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A BHLDN Bride for a Literary Jewish Wedding with DIY Touches at the Bride’s Parents’ Family Home in Falmouth, MA, USA

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We love it when a couple makes their Jewish wedding 100% truly THEM. And that’s exactly what Leah, a project manager, and Alex, a lab tech and soon-to-be nursing student, did in their literary-themed backyard wedding, which celebrated the pair’s love of reading, family, and of course their beloved cats!

Their wonderful wedding planner, Luba Gankin from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Primavera Dreams, helped them pull all these strands together to make one ultra-memorable day. We can’t get enough of all the fun details like centerpieces made of old books and escort card bookmarks made of recycled book pages – plus the super colorful chuppah canopy, made from a piece of traditional Egyptian wedding tent cloth the bride brought back with her after spending three years living in Egypt! Photographer Alex Gordias captured it all so beautifully.

Oh, and did we mention that the bride – who looked lovely in her wedding dress from BHLDN – baked the wedding cake (for 150 guests) herself?!

Now over to the couple…

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How we met

Leah and Alex, the bride and the groom: The bride and groom first met 16 years ago at age 15 when they were competitive Latin ballroom dancers in high school! The groom claims he had a crush on the bride at the time.

Fast forward 14 years, and the groom moved in with one of the bride’s closest friends completely by chance. When the bride came to visit her friend, she was surprised to find Alex there but impressed with the excellent job he’d done growing up. And the rest is history! True to their roots, the bride and groom performed a sensual tango to Leonard Cohen’s ‘Dance Me To The End of Love’.
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An Adam Zohar Bride for a Laid-Back Israeli Jewish Wedding on the Beach at Al Hayam, Caesarea, Israel

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We’re so excited to be sharing the beautiful Israeli beach wedding of our beloved Smashing The Glass STG Brides Club member Genna to Yoni!

These two were faced with the touch task of planning an epic Jewish wedding thousands of miles from their home in NYC in under five months – and did they ever pull it off! To scroll through their gorgeous photos from Idan Hasson, you’d never guess it all came together on such a tight timeline.

And we’re so delighted to hear that Genna attributes her success in large part to the beautiful community that is Brides Club – which she was introduced to by her wonderful wedding planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Vanessa Ohayon, the other key ingredient in bringing this amazing day together seamlessly.

In her own words, on joining Smashing The Glass Brides Club

“I instantly felt a sense of calm that I had a supportive community of women I could bounce questions and ideas off of. I was able to make the quick decisions I needed to by reaching out of the many other brides who were married in Israel.”

Thanks Genna – hearing this makes us sooooo happy!!!

We’re totally in love with the laid-back, totally Israeli beach aesthetic the couple went for – Israeli groom Yoni wanted to make sure the big day kept that Israeli party vibe. There’s a fab chuppah, the most incredible seaside setting, the dreamiest florals… and we’re obsessed with Genna’s bridal style, too. She wore a stunning lace mermaid gown by Adam Zohar (an Israeli designer, natch), and we don’t think she could possibly have looked any more gorgeous.

Over to you, Genna!

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How we met

Genna, the bride: Yoni and I met at a party on December 12, 2012 (12/12/12!) when we were both living in Tel Aviv. We started off as friends, and then dated, at points we were “on and off,” but our relationship grew and morphed into a truly solid, loving friendship and partnership. I moved back to New York in 2016 and he arrived shortly after. He proposed in Central Park in February of this year, after a 6-year relationship full of lots adventure, hard times and plenty of good. 

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A Sarah Seven Bride for a Rooftop Jewish Wedding at Fremont Foundry, Seattle, Washington, USA

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There’s nothing like a rooftop chuppah. The great views, the chill outdoor vibes – they’re just the best. And we’re in love with the setup Rachel, a business integration project manager at Nordstrom, and Elliot, a commercial associate at Bank of America, came up with for their beautiful Seattle Jewish wedding.

Their venue, Fremont Foundry, has the most wonderful rooftop space, and the couple wisely opted for a simple wood chuppah adorned with plenty of greenery and accented by ivory roses – the perfect complement to the view. We can’t get enough of Katie Parra’s gorgeous photos capturing it all.

We also love that rather than going for a traditional guestbook, Rachel and Elliot had a selfie book! They provided a blank book, an InstaMax camera, colorful tape, and markers, and asked that their guests take a selfie, tape it in the book, and write a note to the couple. What a fun idea!

Now over to Rachel, who looked stunning in Sarah Seven…

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How we met

Rachel, the bride: We were introduced in high school by our close mutual friend. Our friendship quickly blossomed into a relationship and, eleven years later, we tied the knot!

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An Emotional More Is More Jewish Wedding at Beth Israel Beth Aaron Synagogue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Talk about an emotional wedding. Lindsey, a third grade English and math teacher at a Jewish school, and Jonathan, a financial risk analyst, got engaged two weeks before the bride was scheduled to start chemotherapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer in her twenties.

After a grueling year and a half of treatment, this couple’s big day was truly something to celebrate. So Lindsey and Jonathan channeled all their joy into their“more is more” wedding, with gold, sequins, and glitter for days, and a fab floral chuppah. Despite initially dreading dress shopping, Lindsey looked totally smashing in her perfect princess gown, and with a little help from some clip-on extensions she was able to rock princess hair to match, even while still growing hers back after chemo.

Photographer Marlon Kuhnreich’s pictures capture all the love and joy in the room so wonderfully – they’re truly unmissable. We’ll let the bride fill you in on the rest…

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How we met

Lindsey, the bride: John and I met almost six years ago and ever since, we’ve continued to grow closer and fall more in love each and every day. He proposed while vacationing in South America, two weeks before I was scheduled to start chemotherapy.

We were on a cruise ship, sitting at dinner and he got up to go to the bathroom. Out of nowhere, the maitre handed me an envelope and inside it read: “I believe that it’s time, dinner is over. Please take your mother and head to Topsider.” I arrived at Topsider, the eleventh-floor poolside bar, where an amaretto sour awaited me with another envelope. At this time a man had been waiting to escort me to John. John stood in a room, wearing a suit and looked so handsome. He was holding a bouquet of roses and the room was decorated with rose petals and a long red carpet. It was a magical night as he promised to love me till the end of time and continue to protect me especially during these upcoming struggles.

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A BHLDN Bride for an Intimate Brunch Wedding at Madera Kitchen Los Angeles, CA, USA

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And now for something totally different… a brunch wedding! In honor of their favorite meal, Lindsey, a registered dietitian, and Justin, a CPA, held their Jewish wedding in the early afternoon, welcoming guests with frozen mimosas and Bloody Marys during a pre-ceremony cocktail hour – where the bride and groom mingled with their guests, followed by the ceremony and then a family-style lunch.

The laid-back couple wanted their day to feel “like we were all just getting together and it happened to be a wedding,” and weren’t afraid to do things a little differently to make it happen. They also kept their planning low key by wisely choosing to delegate things that weren’t so important to them. Lindsey’s mom took charge of invitation design, and the couple left the chuppah design to their florist.

Photographer Kelsey Albright captured all the details of this fun-filled day – for instance, dietitian Lindsey opted to include vegetables in her bouquet, and the couple sourced their gorgeous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com – so wonderfully. Now over to the bride, who looked luminous in her bridal separates from BHLDN…

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How we met

Lindsey, the bride: We met through mutual friends (Evan and Erica). Evan was Justin’s frat brother at UC Davis and Erica was my friend from elementary school. Evan and Erica were dating (and are now married). Evan was starting law school at the time and had a party at his place, so Erica invited me. Justin had approached me and we hit it off back in 2010!

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