BAME wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Last-Minute Jewish Micro Wedding in the Forest, Eshta’ol, Israel

08/03/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

Today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding took place right at the start of the pandemic last year (hard to believe it’s been a year, right?), when we were just starting to hear about micro wedding and minimonies. But Mayan, a student in dance and movement therapy, and Mola, an animation student, pulled off their intimate celebration so expertly you’d never guess they were COVID wedding pioneers.

The Israeli couple had initially planned a big wedding in Jerusalem for May 2020, but as the situation started getting more serious they realized their Plan A was unlikely to work. Instead of waiting it out, Mayan and Mola decided to bump their wedding up, so they could make things official before Israel’s first lockdown began.

With just a few days’ notice, the pair planned a whole new wedding for an intimate crowd of 18, set outdoors in a beautiful forest near Jerusalem. Since their surroundings were so naturally gorgeous, they didn’t need to do much – the groom set up a little décor the morning of, and the couple opted for a simple chuppah with white cloth atop wooden poles, held by Mola’s brothers and cousin. Luckily, the couple’s amazing photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si, was able to make it – and we are absolutely in love with his dreamy photos of the day.

Being such a last-minute affair, there were a few challenges along the way – the groom’s suit wasn’t ready in time, and the bride’s got an amazing only-in-Israel story about how she sourced her wedding shoes on short notice when most shops had already closed due to COVID. But in the end, Mayan and Mola say they wouldn’t have had their wedding any other way. In the bride’s words, “I am glad that our wedding ended up being very simple and modest. Sometimes the stress of planning a large event takes out the fun and excitement of just getting married!”

We’ll let her take it from here…

How We Met

Mayan, the bride: We were introduced to each other through a mutual friend who Mola met travelling in India and I met in a group with which I studied in “Nefesh Yehudi” in the campus of the Hebrew University. Gali and Adi who were in my group thought of the ‘Shiduch’ together, and that’s how we started dating.Continue Reading

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.