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An Isabelle Armstrong Bride for a Jewish Wedding with Killer Manhattan Views and an Orchid Chuppah at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, New York, New York, USA

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There are no words for how obsessed we are with epic orchid chuppah. With lucite columns draped in strands of gorgeous flowers, it’s just SO dreamy. And don’t even get us started on the backdrop of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline.

It doesn’t get much more quintessentially NYC than the Jewish wedding of Vlada, who works in corporate banking, and Joshua, a corporate and bankruptcy litigation attorney (#2beepst). Between their venue — high atop the landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel — their magnificent New York skyline cake by none other than Ron Ben Israel, and the bride’s Isabelle Armstrong dress purchased from Kleinfeld.The couple even had a wedding announcement in the New York Times!

It wouldn’t be the ultimate NYC wedding without a touch of celebrity, and Kevin Osborne Band from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hank Lane provided that and then some — Kevin is a backup singer for Billy Joel, in addition to being an awesome band leader in his own right.

Felix from Fred Marcus captured all the glam details and jawdropping views with aplomb, and Frank Ahn from Frank Ahn Films recorded the emotion of the day so well.

Okay, now over to the bride…

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How We Met

Vlada, the bride: We were introduced by a mutual family rabbi named Joseph Potasnik.

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REMINDER: The Event of the Year for Jewish and Jew-ish Brides is TODAY {and it’s FREE!}

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Karen Cinnamon Smashing The Glass_1224You probably won’t be surprised to hear I’ve been up since 4am preparing for today’s The Secrets to an Unforgettable Jewish Wedding FREE online event and Q&A — I’m just SO ridiculously excited for it!

That’s because I’m a million percent confident you’ll walk away knowing exactly what you need to do to ensure you have an unforgettable wedding — the wedding you really want (whilst keeping everyone around you happy). And I can’t wait to show you EXACTLY how!

My free event is taking place TODAY! Monday November 12, 2018 @ 3:00 PM EST (that’s 3pm New York, 12pm Los Angeles, 8pm London, 10pm Israel)

Oh… and did I mention that there’ll be surprise goodies that only attendees can get their hands on too?!

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE AND GET A REMINDER

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A Limor Rosen Bride for an Ashkenazi-Yemenite American-Israeli Jewish Wedding at Bayit Al Hayam in Jaffa, Israel

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We are totally and completely obsessed with Stacey and Elkana’s GORGEOUS wedding at Bayit Al Hayam. The views of the Mediterranean are just BEYOND, and the Tel Aviv skyscape isn’t too shabby either. That perfect seaside chuppah is totally the stuff our wedding dreams are made of.

But don’t be fooled – even though the aesthetics of this fab day are totally contemporary, this couple packed a ton of tradition into their wedding too. Blending Stacey’s American Ashkenazi background with Elkana’s Israeli Mizrachi heritage was key during planning, and we’re in love with the results: the hora AND traditional Yemenite dances; music from both traditions (in addition to contemporary American and Israeli hits); a traditional (and super moving — don’t miss Roman Balashov’s exquisite photos) Mizrachi badeken in the aisle.

And lest you think good old America traditions were neglected, we love that these two planned a pre-wedding “Cake and Cocktails” night just for the Americans in attendance, featuring American-style wedding speeches, a heartfelt exchange of personal vows by the couple, and, of course, wedding cake! What a great way to incorporate some of these fun traditions that didn’t quite fit into the Israeli style of the wedding itself.

If you’re looking for some tips on how to plan a wedding that reflects you and your spouse-to-be, as well as this wedding reflects Stacey and Elkana, make sure you sign up to our FREE online event: ‘The secrets to an unforgettable Jewish wedding’ with our founder and editor, Karen, happening on Monday November 12. It’s going to be totally unmissable, with some really fantastic a-ha moments!

Okay, now we’ll hand you over to the bride, who could not possibly have looked any cooler in her boho-chic gown by Limor Rosen…

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How we met

Stacey, the bride: From our wedding site:

“Elkana will tell you that the moment he met Stacey he knew he was going to marry her. For Stacey it was a love story that fell into place as she was planning to go back to Chicago. But something about Elkana was different, and she fell hard.

Fast forward to countless Euro trips, America adventures, swims in the Mediterranean, walks with Mack, cartons of Ben and Jerry’s, and Elkana got down on one knee to ask Stacey to spend the rest of her life with him.

