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An Ultra-Personal Chanukah Jewish Wedding Micklefield Hall, Hertfordshire, UK

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Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom

We love a Chanukah wedding, and Ella and Aaron’s is one of the best we’ve seen! Their vision for their winter Jewish wedding was “twinkly winter wonderland with lots of doughnuts, latkes and joy,” and they worked with the most talented team – including a number of beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors – to bring it to life.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Uptown Events planned the day to perfection, recommending vendors – including the couple’s stunning venue, Micklefield Hall, after their original location fell through – and making sure everything ran smoothly on the day. They also guided Ella and Aaron to choose a DJ Live act when it came to entertainment – and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Twentysomethings ended up being “such a hit that they’ve since become the unofficial band for our whole group, with two other couples booking them since!”

Ella and Aaron made all the stationery themselves (with their small business It IS Personal) – including the most adorable dreidel-shaped reserved seating signs and matchbox place cards in honor of Chanukah. Also perfectly on theme? The duo’s wedding menu, which included latkes, a full salt beef bar, and savoury pulled beef doughnuts (in addition to the sweet kind). Don’t miss all the fabulous details in the exquisite photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel, who captured all the emotion and joy of the day so beautifully.

Another Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, Carmel Designs, painted the couple’s wonderful custom ketubah, merging their vision for a design in keeping with their rustic wedding vibes, incorporating the Tree of Life and reflecting Ella and Aaron’s love of animals.

Read on for the full story in Ella’s own words…

 

Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom

How We Met

Ella, the bride: We met the way so many modern couples do these days – on good old Hinge! We first met in June 2022, when Aaron was finishing his teacher training year, and Ella was working at her local synagogue. Aaron is now Pastoral and Wellbeing Manager at his old Jewish secondary school, and Ella works as Children and Family Educator at the synagogue we’ve joined together, while training to be a therapist. Our professions are an example of how well our values align – something we were both aware of when we met, and is one of the many reasons we instantly clicked and fell for each other so quickly! Not even a month into dating, we’d booked our first holiday to Israel together for Chanukah that year.

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A Kosher Wedding on the Water with Israeli Vibes at Base Events, Paphos, Cyprus

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Sarah and Daniel, Base Events, Paphos, Cyprus

Here it is, our last real Jewish wedding of 2025 – and have we got a special one to share with you today! Like so many couples, UK-based Sarah and Daniel dreamed of getting married in Israel, but due to the war they ended up pivoting and relocating things to Cyprus.

With the help of their fantastic wedding planner, Noam of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kai Wedding Planners, Sarah and Daniel were able to bring so much of what they love about Israel into their big day. Being Israeli himself, Noam was perfectly positioned to help the couple do just that – and their celebration at Base Events in Paphos really did have the feel of one of those fabulous Israeli seaside weddings we all know and love. Noam even sourced kosher-certified catering for Sarah and Daniel!

Photographers Eitan Van and Kryiakos Hadjiiordanis captured all the love and emotion of the day so perfectly – do read on for the rest of the story in Sarah’s own words…

Sarah and Daniel, Base Events, Paphos, CyprusSarah and Daniel, Base Events, Paphos, CyprusSarah and Daniel, Base Events, Paphos, Cyprus Sarah and Daniel, Base Events, Paphos, Cyprus

How We Met

Sarah, the bride: We met at a Purim in 2019!

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A Martina Liana Bride for a Colorful Jewish Wedding Celebrating Joy at Tatton Park, Cheshire, UK

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Rachel and Stuart, Tatton Park, Manchester, UK

There’s nothing like an English country house wedding, and we absolutely adore Rachel and Stuart’s! Tatton Park, located near the groom’s hometown of Manchester, made for the perfect backdrop to this very special day – which included a wonderful outdoor chuppah on the grounds.

We love the couple’s focus on joy, beauty, and Judaism in crafting their big day – and how great is it that they made it a family affair, between Stuart’s uncle serving as the chazan and Rachel’s uncle designing the beautiful handmade ketubah! For good measure, Rachel herself designed the invitations, featuring a picture of the venue she painted.

When it came time to choose someone to capture their wedding, Rachel and Stuart chose Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kate Swerdlow. In the bride’s words,

 I loved her relaxed style, which really captured beautiful, natural moments. Kate was also so lovely to work with – our engagement shoot at Aldenham Country Park was so much fun because she made us feel at ease and brought out the best in us. Our wedding photos are just beautiful, and I especially love how she captured the venue and all the little details so perfectly.

Cat Film Service handled videography, and the couple can’t get enough of their modern style and the way they captured the essence of the day.

Now over to Rachel, who looked so glam in her off-the-shoulder fitted Martina Liana gown…

Rachel and Stuart, Tatton Park, Manchester, UKRachel and Stuart, Tatton Park, Manchester, UKRachel and Stuart, Tatton Park, Manchester, UKRachel and Stuart, Tatton Park, Manchester, UK

How We Met

Rachel, the bride: We meet on Jswipe!

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A Casablanca Bride for a Hanukkah Wonderland Jewish Wedding at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA

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Jennie-Ben-Hyatt-Regency-Downtown-Boston-USA

There’s something so special about a Hanukkah wedding – and we’re obsessed with the way Brides Club member Jennie, a Ph.D. student at Cambridge, and Ben, a software developer for a financial firm, went all out incorporating the holiday vibes into their big day.

With their Jewish wedding falling on the first night of the Festival of Lights, Jennie and Ben opted for a full-on Hanukkah wonderland theme, and we are ALL about it. From the blue-tinged color scheme to the giant (5-foot!) menorah the pair lit at the start of dinner to the dreidels-and-gelt wedding favors, this wedding was chock full of wonderful festive touches. And we haven’t even gotten to the food yet – Jennie and Ben not only served delectable sufganiyot with their dessert; they also had a latke station with several different toppings at the end of the night! How fun is that?

Throughout her wedding planning, Jennie was a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club, and we’re so touched by her kind words about how the community “made the wedding planning process a whole lot easier, especially since I was planning everything from overseas. All of the checklists and resources really allowed us to think about what was important for us. It was also great to have a group of brides who were going through the same process as me or had already completed their weddings – they really helped us not sweat the small stuff. Everyone in Brides Club is so kind and supportive of each other!”

Jennie also found some of her wonderful vendors via Brides Club, including Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Talia C, who provided the couple’s smash glass and then made the shards into Shabbat candle sticks, and their fabulous ketubah designer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink with Intent. Jennie and Ben chose Ink with Intent’s custom night sky design, featuring the star map for their wedding date! Don’t miss it in the wonderful photos by Simi Rabinowitz.

There’s so much more to this wonderful wedding, but we’ll leave it to the bride to fill you in on the rest…

Jennie-Ben-Hyatt-Regency-Downtown-Boston-USAJennie-Ben-Hyatt-Regency-Downtown-Boston-USAJennie-Ben-Hyatt-Regency-Downtown-Boston-USAJennie-Ben-Hyatt-Regency-Downtown-Boston-USA
How We Met

Jennie, the bride:  We live in London but we originally met back in 2016 in Boston, where we were both working at the time. Ben was the flatmate of one of my colleagues, who brought him to an after-work meet up one evening. We kept seeing each other at group hangouts for a few years after that, then slowly became friends and started seeing each other more and more. Our friendship very naturally grew into a romantic relationship over time. The friend who introduced us was our Best Man!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