Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Phenomenal photography illustrating wedding rituals from around the world

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My wonderful Smashing The Glass teammate, Sharon, found these incredible wedding images on National Geographic. They focus on wedding  ceremonies from around the world (some Jewish, some not) and the fascinating cultural influences on generations, in both modern and traditional ways. Feast your eyes on these…

A YEMENITE WEDDING
Yemenite Wedding
[image: Stephanie Sinclair]
Friends and family fete the 21 year old yemenite bridegroom (in the centre wearing a floral head scarf) at his wedding in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen. In a country where nearly half the population lives on £1 a day, wedding expenses–which can exceed £3000–are prohibitive. Many couples pool resources and marry in groups.

A MORROCAN WEDDING
Moroccan Wedding
[image: Alexandra Boulat]
In the Atlas Mountains of Morocco,  Berber brides dress for a traditional  wedding that often includes four days of ceremonial rituals. In one of the rituals, brides purify themselves with water gathered from the local river.

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Robin & Joe | Intimate + whimsical ‘dinner party’ Jewish wedding, Washington DC, USA

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Jewish wedding, Washington DC 4 Today’s bride, Robin, has the most exquisite bridal style. As her wonderful wedding photographer, Piper Watson, puts it, “a mix of old school classy gal and modern minx”. Her stunning black and white ensemble is achingly chic and in fact, the couple’s whole event manages to be simultaneously stylish and elegant, yet warm and homely.

In their own words, Robin and Joe say they had a very non-traditional wedding by design. They truly wanted the feel of a of an informal dinner party, where two people happen to be getting married. They didn’t have many of the traditional wedding staples – only 45 guests, no flowers, bridesmaids, or first dance – and this gave the evening a truly intimate, unique and personal feel.

Their wedding report is a joint effort written by both the bride and groom, and the beautiful set of images produced by the lovely Piper Watson, will ensure that all those fantastic memories stay fresh and vibrant for many years to come.
Jewish wedding, Washington DC intro
AN INTIMATE VENUE + BLACK & WHITE COLOUR SCHEME
Robin the bride and Joe the groom: Ultimately, we wanted our wedding to feel like a dinner party (with a ceremony beforehand) for our closest family and friends. It was very modern and a bit whimsical; it was really a perfect reflection of our sensibilities and who we are as a couple.

The ceremony was held at Joe’s cousins’ (Martha and Bob) house in Washington, DC. She and her family have an amazing house that had been fully redesigned. Martha is an interior decorator and it shows! The reception was at Elizabeth’s on L, a converted town house in downtown DC which added to the intimate feel we were going for.

Our colour scheme was black and white (to match Robin’s dress) and green as an accent colour.
Jewish wedding, Washington DC invitation
HAIR + MAKE-UP
Robin and Joe’s long time stylist, Gregg, did the hair for Joe, Robin, Joe’s sister Rachel, and Robin’s mother Ann. Robin had a really unique hair style at the time and only her stylist was good enough to style her hair. Robin’s makeup was done by a woman named Keisha from beautiful.flawless.face makeup. She was fantastic! Robin wanted to look like a more glamorous version of herself, but still look relatively natural. She made Robin look like herself, only better and also did the makeup for Ann and Rachel, who looked fantastic as well.

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Kim & Shay | 1920’s Inspired Israeli Wedding at Citrus, Even Yehuda, Israel

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Israeli Wedding at Citrus Even Yehuda Israel 16 Today’s uber-stylish bride, Kim, was born in New Zealand to a non- Jewish family but has lived in Israel for the last 20 years. Kim says that she wanted to take the plunge and convert to Judaism for many years but never found the right time.

So a few years ago, having dated her then-boyfriend, Shay, for three years, they decided that they wanted to get married and that it was the right time for Kim to convert. She studied and converted at Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv and officially became Jewish in May 2011.

Being a wedding planner and designer Kim had a blast planning things. “Finally I could do things exactly how I wanted – the only problem was making up m mind – I have too many ideas!” Let’s see what she chose to do…
Israeli Wedding at Citrus Even Yehuda Israel 44
VENUE + THEME
Kim, The Bride: We got married at Citrus in Even Yehuda, Israel. I wanted a classic wedding and loving the 1920’s, I adored the way the venue was decorated in an elegant soft way that complimented the whole vision that I had for the day. We also chose this venue because it was new and I had never done a wedding there. I wanted something fresh – I have been in the wedding industry for over 10 years now and done weddings in so many venues I wanted it to feel special for me and really different.