The answer was easy, of course… this was the fairytale she only dreamed of. Our story is truly one from the books. It’s unique, it’s different, it’s two completely different worlds joining as one! Our wedding is not only a celebration of our commitment to spend the rest of our lives together, it is a time to bring together the most important people to us, in the most incredible city in the world, and share our lives with you and the love we share!”

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A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Jewish Wedding at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London, UK

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For years, we’ve been dreaming of blogging a Jewish wedding at one of the most spectacular venues in all of London: the majestic Natural History Museum in lovely South Kensington. An absolute masterpiece of Victorian architecture, it doesn’t get much more iconic than this.

And today, our wedding blogger dreams are coming true with the epic wedding of Orly and Zak! Following a ceremony at the New West End Synagogue in Bayswater — no slouch in the architecture department itself — the pair and their guests decamped to the museum’s stunning Hintze Hall — if you’ve been, or seen it in pictures, it’s the main space with the whale skeleton overhanging! HOW awesome is that?! And how cool are the epic action shots from Pascale at Reportage Gallery?

Orly, an OB/GYN, and Zak, who works in property development, rounded out their marvellous day with kosher catering from fabulous STG Recommended Vendor Food Story (the pair are STILL getting compliments on their unique canapà©s, cocktails, and everything else by the amazing Food Story team), and they also benefitted from the ultimate day-of coordination (plus a little assistance wrapping up the last few weeks of planning) from the amazing Georgia of Moriarty Events.

Orly’s princess-perfect Monique Lhuillier gown purchased from much-loved STG Recommended Vendor The Wedding Club (who added the PERFECT lace straps to keep Orly’s shoulders covered for the ceremony).

If that’s not enough to catch your attention, there’s also a super sweet story about the couple’s history with the venue, plus a dramatic Hora incident (don’t worry, though, it all ended well!).

We’ll hand you over to the bride in a moment, but first a quick reminder that our FREE online event, ‘The secrets to an unforgettable Jewish wedding’ with our founder and editor, Karen, is happening next Monday November 12 and spots are filling up FAST! Grab your place now to ensure that your Jewish or Jew-ish wedding is as unforgettable as Orly and Zak’s…

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An Iconic Venue

Orly, the bride: We got married at the New West End Synagogue in Bayswater and had our reception in Hintze Hall at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. The synagogue is really one of the most beautiful in London with such magnificent architecture and such a warm, welcoming community.

The Natural History Museum has always been a really special place for us as a couple — on our very first date I told Zak about a little mistake I had noticed on a poster in the dinosaur exhibition. A few weeks later, unbeknownst to me, Zak had already decided we were going to get engaged and started trying to convince them to give him the poster for when he proposed.

It took him a few years, but eventually the NHM gave him the poster and he surprised me with it during his speech on our wedding day! Now it’s up in our hallway! Hintze Hall is such a stunning space and it was such a privilege to party under Hope the whale in such an iconic London venue!

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BIG NEWS: Announcing Smashing The Glass’s FREE Online Event for Jewish and Jew-ish Brides!

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If you’re planning a Jewish or Jew-ish wedding, I’ve got some really exciting news for you! Yes — for the first time in my 5 years as founder and editor of Smashing The Glass, I’m taking to the virtual stage for a FREE private online event  especially for Jewish and Jew-ish brides-to-be, called ‘The Secrets to an Unforgettable Jewish Wedding’ and I’m SO excited!

That’s because I’m a million percent confident you’ll walk away knowing exactly what you need to do to ensure you have an unforgettable wedding — the wedding you really want (whilst keeping everyone around you happy)

The free event is taking place next Monday November 12, 2018 @ 3:00 PM EST (that’s 3pm New York, 12pm Los Angeles, 8pm London, 10pm Israel)

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE AND GET A REMINDER

Karen Cinnamon Smashing The Glass_1224You’re engaged… and I get it:

  • You want to be different but fulfil certain expectations.
  • You want to be cost efficient without seeming to scrimp.
  • You want to involve friends and family without causing them a ton of work and stress.
  • You want to throw an amazing party that will appeal to quite a disparate group of people… and across the generations.

I know most of these pressures apply to ALL weddings but there are extra levels of pressure for Jewish weddings — how much of the traditional stuff do you do? How do you cater for kosher guests? The chuppah, the ketubah, the glass, kippot, the rituals, the rabbi…

And then there’s the party itself. How do you ensure it’s one to remember without losing your mind in the process of planning it all? (And by the way you’ll benefit from the event whether you’re using a planner or not — this is an absolute must-attend for every Jewish / Jew-ish bride-to-be!)Continue ReadingContinue Reading