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A rustic, horse farm Jewish wedding with an Enzoani bride at The Stables at Fox Crossing, Cochranville, Pennsylvania, USA

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Happy Friday, everybody! To celebrate, we’re treating you to the ultimate authentic rustic American wedding.

In typical ‘Smashing The Glass’ style, Sara and Justin didn’t want a cookie-cutter wedding and chose a blank canvas venue (a working horse farm) and filled it with stunning chandeliers, decadent dà©cor and so much love. The juxtaposition of a colourful, yet vintage-looking chuppah against the rustic dark wood of the barn is truly a sight to behold. 

Their Jewish wedding was captured in all its glory by photographer Gary Nevitt, including the bride’s epic cowboy (girl) boots – we have serious boot envy over here – and the stunning floral and mossy details, put together by Tonia of Aribella Events.

It also always strikes us how many Jewish weddings are filled with precious family heirlooms passed down through the generations. Sara and Justin’s wedding was no exception, with beautiful relics that even survived the Holocaust. This solemn tribute to our collective history can seem odd to some, but it says so much about the Jewish soul – the ability to commemorate our difficult past in a way that somehow makes the celebration feel all the more necessary in the present. 

Over to Sara for the full story on her and Justin’s special day. 

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How we met

Sara, the bride: Justin and I met through a mutual friend, Jill. We were the only two Jewish friends she had, so she figured we would be a good fit! I was in graduate school at Syracuse University for broadcast journalism and Justin was a sports reporter an hour away at a small station. Jill was my classmate and interned at Justin’s TV station on the weekends.

Justin and I hit it off immediately and the rest is history! We were long distance for a while, and would meet halfway in Scranton, Pennsylvania on the weekends. We would stay at a local Hampton Inn and go see the Tommy Guns Band play music. Hampton Hotels corporate got wind of our story and featured us in a promotional video, in which we also got engaged! Tommy Guns Band wrote us our wedding song and played it at our engagement.

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A rustic farm venue

We were married at a working horse farm in Cochranville, Pennsylvania called The Stables at Fox Crossing. Justin, my husband, and I dreamed of having a horse farm wedding, but every rustic wedding venue we visited seemed extremely commercial and like a “wedding factory.”

We wanted a space that was truly unique. We wanted guests to feel as if they were attending a wedding at someone’s personal residence, not at a commercial banquet facility. Our wedding planner, Tonia of Aribella Events, found this farm for us, and the owners generously allowed us to use it as our venue. 

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A Tuscany-meets-Israel floral Jewish wedding with a Vera Wang bride at Baya’ar, Israel

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Friday is finally here – and we’re celebrating the imminent arrival of the weekend in style, with a proper feast for the eyes: Italian couple, Tania and Micael’s, enchantingly floral Tuscany-meets-Israel real wedding. 

There’s so much to love about this impeccably designed, dreamy celebration that we’re not sure where to start. First of all, a big round of applause is owed to groom, Micael, for his romantic surprise Paris proposal. We’re even clapping loudly enough to drown out the collective huffy sighs of all the partners for whom the bar has just been spectacularly raised. Well done, Micael! 

We’ve featured the absolutely enchanting Israeli venue, Baya’ar, many times on the blog now and with good reason. Every single one has been simply magical, and Tania and Micael’s day was no exception. Every detail, from the breathtaking floral arrangements (including the Chuppah to end all Chuppahs) was simply perfect and captured beautifully by photographer Ilan Mor.

Gorgeous Tania was a picture of fashion-forward bridal style in her show-stopping Vera Wang gown and to-die-for Yves Saint Laurent heels. 

The couple did so much to ensure their guests had the time of their lives, including booking our amazing Smashing Supplier, Legend Band, from Caliente, and setting up a flower station, where guests were treated to custom-made flower bracelets and flower crowns! What a brilliant idea!

Don’t forget to watch the incredible work of art created by videographer, Camellia at the foot of the post. We particularly enjoyed the unforgettable shot of Micael smashing the glass – well worth sitting down for a proper watch! 

Over to Tania now for the full story on her and Micael’s beautiful nighttime wedding. 

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How we met

Tania, the bride: I am a fashion buyer and my husband, Micael, is an accountant. We met five years ago and we immediately connected. But after two years, we decided to go our separate ways, until May 2015 when we decided we couldn’t be apart. We started dating again and this time was different. On December 24th at five in the morning, I received a call from Micael telling me that I had to wake up and be ready in 10 minutes.

He covered my eyes and took me to the airport! I didn’t know where we were going until we landed in Paris, where he took to the front of the Eiffel Tower and proposed in the classic way… the rest is history.

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A spiritual Jewish wedding with an epic boat journey at Natural Bridge State Park in Slade, Kentucky, USA

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Madeline and Alex met through their shared Jewish faith and, after a long friendship, their romance began followed by a beautifully planned literary proposal.

As a wedding planner, bride Madeline had a real head start and the couple had no problems planning their perfect day. From the breathtaking location with its stunning autumnal colours to the grand entrance made by groom Alex on the couple’s boat, affectionately dubbed the ‘Oar Vey’.

Their ‘book of love’ theme was captured by photographer Ben Keeling and incorporated a plethora of literary and library-related details, to celebrate the couple’s shared love of reading and, of course, their unique proposal.

We adore the idea of having themed ID badges to help the wedding party stand out so that people knew where to direct their questions — that’s definitely an idea to steal, especially for festival-themed celebrations!

We’re also totally in love with incredible Smashing Supplier, Ink With Intent’s beautifully crafted Ketubah and the couple’s ‘Tree of Life’ Chuppah, onto which they sewed personal materials, packed with meaning and memories.

