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An Atelier Acqua Chiara Bride for an Enchanted Forest Fairy Tale Wedding at Castello di Tor Crescenza, Rome, Italy

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A lot of weddings draw inspiration from fairy tales. But the Jewish wedding of Benedetta, who works in sales, and Ilya, in finance, really takes it up to the next level. Seriously, we’re still picking our jaws up off the floor after scrolling through their incredible photos, which really look like they could’ve come out of the latest live action Disney blockbuster.

When the couple first met with their amazing planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Deborah Di Castro, they knew she was the one when, on hearing the bride’s vision, she said, “It will be exactly like going to Snow White’s wedding!” And honestly, we’d be hard pressed to come up with a better description ourselves. You don’t want to miss Antonio Carneroli’s incredible photos and Sesame Films’ moving vide of the day.

There’s no better spot for a fairy tale wedding than a castle, and so Castello di Tor Crescenza was a fitting choice of venue. The whole affair, from outdoor chuppah to indoor reception, had a distinctly enchanted forest feel to it, bursting with peonies, roses, and hydrangeas in all shades of pinks and reds, plus some artfully arranged berries and forest foliage. Abundant candles, crystal chandeliers, and metallics brought in more than a hint of Beauty and the Beast’s enchanted castle, too.

Oh, and did we mention that that the couple had a henna in honor of Benedetta’s Libyan heritage? Looks like so much fun!

We could go on and on about this dreamy day, but we’ll leave it to the bride, who looked ravishingly romantic in her custom gown from Atelier Acqua Chiara, to fill you in on the rest…

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Jewish wedding at Castello di Tor Crescenza Rome Italy_0025

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How we met

Benedetta, the bride: Ilya and I met in South Africa during a holiday with friends. We immediately felt a connection and became friends straight away,  and that friendship turned into a relationship very early on!

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Real Jewish Bride: Sarah Had A Weekend of Fun Planning Her Destination Wedding

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Sarah will be marrying Rich on 21th June 2020 at Tikitano Beach, Marbella, Spain. Click here to read all Sarah’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Sarah knew Rich was the one when he brought a gift of dog treats for her toy poodle Nuala along to their fourth date! (2) They are crafting an amazing destination wedding weekend in Marbella with beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended vendor optimum weddings as their planner. (3) Sarah is a member of  Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!

Richard and I both knew that we wanted a destination wedding from day one! We have been to so many weddings in London which are fabulous, but we wanted a more relaxed atmosphere with a huge party and no one having to worry about waking up early for work the next day!

With a destination wedding there is a lot more to think about! Since we are asking people to come out to another country and spend that much more on our wedding, we felt that we needed to provide them with a weekend of fun to make it all worthwhile!

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A David’s Bridal Bride for a Disney Meets Midsummer Night’s Dream Jewish Wedding at New West End Synagogue and Jumeirah Carlton Towers, London, UK

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We’re so excited to be sharing the beautiful Jewish wedding of our beloved STG Brides Club member Melissa, a nanny and cake maker, to Nick, a design technician in a secondary school! Melissa, a self-described hopeless romantic obsessed with Disney, fairy tales, and butterflies, had been dreaming of her big day since she was a child, and did she ever bring all that enthusiasm to play when it came to planning!

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Alexandra’s Florist helped the couple merged all these passions with a Midsummer Night’s Dream aesthetic, with plenty of white flowers with ivy, green leaves – and butterflies. Melissa and Nick’s gorgeous rustic chuppah featured was swathed in twigs, white flowers, and silver butterflies, and the wonderful centerpieces for the reception followed suit.

And we adore the unique invitations the pair designed, working with STG Recommended Vendor BigDay Designs and an architectural artist, featuring a hand-sketched illustration of their gorgeous ceremony venue, New West End Synagogue.

We also love that the pair incorporated some awesome DIY projects into their big day, most notably Melissa’s handcrafted arches (see pic above), made from cut up hula hoops and covered in artificial ivy and roses, to keep with the theme (she’s even shared a tutorial inside Brides Club should you wish to follow suit!) – and Nick’s heart-shaped wooden table name signs, each etched with the name of the Disney song the table in question was named for!

Photographer Chiko and videographer and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion captured all the special moments of the day so exquisitely – we really feel as if we were there! And Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Toastmaster Jango kept the day running smoothly and stress-free.

There’s so much more to say about this fantastic day, but we’ll let Melissa, who looked beautiful in Davidʼs Bridal, fill you in on the rest…

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Venue

Melissa, the bride: We got married at New West End Synagogue in St Petersburgh Place – ever since I was a little girl I always dreamed of getting married at this synagogue. The interior is just picturesque, with stunning stained-glass windows, too.

After the ceremony, we made our way to the Jumeirah Carlton Towers in Knightsbridge, which allows the bridal party use of their gorgeous and exclusive private park. This made for a stunning set of photos!

