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An Eisen Stein Bride for a Jewish Wedding with Italian Vibes at Idit Winery, Israel

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We are absolutely in love with the gorgeous Jewish wedding of Melissa, who works in social media, and Lavy, a data scientist. Their outdoor celebration at Israel’s Idit Winery drew inspiration from Sorrento, Italy, with lots of blues and yellows, and naturally tons of lemons!

This wedding was so full of special touches – from the “shop” Melissa and Lavy set up, full of fun items for their guests like sweets and personalized t-shirts, and an emotional first look  under the chuppah. The couple’s photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si, captured everything exquisitely. In Melissa’s words,

What I liked about his photography was that his photos felt really romantic but with an artistic edge. I loved the colors of the photos and how they were edited, as well as the range of compositions he used. And about Jossef – he was an absolute pleasure and so calming to be around which is exactly what we needed! As well as that, his pictures say it all. Just gorgeous.

Read on for more from the bride – who looked so chic in her gown from Israeli designer Eisen Stein…


How We Met

Melissa, the bride: We met on Tinder and our first date was in Independence Park in Tel Aviv.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Kyha Studios Bride for a Modern Jewish Wedding Bringing the Spirit of Tel Aviv at Island Art and Taste – Residence, Athens Riviera, Greece

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New Yorkers Allison, a Physician Assistant in dermatology, and Shane, a dentist, originally planned to hold their Jewish wedding in Tel Aviv. Due to the war, they made the hard choice to pivot to a new destination – but we love that they brought most of their original Israeli vendors along for their July 5th, 2024 celebration at Island Art and Taste – Residence in Greece’s Athens Riviera.

Due to the change of location, Allison and Shane were unable to tour new venues themselves – but luckily they had an amazing planner, Tel Aviv-based Liad from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor LBI Productions, on their side. Liad and his team helped them work through their pivot, even doing a venue tour for them and sending tons of photos and video so Allison and Shane could make an informed decision.

In Allison’s words, “Liad Bar Ilan and his team are truly incredible and I couldn’t recommend him more. He made the planning process so smooth even with the obstacles that occurred with switching our wedding to Greece.”

We also love that Allison and Shane found their perfect ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com, featuring a blue ocean background  that reminded them of Greece and their venue.

†he couple’s photographer, Yoni of Haim Afriat & Co., captured the day exquisitely, and you can really feel the fun and joy in each of his wonderful candid shots.

 Read on for all the details in Allison’s own words!

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How We Met

Allison, the bride: We met through a mutual friend and the rest was history!Continue ReadingContinue Reading

An Arava Polak Bride for an Indoor/Outdoor Jewish Wedding at Bayaar, Hadera, Israel

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Samantha & Tsach, Bayaar, Hadera, Israel

There’s nothing like an Israeli wedding. And Samantha and Tsach’s is Exhibit A as to why! The duo, who own their own gym in Haifa, called Fitbox, crafted the most magical Jewish wedding that brings out the best Israel has to offer with a little help from a fantastic planner, Yana Andreev from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Craspedia Events.

In Samantha’s words, Yana “quickly became more like a best friend who helped me make my Pinterest dreams come to life!” She listened to the couple’s ideas, used her planning and design genius to bring their dreams to life, and soled problems right and left all through planning. Samantha and Tsach wanted an effortless, natural look to bring out their venue Bayaar’s beauty – and Yana did the best job bringing it all to life. She even went wedding dress shopping with Samantha, helping her find her dream gown from Arava Polak!

We’re in love with the indoor/outdoor vibes of this wedding, and we can’t get enough of the exquisite photos from Haim Afriat!

Read on for more details – plus Samantha’s great advice for all Jewish brides-to-be!

