Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Madalyn & Aaron | Ultra-Creative and Chic Jewish Wedding at The Metropolitan Building, New York, USA

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city-chic-new-york-wedding
This wedding is cooler than an igloo with air con.

In the achingly chic wedding venue of The Metropolitan Building in New York, Madalyn, Aaron and their guests got together to celebrate one of the most exquisitely fashionable and creative weddings I have ever laid my eyes upon.

There are beautifully designed invitations, programs and custom illustrations of the bridal party (which the bride and groom created themselves), mismatched floral table centres, the cutest polka dot kippot you’ve ever seen, and something I didn’t think was even possible: personalised Converse black and orange sneakers made for every one of the groomsmen!

On top of that, frankly any bride that incorporates a gorgeous peplum into her bridal gown scores serious style points in my book.

Let’s take a look…
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A CREATIVE ‘LOFT-STYLE’ VENUE
Madalyn, the Bride: I fell in love with the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City, New York, the minute I saw it on a wedding blog. The mismatched vibe and colourful alcoves and artsy rooms were exactly what we were looking for. Only when I got there did I realise I had been to a wedding there before!

Our colour palette was a mix of deep autumn colours like eggplants and plums. We wanted a warm and intimate atmosphere that beautifully accented the loft-like vibe of the building.

DESIGNING OUR OWN INVITATIONS
Aaron and I actually designed the invitation ourselves so it was completely unique to us. We letterpressed them onto real birch wood giving them a beautiful earthy vibe.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Starr & Jacques | ‘Palace of Versailles’ themed Jewish wedding, Palm Beach, Florida, USA

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I have the most utterly sublime and beautiful wedding for you today. Starr is from New York City, and Jacques is from Paris, and the story of how these two met is quite simply a modern day fairytale.

Starr says “My mum says she prayed for this husband for me, and that’s truly how I believe he came into my life! We met in Paris. I was on holiday and a mutual friend invited Jacques for dinner at this trendy hotel, and we were engaged 37 days and 5 countries later…”
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As it happened, that first evening they met in Paris, Starr was at the beginning of a three-week European holiday. Jacques invited Starr to join him for dinner again the following night with a bunch of friends but it rained heavily the next day, and one by one his friends dropped out. Jacques called her to say that it would be just the two of them and asked if that would be ok. She agreed and so the spark was lit…

Jacques was determined to see Starr again even though she was about to leave Paris for the next leg of her trip, and the following weekend he caught up with her in Barcelona, then several days later he met her in London, the next weekend in Paris, and then the weekend after that he travelled to New York to meet Starr’s father to ask him for Starr’s hand in marriage. A week later the couple traveled to Morocco for a wedding and that’s where Jacques proposed.

Quite the love story, hey? I’ll now hand over the reigns to the beautiful Starr to tell you about the story of her wedding but just before I do, I want to say that I am beyond excited to feature the incredible photography of Joy Marie Smallwood. Her eye for composition, colour and texture means that each and every photo feels artsy, sexy, fun, candid, rich, boutique, authentic…. I could go on and on. I’m sure you’ll agree that every one of these images is immense.
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VENUE TO ECHO OUR ‘PALACE OF VERSAILLES’ THEME
Starr, the Bride: We knew we wanted a destination wedding as we loved the idea of entertaining friends and family over an entire weekend – not just one night – and in fact we ended up having five different events during our wedding weekend, including a Shabbat dinner and a traditional Sephardi Henna Party!

As Jacques is French we toyed with the idea of getting married in France. I love the drama and history of the Palace of Versailles — you can actually get married in the Orangerie there — but in the end it proved impractical for us to tie the knot in France.

We thought about where would be good for everyone and where would they enjoy traveling to, and came up with Palm Beach… Americans love Florida, Europeans love Florida. We decided upon the beautiful Mar-a-lago Club whose stunning ballroom echoed the grandeur of Versailles which fitted right in with our wedding theme.

The Mar-a-Lago was built in the 1920s by the heiress Marjorie Merriwether Post, and combines stunning Moorish, Venetian, Spanish and Mediterranean elements, including spiral staircases and intricate stone carvings. 

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Hands in marriage: how to get the perfect manicure for your big day

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Today’s post is written by the lovely Lauren Shalson from Spa By Car. I’m a big fan of Spa By Car and have been using them for all my beauty treatments for about 7 years now. Apart from anything else they do the *best* manicures in town, so who better to advise you on how to get your hands looking gorgeous for your W-day!

Hey brides – have you thought about your big day manicure yet? It’s actually a little scary how much your hands are in the spotlight! You’ll want photos of the bouquet, the ring exchange, any candle-lighting or sand ceremonies, signing the register, raising your glass, cutting the cake… no pressure, right?! Luckily, we’ve been keeping tabs on the ultimate wedding day nail trends. If you’re booking a bridal manicure, here’s what we at Spa by Car would recommend.
French Tips
FRENCH TIPS
French tips are a tried and tested bridal style, with a bonus pop of colour or sparkle instead of a Classic white! If you’re trying one of these styles for the first time, our mobile nail technicians recommend a pre-wedding “test run” so you know what you’re getting into. Just because you love a style from a fashion mag doesn’t mean it’s going to be right for your wedding day!

