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A BHLDN Bride for a Vintage-Style Cultural Fusion Peranakan Singaporean and Jewish Wedding at Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool and Lincoln Park Conservatory Illinois, Chicago, USA

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Ahhh guys we don’t care how fan-girly we sound, today’s Jewish real wedding is just the COOLEST! Andrew and Lauren’s big day fused their Jewish and Peranakan Singaporean backgrounds in just the most inventive and beautiful ways. 

A tea ceremony during the chuppah? Perfect. Pineapple tart rugelach? Yes please. Chocolate Shekel favors in Chinese double happiness red packets? Inspired. We also adore the themed Singapore Sling and Tel Aviv Sunset cocktails – just perfection. Everything, from the music to the menu, was chosen with both cultures in mind, finding amazing ways to bring them together. This wedding looked like a marriage. 

Given the stunning aesthetic of the wedding, it will come as no surprise that bride Lauren, is a stationery designer, and put her skills to good use, designing the most stunning stationery suite that managed to honor both cultures and still fit in perfectly with the vintage-inspired vibe. 

Lauren looked like an Old Hollywood A-lister in her beautiful lace BHLDN gown, and even more breathtaking under the rustic and charming chuppah using her grandparents’ lace. 

The venues, Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool and Lincoln Park Conservatory, are two of the couple’s favorite spots – little oases of calm in their Illinois neighborhood. 

The story of the day was beautifully captured by photographer Jaclyn Simpson and the happy couple provided the funny and charming write up below together. We could genuinely go on and on all day, so we’ll stop now and let Lauren and Andrew fill you in on the rest. Please give it up for the bride and groom!

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A hidden garden in the neighborhood 

Andrew, the groom: Lauren and I got married in our neighborhood, a two-minute walk from where we lived. We had a small family ceremony at the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, which is a hidden garden filled with native plants of Illinois. Afterwards, we had a slightly larger reception (just around 50 people) next door at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Since moving to Chicago we’ve visited these two sites regularly as a way to escape the city and the occasional sub-zero winter. I also worked for the Chicago Park District and knew many of the staff at the conservatory.

The AG & LM penny pattern in the pond was a complete surprise for us from the staff at the Chicago Park District! Many of the gardeners, naturally, are also talented visual artists and my co-worker Gustave spent a good deal of time putting this together without us even knowing. It was definitely a highlight of the reception!

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A Bright and Bold Quirky Jewish Wedding at Woodberry Wetlands, London, UK

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Here at STG HQ, we’ve just about come down from the high of our Smashing Summit and launching the VIB club – so normal service resumes once more in the form of this amazing, colorful and uplifting Jewish real wedding. 

Ruth and Dan are both journalists, and they applied their creative skills to their wedding with aplomb! The day was an absolute visual feast, from the eco-friendly and foliage-heavy floristry, to the magically lit marquee and the bright, color-pop giant balloons. Just gorgeous! 

Bride Ruth showed off her unique and stunning sense of style with her two-piece BHLDN ensemble, and looked a vision in it, pairing it with some killer heels from ASOS, before changing into her sensible-but-gorgeous Kurt Geiger bridal flats.

Even their chuppah has an adorable origin story, with the couple constructing it together with their best friends, who tied the knot the week before Ruth and Dan’s wedding. 

Both bride and groom made a speech (hooray) and the couple had a moving Reform Jewish ceremony, involving the whole family, and honoring Ruth’s late grandfathers by using their tallit to cover the chuppah.

Jordanna Marston absolutely smashed the photography, with her expert eye for character and emotional moments, while the tear-jerking wedding trailer was provided by Olive Grove Films.

We’ll leave you now with Ruth’s incredibly eloquent write up – we know you’ll all enjoy reading it and gazing at all the wedding pretty as much as we did!

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How we met

Ruth, the bride: We met at a Halloween party in 2009 (our costumes are too embarrassing to share… let’s just say it’s a miracle we got talking). The two friends who brought each of us to that party were at our wedding, pleased as punch.
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A Blush and Rose Gold Color Scheme for a Romantic Jew-ish Wedding at The Ballroom at Ellis Preserve, Philadelphia, USA

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Today’s real wedding is a very special one – and not just because it’s an absolute beauty (which it TOTALLY is) but because dear Gillian is one of our much-loved real blogging brides of 2017! It’s such an honor and a privilege to finally be able to share her and Pete’s Jew-ish wedding day. 

We love a Jew-ish wedding where both cultures and backgrounds are represented, and Gillian and Pete’s mixed-faith ceremony saw their priest and rabbi working together to create something that truly represented them – too beautiful! 

Beautiful bride Gillian looked a million bucks in her Tara Keely gown, which she paired with meaningful and custom-made accessories, with a little help from her dad, who is a tailor, and also made Pete’s midnight suit.

A color scheme of blush shades and rose gold is, of course, the ideal excuse to rock that mismatched bridesmaids look, and the overall effect was absolutely stunning. 

