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A Rosh Hashanah-themed Jewish wedding with a Suzanne Neville bride at Braxted Park, Essex, UK

01/05/2017 by Karen

Anyone else have goosebumps? Scroll down. How about now? The sensation you’re experiencing is a result of extreme wedding prettiness combined with the unparalleled artistic prowess of much-loved STG Recommended Vendor and photographer extraordinaire, Blake Ezra.

In fact, Tash & Jason’s magical secret garden-inspired wedding was a total STG Recommended Vendor-fest, with an appearance from fabulous makeup artist Philippa Louise. The couple also won their photo booth with Mega Booth in a Smashing the Glass competition.

Now that we’re done blowing our own horn, let’s talk about the wedding horn (shofar) which was also blown (yes, smooth segue, we know). The wedding was Rosh Hashanah themed, with beautiful fresh fruits incorporated into the wildflower floral arrangements, honey pot and honey cake recipe favours and the blowing of the shofar during the ceremony.

Gorgeous bride, Tash, is an art director and, as such, was delighted to be let loose on a wedding theme – and boy, does it show. Tash’s expert eye and attention to detail created a cohesive, overwhelmingly beautiful (and delightfully purple) theme that looks outstanding in photographs. And that wildflower-adorned Chuppah – a masterpiece! Bravo, Tash! If you fall in love with the images below and simply can’t get enough, check out her Instagram!

We also adore Tash’s customised Suzanne Neville gown, with little embellishments to bring in her own personality and tastes.

Tash and Jason’s Badeken and ceremony were full of heart and meaning, especially as the couple hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in a whole week! What willpower! We also adore the couple’s joint words of wisdom at the end of this post – so much fantastic advice.

We’ll let Tash take over now to tell you all about how her and Jason’s big day came together. Tash – the stage is yours!

How we met

Tash, the bride: Despite having huge amounts of friends in common, and probably attending the same parties during our university days, we didnt meet until after uni, at a mutual friend’s birthday party, where else but Camden?

We were in a Blues Bar and got chatting. The instant Jason heard that I love to bake, and did gluten-free cupcakes (he was GF at the time) the match was made, and we set our first date after partying the night away! Our relationship hasn’t really changed. I still bake for him, and our worlds pretty much centre around food, family and friends.

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Urban Jew-ish wedding with an Anna Campbell bride at Shoreditch Studios in East London

24/04/2017 by Karen

Creative couples – listen up! Today’s real Jewish wedding is a detail-heavy big day that you’re going to want to absolutely devour.

Lucy and Michael wanted every element of their big day to be 100% ‘them’, and they achieved it by the truckload. Every detail of their urban, Shoreditch celebration was personalised to perfection, from the flowers to the favours (make sure you keep reading to the end for the story of the Tequila Sunday tattoo favours – an absolute hoot). All of the quirky, homemade decor choices were captured by the highly rated Miki Studios, who the couple simply raved about.

There are so many brilliant ideas to borrow from this fun-loving pair, including a GIF machine!! A GIF MACHINE!! (Note to selves, do not let the Smashing Team anywhere near a GIF machine, we may never emerge and have to live in GIFland for all eternity).

Beautiful bride, Lucy, looked outstandingly amazing in her Anna Campbell gown – a serendipitous bargain find that had just been waiting for her to come along. Her Gatsby-inspired bridesmaids were the perfect accompaniment.

There were also so many moving stories and touches. As Lucy’s father had sadly passed away, he was commemorated with his tallis forming the basis of a simply beautiful Chuppah. So many of Lucy and Michael’s friends and family came together to lend their skills, expertise, love and care to make the day happen – the mark of a truly loved couple.

Lucy describes the day with aplomb, so we’ll pass you over to her now for the full picture. Take it away, Lucy!

How We Met

Lucy, the bride: I do acquisitions for a property company and Michael is an actor. I, however, have only done this for a year, and, before that, was also ‘actorising’ around the place. We met doing corporate kids’ parties for big banks for their Christmas season. A very strange experience, but we became very close friends (we both fancied each other but was convinced the other one didn’t) and, after a month or so of this, gave into the feelings and the rest is history!

A Cultural-Fusion Chinese-Jewish (Chewish) Wedding with a Vera Wang Bride at Kew Gardens, London, UK

21/04/2017 by Karen

There’s something so special about Jew-ish weddings. Each one symbolises not only a relatively rare coming together of cultures, but a totally unique interpretation of what that combination looks like in practice. We have yet to see two Jew-ish weddings that are the same – there’s no blueprint and the couple has total license to imprint their own ideas, personalities and elements of their relationship into the proceedings.

Jackie and Jon’s Chinese-Jewish (Chewish) wedding was a delightful cultural fusion, taking the most meaningful, colourful and exciting traditions from both the bride and the groom’s respective backgrounds and merging them into one heartfelt super-celebration.

Bride, Jackie, stole the show in her red-carpet worthy gown from Vera Wang‘s White Collection, which is an impressive feat in a botanical paradise venue like Kew Gardens.

All the details, including a full stationery suite, created by the talented bride herself, were captured with nothing less than expert skill by the phenomenal York Place Studios. A family business, York Place Studio is a cherished Smashing Supplier and responsible for not only the images in today’s post, but also the divinely emotional wedding video at the bottom of this post (SO worth a watch).

