Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog - Page 329 of 341

Joanna & David | Amazing Jewish Wedding at the London Transport Museum

19/12/2013 by Karen

This morning I have the ideal antidote to the stormy weather and the general sub zero antics that appear to be going on outside. Steve from Newlywed Films recently contacted me to share one of his favourite wedding films from 2013 and it’s perfect for brightening up a particularly inclement day such as today.

There are so many details that I love about this wedding, from the groom’s theatrical top hat and the bride’s Vivienne Westwood-esque dress (especially that bustle) to the fact that their reception took place in the London Transport Museum – how fun and fabulous is that?! Their guests chatted and ate on the different buses throughout the museum and as Joanna, the bride, says, “The London Transport Museum had never held a wedding reception before which meant it was a really fun and creative process for us and felt very unique and special.”

Beforehand they held their ceremony in David’s old school, UCS in Hampstead, and it featured an absolutely beautiful chuppah with the most vibrant coloured flowers and talit.

Anyway, enough from me, check out the wedding film for a sun-in-your-heart Thursday feeling.

Joanna, the bride: We don’t have an exciting/romantic backstory in terms of using the London Transport Museum as our wedding venue – we just came across it when we were venue searching and then nothing else seemed to compare!

We didn’t want a sit down meal but we also wanted our guests to be occupied the whole time so a museum space with fun exhibits seemed perfect, especially as we knew that there would be kids at the reception. It turns out that it was the adults who probably enjoyed it the most though! Also, the transport museum had never held a wedding reception before which meant it was a really fun and creative process for us and felt very unique and special.

Victoria & Oliver | Super-Creative Back Garden Jewish Wedding in Highgate, London, UK

12/12/2013 by Karen

Today folks we have back garden glamour abound, with a wedding hosted in the bride’s parents’ home followed by a reception at the bride’s grandparent’s home. How lovely is that?

There’s loads of super creative DIY, a gorgeous Alice Temperley bride, a Routemaster bus, some swimming pool action, and some immense photography from Richmond Pictures.

Victoria, a creative arts therapist, and Oliver, a theatre producer, met during their time at the Newcastle University Theatre Society where they played two drunks in Kebab! The Musical . What an awesome ‘how did you meet’ opener!

VENUE + LOCATION
Victoria, the Bride: We had the ceremony in my parent’s garden in Highgate. They have a lawn down some garden steps, which makes it feel like a secret garden almost. We then took red London buses to my Grandparent’s house, also in Highgate, as they too have a lovely garden – we had a marquee here. I grew up in both these gardens so both venues had a lot of sentimental value and my fiancà©e loved the gardens too. (My Grandpa died a few years ago but my Grandma was thrilled to host everyone — she danced all night. This was particularly special as she passed away 6 months later. We have such great memories of her as hostess with the mostess!)

The diary of a Jewish bride who married out

25/11/2013 by Smashing The Glass

Today’s post is written by the wonderful Sara Gibbs of Darling Lovely Life, the vintage-inspired lifestyle blog (and one of my favourite daily reads).Today she shares her personal story of marrying out. Or as she puts it, “her husband marrying in”.

Growing up, I always assumed I would meet a nice Jewish boy (maybe a doctor) and spend the rest of my life kvetching at him. OK, so I didn’t really see myself as such an awful stereotype, but growing up in a Jewish / Israeli household that was relatively observant (in a reform kind of way) and going on to be president of my JSoc at university, it was a natural assumption that my future life partner would be Jewish.

So imagine my great surprise when the love of my life showed up when I was just twenty two — and he wasn’t Jewish at all. Not only was he not Jewish, but he’d grown up all over the Middle East (gasp) and not my neck of the woods either (double gasp) because of his dad’s job and while my views on the conflict are hardly controversial or right wing, we actually first got to know each other because of our amusingly divergent views on the obvious.

We worked together in my first job. We became adversaries, then friends, then more. The job was a short-term contract and didn’t last, but I took a souvenir home with me and no, it wasn’t the stapler.

It didn’t take long for John to embrace Jewish culture. The first time I took him home to meet my parents was Rosh Hashanah, throwing him right in the deep end. After three months together, I went to work in Israel for a month and he visited me out there.

He returned home, proudly telling everyone who’d listen how he’d been searched five times by El Al security and even had his wine gift wrapped by the security officer. I flew home and moved in — he was hooked and starting to look and sound more Jewish than I am.

Then, just six months into our relationship, on a freezing cold Brighton beach, John proposed. I said yes, and we started planning our interfaith wedding. I was lucky. My family, already in love with John, took no exception to my “marrying out”. They saw it the way John did. I wasn’t marrying out, he was marrying in.

