Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Richmond Pictures

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A new weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of  Karina Lax from  Richmond Pictures.

Richmond-Pictures

‘Bride and bridesmaids’ by Richmond Pictures

A captured fleeting moment, this to me is a reportage moment that I come back to time and again as a favourite photograph. The fast pace and anticipation is palpable as the bride and bridesmaids spy on the guests and get ready to make their entrance. To me it is everything good reportage images should be – totally unplanned, imperfect and unrepeatable, so a true depiction of the energy and emotion before the ceremony begins.

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Natalie & Olivier | Elegant Jewish wedding at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, Israel

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Waldorf-Astoria-Jerusalem-wedding
Today I’m blogging a beautifully  elegant affair from the heart of Jerusalem  that shows you  that you don’t necessarily have to incorporate a rainbow of colour or an abundance of details to have the wedding of your dreams. A destination wedding  in Israel’s historical capital city, Natalie and Olivier’s  white-on-white minimal theme is thoroughly  timeless and  perfectly set against the glorious backdrop of Jerusalem.

Minimal it may be, but  will you just look at that custom-designed  Inbal Dror  wedding dress?  I give you full permission to be green with envy over it — it’s absolutely gorgeous.

Not only is Natalie  an incredibly beautiful bride, all glowing skin and glossy locks, but her and her French husband Olivier were one of the first couples ever to hold their wedding at the brand new  Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, the city’s latest luxury venue.

Simple, elegant, fun, and relaxed — this wedding is perfectly executed in every way. Photography is by  Chiko  who’s making his debut appearance today on STG. Welcome to ‘Club Smashing’ , Chiko!

Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem wedding
Choosing to marry in Jerusalem

Natalie, the bride: I was born in Jerusalem and it is a very special place to me, it has a lot of sentimental value and is a really unique place. We loved the idea of the  Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem because it was brand new. We were the first or second wedding there and the decor is just fabulous so there wasn’t much that we  needed to do in terms of styling.

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I’m speaking at ‘Brides The Show’ and to celebrate I’m giving away 2 pairs of Gold VIP tickets and 20 pairs of White tickets!

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Brides-The-Show
Attention  lovely  brides-to-be! I’m super excited to let you know that I’ve been invited by  Brides The Show  to give a talk  for the 2nd year in a row! After the success of last year’s session, I’m so excited to be speaking again — this time on Saturday  3rd October 2015 at 12.30pm — and I’m hoping to see lots  of your fabulous faces there.

The venue is the Business Design Centre in Islington, North London and, just like last year,  I’ll be sharing the sofa  with the lovely Charley from London Bride  (it seems our  partnership was such a hit last year, they asked us back for more!).

I’m a big fan of  Brides The Show  as everything has been carefully curated under one roof to help you plan your dream wedding in style. A trip to the show brings you  exclusive access to the very best in bridal, from dresses to diamonds, flowers and  cakes, as the event brings together top wedding experts and over 130 luxury suppliers.

Expect the freshest ideas, the highest quality craftsmanship and the very latest trends. With hundreds of luxury exhibitors — including STG-faves, Victoria Made  and Mary Jane Vaughan, you can tick every  item  off your wedding to-do list in style.

Brides The Show
Posing at last year’s Brides The Show with my then 12 week baby bump!

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Katie & Jason | super cool Jewish wedding at The Chapel, San Francisco, USA

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Jewish-wedding-San-Francisco
A Jewish wedding in a chapel? Er… YES! You’ll probably know by now that nothing Jewish-wedding-related is off limits on Smashing The Glass (in fact, the more unusual, the better!) and it’s true, today’s Jewish wedding took place in a breathtaking setting that was once a chapel. It’s now a music venue and the bride and groom’s chuppah ceremony graced the stage where the bands usually play, whilst the guests watched on with glasses of wine in their hands.

Everything about this wedding is the epitome of the STG mantra of having the wedding you want, your way. It’s a super creative fun-filled W day — one of those where you will need to come back time and time again to view the images just to make sure you didn’t miss any of the achingly cool details.

Katie and Jason are insanely, crazily, and meant-to-be-together-forever in love. It screams out from the incredible imagery by STG-faves Chrisman Studios — and it screams out of their wedding report too (they wrote it together…).

Happy Tuesday folks.

Jewish-wedding-San-Francisco
a non-traditional Jewish wedding venue

Katie and Jason, the Bride and Groom: We picked the venue because we wanted something non-traditional. It was in our neighbourhood and we loved the idea of an urban, city wedding. The Chapel is a fun music venue, and we viewed our day as an opportunity to celebrate and party with all of our closest friends and family.

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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Herschel Gutman

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A new weekly Sunday series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of Herschel Gutman.

Herschel Gutman

‘In love’ by Herschel Gutman

Given the task by Karen to submit my best wedding photo was a very daunting one. I am very bad at selecting 250 photos from a single wedding – so selecting one from tens of thousands of photos was a massive challenge. Usually, the more I stare at my images, the less I like them. So many things come into my head, from composition, to the lighting, to the contrast, to the clarity – all the technicalities of a good photo. But there is another factor that for me, overrides everything that one was ever taught during photography school and that is something that you can’t be taught, “how does this photo make you feel”. If it resonates with you, if it makes you laugh, if it makes you smile, if it makes you cry – then its a great photo.

Nikki and Gavriel’s wedding was a truly phenomenal wedding. It took place on a Moshav in Israel and I could not have asked for a more in love and happy couple. They were uber cool and just being around them was an absolute buzz. The photo I selected is one of many of them dancing. When I look at this photo – I find myself staring at it, it makes me smile on the inside and out. . I just love it. I love the way they are holding one another, the way Nikki is looking at Gavriel, the way Gavriel has his eyes closed, just taking in this moment with his wife. There is a backlight which adds to the atmosphere of this photo and the hanging lights in the background give this photo some contrast and depth.

Thanks for the task Karen – you really made me question my style and my photographs – THANK YOU!

 

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