The Smashing family was out in full force at Jackie and Jon’s big day. Sensational Smashing Supplier, Shir, one of the UK’s most sought-after klezmer wedding bands, also made a much-acclaimed appearance, before Creation Show Band also performed a roof-raising set. We have it on good authority that Anna Phoebe’s back-bending dancefloor electric violin solo was also an unmissable experience!

We’ll pass you on to Jackie now who has written up all the exceptionally borrow-able and emotional details of her and Jon’s big day. Enjoy!

How we met

Jackie, the bride: Jon is a management consultant and I’m a designer. We were introduced on a netball court in New York City, when we both lived there six years ago. While I had been there for seven years, Jon was on a work/study program with 300 other Brits for a year. The week Jon left for England for good, coincidentally, my work sent me to London. We then spent a phenomenal amount of money flying across the Atlantic to visit each other for the following eight months, before Jon persuaded me to move over to London.

A magical, lush outdoor Jewish wedding at Claxton Farm, Weaverville, North Carolina, USA

17/04/2017 by Karen

Hello and a very happy Easter Monday to our non-Jewish and Jewish readers alike. It’s a holiday here in the UK, and hopefully you’ve all got some fabulous plans to enjoy. If, for some reason, you can’t get out today, never fear – you can experience the great outdoors vicariously through Hannah and Harrison’s earthy and sublime real wedding.

There’s an extraordinary amount to feast your eyes, and heart, on. We were blown away by all of the rustic little touches, the phenomenal attention to detail, the lush green hues and foliage accented with pops of rich burgundy and woody tones. The venue was lit with bulb lights in the evening – positively magical!

The outdoor wedding symbolised everything that Hannah and Harrison hold dear as a couple, including the way that they met (spoiler alert: SO romantic) and a heartfelt Jewish ceremony conducted by a rabbi who had known Hannah since she was a child.

Hannah looked positively radiant in her stunning gown, with flowers in her hair – a perfect picture of a bride on the happiest day of her life. Photographer Jill Schwarzkopf of Realities Photography expertly captured all of the emotionally charged, important moments of the day.

We also love Hannah and Harrison’s beautifully steal-able idea of taking the wedding morning to do your favourite, most relaxing thing. Why not start such an important occasion in a way that will make you the most happy?

Well we’ve done just about all the gushing, time to pass you over to beautiful bride, Hannah, for a full recap of the big day.

How we met

Hannah, the bride: Harrison and I met at summer camp and started dating a few years later when we went back to work as staff. We stayed together through four years of long, and very very long, distance and now live together in Athens, Georgia. I’m a graduate student at the University of Georgia and he works for his parents’ software company for wine and spirits wholesalers.

A rustic, horse farm Jewish wedding with an Enzoani bride at The Stables at Fox Crossing, Cochranville, Pennsylvania, USA

14/04/2017 by Karen

Happy Friday, everybody! To celebrate, we’re treating you to the ultimate authentic rustic American wedding.

In typical ‘Smashing The Glass’ style, Sara and Justin didn’t want a cookie-cutter wedding and chose a blank canvas venue (a working horse farm) and filled it with stunning chandeliers, decadent dà©cor and so much love. The juxtaposition of a colourful, yet vintage-looking chuppah against the rustic dark wood of the barn is truly a sight to behold.

Their Jewish wedding was captured in all its glory by photographer Gary Nevitt, including the bride’s epic cowboy (girl) boots – we have serious boot envy over here – and the stunning floral and mossy details, put together by Tonia of Aribella Events.

It also always strikes us how many Jewish weddings are filled with precious family heirlooms passed down through the generations. Sara and Justin’s wedding was no exception, with beautiful relics that even survived the Holocaust. This solemn tribute to our collective history can seem odd to some, but it says so much about the Jewish soul – the ability to commemorate our difficult past in a way that somehow makes the celebration feel all the more necessary in the present.

Over to Sara for the full story on her and Justin’s special day.

How we met

Sara, the bride: Justin and I met through a mutual friend, Jill. We were the only two Jewish friends she had, so she figured we would be a good fit! I was in graduate school at Syracuse University for broadcast journalism and Justin was a sports reporter an hour away at a small station. Jill was my classmate and interned at Justin’s TV station on the weekends.

Justin and I hit it off immediately and the rest is history! We were long distance for a while, and would meet halfway in Scranton, Pennsylvania on the weekends. We would stay at a local Hampton Inn and go see the Tommy Guns Band play music. Hampton Hotels corporate got wind of our story and featured us in a promotional video, in which we also got engaged! Tommy Guns Band wrote us our wedding song and played it at our engagement.

A rustic farm venue

We were married at a working horse farm in Cochranville, Pennsylvania called The Stables at Fox Crossing. Justin, my husband, and I dreamed of having a horse farm wedding, but every rustic wedding venue we visited seemed extremely commercial and like a “wedding factory.”

We wanted a space that was truly unique. We wanted guests to feel as if they were attending a wedding at someone’s personal residence, not at a commercial banquet facility. Our wedding planner, Tonia of Aribella Events, found this farm for us, and the owners generously allowed us to use it as our venue.

Search Results for: ceremony

How we met

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How We Met

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How we met

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How we met

A rustic farm venue

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