AT Motion Archives - Smashing the Glass

Real Jewish Brides: Orli On Dress and Shoe Shopping and Flowers For Her Wedding

29/01/2020 by Smashing The Glass

Orli will be marrying Ben on 6th September 2020 at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, UK. Click here to read all Orli’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Orli and Ben met on Jswipe. (2) Although their venue, the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, couldn’t be more quintessentially London, Orli and Ben are going for a countryside feel. (3) Orli is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!

My Wedding Dress Shopping Experience

As a little girl I had always dreamt of my wedding day. What would I be wearing as I walked down the aisle to meet my Prince Charming? For me, this was all coming true and the next thing I had to do was start looking at wedding dresses.

From the moment we got engaged, my mum was desperate for us to pick a date to go wedding dress shopping, yet I was slightly reserved but couldn’t work out why. Was it going to be everything that I dreamed it would be? Would I put on one dress and know instantly that it was the one, feel like a princess and buy it on the spot?

A Pronovias Bride for a Wintery Chanukah Wedding at West London Synagogue and Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London, UK

23/08/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

We love a good Chanukah wedding – and there’s no time more special than the eighth and final night. We’re loving the way Emma, an account director at a medical education communications agency, and Mike, an accountant, made the most of the holiday in their beautiful Jewish wedding.

The pair had the bride’s two grandmothers light the menorah together during their chuppah – how special is that?! Speaking of that chuppah, we’re in love with the green and white floral creation, and we can’t go without mentioning the couple’s gorgeous green and purple ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com. Also, fabulous chazan and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jonny Mosesson sang at the chuppah (and Emma and Mike found him through Smashing The Glass!). Oh, and they used one of our smash glass pouches.

The couple kept their general vibe wintery, with rich burgundy tones and sparkly fairy lights abounding. And to keep things in the Chanukah spirit from start to finish, they even served doughnuts in personalized paper bags for their guests to take home at the end of the night!

Emma looked stunning in her fitted mermaid lace Pronovias dress, which she found at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ann Louise Bridal – whose delightful service she can’t stop raving about. We’ll let her fill you in on the rest.

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A Family Venue

Emma, the bride: We got married at the West London Synagogue on Upper Berkeley Street. Not only is this a beautiful synagogue, but both Mike’s parents and grandparents got married here so this made it extremely special for us.

The reception and party followed at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel which has a beautiful art deco style ballroom which we loved from the first time we saw it. Dina the event planner there was an absolute dream to work with, no matter how many questions and requests we had!

A Suzanne Neville Bride for a Kosher Chrismukkah Jewish Wedding at the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, UK

01/05/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

A kosher Christmas wedding?! Sounds unlikely, but somehow Claire, a therapist, and James, who works in recruitment as a consultant in the City, pulled it off.

With a wedding date just a week before Christmas and the bridesmaids dressed in an unintentionally Christmassy hunter green, the pair decided they might as well go all out with their newfound Chrismukkah theme – even opting for a kosher Christmas dinner for the meal!

We’re also obsessed with Claire and James’s very cool chuppah – made out of copper pipes and decorated with a mix of flowers and hanging bulbs. It was a perfect fit for their stunning Victorian venue, the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel. All of the emotion and elegance of the day was captured so perfectly by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Blake Ezra, whose calm attitude on the day ensured Claire and James enjoyed their wedding photography to the max.

Claire looked stunning too, in her simple, sophisticated Suzanne Neville dress and her effortless natural makeup by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Philippa Louise.

And the fun didn’t stop once the big day was over: Claire and James went on an epic honeymoon to India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, organised by Claudia Newman at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Colletts Travel in London. Claudia made sure the honeymoon ran smoothly and even threw in some extra special touches, like leaving a framed picture of the couple on their wedding day waiting for them in one of their hotel room.

Now over to the couple…

How we met

Claire and James, the bride and the groom: We went to the same university but never met there, we met at a close friend’s birthday party. The friend actually wasn’t sure it was going to work but is very happy now that it did – and was part of the wedding as a bridesmaid and witness to thank her for bringing us together!

