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An Epic Super Luxe Romantic and Regal Jewish Wedding With an Eight-Foot Train and a Ten-Tier Cake at Thornton Manor, UK

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Jewish Wedding Thornton Manor UK
Get ready, because you’re about to witness a real Jewish wedding like no other. We’re serious – you will never see another wedding like this one, in all of its grand and romantic glory.

Haley and Boston’s big day included an astoundingly theatrical and beautiful dress, with a regal 8ft tulle-embellished train, and a stunning 16ft veil, topped with a crown fit for a queen. The entire look was evocative of Swan Lake and past royal weddings, with an edge of high-fashion glamor. Ah-mazing! 

Can we also take a moment to appreciate Haley and Boston’s literally larger-than-life ten-tier wedding cake? It was such an imposing centerpiece that the couple had to stand on a ladder to cut it!  

As bride, Haley, had been planning her wedding since she was three years old, it was going to take one incredible planner / stylist to pull off her epic vision of a romantic, stately aesthetic, accented with gothic black (we love the bridesmaids in black!). 

Enter our epically talented Recommended Vendor, Qube Events, whose spectacular work is evident in every image, and every frame of the gorgeous wedding video below, both shot by the awesome Jon Bird.

We just know you’re going to be absolutely adore this wedding as much as we did, so get ready to be blown away. Oh, and watch out for Haley’s very special surprise under the chuppah! All we’ll say is, that’s dedication! Enjoy!

Jewish Wedding Thornton Manor UK

Jewish Wedding Thornton Manor UK

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How we met

Haley, the bride: My husband is a professor and coffee roaster/coffee owner and I was working for a non-profit organization. But I recently went back to school to complete my masters and then hopefully my PhD after.

Jewish Wedding Thornton Manor UK

Jewish Wedding Thornton Manor UK

Jewish Wedding Thornton Manor UK

Jewish Wedding Thornton Manor UK
A traditional, English venue

We got married at Thornton Manor. We loved the Manor because it was traditional and English, but had a intimate feel to it. I was also happily surprised when they allowed us to have a dry bar. They were the only venue that didn’t react when we said we wanted a dry bar.

This was a huge part of our decision, that we weren’t treated any differently because we didn’t want drinking at our wedding.
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An intimate traditional-meets-modern orthodox Jewish wedding with a Monique Lhuillier bride at The Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg, Canada

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Wrap up warm, everybody, today’s real wedding comes to you from the deepest of winter in Winnipeg, Canada, submitted by beautiful bride, Lindsay. 

With limited Jewish community resources, David, a doctor (a Jewish doctor – living the dream) and dance choreographer, Lindsay, were determined to plan their perfect modern orthodox day, and through the powers of persuasion, imagination and determination, that’s exactly what they did.

David and Lindsay proved that it’s not about what denomination of Judaism you follow, nor how observant you are – at the end of the day, our shared community and spirit is what matters.

The theme was clean, elegant and white with an abundance of flowers and candles (I mean, look at that chuppah – and the seven-tier ruffled cake. Divine!). It was a small, intimate day with just 75 guests and a heartwarming focus on the importance of family. The chic big day was captured by photographer and a close friend of the bride, Kristen Sawatzky.

Lindsay looked simply divine in her Monique Lhuillier, with its adorable, quirky bow detail and sheer veil covering her during the chuppah ceremony. 

Over to Lindsay for the rest of the details – take it away, Lindsay! 

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How we met

Lindsay, the bride: How we met was the greatest shidduch, in my opinion. Three separate active Jewish families in the Winnipeg community strived to set up the Jewish doctor from Montreal with a successful professional dance choreographer, Winnipeg born and raised. They all thought we would be the perfect match.

After several phone calls and emails, we finally met on a blind date at Starbucks! That was five and a half years ago. Soul mates we truly are, it was completely beshert. Our lives changed for the better and we can’t imagine our lives without each other.
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A black-tie-meets-rustic Masorti Jewish Wedding at Manor by the Lake, Cheltenham, UK

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Tissues at the ready, folks, because if you don’t well up within the first 30 seconds of Sam and Jonny’s stunning wedding video (just below) then you’re made of stone!

Sam and Jonny met on the job as lawyers, and their meeting of minds blossomed into true love.  Together, they planned every detail of their black-tie-meets-rustic wedding, and ensured every element, from the Masorti ceremony, where the couple circled each other and smashed the glass together, to the bride’s speech, and even this write up, was completely equality driven.

The moving celebration was captured on film by Velvet Wedding Studio, and in beautiful stills by our much-loved STG Recommended Vendor, Blake Ezra – and what a stunning job they both did. 

Sensational bride, Sam, looked every bit the A lister in her show-stopping Louise Marie gown – and she did an astounding job with her own makeup. What a beauty! 

