ASOS Archives - Page 5 of 7 - Smashing the Glass

A Jewish-French-Greek-British Animal-Filled Wedding at London Zoo, London, UK

25/10/2017 by Karen

Before we get started, we need to present today’s bride, Clelia, with a medal for THE most Smashing The Glass-obsessed bride ever to grace these pages. Clelia took an extraordinary amount of inspiration from the blog, including sourcing almost every vendor and having one of our past real brides, Lauren, create her incredible chuppah design.

Helping Jewish brides to plan their weddings is exactly what Smashing The Glass is all about, and Clelia embodies our spirit and ethos and then some! Thanks for making us such a huge part of your journey, Clelia, we are truly honored.

Now back to staring at wedding pretty and getting inspired, which is what we’re all here for. If you’re a fan of adorable monkeys and meerkats (and if you’re not, who even ARE you??) you’ll love today’s into-the-wild venue, London Zoo. We’re SO here for Clelia and George’s animal kingdom selfie competition – what an inspired way to make the most of such a unique venue!

Clelia and George were full of gratitude for the way their loved ones came together to help make their dream day perfect, and it really shows in the images and Clelia’s moving writeup. We’re all also totally behind Clelia’s words about body positivity and self love, and are so grateful to her for sharing her feelings on this.

It was also, as we mentioned, a wedding packed with STG Recommended Vendors, including ludicrously talented klezmer band, Shir, wonderful rabbi, Paul Glantz, and ultimate gift-list service, Prezola.

Famed photographer, Laura Babb, and her partner in crime, videographer Peter Wilbourne, did an outstanding job of telling the story of the day through their stunning spread of images and Peter’s cinematic wedding video. We feel like we were there in person!

It’s finally Clelia’s well-deserved and long-awaited turn to take over the blog for a post. Take it away, Clelia!

How we met

Clelia, the bride: We met in a car park in Northampton when our colleague, Richard, offered to drive us both back to London. Instead of awkward work chat, I asked George every question in the Proust questionnaire.

When Richard dropped us off at a north London tube station, George asked me out on a date. I introduced him to long haul-holidays, he introduced me to beans on toast and football. I agreed the kids would support Spurs, he agreed the kids would be raised Jewish and proposed under Tower Bridge, a few meters from where he’d first seen me in the office.
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An Amsale Bride for a Summer Camp-Themed Jewish Wedding at Kamp Kohut, Oxford, Maine, US

14/08/2017 by Karen

Gather round the campfire and get those s’mores on the go, because we have Julie and Greg’s summer camp-themed Jewish wedding to tell you about this sunny Monday morning!

It is fitting that this gorgeous wedding was submitted by videographer Daniel at Latimer Studios, because we’re big enough to admit that the wedding video (below) genuinely made us ugly cry.

We’ll get to the aesthetics of this very beautiful big day in a moment, but first, what struck us so profoundly about Julie and Greg as a couple was their charm, their intelligence, their sparkling sense of humour and their deep and sincere love for one another. Watching their cinematic wedding film, it’s abundantly evident that they are the real deal and then some. With such articulate loved ones speaking so eloquently about the happy couple, we’re treated to a real insight into their unique and wonderful connection to one another, and we feel privileged to watch.

Julie and Greg planned a fun summer camp theme at Kamp Kohut in Oxford, Maine, which is run by the bride’s parents. The theme juxtaposed the venue’s natural leafy greens, with a pretty pastel color scheme and stunning metallic accents (that CAKE!) and fabulous florals (that CHUPPAH!!).

The couple described their meaningful Jewish ceremony as a ‘dream ceremony’, which is just a delight to hear. The day was bursting with personal meaning – a prime example of how to do things your way, and make a wedding all about who you are as a couple.

We’ll hand over to beautiful bride, Julie, for her full writeup on the day, along with the fabulous spread of images by photographer, Lara Kimmerer. Enjoy!

How we met

Julie, the bride: We met on the dating app, Hinge. We both swiped right on each other, and began our conversation. We had three friends in common, so that helped us feel more comfortable.

