Search Results for: ceremony

Dana & Stuart | Autumn city rustic Jewish wedding at the spectacular Angel Orensanz Foundation, Lower East Side, New York City

19/06/2014 by Karen

Dana and Stuart’s wedding has Autumn completely wrapped up. Long farm tables with flowers and candles, orange and cream colours with pops of russet inspired by Dana’s amazing auburn hair, and a total sense of joy, warmth and tenderness thoughout.

Our bride is so very elegant but at the same time clearly having the time of her life… That smile – it’s so infectious! And what’s one of my favourite moments? When Dana swaps her jewelled Manolo Blahniks for white low top Converse when the former falls off during the Hora – so down to earth! I also love the little creative details like classic movies of their favourite Hollywood icons playing in the background during the cocktail hour.

Oh… and have you ever heard of ‘Dudesmaids’?! Dana had two – see them posing with the girls above?!

All the fantastic photography is by the one and only Karen Wise.

I’d love you to nominate Smashing The Glass in the 2014 Wedding Blog Awards!

17/06/2014 by Karen

Yes that’s me up there, holding up a Wedding Blog Award, montaged over Halle Berry winning an Oscar. I was going to montage myself over Gwynnie with her Oscar and make a joke about teary speeches, but her flat chest and pale skin were never going to match my features, so Halle will do nicely. I’ve always wanted a Bond girl’s body so that’s one wish already come true!

But I digress… the wish I’m really after is to win the Best Newcomer category in Wedding magazine’s highly regarded Wedding Blog Awards. I’ve been working hard on Smashing The Glass for exactly a year now and I started it just after my wedding when I realised that there wasn’t any one place that brought together creative ideas for out-of-the-ordinary Jewish (and Jew-ish!) W-days. It became — and still is — the UK’s only Jewish wedding blog, and the only blog worldwide focussing on original and unusual Jewish ‘I-Do’s’.

I’m super proud of the blog, and the reaction and overwhelming support I’ve received in this first year, and I’m so addicted to working on it that I wasn’t even able to keep away in the early days after I’d given birth to my baby daughter, Sacha late last year. Everyone would tell me “rest when the baby rests” but as I snuck into the bedroom, the laptop would come out from under the bed… I just couldn’t keep away from my other baby — my e-baby!

Now my darling daughter is 7 months old and I am able to spend much more time on the blog. So much so, that in a couple of weeks time I am relaunching the site with a rebrand and lots of new features including a greatly enhanced Smashing Suppliers section. I can’t wait!

But the heart and soul of SmashingTheGlass.com are the Real Jewish Weddings. It’s hard to pick a favourite but I have a very soft spot for this outrageously cool London Jewish wedding, this gorgeously-designed music themed wedding, this Wedstock-themed wedding featuring a bride who made her entire dress out of paper; this breathtaking ‘HinJew’ wedding at the Mandarin Oriental where the bride and groom intertwined their Indian and Jewish heritages incredibly beautifully; the New Years Eve fancy dress wedding held in an Arthouse cinema; the ’surprise’ brunch wedding for just 20 guests with the ceremony held on a street corner… I could go on and on! The common thread throughout these, and all STG weddings, is that they are as unique as the couples that planned them.

I also regularly post wedding planning articles and have blogged about everything from what are the best chuppah entrance songs, to tips for getting great wedding photography to how to incorporate ‘Jewish’ into a non-Jewish or interfaith wedding, and of course lots more. I love helping my readers plan their weddings whether it be through the real weddings, inspiration and ideas that I publish or the advice that I write, and if you enjoy reading STG I would be so honoured and thrilled to have your nomination. VOTE HERE or click on the logo button below. (The ‘Best Wedding Blog Newcomer’ category is second from the bottom.)

Thank you. I’d be so very delighted to genuinely hold that award up high after Thursday 26th June when nominations close!

Tali & Dan | ‘Gin in teacups’ 1920’s Jewish Wedding at Heatherden Hall, Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, UK

16/06/2014 by Karen

Blake Ezra, one of our Smashing Suppliers, always captures bucket loads of love and emotion in his wonderful photography, and this is most definitely true of Tali and Dan’s big day which I’m beyond excited to be featuring on the blog today.

This stylish pair were married at Heatherden Hall at the legendary Pinewood Studios, just outside London, and this has got to be one of the most iconic wedding venues to have yet graced the pages of STG. Pinewood has been home to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows, commercials and pop promos but is most famous as the home of the Carry On, Superman, James Bond and Harry Potter film series. What a perfect venue for film buffs!