Sam and Jonny did a beautiful job describing their big day in detail, so we’ll pass you over to them now (note how well they talk about each other’s big day experience – a masterclass in marital listening).

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How we met

Sam, the bride, and Jonny, the groom: Jonny and Sam first met briefly at a law firm, on a law summer placement scheme in 2009 (whilst actually competing for a job!). Jonny and Sam then became close friends whilst attending law school in London, but it wasn’t until they worked at the same firm, when they became more than just friends.

Jonny and Sam got engaged in April 2014. Jonny proposed in a photo booth, and the couple plans to return to the same photo booth annually to capture each year of marriage.

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A spectacular Jewish destination wedding with a bride in a Howard Green dress at Villefrenche-sur-Mer, Cote d’Azur, France

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There are destination weddings and then there are destination weddings, and Justine & Barry’s dreamy South of France outdoor W Day definitely falls into the latter category.

The couple, whose international background (Justine grew up in South Africa, while Barry is originally from Zimbabwe and has lived all over the world) meant they had their pick of stunning destinations, chose the idyllic Villefrenche-sur-Mer, Cà´te d’Azur — a private chateau on the mountains above Nice overlooking the coastline.

This discerning couple put so much careful thought into each and every detail. There is so much to talk about — from the beautiful way Justine describes her connection to the religious ceremony and its traditions to both family’s own respective sentimental customs, including a ring that has been passed down through generations of the family and used in over 100 weddings.

The couple kept their series of events exciting by including a series of surprises, including an epic first dance that the couple still sneakily re-lives to this day and drip-feeding their guests details about the astounding destination. They also showered their lucky guests with lovely and thoughtful gifts, favours and special treats including luxuriously tempting macarons, a drinks trolley with fine liquors, pashminas, flip flops and kippot. It makes us wish that we’d been invited!

We could go on forever about the amazing attention to detail and the heart and soul that the couple poured into planning their big day, but we think that Justine does such a wonderful job of describing the events that it’s time to hand over to her. Take it away, Justine.

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Stunning views at Villefrenche-sur-Mer, Cà´te d’Azur

We were married at the Domaine du Montleuze in Villefranche-sur-Mer. It’s a private chateau at the top of mountains above Nice, overlooking the entire coastline.

We got engaged in late March 2016 in the Swiss Alps and wanted to contrast our winter engagement with a summer wedding.

It is worth mentioning at this point that I grew up and lived in South Africa before moving to London five years ago. Barry, originally from Zimbabwe, has lived in multiple countries including South Africa, before moving to London eight years ago.

A summer wedding in South Africa was naturally expected. However, we wanted to be different and have something unique, something wildly romantic and intimate, but also a crazy party. Plus, it had to be easily accessible. Europe it was.

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A creative, colourful Jewish wedding with a show-stopping floral Sassi Holford gown at Chippenham Park, Cambridgeshire, UK

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Happy New Year from all of us here at STG! We hope you enjoyed a gorgeous family-packed holiday season and congratulations to all our newly-engaged readers . Welcome to STG and the very special community we have created (you might also want to follow us on Instagram and Facebook and join the private Facebook group for STG Brides too!).

So onto today’s gorgeous real wedding… Hands up who loves colour! And creativity! And phenomenally floral wedding dresses! OK, I briefly have to put my hand down so I can write up this gorgeous real wedding for you, but it remains enthusiastically raised in spirit.

Adam and Amy met in shared halls at university and Amy’s mum immediately clocked him as a perfect match for her daughter, definitively proving the theory that mum knows best.

The pair got married at Chippenham Park, Cambridgeshire, with all the action and their contemporary monochrome and floral colour-pop theme captured beautifully by photographer Adam Cluer from SE3 Productions.

At Smashing the Glass, we see a lot of wedding dresses, all beautiful and unique in our own ways, and yet we say this with emphasis: Look. At. That. DRESS!

Bride Amy wore a stunning floral creation by beloved Smashing the Glass sponsor, Sassi Holford that she purchased at the somewhat legendary bridal boutique, Miss Bush. 

This detail-heavy day is bound to make you swoon. From the groom’s velvet blazer to the bridesmaids in matching monochrome, the collaborative homemade cake effort to the touching and special chuppah design (seriously, maybe grab a tissue before reading that bit), you won’t be able to stop staring.

Over to Amy to tell us all about her Jewish wedding day.

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How we met

Amy, the bride: I met Adam on our first day of University, 12 years ago. In fact, I met Adam’s mum and sister first while unpacking my food into the communal fridge.

As soon as my mum met Adam she knew we’d get together; she just had a feeling about him, so when I told her we were going out a few months later, she asked what had taken us so long!

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