Madeline and Alex wrote a beautifully eloquent account of their wedding planning journey, so we’ll hand over to them to tell you all about it! Enjoy!

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How we met

Madeline and Alex, the bride and groom: Alex sat on the interview panel when Madeline applied as choir director at our synagogue. He rolled his eyes and asked snide questions, showed up late for the first rehearsal, and convinced Madeline that he hated her. However, we quickly formed an unconditional friendship. Four years later, in an ironic twist, the friendship went on hiatus when Alex thought Madeline hated him. Convinced Alex was angry with her, Madeline avoided temple for the next two years.

Alex finally called on 25 September, 2015 to let Madeline know a mutual friend had suddenly passed away. He didn’t expect her to answer, and she nearly didn’t. During the brief conversation, she felt prompted to ask him to meet. He told her to call back in an hour, after Erev Shabbat services. She drove to temple and stood in the sukkah as a cold rain began to fall. Alex stood next to her with his arms crossed as she apologised for ending their friendship. He brushed the apology aside, then gave the greatest impromptu, heartfelt speech a man has ever made.

“I had to stop looking for you. I wanted you to be there. I wanted you to be there so bad, and you weren’t. So I had to put it away. I had to put all that in a box, and put it up on the shelf, and close the door. Because I couldn’t keep looking for you anymore.”

After a few minutes of uncertain conversation, we parted. Alex’s final words were, “Call me every five minutes.” Four months later, on a trip to meet her mother in Washington, DC, Alex visited the Library of Congress with Madeline. Having made almost a full circle of the mezzanine, he stopped her in her tracks.

“This is the place for questions, right?” he asked.

“No,” she replied, “This is a library. It’s a place for answers.”Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Jewish rustic barn wedding with a Fairy Gothmother Dress and fresh wildflowers at Colville Hall, Essex, UK

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Happy Friday everyone! To celebrate the imminent arrival of the weekend, sit back and enjoy this real wedding, which had such a fantastic party atmosphere that it spilled over into a second party the day after the big day.

Cool and quirky bride, Hannah, looked like a stunning artistic vision with wildflowers in her hair, in her tea-length Fairy Gothmother dress and wow-factor sparkly green Irregular Choice heels. 

We love all of the unique ideas that express the couple’s life together, with their many in jokes, including stick-figure illustrated invitations and some special, limited edition, Hannah and Peter Sauce. 

A personalised chuppah is always a winner and, in this case, the couple asked their loved ones to contribute a square each to a homemade patchwork chuppah, with their friends and family’s heartfelt wishes watching over them during the ceremony.

The whole story of the day and all of its detail and emotion was expertly captured by photographer Marianne Chau. We’ll hand over to Hannah now for the full report on her and Peter’s rustic barn wedding. Take it away, Hannah! 

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How we met

Hannah, the bride: We met on Jdate, much to our surprise and shock!

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A venue with character at an old converted Tudor barn in Essex

We got married at Colville Hall which is an old converted Tudor barn near Hatfield Heath in Essex, UK. There were two barns on the site and we used one for the ceremony and dancing and the other one for dinner. We chose the venue partly because we needed somewhere big enough to fit all of our guests (!) but mainly because we wanted somewhere with character and outdoor space as we were having a summer wedding.

We added a lot of personal touches throughout right from our hand drawn invites to the ceremony to the drinks at the bar which we think gave our wedding a unique ‘Hannah and Peter’ laid-back feel.

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An uber creative Jewish wedding, with a Needle & Thread bride, at Pearson Air Museum, Vancouver, Washington, USA

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We absolutely love creative Jewish weddings on Smashing The Glass, and creativity OOZES from these two incredible souls.

This astounding power couple met while working at an ad agency. Between them, they have a desktop calendar sold around the world, a New York Times bestselling book and a portable talk show to their names, so it goes without saying that Brooke and Boaz’s big day was always going to be breathtaking. They absolutely did not disappoint. The pair brought all of their skills and inventiveness to their big day, peppering it with adorable, handmade details. 

The dà©cor scheme was abundant with illustrated animals, drawn by talented Brooke, including little raccoon pins as favours — we want one! And we’re obsessed with their choice of quirky venue, Pearson Air Museum, just across the border from the couple’s native Portland, Oregon.

“You’re never alone in a dress full of flies,” said beautiful bride, Brooke, of her stunning Needle & Thread dress, purchased at BHLDN. It turned out that even the flies can’t resist swarming to a dress that beautiful — and Brooke’s fantastic sense of humour turned a potential problem into a standout wedding moment.

Groom Boaz also looked every bit the part of the leading man in his fantastic green suit. We adore his wedding style.

Everything was captured with aplomb by phenomenal photographers Stark Photography, and before we hand over to Brooke and Boaz to tell us all about their big day, can we just take a moment to appreciate Brooke’s adorable kitty shoes? We can’t take our eyes off of them!

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How we met

Brooke, the bride: We’re both advertising copywriters and we met at an ad agency in Portland. When we’re not at work we make the “It’s Different Every Day” calendar, a daily desk calendar with a new theme every day. We’ve been making a new edition together every year since 2015 and this is the first year it’s published by Workman Press and in stores around the world.

I also illustrate and run an Instagram account called @sadanimalfacts, where I illustrate sad facts about adorable animals, it’s pretty much just what it sounds like. Sad Animal Facts is now a New York Times bestselling book that is available in three languages.

Boaz is also the host of the Pedal Powered Talk Show, a portable talk show built into a cargo bike, that travels and interviews around Portland, the Pacific Northwest, and the rest of the world.

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