Inspired Jewish Weddings
I am thrilled to welcome John Nassari to our Smashing Suppliers, Smashing The Glass’s handpicked selection of the best brands and services the wedding industry has to offer.
Smashing The Glass hand selects and verifies each Smashing Supplier, and can personally vouch for the fact that every one of them has the ability to turn your wedding day into something truly special.
You can find John Nassari in the UK wedding photography category of our Smashing Suppliers.
OK guys, we are starting the week at TRULY EPIC on the wedding spectrum. Are you ready for what I have in store for you?
The truth is, I actually don’t know where to start with all the love that I have for Danny and Aaron’s immense Jewish wedding. And by the time you lot are through you won’t know what to do with yourselves either.
To begin with these two rode down the aisle to their chuppah atop a tallit-wearing horse dressed as a unicorn (or Jew-nicorn, as they dubbed it!) to the tune of Madonna’s Like a Virgin. What’s more Joss Stone (yes, the Joss Stone) undertook the role of cantor, singing Circle of Life as Danny and Aaron circled each other under the chuppah, and a 16 person gospel choir was on hand for a few of the ceremony songs as well.
When I asked Danny and Aaron what advice they’d give to brides and grooms currently planning their Jewish wedding, they told me, “be unique to your personalities. You can create new Jewish traditions by adding a personal flare to more traditional Jewish rituals, making your wedding unique to you as individuals and as a couple”, and boy did they live up to their own advice!
Danny and Aaron certainly know how to throw a phenomenal party. And throw a party they did. At their reception, John Legend, Ciara, Joss Stone, and Korean rapper, Psy (aka Mr. Gangnam Style!) performed live keeping guests entertained till well into the small hours. But as much as there was world-class entertainment and flamboyant gestures, Danny and Aaron’s W Day was absolutely all about sharing, loving and being together. An ethos that the pair stood from the very start as they decided not to uphold the traditions of being apart until the ceremony, instead opting to get ready together — sharing every single moment of their wedding day.
Thank you to Danny, Aaron and Maya Myers Photography for letting me give you the most incredible start to your Smashing The Glass week!
Danny and Aaron, the Grooms: We both work in the music and television industries. We wanted to have our guests experience a Hollywood studio and wanted to create a grand overlaying look of our wedding and so Paramount Studios was a perfect fit for us. We wanted to design the whole room.
I’m feeling very happy indeed this morning, because Abby and Lance’s wedding is such a gorgeous one to be blogging on a Friday morning.
The adorable couple married in San Jose, California — a city that is close to their hearts as it’s where they live, and it’s also where they went to high school. I should also add that these two first met when Abby was just 6 years old, when Lance generously gave her some of his sweets. Bags of those same sweets (Laffy Taffy’s!) were handed out at the wedding to all their guests. Super cute!
They wanted their wedding to be really fun for their friends…and it was just that. Throw in a beautiful outdoor chuppah setting, and an orange and peacock blue colour scheme — and I think you’ve pretty much got the perfect Smashing The Glass wedding to kickstart your weekend!
Abby, the Bride: We really wanted everyone to have fun at our wedding, and not feel like this was just another stuffy, boring wedding that they had already been to. What guided us was constantly asking ourselves, “Would this be fun?” We had drinks and hor d’oeuvres available for our guests prior to the ceremony and welcomed them to keep their drinks during the ceremony. Being that we got married in August, sundown was late in the day and pushed our ceremony and reception into the night. Rather than having another “rubber chicken” dinner that took away from time to enjoy dancing and partying, we selected about a dozen different kinds of foods to have set out during the reception. People could graze the buffets as they desired and all foods chosen you could eat with your hands or just a fork (i.e. no knife required).
Regular readers will know that I have a bit of a penchant for Israeli weddings. I’ve always loved the idea of a chuppah under the stars and the all-night party vibe that Israel does so well, not to mention the abundance of food, and holding the ceremony and party all in one venue.
As it happens, when it came to organising my own wedding it was vitally important to both Mr STG and I to have his 97 year old grandmother there, and as she was unable to travel, a wedding in Israel was out of the question for us.
But if we were to have had our wedding in Israel, there’s no doubt that I would have enlisted the help of an Israeli wedding planner to work with me and help me plan it from abroad, and for those of you who find yourselves in the same position, you’re going to thank me for introducing you to BE Group TLV who I want to tell you about today.
I was first introduced to Lisa and the BE Group TLV team when I delightedly received Ravit and Sam’s gorgeous wedding submission. I then went on to blog their amazing W-Day (that you all loved) and got to hear about how imperative BE Group TLV were to the success of the whole celebration. Here’s what Ravit, the bride had to say:
Today I am bringing you the most immense interfaith wedding that came to my attention courtesy of the wonderful By Petronella. It’s a cultural extravaganza full of heart and sentiment, and anyone planning, or even thinking about, an interfaith wedding ceremony must read Neela’s W-day report.
I can’t promise that her wedding to Jeffrey won’t make you cry, as at the end of the post is the wedding film by Mae B Films and hearing them recite their personalised vows set me off… I may just have shed a tear or two over how pure and emotive it was. Instead of feeling constrained by their interfaith ceremony, as some couples do, Neela and Jeffrey’s was an undiluted celebration of love in its very purest form.
Apart from the obviously very happy and very in love Neela and Jeffrey, and the unbearably gorgeous setting (a deer makes an appearance!), this wedding is all about the magical blend of cultures for me.
Oh and there’s the sparkler send-off…yep an actual send-off with hundreds of sparklers — I love that idea – and what a great photo opp! Take it away, Neela and Jeffrey.
Neela, the Bride: We chose the venue because of its natural beauty, rustic setting and low key vibe. We visited the area in the Autumn of 2013 and felt very connected. We also loved that no cell phone service was available in the area which allowed us and our guests to disconnect from the busy city life, reconnect and have a mini retreat. We fell head over heels in love with the barn on our first visit to Full Moon Resort. It simply brought a magical feeling the moment we stepped into it. Growing up in the country, the setting brought a sense of home for me. We both felt a sense of belonging and peace amidst the mountains.
