Ben Kelmer Photography Archives - Smashing the Glass

13 Inspirational Jewish Wedding Photos

04/07/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

Image: Ben Kelmer Photography

It takes someone really special to capture all the magic of a Jewish wedding. The traditions, the emotion, the dancing – a Jewish wedding day is pretty full-on from start to finish, and you want to make sure you pick a wedding photographer who can keep up!

Luckily, we know plenty of amazing Jewish wedding photographers – the kind who know exactly what a badeken is without you having to explain a thing – and we asked 13 of them to share a favorite Jewish wedding snapshot with us. So get ready to feel ALL the feelings!

1. Miki Studios

See more work by MIKI Studios

2. Herschel Gutman Photography

See more work by Herschel Gutman, who also offers 10% discount to Brides Club members.

3. Ben Kelmer Photography

See more work by Ben Kelmer Photography, who also offers 10% discount to Brides Club members.Continue Reading

An Alexandra Grecco Bride for a Super Chic Design-Conscious Jewish Wedding at The Lawrence, Jaffa, Israel

14/04/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

Sometimes we encounter a wedding so jawdroppingly stylish it just blow us away. And that’s exactly what happened when we first set our eyes on the fabulous Jewish wedding of Tel Aviv couple Olivia, is director of partnerships at an AI startup, and Ohad, who runs a global e-commerce company.

Their wedding was full on Israeli chic in the best way possible, with every element – from the artful, unposed photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ben Kelmer (who the couple found right here on STG) to the epic design spearheaded by Yahav Green and beyond.

Olivia’s an American who made aliyah a few years back, and since many of the couple’s guests were visiting Israel for their first time, the pair wanted to pull out all the stops to showcase the magic of their home city of Tel Aviv. And between welcome drinks at a rooftop bar in the heart of Shuk HaCarmel, a food tour of the market, and a rehearsal Shabbat dinner catered by Israeli chef Eyal Shani, we’re pretty sure all attendees came away 100% smitten. Even the couple’s venue, The Lawrence in Jaffa, was picked in part for its uniquely Middle Eastern vibes.

As a design aficionado, it’s no surprise Olivia looked exquisitely chic in her simple, classic gown by Alexandra Grecco… read on to hear of the story from her!

How we Met

Olivia, the bride: We are actually a pandemic love story! Olivia made Aliyah to Israel 4 years ago and during the first Covid wave in spring 2020, she befriended a few other Americans in her Tel Aviv apartment building. One of her neighbours, Josh, invited a few people over one night and even though Olivia was a bit hesitant because everyone was just coming out of lockdown, she stopped out (after all, the apartment was one floor below hers).

Ohad was there but truthfully, Olivia doesn’t remember meeting him (or anyone else). A few weeks later, Josh called Olivia and asked if he could set her up with his “very Israeli friend with a huge heart.” Olivia didn’t even ask for a photo (very unlike her) and she met Ohad a few days later. Olivia was immediately charmed by his warmth, wit, and generosity (and it was their first time being inside a restaurant in months, thanks to COVID). Turns out, Ohad had been nagging Josh for Olivia’s number ever since they met at Josh’s house.

Our relationship was on fast forward thanks to a series of intense lockdowns in Israel that we spent together (and even one camped out at Ohad’s parents house in the south of Israel). Olivia is 35 and Ohad is 38 so we knew we wanted to lock it up fast – and we did! We got engaged 10 months after we met, on the eve of Pesach 2021.Continue Reading

An Eisen Stein Bride for an Equality-Minded Jewish Wedding at Avigdor 22 in Tel Aviv, Israel

20/09/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when a couple puts their values first when planning their Jewish wedding. That’s exactly what today’s gorgeous Israeli couple, Talia and Shawn, did. The pair didn’t feel comfortable marrying through Israel’s rabbanut, in light of the lack of marriage equality in the country, so they worked to craft an alternative that was in keeping with their values yet still incorporated Jewish tradition in a way that was meaningful to them.