Despite the fantastically cool venue, this wedding is all about the people — you can see joy in every singe image, and Blake Ezra tells me that, “there was a massive emphasis on friends throughout the day with their big crowd of amazing mates getting involved in all aspects of the ceremony, music and general entertainment.”

You can really see the fun factor complete with comedy DJs, barber shop routines, drum circles, dancing, a fire show (and a very moving ceremony) in the wedding film by the uber-talented Charlotte Armitage right at the end of the post.

Tali’s bridal style is to die for… I am expecting plenty of pinterest action for her vintage dress which incidentally was made entirely out of sustainable and ecological fabrics.

And lastly I must mention that Dan, who is a journalist, recorded a message to Tali from Boris Johnson as part of his speech (see 10:38 in the film at the bottom of the post). I’m a big Boris fan — that’s immense!

So come and have a look at this gorgeous ‘I Do’ jointly narrated by the bride and groom.

VENUE
Tali, the Bride, and Dan, the Groom: Tali and I chose to get married at Pinewood Studios in Gerard’s Cross. We wanted a ‘London’ wedding so it was accessible for elderly family and all our friends, and Pinewood had indoor and outdoor space, was very cool, and they allowed us to do whatever we wanted.

Gabby & Gareth | Super-stylish and relaxed Jewish wedding at Katathani Beach Resort, Phuket, Thailand

03/06/2014 by Karen

This afternoon we are off to Thailand! I’m not exaggerating when I say that this wedding totally and utterly takes my breath away. The incredible natural scenery, the use of light, the feeling of warmth and joy that radiates from Hilary Cam’s delicious imagery… it’s all so very stylish yet wonderfully informal.

Gabby’s bridal style and her mermaid-esque colour palette of turquoise,navy, purple and lime green are a dream, and there are lots of lovely personal touches to be inspired by too. My favourite is that at each table the couple placed an extra two chairs so that they could actually sit and eat or drink up close and personal with everyone of their guests. I’ve not heard of that before and I think it’s a really lovely idea.

Gabby and Gareth met over 13 years ago at a house party in Sydney, Australia. She was on holiday from South Africa and they both new as soon as they set eyes on each other that they had met their match. Gabby says. “Gareth always tells me as soon as he saw me walk through the door he knew I was the one. I went back to South Africa and we kept in contact until I eventually immigrated a year later.”

Why not pour yourself a cup of Asian tea and savour this gorgeous W-day… oh and if you’re a destination bride-to-be, make sure you take in Gabby’s excellent device right at the end.

A ‘HOLIDAY’ VENUE AND A SENSE OF RELAXATION
Our wedding was at the Katathani Beach Resort in Phuket Thailand. We chose this destination for a few reasons. One being we both are originally from South Africa and still have lots of family and friends there. We also have family and friends in the UK, US and Israel. We wanted to be able to not only share our magical day with them but thought it would be an amazing opportunity to get people together who haven’t seen each other in years and have a holiday at the same time.

We wanted it to be relaxed like the beautiful surroundings and in terms of a colour scheme I took inspiration from my bridesmaids dresses (turquoise,navy, purple and lime green)

Tslil & Maor | Super cool fancy dress Jewish wedding at Bikta Bayar, Carmel Forest, Israel

28/05/2014 by Karen

This morning lovelies we’re jetting off to the land of milk and honey for Tslil and Maor’s riotous Purim inspired fancy dress affair. For those that don’t know, Purim is a jolly carnival-like Jewish holiday marked by parades and costume parties involving everyone dressing up to the max in masks and fancy dress outfits.

So any wedding that happens around Purim soaks up some of this merriment, and obviously that means extra drinking, extra fun, and of course, lots of dressing up! With Tslil and Maor’s entertaining fancy dress theme and a great wedding mindset (read their advice to others at the bottom of the piece to see what I mean) they created an effortlessly cool wedding with a very warm vibe. Yes, the two CAN go together.

You also need to know that Tslil wore not one but TWO sensational dresses! What’s more she designed them both herself! How immense is that?

Check out this joyous day for yourselves that was captured in all its glory by Barak Aharon. And if you love couple shots in the wilds of nature then you are in for a treat!

VENUE
We got married in Bikta B’Yaar in a place called Beit Oren near Haifa. We wanted a location surrounded by nature, but because the wedding was scheduled for winter we had to go with the inside option. Even though winter in Israel is known to have its warm days, we didn’t want to take a chance and planned an indoor event right from the beginning.

Search Results for: ceremony

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