BAME wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Liancarlo Bride for a Multicultural Hindu-Jewish Wedding at Tarrytown House Estate and Tappan Hill Mansion, Hudson Valley, NY, USA

24/07/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when a couple combines their backgrounds into one truly memorable day – and that’s exactly what Laura, a registered dietitian, and Raj, who owns two urgent care facilities in New Jersey, did in planning their interfaith Hindu-Jewish wedding.

With two ceremonies in one day – Hindu during the day, followed by Jewish in the evening – the couple approached planning with the overarching goal of crafting a cohesive day illustrating the true merging of their families, lives, and cultures. Take one look at Dave Robbins Photography’s gorgeous captures of the day and you’ll see just how successfully they pulled it off.

Laura and Raj took advantage of the fact that Hindu and Jewish weddings both take place under a canopy – symbolizing the home the couple will build together – and decided to use the same structure for their mandap and chuppah to symbolize the fact that they are building one home that embraces both of their cultures and religions.

And we totally and completely adore the couple’s custom floral ketubah by Rachel Marks of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Tallulah Ketubahs. Laura and Raj wanted their text written in English, Hebrew, and Hindi, and Rachel made it happen – plus she incorporated some of the colors and flowers the pair used in their wedding! And, unsurprisingly, Laura reports that Rachel was an absolute dream to work with.

There’s so much more we could say about this awesome wedding, but we’ll leave the rest to the bride, who looked stunning in both her traditional Indian outfit and red and gold as well as her white wedding dress by Azul by Liancarlo…

How We Met

Laura, the bride: Raj and I met our sophomore year at Franklin and Marshall College. We were in the same friend circle for many years, but did not start dating until 2014. We were nervous we would break apart our group of friends if things didn’t end up working out. In the end, it was definitely worth taking the risk!

A Helena Kolan Bride for a Colorful, Multicultural Jewish-Hindu Wedding at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, California, USA

19/06/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

Get ready to be BLOWN AWAY by the incredible Jewish-Hindu wedding of our beloved Brides Club member Jaime, who has an online fitness business, and Varun, who is CEO of a tech company. These two wanted a one-of-a-kind day that felt larger than life, and did they ever achieve that goal – thanks in no small part to the expertise of their wedding planner, Leora of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Best Bride, who Jaime describes as “the best wedding planner on the planet. Period.”

Blending two different faiths and cultures is no small feat, but Leora made it a breeze, working with Jaime and Varun to craft a jam-packed day – and we do mean a full day; this wedding went from noon until midnight! – including two ceremonies (one Hindu, one Jewish), a positively mouthwatering bicultural food experience featuring Israeli and Indian street food, and, of course, a rocking party to end things off.

The results were thoroughly, breathtakingly beautiful – we’re equally obsessed with the color and energy of the Hindu ceremony and the romance and drama of the sunset Jewish ceremony. And how beautiful is the couple’s floral ketubah, created by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush?! Jaime can’t stop raving about her experience working with founder Rachelle to create the perfect design to match the color and décor scheme for her Jewish ceremony.

You really, really don’t want to miss the fantastic photos from Clane Gessel and Sanaz Photography. Because their day had so much going on, planner Leora encouraged Jaime and Varun to hire two photography teams to make sure none of the good stuff went undocumented, and Jaime is SO glad she followed that advice. And the trailer by AndHer Visuals is equally unmissable.

Now over to the bride, who had not one, not two, but THREE dresses for the big day – her gorgrous, vibrant dress for the Hindu ceremony was made by Vama Designs, and her gown for the Jewish ceremony was custom made by Israeli designer Helena Kolan (who also created Jaime’s reception dress)…

How we met

Jaime, the bride: We met on OKCupid in San Francisco when we were both working in the start up scene.

A Romona Keveza Bride for an Indian-Jewish Wedding at Bel Air Bay Club, Los Angeles, CA

01/06/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when a couple works to combine their backgrounds into a totally unique wedding that’s 100% them, so naturally we are so excited to feature today’s beautiful Indian-Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Wendy, who works on HR software, to Nagesh, who works in healthcare data analytics.

Wendy is Jewish, Nagesh is Indian, and the pair made it top priority to ensure both cultures were represented in their celebration. They incorporated Hebrew and Hindi text wherever they could, and used symbols that reflected both cultures throughout their stationery and design. For their rehearsal dinner, they held an Indian sangeet, a musical pre-wedding party, at an Indian restaurant. The couple wore traditional Indian dress and encouraged their guests to follow suit, and they even brought in Indian dancers to help get everyone on the dance floor.