Blue wedding nails SOMETHING BLUE
From duck egg pastels to bold exotic  cobalt,  blue nails are always super stylish. Make a statement on your big day with glossy, flawless gel polish to really show off your something blue! We love Artistic’s gel gloss polish colour Graceful, a gorgeous light blue shade, or sparkly royal blue colour Contempo.

Kate Middleton wedding nails CLASSIC NEUTRALS
Bride of the century Kate Middleton is still our biggest inspiration for the big day! Get her princess-perfect nails with Essie’s Allure polish, one of the colours really worn by the Duchess at her wedding. It’s a classic shade that keeps the attention on your glittering ring finger.  Other Classic neutrals we love from Essie are Ballet slippers, Adorable and Like Linen.

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Michelle & Robin | Beach Party Jewish Wedding in Caesarea, Israel

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Today’s lovely couple, Michelle and Robin, met 10 years ago on an FZY Israel summer tour,  so it seemed fitting that they’d return to get married in Israel, and they did it in style. They chose one of the most spectacular beachside venues I’ve ever seen:  Al Hayam in Caesarea, Israel – totally breathtaking stuff, right on the seafront with Roman ruins all around.

From the start the couple knew that their dream wedding would have to be by the beach and hired Israeli wedding planner Nikki Fenton to help them bring their wedding day vision to life. There are lots of lovely creative ideas to glean from this wedding, as well as thoughtful touches for guests like a welcome pack that included sun cream, a  map of Tel Aviv, information on local shops and restaurants and then at the actual wedding, guests were given fans and flip flops, as well as lots of midnight sustenance like hot dogs, sweeties and ice lollies to keep them going all night long!
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A VENUE BY THE SEA + A PURPLE AND WHITE COLOUR SCHEME
Michelle, the Bride: We chose a venue called Al Hayam  in Caesarea.  We knew we wanted a beach venue and Al Hayam has the added beauty of being surrounded by Roman ruins next to the sea. Within 5 minutes of meeting our amazing wedding planner, Nikki Fenton, she knew exactly which venue we would fall in love with and she was right!

We chose a colour scheme of purple, white and silver – we loved the idea of purple and white flowers everywhere and we ran the colour scheme right from the beginning with the Save The Date cards and Invitations arriving in purple organza bags with shells at the bottom of each bag.
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A PURPLE AND WHITE FLORAL CHUPPAH
Nikki introduced us to an amazing event designer, Natalie Mann  who designed all aspects of our wedding. When it came to the chuppah she gave us options of the different types of flowers we could use. Natalie met us at the venue and took us through hundreds of pictures to inspire us with our chuppah design. We decided on purple and white flowers (lizianthums, roses and gypsofilia) across the top of the chuppah with two smaller arrangements to match on the inside back legs. Flower arrangements were placed on either side of the chuppah and we also had purple flowers on the back of each chair.

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How much time do we allow for the Jewish Dancing section of our wedding?

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DEAR KAREN WEDDING Q2
Hi MeLena

The hora  is one of my favourite parts of  a Jewish wedding – everyone that you love and care about dances around you, participating in your joy and celebration as you try not to fall off your flying thrones! I say live it up  but  I think the answer to how long for, depends on the type of guests that you’ve invited.

If it’s a predominantly Jewish crowd who have been to many Jewish weddings before your big day, they are going to throw themselves into it and probably want 30 minutes worth to work up a huge sweat and go wild! That could either be encompassed into all one set, or split into two sets of 15 minutes.

However, if there are going to be quite a few non-Jews who may have never experienced the Hora before than I think that a shorter set of  approximately 10 minutes is better as there won’t be quite the same vigour from every guest, and not everyone will have the confidence to throw themselves into the Jewish dancing the first time they experience it.

The great thing about an iPod playlist is that you can arrange say 30 minutes worth of hora dance music and just wind it down at any point if you feel the momentum is dropping or people are ready for a break. It’s definitely better to allow for more and give the ‘cut’ signal to the DJ if you feel like it’s time to stop.

In terms of your iPod Jewish music playlist, get the party rocking by checking out these cool alternative versions of Hava Nagila, the Hora and other Jewish Wedding music  and this one that collates the  best versions and remixes of  Hava Nagila.  There are loads of non-traditional versions to choose from that maybe better match your personality as a couple, or your wedding theme, than the traditional ‘fiddler on the roof’ style versions. Listen to them all , take your pick, and have a wonderful Jewish wedding music set!

Karen x

Do you have a wedding-related question that you’d like me to answer in Dear Karen? Either email me or leave it in the comments section below. I look forward to hearing from you!