Talia and Shawn opted to make things official via a City Hall wedding while on holiday in NYC (so fun!), and then back home in Tel Aviv worked with a secular rabbi to plan their Jewish celebration, which combined tradition – smashing the glass, a gorgeous chuppah that’s been passed down through the groom’s family ever since his grandparents made it for his parents’ wedding – with personal touches, like the vows the couple made to each other and the tailor-made blessings they received from their family and friends in place of the traditional seven blessings. We also love that they wrote their ketubah text themselves!

We’re obsessed with the couple’s incredibly cool, contemporary photography from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ben Kelmer – the way he captures emotion and authentic moments while also somehow producing images that wouldn’t look out of place in a glam glossy magazine is really something.

Now over to the bride, who looked effortlessly elegant in her gown by Eisen Stein and party dress from Nili Lotan…

How we met

Talia, the bride: We have been together for 9 years. I am a dentist and Shawn is a lawyer… We met through a good friend of mine from the army who went out with Shawn’s friend. They didn’t work out as a couple, but we’re still together! We asked both of them to greet us together (as part of the 7 blessings) as a token to their brief relationship that led us to meet and eventually get married.

An Industrial Romantic Jewish Wedding at Teppich Fabrik, Halbinsel Stralau, Berlin, Germany

23/01/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

Super exciting day for us here at Smashing The Glass, as this is the first ever Jewish wedding we’ve blogged from Berlin, Germany, and we absolutely LOVE it! Anna and Assaf easily picked one of the coolest Jewish wedding venues we’ve seen yet: Teppich Fabrik (“Old Carpet Factory”), which, as its name suggests, is an old carpet factory loft building near the city center of Berlin (which automatically gives it some edginess cred right there).

The couple loved it for its industrial yet romantic vibes, and we are totally, totally with them — check out the effortlessly glam shots from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ben Kelmer (in the words of the bride: “Nobody has ever made us look this good!”) to see for yourself.

As a very secular couple, Anna, a lawyer, and Assaf, a carpenter and project manager working in real estate, knew a traditional ceremony wasn’t for them, and we love the way they crafted a laid-back, individual ceremony mixing Jewish customs with the duo’s own personal touch: there was a chuppah (built by the groom and his friends!), blessings by friends, children running around, and, of course, a smashing of the glass!

We also love that these two organized a kids’ corner with babysitters, movies, games, and even a few beds, so that parents could dance all night worry-free (and we really do mean all night — the dance floor didn’t close up until 5 a.m.!).

Now over to Anna, who looked super chic in her dress from local designer Chiton…

How we met

Anna, the bride: We met at a hummus restaurant in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg in 2011 and started dating a few days later.

A Hagit Kassif Dress for the Designer’s Own Purim Street Style Jewish Wedding in Tel Aviv, Israel

05/10/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Okay, Hagit and Tom are officially our new favorites. They merged two wonderful things, Jewish weddings and the super fun holiday of Purim, into — wait for it — a Purim costume wedding taking advantage of Tel Aviv’s epic street party in honor of the holiday. We’ve never seen anything like it before. But we hope we will again, because it’s the actual best.

Bride Hagit a bridal fashion designer, heading up Hagit Kassif Bridal in Tel Aviv, while groom Tom is a wedding photographer, so it’s safe to say these two know Israel’s wedding scene inside and out. Naturally, the bride designed her own super cool boho dress (and the bridesmaids’ — all in fuchsia!).

In keeping with the free-spirited nature of the day, Tom passed on smashing the traditional glass in favor of… a Kinder egg!! Love it.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ben Kelmer took the most stylish (yet ultra-natural) photos — seriously, if you want gorgeous documentary photos that don’t scream “wedding” (and might, perhaps, look at home in, say, the pages of Vogue), he’s your man.

Take it away, Hagit!Continue Reading