Converting seemed irrelevant. I wasn’t religious, so I didn’t expect John to be. Judaism is so many things to so many people and to me it’s culture — it’s home. John was happy to have a Jewish home and I was happy to build it with him.

Living in England, interfaith marriages are easy enough. Finding someone to perform a Jewish-style ceremony for an interfaith couple? Not so easy. We went through a sparse list of rabbis who would do it, and again with the awful stereotypes but it seems that you pay a dear price for marrying out. Literally. I mean no disrespect when I say that some even had the chutzpah to charge per blessing.

We approached a dear friend who had been the Jewish chaplain at my university and was the president of my old shul there. While he isn’t a rabbi, he leads services and it wouldn’t be a legally binding ceremony. He knew both John and I incredibly well and we couldn’t think of anyone more perfect to send us off into married life.

As it wasn’t an official, legally binding ceremony (we had a legal ceremony minutes before), we took some liberties that probably had some of the older generations scratching their heads and wondering if they missed something. For a start, I made a Cath Kidston-style chuppah out of table legs, lace tablecloth and floral fabric, we wrote and designed our own Ketubah and I didn’t wear my veil but we did use it during the blessings as it had belonged to my great grandmother.

At the end of the day, though, we married under a chuppah, I circled my groom seven times (because I loved the symbolism), we said blessings, we drank Palwins (awful as ever) and he smashed the glass. My secular groom was about as Jewish as you can get without actually being Jewish.

A year and a half on and we are very happily married. We have a Jewish household, we celebrate the holidays, John is insistent on being observant even when I’m being lazy, he’s attempting to learn Hebrew, there is a mezuzah at our door.

Exciting announcement!

18/11/2013 by Karen

Hi lovely readers

I’m so excited to reveal that my husband and I welcomed an incredible little daughter into our lives a week ago! Yes, it’s been quite a year – married in April, the launch of Smashing The Glass in June, and now this astonishing little girl was blessed into our lives (fashionably late!) last Sunday 10 November.

Whilst adjusting to my journey into motherhood, there’ll still be plenty of gorgeous new real weddings, tips, insights and interviews with the wedding industry’s finest, but posting will come down to once a week only for the next month or so at least.

Smashing The Glass is still very much my 2nd baby and I can’t wait to get back to super-regular updates, but whilst you’re waiting for your weekly fix there’s still tons and tons of gorgeous creative real Jewish weddings for you to browse through and be inspired by.

Equally if you’re look for weddings vendors that have the Smashing Seal of Approval, check out my Smashing Suppliers where I recommend some of the best in the business.

Finally if you’ve tied the knot already and think that your wedding was ‘smashingly creative’, I’d love to hear from you and feature your wedding on Smashing The Glass! Head over here to read how to submit your wedding.

Can’t wait to be back on this full-time as before. Just bear with me a little bit in these coming weeks!

Mishie & Misha | Spectacular Destination Jewish wedding at Villa Eva, Amalfi Coast, Italy

09/11/2013 by Karen

It’s September 2013. We’re at one of the most passionate places in the world, the beautiful Villa Eva in ridiculously romantic Ravello on the Italian Amalfi coast. The village itself is tiny and has the most jaw-dropping views — rolling hills, endless sea panoramas, charming country villages, and of course the beautiful Italian sunshine!

One hundred of Mishie and Misha’s friends and family have traveled from all over the world to join them and celebrate their wedding holiday.

The bride has sensational style (not to mention two awesome dresses!), there’s lots of personal input from friends and family, an Argentinian tango first dance, stunning picturesque Amalfi backdrops…. Interested? Of course you are!

Here’s lovely Mishie, the Bride, with all the delicious detail.

PICKING A DESTINATION FOR GUESTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD
Mishie, the Bride: Our wedding was in Ravello, on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Since Misha is American and I am Australian, we wanted somewhere that was neutral territory but also somewhere that guests would want to come to and where they could make a holiday out of it, since a lot of people would be travelling a long way! Italy is our favourite country to visit and Misha actually suggested the Amalfi Coast since it is one of the most beautiful and romantic parts of the country.

We were then recommended some wedding planners based in Ravello by a friend of a friend. We went out there in March to meet them and they took us to see various venues in Ravello, Sorrento and Positano. When we went to visit Villa Eva in Ravello, we just knew it was the spot where we wanted to get married. The view is spectacular and the villa itself is gorgeous and has a really relaxed and authentic Italian vibe to it. Ravello is the most stunning town and really small which meant that everyone could stay in different hotels but still be able to walk to the wedding venue and around town. And although Ravello is slightly more difficult to get to than other places on the Amalfi Coast, this has allowed it to stay less touristy and keep more of its original character, which we love!