubah design was born, meaning you can now literally carve your individuality onto your wedding day and beyond.

So what exactly is a ketubah?

For the uninitiated, the ketubah (which means “something written” in Hebrew) is an integral part of the Jewish wedding and it outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom to the bride. The contract dates back to ancient times but it’s come a long way since then!

These days ketubahs (or ketubot, the Hebrew plural) are less about the business of marriage and more about the beauty. They have come to symbolise the love and commitment of a couple, and are often beautiful designs that the couple want to display prominently in their home well after their big day is over — and this is exactly where David’s creations come into their own.

The story of the sculptural ketubah

As already mentioned, the idea of creating a sculptural ketubah was born when David and his wife, Elana, were planning their own Jewish wedding.  A true ‘Smashing The Glass’ couple, they took a very hands-on approach by conceptualising and creating many elements themselves, from their in-depth ceremony program, to a family tree showing several generations of wedding photos, to creating their invitations by hand, to name but a few. Of course they looked around at other ketubot, but none had that truly ‘one-of-a-kind’ factor; so they decided to create their own.

They knew that their ketubah would be a focal point of their wedding, but the response from their guests was even more positive than they had imagined it would be.

Seeing a need for this type of ketubah, and wanting to share their experience with others, the idea of creating and selling sculptural ketubot was born. After almost two years of creating prototypes, working through operations and logistics, and creating a website, Timeless Ketubah is finally here!

Timeless Ketubah Sculptural Ketubah

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A destination Jewish wedding full of creativity, symbolism, and meaning at Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Arizona, USA

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I have a delicious destination wedding to share with you today, written by Smashing The Glass reader, Mike (yes, I’m proud to say that a plethora of grooms read and love STG too!). He’s written a beautifully detailed account of his marriage to Michal, and his report is LONG, there’s no denying it but it’s well worth a read.

Mike and Michal were invested in the meaning, the spirit, and the energy of the wedding weekend as opposed to the decor (although there are plenty of cool creative details too) so there are many ‘planning nuggets’ and some really great advice throughout.

Their wedding theme was simply ‘us’, and it’s clear to see that they threw themselves into every facet of their wedding (and by their own admission, Mike was more your “typical bride” than your “typical guy”!). Whether it was their late-night welcome bag Photoshop design session, the 10-page ceremony program explaining each aspect and its personal meaning (LOVE this), or the endless communication with their talented Ketubah artist in Israel, everything was their unique creation. Even Michal’s engagement ring was meticulously designed by Mike using family heirlooms, with every detail of the ring telling a story.

At the end of their wedding weekend, as guests headed home, they left Michal and Mike with two of the greatest compliments they could have asked for – “that was the most meaningful wedding I’ve ever attended”, and “I’m only going to Jewish weddings from here on out…”

Now d’you see why this Jewish wedding is a must-read? With thanks to Trevor Dayley Photography for capturing all the memories so beautifully… Enjoy!

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Choosing to get married in Arizona

Mike, the Groom: Being two Canadians living in San Francisco, with family and friends dispersed around the globe, we quickly learned there was no “local” option for our wedding. Whether we wed in Michal’s hometown of Toronto, or in the place we now called home, San Francisco, 80% of our guests would be flying in.

Once the reality set in that our wedding was going to be a destination wedding no matter what, we embraced it and broadened our search, keeping in mind somewhere that would be easy to fly to and that was family friendly. We had both always dreamed of getting married outdoors, and the 299 days of sunshine in Arizona seemed a good bet.

We had visited Fairmont Scottsdale Princess together a year before, and Michal had visited many times prior – once with her parents, once with her best friend, and once for a surprise proposal for another close friend; the place held a special place in her heart, and once our search wasn’t limited to Toronto and San Francisco any longer, I think she secretly knew – or at least hoped – this is where we would get married.

There is something magical about Fairmont Scottsdale Princess – the grounds are set up in such a way that really make it the perfect place for a wedding weekend, where friends and family can come together as a community for a simcha, and really enjoy each other’s company. Michal always wanted a wedding “weekend” where we could together celebrate the lead up to our wedding day and have quality time with all of our guests, and the idea of everyone being fully present and focused on the simcha – everyone essentially on vacation together – was the best arrangement to set the tone of togetherness.

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess made our wedding the best weekend with all of our loved ones, and it was extra meaningful as it was somewhere we knew could come back for years in the future, to celebrate anniversaries, and someday bring our kids to show them to place we got married.

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Real Jewish Brides: Choosing a Kosher Wedding Venue (or not?)… and a brutally honest ‘congratulations’

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It’s My Wedding, And I’ll Cry If I Want To…

About a week after returning from Spain, I had overcome the jet lag, gotten used to calling Harley my fiancà©, and told our engagement story about 163548 times. It was such an exciting time, and we were grateful for the support we received, but I have to admit that I considered changing the voice mail greeting on my phone to “how we got engaged” more than once that week! It wasn’t until a meeting at work the following week, when I saw a friend from another department, that I got the most authentic response from a recent bride. The conversation went a little like this…

Christa: “Is that new?!” (pointing at my ring)
Me: “It is!!!”
Christa: “Oh my gosh, congratulations! When’s the big day?!”
Me: “We’re not sure yet. My sister is getting married in May, so we’re trying not to do too much planning before then…we’ll probably just lock down the venue.”
Christa: “Just remember, all the tears you cry while planning your wedding will all be worth it the day after.”
Me:  yikes-emoji

Although I was caught off guard because I was in engagement bliss and hadn’t started the planning process yet, I completely understand now that we’re five months in. Luckily the only tears so far were associated with the stress of deciding on the where and when of our wedding, and we can now laugh about it and share the details of our dream venue!

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Dawn + Harley’s engagement story — you can read all about it here

Let The Planning Begin!

As I mentioned in the conversation with my colleague, Harley and I got engaged about two and a half months before my sister and new brother-in-law’s wedding. Since I was still in full “Maid of Honor Mode” and wanted to let them have their time to shine, we decided to only focus on the main attraction until after their wedding…the venue.

Of course, being a normal bride (or at least one who was paranoid about having her favorite vendors book up), there may have been a few exceptions…like when my wedding dress basically fell into my lap months before I even planned on shopping for one. I will happily blog about that experience in a future post!

Operation: Find A Kosher Hotel Venue

Writing this blog on the heels of a camping trip for work in the Florida Keys IN THE SUMMER, I can honestly say I’d be perfectly happy with any venue that has air conditioning. Fortunately, I was not deprived of cold air or water when searching for venues, so my standards were a bit higher. Harley and I agreed from the start that we wanted both the ceremony and reception to take place in a hotel for a number of reasons:

  1. About three quarters of our guest list is made up of out-of-towners, ranging from various parts of Florida to different countries, so we would definitely have to coordinate transportation if we didn’t go with a hotel.
  2. I love the idea of waking up at the venue the morning of the wedding, as well as ending the night there.
  3. Our guests who take advantage of the open bar can safely stumble up to their rooms at the end of the night; and
  4. There will be 15 girls getting ready for the wedding together, so a nice, comfy Bridal Suite is a must!

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