It was a classic yet modern type of an affair and the decor included a lot of pot plants that created a softer natural look (and became great giveaways at the end of the night).
Israeli Wedding at Citrus Even Yehuda Israel 37 1920s Jewish Theme Wedding 1
A 1920s STYLED DRESS
My mother made my dress from a soft lycra type material with pearl button holes and a lace belt. I envisioned something simple and classic and I had seen a similar dress similar on a bride that I had worked with years before but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Lucky for me I could call upon my mother make it and I ended up with the perfect 1920’s styled dress! I matched a short net veil to the dress, and wore my grandmothers pearls to complete the look.

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What happens when a Rabbi and a Priest officiate as a duo for a Jew-ish wedding ceremony? Something very special…

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Priest Rabbi Jewish Wedding [Image: Alison Conklin Photography]

Jon from NewYorkFilmWorks recently contacted me to share one of his favourite wedding films from 2013: the Jew-ish wedding of Rachel and Rich.

Jon from NewYorkFilmWorks: This wedding had such a feel-good energy; it’s funny, it’s uplifting and you can feel how much they love each other. It’s really interesting because it was officiated by the best duo I’ve ever seen at a wedding: a Monseigneur (Priest, essentially) and a Rabbi – these guys KILLED it.

Rachel, the bride, lost her father, Jerry, a few years ago – the Monseignor touched upon that and mentioned how beautiful and sunny the day was (I remember that week was rainy and even on their day the forecast was for rain all day).

Rachel and Rich are very caring and loving to each other and close to their family. The final three shots of the film are his mum, her mum and the sky – signifying her father in heaven – all three watching and taking part in their union as they signed the ketubah (that’s the last sequence of the highlights as the music starts to wind down). After all the feel good energy of the rest of the highlights, I aimed to guide the viewer through a reflective and touching moment to end with.

Thank you for sharing this with us Jon. It’s a total must-watch for a heart-melting Monday feeling.

Film — Jon Armendariz | NewYorkFilmworks
Venue — The Brownstone, New Jersey, USA
Photography — Alison Conklin

My interview with Louise Beukes, wedding blogger and top UK wedding stylist

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Louise bloved - Image Anneli Marinovich Photography
[image:  Anneli Marinovich Photography]

Continuing with ‘The Wedding Smashers‘ series where I interview some of the best in the business, today I’m delighted to be talking to Louise Beukes, one of the UK’s top wedding stylists and bloggers.

I was introduced to Louise when I first started blogging weddings, and Kate from Perfect Details wrote a guest post for Smashing The Glass mentioning Louise and her inspirational blog, b.loved weddings.

I immediately started following Louise on Twitter and we connected over all the social media spheres. She’s one of a handful of wedding experts who keep me up to date on all the latest trends, news, and W-day design themes, and I’m forever inspired by her innovative projects and creative prowess.

So let’s meet the lovely Louise!
Kate Spade Inspired Shoot
[images:  Anneli Marinovich Photography]

So Louise, what’s the ‘Louise Beukes’ story? How did you start your company and what’s happened between then and now?

The b.loved story began in March 2011, a month after my own wedding. After working for 10 years as an interior designer I loved the pretty aspects of planning my wedding, and was still reading 100’s of wedding blogs daily! I was approached by a blogger to feature my wedding, two weeks later my own blog was up and running ready to share our wedding story and to inspire other brides. I quickly discovered my niche in providing contemporary inspiration in a world of vintage weddings! Since then, b.loved has grown massively, with the b.team – a panel of wedding experts – joining the line up to share their experience and talents with our readers, and adding a wedding design & styling business to the brand.

How do you unearth inspiration and a create a theme for a couple who have no idea what their creative vision for their day is?

The first part of my process is getting to know the couple. We’ll meet up over drinks for a chat and I’ll ask lots of questions about them and their relationship. Simple things like where you like, what brand of clothing you wear, and where you go on holiday reveal so much about your personality — and I use this information to determine what I call their wedding ‘ brand’.
Retro Popcorn Shoot
[image:  Fiona Kelly photography]

Can you tell us about the process of starting b.loved?

I didn’t think about it too much! For someone who usually makes very considered choices, it was a bit of a leap-before-you-look decision. After two weeks of late nights, the blog was up and running. I’ve never looked back!

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