Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog - Page 70 of 405

A Suzanne Neville Bride for an Elegant Autumnal Jewish Wedding Weekend at Four Seasons Hampshire, UK

30/01/2023 by Karen Cinnamon

We just love it when a couple works with a fabulous team of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors to make their Jewish wedding dreams a reality – which is exactly what today’s couple did!

Rebecca, a primary school teacher, and Dexter, a portfolio manager specialising in charities, have busy professional lives, and so they made the smart decision to work with a great planner, who really got them and their vision. They found the right match in Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Louise Perry Weddings, who “completely understood our vision of an elegant wedding, with accents of bright autumnal colours (inspired by Rebecca’s parents’ southern African roots).”

The couple’s venue, Four Seasons Hotel, Hampshire, hit all the right notes with its classically luxe style and varied event spaces providing plenty of options for the tisch, ceremony, reception and party – it’s truly a beautiful setting; don’t miss it in the photos by Luke Hayden!

Rebecca picked Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Sensation Band for music, and they couldn’t have been more thrilled with the way Sensation kept the energy going all through the night. The pair wanted dancing between courses, with speeches split across the evening, which the band was happy to accommodate and they even let Rebecca and Dexter lead dancing from the stage at the end of the night!

We’ll let Rebecca – who looked so classically elegant in Suzanne Neville – take it from here…

How we Met

Rebecca, the bride: We met in in 2012 – our penultimate year of school – through mutual friends at a tea party for the Queen’s Jubilee. We clicked instantly, and have now been together for 10 years. Since then, we have gone on to university together (Nottingham University), and now live in north London.Continue Reading

Everything You Need to Know about Jewish Genetic Carrier Screening {with JScreen}

29/01/2023 by Karen Cinnamon

Here at Smashing The Glass, we’re passionate about genetic carrier screening. If you’ve started thinking about growing your family, it’s something you might have heard of. You may even have considered getting screened yourself. But we’re well aware that the process can seem intimidating, expensive, and scary. It doesn’t have to be any of those things, though! Knowing whether you’re a carrier for any genetic diseases – and what your options are going forward if it turns out you are – is actually really empowering!

That’s why I’m so excited to tell you that this Tuesday, January 31, at 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EST / 6:00 pm GMT, I’ll be chatting on Instagram @smashingtheglass with Emily Goldberg, a genetic counselor at JScreen, a US-based not-for-profit at-home education and carrier screening program for Jewish genetic diseases.

Emily Goldberg, genetic counselor at JScreen

Karen will be speaking with JScreen genetic counselor Emily Goldberg

GET EMPOWERED

Over the past couple of years, we’ve had some informative, empowering conversations with members of the JScreen team about what JScreen does, how genetic carrier screening works, and what all this might mean for you. We wanted to make sure all the newly engaged couples are able to benefit, so we’re bringing Emily in to give us a refresher, plus fill us in on recent updates.

JScreen‘s mission is to give individuals and families easy access to information convenient home testing at a reasonable price point. Screening for over 200 genetic diseases – including those that are commonly found in Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jewish populations – is performed by a certified laboratory and results are reviewed and reported to participants by genetic counselors, so if it turns out you are a carrier for a disease, your counselor will be there to talk you through the options (and there ARE options!).

LEARN ALL ABOUT IT

Emily will be addressing a range of topics including the following:

What is genetic carrier screening?
Who should consider genetic carrier screening?
What diseases does JScreen test for?
How accurate are the results?
Is it worth testing through JScreen if I’ve already done genetic carrier screening?
How much does JScreen cost? How does it work with insurance?
How does JScreen’s process work?
What are the next steps if a couple finds out they are carriers for a disease?

GET TESTED

If you decide to go forward with genetic testing through JScreen, you’ll also be eligible for a $100 discount as a Smashing The Glass reader – just use the code “Smashing23”

While JScreen only covers testing in the United States, this Instagram Live will include general information about genetic screening that’s relevant to individuals and couples anywhere in the world.

Emily will be answering all your questions live, so if there’s anything you want to know about Jewish genetic screening in general or JScreen’s offerings in particular, ask away!

A Made with Love Bride for an Autumnal Jewish Wedding Weekend in the Catskills at Stone Tavern Farm, New York, USA

27/01/2023 by Karen Cinnamon

There’s something so special about whisking your nearest and dearest off for a weekend away from it all, in gorgeous surroundings, centered around celebrating your love – which is exactly what NYC couple Ruthie and Aaron did for their Jewish wedding!

The pair found the perfect venue in Stone Tavern Farm in the Catskills, a stunning natural setting full of earthy elements of wood, stone, and greenery; plenty of opportunities for hiking and connecting with nature; and, most important of all, lodging so everyone could stay on-site and enjoy the full weekend experience together!

Inspired by the splendid natural surroundings, Ruthie and Aaron worked with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rachelle of The Delicate Brush to create a custom ketubah including elements like a starry night sky, a tree with two branches twisting together to form a singular canopy, and mountains representing where they got married. In Ruthie’s words, “Rachelle is such a talented artist who truly takes the time to get to know her clients and ensure their hopes, personalities and priorities are reflected in her work.” Don’t miss it in Christine Ashburn’s wonderful photos!

