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A Justin Alexander Bride for a Desert-Chic Jewish Wedding at Chateau Lux, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

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jewish wedding Chateau Lux Phoenix Arizona USA
What we love here at Smashing The Glass, are that no two couples Jewish weddings we feature are EVER the same! Some prefer to keep things simple, some fill their weddings with ‘in’ jokes and items that have personal meaning to them, and some, like Sheila and Alex, create stunning aesthetics, with intense attention-to-detail that makes their Jewish wedding look fresh from the pages of Pinterest, or a luxury magazine.

First introduced by their best man, Sheila and Alex have been besotted with one another since they first laid eyes on each other. Their ‘desert chic’-inspired real day paid homage to their home state of Arizona, with a stunning color scheme and gorgeous, succulent (see what we did there?) dà©cor details.

The happy couple had a moving and beautiful outdoor sunset Jewish ceremony under the chuppah and the breathtaking bistro lights at their venue, Chateau Luxe. The rabbi’s touching words can be heard in the cinematic wedding film below, provided by Ryan Blake Films. 

We simply LOVE that the wedding’s sweet treats were provided by bride Sheila’s family deli – how incredible is that?

Photographer Ryan Nicole Photography captured every moment, creating a dreamy set of images that you won’t be able to stop yourself from Pinning, while bride Sheila provided the writeup with every detail of the planning process and big day itself. We’ll leave you in their capable hands. Enjoy!

jewish wedding Chateau Lux Phoenix Arizona USA

jewish wedding Chateau Lux Phoenix Arizona USA

 jewish wedding Chateau Lux Phoenix Arizona USA
How we met

Sheila, the bride: We were introduced by a mutual friend who had been trying to set us up for years. Our friend, Ari Psez, was visiting AZ staying with Alex. Ari invited me over to catch up with him. Unbeknownst to me, Ari had a ploy to have me meet Alex in hopes of setting us up. We met that night at Alex’s house, and he asked for my phone number. We went on our first date a few days later. Alex proposed in the same house we met in, and we now live there together.

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Real Jewish Brides – Gillian: My Wedding Registry Experience

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Gillian will be marrying Pete on 8th September 2017 in a Jew-ish wedding at the Ballroom at Ellis Preserve in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

THREE FACTS: (1) Gillian is Jewish and Pete is Catholic (2) A Rabbi and a Priest will officiate at their wedding (3) Gillian is a Health & Wellness Coach and Pete is a Travel Occupational Therapist.

REAL-JEWISH-BRIDES_Gillian_new
To Do List: Wedding Registry

During the wedding planning process there are one million things on your to-do list (literally). This is especially true if you are a DIY bride or someone who wants to throw a big party. One item on the list I thought would be so much fun to tackle was registering for our wedding. How fun would it be to pick out items that we would have, hopefully for a long time and possibly even the rest of our lives?

Well, I was mistaken. Somehow something that I love so much (SHOPPING!) became stressful and something of a chore. I couldn’t figure it out, and it threw Pete for a loop when we went into Crate and Barrel and I pretty much had a mini meltdown. Picture brisk walking through the store, minimal eye contact, saying “I don’t care, you pick something you like, I don’t care about any of this, let’s leave.” Like woah, I was becoming a weird version of Bridezilla right before his eyes.

Luckily Pete handled it calmly, but it wasn’t the experience I had heard all about. I always pictured using the cool scanner gun and picking out items that we both loved. And, honestly, I thought it was going to be super easy.

Prezola
Image from Prezola (a gift list registry that we absolutely ADORE here at Smashing The Glass!)

Reflecting on it all, it seems so silly that anyone would get overwhelmed by picking out gifts for other people to buy them (seriously??) But that was a huge part of it. I didn’t mind that people were buying me presents, but I wanted them to get the best deal. I didn’t want them to buy overpriced items I knew I could find cheaper or on sale at our favorite stores like Marshalls and HomeGoods (I checked, you can’t register there.)

The other part I struggled with was “picking the right items” with endless options. So we needed cookware, but what set was best? Silverware; which ones will we actually like eating with? What dishes will go with a kitchen we don’t even have yet for years to come? It all seemed like so much to think about and so many opportunities to make the wrong decision. (Crazy talk I know, but this is what was going through my head, and I’m sure I’m not the only one to think about these things.)

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Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Gillian + Pete… how they met to the present day

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 2nd gorgeous bride from our crop of 2017 and 2018 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Gillian who will be marrying Pete on 8th September 2017 at the Ballroom at Ellis Preserve in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

THREE FACTS: (1) Gillian is Jewish and Pete is Catholic (2) A Rabbi and a Priest will officiate at their wedding (3) Gillian is a Health & Wellness Coach and Pete is a Travel Occupational Therapist.

REAL-JEWISH-BRIDES
How We Met

Pete and I met almost 9 years ago while attending graduate school in Philadelphia. We became fast friends and dated for two and a half years throughout grad school. We loved experiencing our early twenties in the city of brotherly love. We had the best time trying out new BYOBs around the city, hanging at tailgates with friends, dancing at local bars (I enjoyed this more than Pete lol), and having each other as built-in study partners made school nights much more fun.

However, as grad school came to an end we decided it wasn’t the right time for us  to be a couple and amicably went our separate ways. I know what you’re thinking, “This doesn’t sound like a good start to a love story?!” But stick with us, I promise we pull through!