Our first date was over coffee and sweets at a coffee shop in Los Angeles, and from there we were off to the races. We very quickly knew that we had found our person.

After two months, we were both thinking to ourselves that we would marry this person. After six months, we decided to move in together. We got engaged at a year, and then married a year later. Our officiant was one of our mutual friends from Hinge, Benji Samit.
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A Rustic-Chic Jewish Wedding at Soho Farmhouse with an Elizabeth Fillmore Bride

17/07/2017 by Karen

A rustic chic aesthetic, live music aplenty, adorable extras and an incredible amount of family involvement defined Charlotte and David’s divine Soho Farmhouse wedding day.

When we say family involvement, we mean that the happy couple had an entire team of amazing helpers. The wedding was planned by the bride’s mum, the invitations designed by the groom’s sister, the jewellery provided by the groom’s mum, a dear friend of the bride sang the couple through their first dance – a perfect example of how the Jewish community comes together in times of celebration.

As Charlotte is a music manager, it went without saying that the wedding was packed with live music, including a gospel choir for the ceremony – now that’s something you don’t see at every Jewish wedding! The wedding featured two of our wonderful musical Recommended Vendors: Boutique Chupah Music (hear their amazing rendition of ‘Boi Kallah’ to the tune of ‘Hallelujah’ in the Insta-clip below), and the amazing Wedding Smashers, who were on hand to kick the party up a notch and truly honor the venue’s ‘last man standing’ curfew policy.

Adorable extras included a midnight munchies van outside (heaven), and the guests arriving by milk float, which the STG team has now decided to use as its exclusive mode of transport from now on.

We’re also LIVING for Charlotte’s incredible, full-skirt Elizabeth Fillmore dress. What an absolute vision of bridal beauty!

Right, it’s now Charlotte’s turn to take over the STG pages with her fabulous write up – enjoy!

A post shared by BOUTIQUE CHUPAH MUSIC (@boutiquechupahmusic) on Apr 27, 2017 at 10:23pm PDT

A venue with a last-man-standing curfew

Charlotte, the bride: We got married at Soho Farmhouse. We loved going to friends’ weddings abroad. You can’t beat the laidback atmosphere of an abroad wedding. We wanted to create that in the UK without any hassle of organising a function abroad, and Farmhouse allowed us to do just that.

We loved Soho Farmhouse from the moment we stepped foot onto the grounds, which was when it first opened, perhaps a year or so before we got married. Plus, their curfew rule is ‘last man standing’.

An industrial-romantic Jewish wedding at London’s last lighthouse, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, UK

15/05/2017 by Karen

Nicole and Daniel’s lighthouse / warehouse industrial-meets-romantic wedding is cooler than a polar bear’s toenails. FACT.

From the alternative, urban venue, to the dress designed by gorgeous bride, Nicole, the atmospheric lighting to the floating-effect Chuppah design, the bridesmaids in black to the groomsmens’ bow ties – everything about this big day looked picture perfect.

We love how the pair, who had been together for 15 years before saying ‘I do’, took everything in their stride. When their photographer disappeared on them, they found two more, with just days to go (kudos to James Frost, and a second shooter, Benjamin Wheeler, for stepping in and saving the day). When the lights went out during their meal, they ran with it, calling it atmospheric, and continued by candlelight. If they can cope so calmly with wedding day mishaps, then they’re truly prepared for the rollercoaster ride that is marriage.

This is genuinely a wedding to feast your eyes on, but also read Nicole’s brilliant writeup (and check out her Instagram, @nicolelevypr) and take a few minutes to watch the gorgeously cinematic wedding video below, by Our Further Project.

Over to beautiful bride, Nicole, for the full report.

How we met

Nicole, the bride: Daniel and I met at a mutual friend’s engagement party nearly 15 years ago, and we’ve been together ever since. We got engaged in 2014, so I guess you could say we’ve taken our time with the whole marriage thing.

I have my own fashion PR company Nicole Levy PR, which Daniel helps me run, and he is also an IT Director for another company.

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.