To make it all even more personal, Ruthie and Aaron also customized their own ketubah text to represent their intentions for their marriage – and they read it aloud to each other during the chuppah! How special is that?! The couple credit their Reform rabbi, Rabbi Rena, who they found through Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor 18doors, with helping them figure out which traditions were meaningful to them – and giving them the freedom to incorporate those traditions in ways that felt authentic.

There’s so much more to say about this wedding – like, how elegant did Ruthie look in her Made With Love gown?! – but we’ll let her take it from here…

How We Met

Ruthie, the bride, and Aaron, the groom: In July 2020, Aaron had recently moved to Hoboken, NJ and Ruthie was living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The pandemic was in full swing, so Aaron was focused on building his accounting and financial advisory business as founder and CEO, and Ruthie was adjusting to working from home full-time, now leading the HR team supporting Global Technology at a Fortune 100 company.

They connected through Hinge, a dating app: Text messages quickly became phone calls and facetime, all very open, natural, interesting, and light-hearted. A few weeks after initially connecting, Ruthie suggested that she and Aaron meet up. It was a hot summer day, but outdoor activities were a requirement, so they took a walk on the Hoboken waterfront. Despite the sweaty circumstances, their multi-hour conversation flowed, and they laughed a lot.

On their first date, Ruthie had mentioned that she was assessing her home office setup, fully accepting that this work-from-home arrangement was not short-term. On their second date the following weekend, Aaron showed up at Ruthie’s apartment with a spare computer monitor and webcam and proceeded to install both. After the sushi and wine were long gone, they continued talking for eight hours from opposite ends of Ruthie’s long couch, still attempting to social distance. Some topics of this conversation included comparing grocery sanitation habits and extensive family trees. At the end of the evening, they shared their first kiss.

After that, Ruthie & Aaron spent more weeknights and weekends together, taking drives, city walks, nature hikes, cooking meals, watching movies, and much more. They quickly confided deeply in each other about their hopes, fears, struggles, families, professional aspirations, life experiences, and personal goals. They repeatedly commented on how natural it felt to be together, how they never grew tired of spending time together and laughter and silliness punctuated almost every conversation.

Starting in January 2021, Ruthie & Aaron worked and lived together full time. They regularly shushed each other when their conference calls conflicted (there was no door between the living room and bedroom), and sometimes ended up wearing the same outfit. They took long walks on the waterfront, cooked elaborate meals in their tiny kitchen, and worked together to design and renovate the apartment they planned to move into in April 2021. They regularly spoke of their future together, the family they wanted to build, adventures they wanted to take, and goals they wanted to achieve. It was always about them together, as a team, and they commented regularly about how supported, loved, and connected they felt.Continue Reading

Why We Love Kimpton Clocktower Hotel for Manchester Jewish Weddings

26/01/2023 by Karen Cinnamon

If you’re planning a Jewish wedding in Manchester, UK, there’s no better place to do it than the fabulous Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, an extraordinary luxury hotel where Victorian grandeur meets contemporary elegance.

Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is such a breath of fresh air to have a venue option combining the chicest of surroundings with rich Jewish wedding expertise. Grounded in history matched with peerless contemporary style, Kimpton Clocktower Hotel’s events team has the knowledge and experience to ensure every aspect of your day runs flawlessly.

A JEWISH WEDDING AT KIMPTON CLOCKTOWER HOTEL

Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is truly the perfect venue for an urban glam Jewish wedding right in the heart of Manchester. Every inch of the property is steeped in 19^thcentury history: Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is housed in a magnificent terracotta Grade ll-listed building, complete with oak panelling, dramatic chandeliers, and high ceilings.

I’m obsessed with Kimpton Clocktower Hotel’s array of swoonworthy spaces filled with character, with plenty of options for building your perfect day whatever the size and style of your big day. For a big bash (we’re talking up to 700 guests!), there’s no place better than the majestic ballroom, perfect for entertaining and dancing the night away.

Or for something a bit more intimate, natural light pours through the stunning double-height windows of The Whitworth Rooms, creating magical moments for your wedding ceremony.

The intimate oak panelled Directors’ Suites offer a luxurious space for smaller celebration meals or your badeken, while the Post Room is the perfect location for a tisch.

Jewish Wedding Traditions Explained – The Badeken

25/01/2023 by Karen Cinnamon

All imagery by Blake Ezra Photography. This is part 3 of the 8-part Jewish Wedding Traditions Explained series.

The Badeken is one of my very favourite traditions of a Jewish wedding, both emotionally and photographically.

This is the ceremony where the groom veils the bride, the term comes from the Yiddish word ‘to cover’. It’s often the most emotional moment of a Jewish wedding, where the bride and groom see each other for the first time a few minutes before the main ceremony begins under the chuppah. Often a couple will have time apart before their wedding, the more religious the couple, the longer the amount of time apart, so this moment where their eyes meet for the first time on their wedding day is so special, and such an honour for us to photograph. Even without the religious significance of the badeken, many couples of all different faiths nowadays choose to do a ‘first look’ on their wedding day; it’s a special thing to do.

Usually only very close family and friends are involved in this process, as the wedding guests are seated for the chuppah and excitedly await the procession down the aisle. However, sometimes the couple choose to open the badeken to all their guests, allowing everyone to share in this electric moment where the groom is brought into the room to see his beautiful bride, often accompanied by his groomsmen and friends singing and clapping, as the atmosphere reaches fever pitch.