Samantha & Tsach, Bayaar, Hadera, IsraelSamantha & Tsach, Bayaar, Hadera, IsraelSamantha & Tsach, Bayaar, Hadera, IsraelSamantha & Tsach, Bayaar, Hadera, Israel
How we Met

Samantha, the bride: We actually met in the gym! I had showed up to Tsach’s gym 3 days after opening in 2019 and signed up for an annual membership and became his 2nd client. We began working out together and realized we both share the same passions and interests in life. Shortly after meeing, our friendship grew into the beautiful relationship we have today. It was love at first sight for lack of a better cliche and now we do what we love together.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Vera Wang Bride for a Multicultural Jewish Wedding where the Jerusalem Lion Meets the Chinese Lion at Kedma Mamilla, Jerusalem, Israel

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We are absolutely in love with the joyous multicultural Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Monica to David! Monica, who has a background in design, is Chinese American, David, who has a manufacturing company, is Israeli; they live in London; and they opted to wed in Jerusalem – so they had some seriously great material to work with.

The couple’s amazing wedding planner, Vanessa Ohayon of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Vanessa Events, helped the couple pull everything together to create the wedding of their dreams – complete with swoonworthy views overlooking the Old City walls – do chuppah backdrops get any better than that?!

One of our very favorite things about this gorgeous wedding is the fact that, with Vanessa’s help, Monica arranged a surprise Chinese Lion Dance, which is performed during major celebrations. Once the guests were seated for the reception, Monica and David made their entrance – followed by a bright yellow Chinese Lion, who wove in and out among the tables before giving the couple a marriage blessing. Then, the music changed, and it was hora time – what an awesome contrast in traditions! In Monica’s words, “it was the Jerusalem Lion meets the Chinese Lion moment.”

We also love that Monica put her design background to work in implementing the pair’s chosen theme of geodes and geometrics in blue and gold, learning modern calligraphy and hand-crafting the exquisite blue agate place cards. There was a spectacular geode-themed cake to match, and the floral centerpieces, designed by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Craspedia, continued the geometric theme and blue color scheme too. It wasn’t easy to find locally grown flowers in the right colors during the Israeli summer, but Yana of Craspedia took Monica on a scouting trip to a flower market where together they were able to find the perfect blooms.

There’s so much more to say about this beautiful day, but we’ll let Monica – who looked so elegant in Vera Wang – take it from here…

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How we Met

Monica, the bride: We met online in London, but it took 5 months for us to meet up due to conflicting travel schedules. Instead, we had an old fashion email and skype correspondence until our first date at the Holland Park Opera. The rest is history!Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Millanova Bride for a Destination Jewish Wedding with a View at Olmaya, Jerusalem, Israel

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Who’s ready to book a flight to Israel as soon as lockdown ends? Team STG definitely is, and you just might be too after you finish drooling over Lauren and Anthony’s stunner of a Jewish wedding.

The London-based pair picked their venue Olmaya, based on its breathtaking views of the Old City of Jerusalem – which just happens to be the place these two became friends AND got engaged. Best chuppah backdrop ever, or best chuppah backdrop ever? We’re pretty sure you’re going to be just as obsessed with the incredible photos by Haim Afriat and video by Avichai Weschsler as we are.

We’re also in love with Lauren’s gorgeous Millanova dress, which she found at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Wedding Club’s Birmingham location. The bride had spotted her dream dress on Instagram three years before the big day – before she even got engaged – but, Millanova not being a widely available brand in the UK, was struggling to track the style down until she found out about a trunk show at The Wedding Club – and the rest is history!

Lauren loved the lace fishtail gown just as much as she hoped she would, and she can’t stop raving about her fab experience working with the team at The Wedding Club. In her own words, “I looked forward to every fitting, and wish I could go there every day as it was honestly the best experience.” Lauren capped her look off with a sleek high ponytail (perfect for that Israeli heat!) styled by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Yonatan Yaeish, who not only totally got the bride’s vision but also made sure her ‘do didn’t budge all day.

Over to you Lauren!

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How we met

Lauren, the bride: I work in marketing in a Jewish charity and Anthony is a director of fundraising and development at a Jewish charity. We met at the JLE, but became friends on a trip to Israel. It was on a balcony overlooking the Kotel where the journey began, and the journey is never ending.

We got engaged on a balcony overlooking the Kotel too, and the next day after the wedding, we took all our guests to the Kotel for a special Kotel experience, we had musicians, a hand held chuppah and danced and sung our way to the Kotel, it was very special.

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