A Pronovias Bride for a Tuscany-in-London Jewish Wedding at The Brewery, London, UK

08/02/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

It’s not every day one of our beautiful blogging brides gets married — and at one of our very favorite London venues, no less! Everything about the Jewish wedding of Charlotte, (a much-loved member of our Brides Club for Jewish Brides) and James is pure #weddinggoals.

Not that you can really go wrong when you get married at Smashing The Glass Recommended Venue The Brewery. Though the location could hardly be more central, this is not your run-of-the-mill London venue — with its flexible spaces and vintage architectural touches like exposed brick walls, wood-beamed ceilings, The Brewery somehow manages to have a ton of character while also serving as an amazing canvas for wedding dreams of all stripes.

Like, for instance, recreating an outdoor Tuscan wedding indoors in London. Sounds impossible, right? But with the help of long banquet tables, romantic lighting, and seriously elegant florals (how cool is the high/low tabletop dà©cor scheme?!) we think these two managed to pull it off. Be sure to take it all in via Adam and Hannah’s exquisite documentary-style photos and AT Motion’s stellar videography.

There’s so much more good stuff about this awesome wedding, from the fact that Charlotte and James used one of our Smash Glass pouches to the espresso martini syringe shots they served on the dancefloor to keep everyone’s dancing energy up to the fact that the couple registered with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Prezola… but we’ll leave the rest of it to the bride, who looked so classically elegant in her Pronovias gown.

How We Met

Charlotte, the bride: I met James through a mutual friend nearly four years ago, before going on a night out to none other than Ministry of Sound. We really hit it off and have been inseparable ever since.

An Epic Enchanted Garden-Themed Jewish Wedding with Airplanes, Classic Cars, and a Carousel at Bicester Heritage, Bicester, UK

06/08/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Where do we even start with today’s Jewish wedding? It’s got to be one of the most amazing we’ve seen, like… EVER. Do you see that chuppah?! We’ve honestly never come across one like it before, like an actual magical forest transported indoors (thanks to the never-ending talents of Amie Bone Flowers)– and it’s about the size of one, too.

Shier, a junior doctor, and Xander, a product designer, went BIG with everything from their venue — an actual airplane hangar that they transformed into an enchanted forest for the day — to their glorious chuppah (!!!) to Shier’s wonderfully OTT flower crown.

The pair brought a Victorian-style carousel in for the day, and post-ceremony Shier and Xander drove onto the dancefloor in one of Xander’s many classic cars, a baby blue open top from the 1960s. Seriously. Check it out in At Motion’s brilliant video of the day. Oh, and the groom flew into the wedding, landing a 1930s open-top airplane in feet away from the crowd of guests.

When we say this pair went big with everything, we do mean everything. Dessert-loving Shier couldn’t bear to choose just one cake, so Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor Food Story put together a dessert table with literally dozens. The couple’s guests couldn’t stop raving about how delicious the food was, and many were shocked when they found out it was kosher (as is often the case with the amazing Food Story!).

Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor David Pullum did SUCH an amazing job photographing the day, capturing the drama of the setting, the emotion of the ceremony, and the fun of the party so well, we feel like we were there ourselves. We certainly wish we were — we’ve fallen head over heels for this wedding, and we’re pretty sure you will too.

Oh, and did we mention there’s a super cool story behind Shier’s fab gown (and no, it’s not a Vivienne Westwood). Read on to find out its unexpected journey — and all the other details of this most epic of weddings.

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Not Your Average Venue

Shier, the bride: We got married in a beautifully alternative venue, an airplane hangar within a site called Bicester Heritage. The site is a repurposed WW2 RAF bomber station now dedicated to all things relating to classic cars and motoring. My brother initially read about the site in a classic car magazine and immediately thought of Alexander (my now husband!) and me because Alexander’s biggest passion in life, apart from me of course, is his classic car collection and all things related.

I sent an email over to their event manager Tiggy Atkinson and the rest was history! Initially even Tiggy was a bit skeptical as they had never hosted a wedding before, although they do host many large-scale events such as car auctions and classic car conventions. Our families and friends were also very skeptical upon hearing we wanted to get married in what was essentially an empty 50,000ft garage, however Jess from Every Event London (our wedding planner) and my brilliantly creative mum consistently reassured us that together we could turn this monolithic empty space into a dream wedding venue.