Alexandra Grecco Archives - Smashing the Glass

An Alexandra Grecco Bride for a Super Chic Design-Conscious Jewish Wedding at The Lawrence, Jaffa, Israel

14/04/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

Sometimes we encounter a wedding so jawdroppingly stylish it just blow us away. And that’s exactly what happened when we first set our eyes on the fabulous Jewish wedding of Tel Aviv couple Olivia, is director of partnerships at an AI startup, and Ohad, who runs a global e-commerce company.

Their wedding was full on Israeli chic in the best way possible, with every element – from the artful, unposed photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ben Kelmer (who the couple found right here on STG) to the epic design spearheaded by Yahav Green and beyond.

Olivia’s an American who made aliyah a few years back, and since many of the couple’s guests were visiting Israel for their first time, the pair wanted to pull out all the stops to showcase the magic of their home city of Tel Aviv. And between welcome drinks at a rooftop bar in the heart of Shuk HaCarmel, a food tour of the market, and a rehearsal Shabbat dinner catered by Israeli chef Eyal Shani, we’re pretty sure all attendees came away 100% smitten. Even the couple’s venue, The Lawrence in Jaffa, was picked in part for its uniquely Middle Eastern vibes.

As a design aficionado, it’s no surprise Olivia looked exquisitely chic in her simple, classic gown by Alexandra Grecco… read on to hear of the story from her!

How we Met

Olivia, the bride: We are actually a pandemic love story! Olivia made Aliyah to Israel 4 years ago and during the first Covid wave in spring 2020, she befriended a few other Americans in her Tel Aviv apartment building. One of her neighbours, Josh, invited a few people over one night and even though Olivia was a bit hesitant because everyone was just coming out of lockdown, she stopped out (after all, the apartment was one floor below hers).

Ohad was there but truthfully, Olivia doesn’t remember meeting him (or anyone else). A few weeks later, Josh called Olivia and asked if he could set her up with his “very Israeli friend with a huge heart.” Olivia didn’t even ask for a photo (very unlike her) and she met Ohad a few days later. Olivia was immediately charmed by his warmth, wit, and generosity (and it was their first time being inside a restaurant in months, thanks to COVID). Turns out, Ohad had been nagging Josh for Olivia’s number ever since they met at Josh’s house.

Our relationship was on fast forward thanks to a series of intense lockdowns in Israel that we spent together (and even one camped out at Ohad’s parents house in the south of Israel). Olivia is 35 and Ohad is 38 so we knew we wanted to lock it up fast – and we did! We got engaged 10 months after we met, on the eve of Pesach 2021.Continue Reading

An Alexandra Grecco Bride for an Ultra-Emotional Jewish Wedding Celebrating Life at the Dorint Park Hotel in Bremen, Germany

21/12/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

Like lots of 2020 couples, Eunice, a Brazilian criminal lawyer, and Louis, a Dutch mathematician (who met in Hebrew class in Bremen, Germany!) had a very different wedding than the one they’d originally planned. However, in their case it wasn’t due to the pandemic: tragically, Louis’s father, Theo, was diagnosed with terminal cancer this year. Getting married without him there was, in the bride’s words, “not an option,” and so the couple shifted their plans from a June 2021 beach wedding in the Netherlands to a local affair close to home in Bremen in September 2020.

It wasn’t easy – not least since, due to COVID, only Eunice’s mother was able to make it to the wedding from Brazil – but Eunice and Louis managed to plan the most incredibly beautiful, joyous day with Theo present to bless them, deliver an ultra-moving speech, and even dance with them in his wheelchair. It was incredibly bittersweet – Theo passed away just three days after the chuppah – but the couple were so grateful to have him present, and for the way their photography and videography team, made up of Sabine Lange and her sister Beate of Photo Lauricella, managed to capture not only the love and happiness of the day but also the sorrow of the pair’s impending loss.

Every so often, we come across a wedding that really shows us what it’s all about – and this was most certainly one of them. In Eunice’s words:

I honestly can say it was the best day of my life. I can’t say it was the setting I dreamed, but it was the setting I needed to grow and to become a stronger woman and closer to G’d. For that I’m grateful.

Read on for more wisdom from this wonderful bride.

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How we met

Eunice the bride: We met while trying to improve our Hebrew. We ended up signing up for the same class at the university of Bremen, where we met, live and got married.

An Alexandra Grecco Bride for a City Chic Jewish Wedding with Bright Florals at Tribeca 360, New York City

04/01/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

There’s nothing like an NYC wedding. The views. The awesome streetscape photo ops. The cobblestones. And did we mention the views?!

Alie and Mike’s downtown Manhattan wedding at Tribeca 360 does not disappoint — they really did get views of the city from every angle, and we can’t stop swooning over the NYC-perfect portraits Kathleen Fox Photography shot of the couple in the beyond picturesque neighborhood surrounding the venue.

The views inside were pretty fantastic too, especially with that lovely floral chuppah — we love the bright playful colors, and it just goes to show that you don’t need an unlimited floral budget to craft a memorable floral design for your canopy.

They also had a gorgeous papercut ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ruth Mergi, and rather than the traditional text Alie and Mike went for a modern version that focused on marriage as entering into a partnership — we love that they were able to incorporate their own values this way!

We also love that Alie emphasizes a topic we feel pretty strongly about: day-of coordinators. Even if you’re a Type A DIY-er like Alie, a day-of coordinator can give you that extra reassurance to enjoy the big day worry-free. From dealing with the venue to making sure the day ran to schedule to saving some of the (delicious) wedding food for the coupe in their bridal suite afterward, these two can’t stop singing the praises of their coordinator, and they say hiring her was some of the best money they spent in planning the wedding.

Now over to Alie, who looked beautiful in her dress by Alexandra Grecco…

A Manhattan Venue

Alie, the bride: We got married at Tribeca 360 in downtown Manhattan. We live in NYC and are both from the area, so we knew we wanted to get married in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

We loved the views of the city from every angle, and liked how the space was set up to flow easily from ceremony to cocktail hour to reception. We also liked that food and tables, settings, etc. came with the venue, so that we didn’t also have to find a caterer. (And people are still telling us how good the food was!)