Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Win a personalised framed ‘Our Story Lifemap’, by Illustries worth £175!

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ILLUSTRIES-LIFE-MAP
Anyone who knows me will be aware  of  how much I’m obsessed with good  design and beautiful typography. In fact, in a past life I ran a design consultancy where I lived and breathed graphic  design. So I’m totally thrilled to be  teaming  up with Illustries to give one lucky reader a stunning  ‘Our Story Lifemap’ printed on deliciously thick premium paper, and beautifully framed.

So what is a  Life Map? It’s essentially a completely bespoke piece of wall art using hand-drawn illustrations, funky and fun notes and  designed in  your  wedding colour scheme, to ensure that  the piece is totally personalised for you!

It would make the perfect gift to yourself and your fiancà© (or for another happy couple that you know), and I think it would also  make for a really fun  reception talking point.

Bespoke framed Life Map by Illustries

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Sarah & Nick | Uber cool and intimate ‘Red’ Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London, UK

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super-cool-London-wedding
One, two, three and breathe Karen…

That’s what I said to myself when Smashing The Glass reader, Sarah’s à¼ber cool London wedding to Nick dropped into my inbox, so impressed was I by their unusual venue (a smoked salmon factory in London’s Olympic Park !), their teenage sweetheart love story, and their choice of wedding transport through the streets of London. Oh yes, these two traveled from synagogue to reception in a red convertible Mustang!

And you’ve got to hand it to a bride that rocks a leather biker jacket and Ray-Bans over her Pronovias dress…

I also love the fact that Sarah and Nick invited just their very closest friends and family, and that they found their chazan (cantor), Jonny Mosesson, via the blog’s Smashing Suppliers recommended vendor list. Jonny is one of the most talented people I know and to think that this blog is able to connect brides with the industry’s very best makes me a very happy bunny indeed.

But back to Sarah and Nick — thank you for submitting your beautiful wedding and thank you to Reportage By for capturing it so wonderfully. Here’s the whole story in Sarah’s words.

Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London
Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London
HOW WE MET
Sarah, the Bride: Nick and I met at school aged 11. We were always friends but nothing ever happened whilst we were studying together. We stayed in touch when we left at 16 but he and his family were in Miami and I was in LA. We went on a ‘catch up’ date when we were both back in London when we were 19, and my mum even said, you will marry Nick. She has always had a sixth sense…

Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London, UK
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Breaking The Glass – Jewish Wedding Traditions Explained #7

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Breaking-the-glass-Jewish-wedding
All imagery by Blake Ezra Photography. This is part 7 of the 9-part Jewish Wedding Traditions Explained series.

This is it, the time has come. With so much preparation carried out for this very moment, the ring placed upon the finger, every guest in the room hurriedly preparing their iPhones to take a shot, and clearing their vocal chords to shout “Mazal Tov”, it’s time to break the glass!

Such is the synonymy between Jewish weddings and smashing a glass, that we hear the most uber-cool Jewish wedding blog has been named after this very tradition. This site wasn’t named ‘Dancing the Hora’ or ‘Eating the Canapes’, but Smashing The Glass, as this is THE moment of the Jewish wedding. We hear time and time again from members of our Brides Club community that smashing the glass is one of the most memorable traditions of the whole beautiful day.

The glass, usually wrapped up in a cloth or napkin, is placed on the floor in front of the groom. However before it is smashed, it’s traditional at most Jewish weddings for the Rabbi or Chazan (Cantor) to sing a Hebrew song called Im Eshkakech Yerushalayim, or in English… ‘If I forget you, Jerusalem’. This commemorates the falling of Jerusalem and destruction of the two Jewish temples that once stood there.

It’s said that whenever Jewish people experience immense joy, they should also remember the less joyous times in their ancestry. With celebration comes commemoration. So once the less beautiful times have been remembered, the time comes for the groom to break the glass. Why is this done? Great question.

There are many reasons that Jewish grooms break a glass at the end of their ceremony, sealing the marriage to their Bride. The first being, in keeping with the song that had just been sung, to commemorate the destruction faced by Jewish people over the past two thousand years, a nod to the suffering that had come before. After all, if you can remember the dark times even on the brightest of days, you’ll never allow them to be forgotten.

Breaking The Glass Jewish Wedding
Breaking The Glass Jewish Wedding
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Tory & Brooks | Beachside Autumn Jewish wedding at Bel Air Bay Club, California, USA

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Autumn-Beach-Club-Wedding
Tory and Brooks’ wedding has Autumn completely wrapped up. An orange and navy colour scheme, dune grasses, twinkly lights, and pumpkin seating card holders. One of my favourite elements? The fairytale ‘boardwalk’ petal-covered grass aisle. So very, very pretty.

Tory is such a sparkling bride — watch out for her incredible silver-glitter-heeled Kate Spade shoes, and searingly honest report.

Oh and I love her advice at the end to “find three separate secret times to kiss your groom in private!” Absolutely right!

It’s just about one year since these two lovebirds got married so I take great joy in wishing them a happy 1st wedding anniversary!

All of the wonderful images were taken by the rather talented and lovely Elisabeth Millay.

Outdoor Jewish Wedding at Bel Air Bay Club, California
Outdoor Jewish Wedding at Bel Air Bay Club, California
HOW WE MET
Tory, The Bride: Brooks and I met at ReelzChannel in Los Angeles n 2009  which is a TV cable channel all about movies. I was a host and he was a producer. After we both left the company, we stayed friends and then best friends. Coffee dates every day, dinner every night. Finally, on Valentine’s day, after one year of this platonic bliss, Brooks asked me what I would have said if he had asked  me out on a date that night. I said I wasn’t sure and needed to think about it. The next day I called him to go to lunch as usual but he said he was at the beach hanging out with a couple of friends (including this cute blonde chick I knew). Hilariously, my jealousy was all it took. By the next sunset we had our first kiss and said we loved each other. The rest is history.

Outdoor Jewish Wedding at Bel Air Bay Club, California
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The Seven Blessings (Sheva Brachot) – Jewish Wedding Traditions Explained #6

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The-Seven-Blessings-Jewish-Wedding
All imagery by Blake Ezra Photography. This is part 6 of the 9-part Jewish Wedding Traditions Explained series.

In the last five weeks on Smashing The Glass we’ve made it through from waking up on the morning of the wedding to standing under the chuppah. One key part of the ceremony are The Seven Blessings, or as they’re known in Hebrew the Sheva Brachot.

Seven blessings are said (or sung) over a cup of wine, which the couple then drink from, giving them these blessings for the rest of their life together. Sometimes the Rabbi, or Chazan, will sing these blessings to the couple under the chuppah.

If you’re planning a wedding, an incredible way to make your service more personal and interactive, whilst also honouring those who are most important in your relationship, whether that’s a grandparent or the person who set you up on your first date, is to invite seven people each to give a blessing. Each one will come up to the chuppah, one-by-one, hold the cup of wine and say or sing their piece.

One other really beautiful touch is to invite those people bestowing the blessings upon the couple to also write their own blessing, something personal which can be read out after the official blessing in whatever language is understood by most guests, which may or may not be Hebrew or Aramaic!

The Seven Blessings Sheva Brachot Jewish Wedding
The Seven Blessings Sheva Brachot Jewish Wedding
The Seven Blessings Sheva Brachot Jewish Wedding
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