Then, the next day, the pair had the most stunning outdoor chuppah overlooking the Pacific Ocean – seriously, don’t miss the epic imagery from photographer Laurie Bailey and videographer Yours Truly Media – with so many beautiful personal touches, from their cantor, who officiated, including the couple’s own words about their hopes for married life that she’d requested they write in advance, inviting friends and family to read the seven blessings in English after their cantor read them in the original Hebrew, and using Wendy’s great-grandparents’ gold wedding bands.

And did we mention that Wendy looked absolutely stunning in her Romona Keveza gown? Because she most definitely did.

Take it away, STG Brides Club member Wendy! (and if you want to join Brides Club (STG’s members-only community that removes wedstress and indecision, and gives you what you need to plan with confidence, join here. We’re closing the doors to free entry on Thursday so now is the time!).

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How We Met

Wendy, the bride: Nagesh and I met in our MBA program at the University of Maryland in 2015. We hit it off as soon as classes started and the rest is history!

A Pronovias Bride for an Interfaith Jewish Jamaican Wedding at Tewin Bury Barn, UK

10/04/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

We’re always curious to see what Jewish wedding vendors at the top of their game choose to do for their own weddings. So naturally we were pretty excited for today’s wedding. You see, beautiful bride Sarah-Louise is the rockstar bridal hair stylist behind Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hair by SLO! She’s long been a favorite among our UK brides – you can see all her gorgeous weddings hair styles we’ve featured here – and her incredible interfaith Jewish-Jamaican (or Jew-maican!) wedding to groom Nathan is everything we could’ve hoped for and more.

Right off the bat, these two knew merging their backgrounds would be priority #1. Sarah-Louise is Jewish, while Nathan is a Christian pastor’s son – and every single detail of their ceremony reflected that.

The ceremony was under a chuppah, with the groom’s father officiating – along with a group of gospel singers all made up of Nathan’s relatives! Sarah-Louise circled Nathan 7 times, smashed the glass, and walked in to Hebrew singing.

Needless to say, the vendor lineup these two put together was pretty stellar. With simple, beautiful invitations from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Papier, exquisite hair styling handled by three amazing hairdressers who were all the bride’s former assistants, emotion-filled photography by Harry Michael, the most moving videography by mega-talented videographer Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion – seriously, don’t miss their wedding trailer – and music by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband, who worked with the couple to choose the perfect lineup of garage, Motown, and beyond to keep their guests on the dancefloor all night long.

Now over to the bride, who totally rocked her gown by Pronovias…

A Countryside Venue

Sarah-Louise, the bride: We got married at Tewin Bury Farm in the Meadow Barn. We chose this venue because it was really important to us to have a venue where our guests could stay and a suite large enough where I could get ready in – I’m a bridal hair dresser so the morning and getting ready part was very important to me. We didn’t want a venue I had worked in before so that it felt special and different for me.

An Emmy Mae Bride for a Chinese-Jewish Wedding with a Peony Chuppah at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Wellesley, MA, USA

04/03/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

It never fails to set our hearts aflutter when we see a couple merge their diverse backgrounds into one beautiful Jewish wedding. And we adore a peony chuppah. Therefore, we knew from the get go that we were going to fall head over heels for the wonderful Chinese-Jewish wedding of college sweethearts JingJing, who works in data analytics, and Andrew, who’s in software development.

Since these two were planning a Massachusetts wedding all the way across the country from their home in Seattle, they knew they’d need some support in planning the big day. And so they turned to the fabulous Luba of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Primavera Dreams, who they knew they could trust to understand their diverse families and cultures.

Luba worked with the couple to incorporate traditions both Chinese – like pops of red, the traditional Chinese wedding color – and Jewish – like the stunning peony chuppah – into the day. There were even some small touches reflecting the groom’s Russian heritage thrown into the mix, like chamomile incorporated into the florals.

And back to that peony chuppah… peonies are JingJing’s favorite flowers (and, after scrolling through these lovely photos by Mark Spooner, maybe ours too?), so it was only natural to showcase them. Mixed with fresh greenery and other flowers in shades of pink, peach, and white, the chuppah struck the perfect balance between minimalism and whimsy, simplicity and lushness.

There’s so much more we could say, but we’re going to leave the rest to the bride, who looked so elegant in her 3D floral lace dress from Emmy Mae Bridal…

A Garden Venue

JingJing, the bride: We got married at The Gardens at Elm Bank at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley, MA. We wanted a primarily outdoor venue that would be beautiful on its own, and we were definitely partial to the garden aspect (we got engaged at a botanic garden!). Elm Bank checked all our boxes for setting as well as location and flexibility as a vendor.Continue Reading