The couple had so many unique and borrow-able ideas, such as cute-as-a-button custom acrylic signs and the most adorable postcard guest book idea. Guests wrote their good wishes for the couple on postcards, which are still being posted on to them by family to this day. What an excellent way to make your big day last!

The story of the day was captured by the brilliant Blaise Szallasi, whose spread of images you can see below, and the totally stunning cinematic videography is by Wise Films.

We’ll leave you in Gillian’s capable hands for her brilliant writeup. We’ve loved having Gillian’s upbeat voice on the blog, so please give her a standing ovation. Take it away, Gillian!

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How we met

Gillian, the bride: We met in graduate school getting our masters in OT.
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A BHLDN and Mordechai Avraham Bride for a Magical Forest Egalitarian Jewish Wedding at Tzel Hadumim, Neot Kdumim, Israel

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We are totally in love with Esther and Yoni’s magical forest wedding venue, Neot Kdumim, which we’ve featured before on STG. Saying “I do” under the stars just sounds too dreamy and romantic — we can’t even!

Beautiful bride, Esther, couldn’t decide between a beautiful BHLDN number and a vintage lace boho gown by Mordechai Avraham – so she chose both! We are very much on board with this decision, and it perfectly tied together their laid-back-meets-formal vibe. 

Esther accented the bohemian vibe with natural-look makeup and fresh flowers in her hair, making her the walking centerpiece of the whimsical forest wonderland. Guests were also adorned with flower crowns, which doubled up as favors, making everyone who attended a living part of the dà©cor. Divine!

Surrounded by natural beauty, Esther and Yoni kept things simple, with sweet floral accents adorning the chuppah and a much bigger focus on their egalitarian, highly personalized Jewish ceremony. We love these priorities, and it’s no secret that we’re always huge fans of consciously gender-equal weddings. 

Phenomenal photographer, and much-loved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, Ben Kelmer, captured the story of the day, and was met with absolutely glowing praise by the happy couple and their families. Looking over the stunning spread of images below, it’s easy to see why.

The vibe was also beautifully captured in the spine-tingling wedding video below, provided by Studio Polly.

It’s Esther’s turn to take over the blog to tell us all about her and Yoni’s unbelievably beautiful big day. Take it away, Esther! 

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Getting married under the stars

Esther, the bride: We got married in Tzel Hadumim; the wedding venue in Neot Kdumim. We wanted a place that was relaxed and fun, but also worked with the more formal direction our families were into, and this place perfectly combined the best of both worlds.

I also really wanted to get married outside and not in a hall. Tzel Hadumim has all the amenities of a hall, but it’s in the middle of a forest, under the stars. We also live in Jerusalem and it was only 40 minutes away, so it was pretty convenient.
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Real Jewish Brides – Gillian: My Wedding Registry Experience

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Gillian will be marrying Pete on 8th September 2017 in a Jew-ish wedding at the Ballroom at Ellis Preserve in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

THREE FACTS: (1) Gillian is Jewish and Pete is Catholic (2) A Rabbi and a Priest will officiate at their wedding (3) Gillian is a Health & Wellness Coach and Pete is a Travel Occupational Therapist.

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To Do List: Wedding Registry

During the wedding planning process there are one million things on your to-do list (literally). This is especially true if you are a DIY bride or someone who wants to throw a big party. One item on the list I thought would be so much fun to tackle was registering for our wedding. How fun would it be to pick out items that we would have, hopefully for a long time and possibly even the rest of our lives?

Well, I was mistaken. Somehow something that I love so much (SHOPPING!) became stressful and something of a chore. I couldn’t figure it out, and it threw Pete for a loop when we went into Crate and Barrel and I pretty much had a mini meltdown. Picture brisk walking through the store, minimal eye contact, saying “I don’t care, you pick something you like, I don’t care about any of this, let’s leave.” Like woah, I was becoming a weird version of Bridezilla right before his eyes.

Luckily Pete handled it calmly, but it wasn’t the experience I had heard all about. I always pictured using the cool scanner gun and picking out items that we both loved. And, honestly, I thought it was going to be super easy.

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Image from Prezola (a gift list registry that we absolutely ADORE here at Smashing The Glass!)

Reflecting on it all, it seems so silly that anyone would get overwhelmed by picking out gifts for other people to buy them (seriously??) But that was a huge part of it. I didn’t mind that people were buying me presents, but I wanted them to get the best deal. I didn’t want them to buy overpriced items I knew I could find cheaper or on sale at our favorite stores like Marshalls and HomeGoods (I checked, you can’t register there.)

The other part I struggled with was “picking the right items” with endless options. So we needed cookware, but what set was best? Silverware; which ones will we actually like eating with? What dishes will go with a kitchen we don’t even have yet for years to come? It all seemed like so much to think about and so many opportunities to make the wrong decision. (Crazy talk I know, but this is what was going through my head, and I’m sure I’m not the only one to think about these things.)

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