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A Mary Poppins-Themed Jewish Wedding at Bevis Marks and Behind the Bike Shed, London, UK

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Happy 2020! Seeing as this is our first real Jewish wedding feature of the year, we wanted to make it something really special – and we found just the thing. Emma, a product manager, and Pete, a data scientist, wanted a wedding that showcased their love of London in a fresh, unexpected, and whimsical way – and did they ever hit the jackpot when Emma realized her love of Mary Poppins was the perfect theme to center it all!

The couple’s wedding planner, the amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elegante By Michelle J – whose experience, knowledge, and knack for handling wedding logistics seamlessly made it easy for the duo to stay focused on the fun details and creative touches – helped them transform their dream into reality, crafting a Mary Poppins-perfect day that always stayed classy and never veered into the cheesy or childish.

Bringing in iconic touches like kites, umbrellas, carpet bags, lampposts, chimneys – for example, Emma and Pete had a giant table plan where the numbers were kites and everyone’s names were hanging down on the bows – and fun details like cocktails with Poppins-inspired names, the whole team really went all in.

And nowhere is this more evident than in the choice to center the reception décor around a totally incredible balloon arrangement by Balloonista, who the couple’s planner connected them with. Working with Emma and Pete’s wedding colours and theme, Balloonista created a stunning, one-of-a-kind overhead installation featuring balloons, and, in true Mary Poppins style, hanging umbrellas too.

The amazing photographer STG Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel did a great job capturing all the special moments and details of the day, as did videographer Marco Windham.

And speaking of STG Recommended Vendors – we love that Emma and Peter opted to work with so many of them, from Philippa Louise Makeup, the force between the bride’s glam bridal look, to the mega-talented Jonny Mosesson, who not only sang beautifully during the chuppah but also went above and beyond helping the couple choose their music.

Now over to the gorgeous bride, Emma…

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Bevis Marks to Bike Shed

Emma, the bride: Pete and I both come from fairly traditional Jewish backgrounds but are also quite liberal in our thinking and outlook on life. Our wedding had to be a balance between honouring our families’ perspective and the Jewish tradition that we love while keeping true to our values, lifestyle and quirky taste.

We always knew we wanted to have a London wedding and something that captured the way we live together now, which is very much about living in London Bridge and spending a lot of time around the City and East London.

We knew we wanted to have a wedding in a synagogue – we both grew up going to synagogue and being in a venue that was part of Jewish life and connected to years of simchas felt like it would make the service more spiritual for us.

In this respect we got so lucky to be able to get married at the historic Bevis Marks. I had seen a friend get married there years ago and the beauty of the synagogue left such a strong impression on me that it was the first place I thought of when we got engaged. Bevis Marks is also a short walk from our flat so it fitted perfectly with our idea of a local London wedding. We loved getting more involved in the community as we prepared for the wedding.

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An Essense of Australia Bride for an Interfaith Jewish Wedding at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, UK

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How was your first night of Hannukah last night? We’re so excited for the Festival of Lights and together with all our STG Brides Club and Smashing Life members, we lit our Chanukiahs together inside our Facebook group last night and it was magical!

Not yet a member of Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club? You can join here – we’d love to have you inside our community (and of course also help save your time, your money and  your sanity on your way to creating your day your way).

Speaking of Brides Club members, we are totally in love with today’s real Jew-ish wedding of Brides Club member, Bethany, an assistant merchandiser, to Gavin, a project coordinator.

They held their wedding at Trinity Buoy Wharf, a stunning warehouse venue in London, And with the city skyline as the dramatic backdrop to their big day, what a celebration it was!

We love the way the interfaith couple – Gavin is Jewish, while Bethany was brought up Christian – followed their civil ceremony with a personalized religious blessing they crafted alongside their rabbi to reflect their shared values and beliefs. We’re also obsessed with Voyteck’s emotional-packed documentary-style photography, which captures the essence of the day so perfectly.

And with top-notch ‘sharing style’ catering from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Adam Nathan – who the bride praises for going above and beyond in his willingness to run with any idea, no matter how out there (not to mention his delicious food, which guests are still raving about) – served alongside beer and damson gin the couple made themselves (!), we’re experiencing serious FOMO that we didn’t get to attend ourselves. (Also, how perfect is it that Bethany and Gavin named their beer“How Amaze is this Porter” to tie in with their wedding hashtag, #howamazewedding?)

Now over to the bride, who looked beautiful in Essense of Australia…

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A London Wedding

Bethany, the bride: We got married at Trinity Buoy Wharf. It was a long search for a venue as we were determined to not have a wedding/party in a hotel ballroom and additionally we wanted a venue that none of our friends had been to! We did a lot of searching for venues, but it was all worth the wait! We also chose this venue as we knew that if we were going to get married in London then we actually wanted to be able to see London (Bethany grew up in the Suffolk and Shropshire countrysides, so that was an option too!).

We didn’t want all of our guests who were coming from across the world to come to our wedding and then be in a room which could have been anywhere. So we found a lighthouse on the Thames, opposite the O2 with the city in the background, it was perfect!

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