After some years…

We didn’t live near one another (about an hour and a half apart in NJ) so it’s not unusual that we went three years without seeing each other, and our only form of communication was the occasional text and happy birthday message. We each dated other people as we grew in our careers. We grew as individuals and matured into late twenty-somethings. Luckily we grew in the same direction, although miles apart.

We had been chatting a bit in the spring of 2014, and this is when I discovered Pete was invited to a wedding of a mutual friend from grad school, and he didn’t have a date to bring. I thought the obvious answer to this problem was to bring me, right?!

So, I invited myself to a weekend wedding 6 hours away (keep in mind, we hadn’t seen each other for almost 3 years). After some joking back and forth Pete agreed we would have a great time together, as I already knew the groom and neither of us would know anyone else at the wedding.

During that six-hour car ride we caught up on EVERYTHING: Life, family, relationships, work, and our own past together. Anyone who has been on a road trip knows this could have gone horribly wrong or perfectly right. Lucky for us, that weekend was the first of many road trips to come. We had the best time at the wedding and realized we owed it to ourselves to give our relationship another shot. That was in August of 2014, and we’ve been together ever since (I told you we pulled through!)

Now we are traveling the country while Pete works as a travel occupational therapist, and I work as a health and wellness coach from wherever our home is at the time. We have been living in different places and love experiencing new cities, moving every three to four months (so far we have lived in Las Vegas, San Diego, LA, Palm Desert, Monterey, and Portland, OR).

We love adventure and we have the best time exploring new places together. We enjoy going on hikes, eating at great restaurants, and spending time with our family and friends as much as we can while we are home visiting.

It has been the best experience to be on our own in each new location. It has made us stronger as a couple and showed us just how well we complement each other’s weaknesses and benefit from the other’s strengths.

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Carmel & Edo | Forest theme rustic Jewish wedding at Baya’ar Hadera, Israel

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forest-theme-wedding
Carmel and Edo certainly know how to throw a party. And throw a party they did — more specifically a big day that embraced their American and Israeli backgrounds, with lots of Jewish traditions modernised  by the couple in a fun,  original  way.

Personally I have a lot of love for this wedding. Carmel’s exquisite Mira Zwillinger wedding gown?  I  adore  it.  The incredible song that Carmel walked down the aisle to?  I love it and cannot actually stop listening to it… Personalised  ‘CARMELychee Martinis’ and ‘MojEDO’  cocktails? Yes, absolutely need those in my life!

And let’s not forget the epic dancing at the end — this hot couple and their  guests had  ALL the moves!

Forest theme rustic Jewish wedding at Baya'ar Hadera, Israel_0040personalised wedding cocktails
AN AMAZING VENUE SURROUNDED BY NATURE
Carmel, the Bride: The venue we decided to have our wedding at was Baya’ar, which translates to “In the Forest”. It was actually the very first and last venue we went to — we both completely fell in love with the place the second we arrived and booked it immediately.

I wanted to be surrounded by nature during my wedding, which is exactly what this beautiful place offers. The grounds are filled with every colour of green imaginable; it really feels like you’re in a forest. This feeling is just the same inside, which is filled from floor to ceiling with glass windows with a view to the same beautiful greenery. The best part about the place is its lighting! It has the most incredible lighting system, which creates an amazing ambiance both during the dinner and especially on the dance floor! On top of everything, the owners of the venue took such great care of us and were there from early in the morning during set up and literally ordered us a cab to go home at 3:00am!

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Crystall & Ryan | Jewish/Greek Wedding at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York City, USA

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GREEK JEWISH WEDDING
A Greek and a Jewish wedding? Can it get much better than that?! Well in the case of this beauty, it does. Not only do we get the best of both cultures and traditions, it is literally oozing, hell, I’d even say *overflowing*, in style and creativity.

First off, Crystall and Ryan are one seriously hot couple. I’m talking hot with a capital ‘H’ guys, and I just know you’ll agree once you clap eyes on all the imagery below. Then there’s the fusion of the best Jewish and Greek traditions,  plus the theme of music running through all the festivities, and  on a fashion note, our lovely bride, Crystall wore not one but TWO fabulous dresses: a spectacular customised Oscar de la Renta for the ceremony, and a breathtaking Jenny Packham for the reception. I know — I must admit to being a teeny weeny bit green-eyed over this fact.

The backbone of Crystall and Ryan’s W-day is a certain symbolic willow tree in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden that was central in the early days of their relationship. The same tree went on to survive merciless Hurricane Sandy and the couple decided that this tree would form the framework of their chuppah.

I won’t delay you any further; let’s hear about this beautifully intertwined Jewish / Greek wedding day in the bride’s words. She infuses lots of lovely detail — you’ll feel as if you were right there at her wedding.
Jewish Greek Wedding at Brooklyn Botanical Garden New York 3

VENUE

Crystall, the Bride: The summer that Ryan and I met, we spent a perfect afternoon wandering the grounds of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.  It was the same day that Ryan moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, closer to where I was.  We celebrated sitting under a large weeping willow tree, holding hands and completely in love. We had no way of knowing then that just 3 years later, we would be saying “I do” in that very spot in front of that same tree.

Very soon after getting engaged, we chose to marry in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a place that means so much to us.  We wanted our guests to experience the sweeping 52-acre garden in an intimate way and truly be a part of the journey that led us full circle right back to that weeping willow tree.
Jewish Greek Wedding at Brooklyn Botanical Garden New York Getting readyJewish Greek Wedding at Brooklyn Botanical Garden New York Getting ready 2

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