Britten Weddings Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Pronovias Bride for a London-Meets-Israel Jewish Wedding at Offley Place, Hitchin, UK

09/12/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

What do you do when you’re dreaming of a destination wedding in Israel but family obligations keep you closer to home? Well, you could do worse than to follow the example of STG Brides Club member Nicola, a senior business analyst for a technical consultancy, and Dave, the CTO and co-founder of a digital design and marketing consultancy, who made it their goal to bring a little bit of Israel to their Jewish wedding right here in the UK.

How’d they do it? For starters, they worked with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband to put together two party simcha sets with a mixture of Mizrahi and Israeli music that kept everyone on the dance floor in true Israeli style – Nicola also can’t stop raving about how helpful the XS team were in creating the couple’s day of plan and processional order, plus providing day of coordination.

And in good Israeli wedding style, Nicola and Dave had the “reliable and fantastic” (in the bride’s words) Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Magniv mobile photo magnet team taking photos of everyone throughout the festivities so that people could have a keepsake to take home.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Crawleys photographed the whole day so beautifully in their trademark artsy documentary style, and we’re so touched to hear Nicola say that the ultra-supportive community of STG Brides Club was “literally the only thing that kept me sane” during wedding planning

Now over the bride, who looked simply smashing in Pronovias…

How we met

Nicola, the bride: We met in the good old fashioned way… on a dating app – Jcrush to be precise (seems this is the only way to meet your soulmate these days).

There was an instant connection when we met but both of us were not long out of relationships and not ready for anything serious so we maintained a strong friendship. Even as friends, we would go out for regular dinners and lunches together, him insisting on paying for every single one being the kind and generous soul that he is.

It wasn’t until a mutual friends party, and the help of a bit of dutch courage (tequila), that we both realised what was right in front of us and shared a kiss. The first of many more to come.

A Romantic English Country Garden Jew-ish Wedding at Northbrook Park, Surrey, UK

15/01/2018 by Karen

Today’s real Jew-ish real wedding is a very special one and we’re ridiculously excited about it, as lovely Caroline and Robbie were one of editor Karen’s fabulous consultancy couples and to see their wedding come to life has been a total and utter joy! One of our favorite things about Smashing The Glass is the way we so often feel involved, directly or indirectly, in our couples’ big days, and this is particularly true today!

In fact, Caroline and Robbie were so delightful to work with, that they are one of 12 very special guests at our ‘Your Jewish Wedding Your Way’ Smashing Summit on the 31st January 2018 which we are SO excited for! Mindy Weiss, Monique Lhuillier, Ron Ben-Israel, Galia Lahav‘s Chief Designer, Duke Photography, Bruce Russell, Blake Ezra, Food Story, and a whole host of wedding industry superstars will talk live, covering everything (and we mean EVERYTHING!) you need to know to plan your Jewish (or Jew-ish) wedding your way. It’s going to be unmissable so make sure you reserve your (totally free!) front seat today here.

So onto today’s truly fabulous totally dreamy and romantic English country garden Jew-ish wedding! Caroline and Robbie, with so many international connections, could have tied the knot in many places, but chose picturesque Northbrook Park in Surrey, an area with family connections for the happy couple.

Beautiful bride Caroline absolutely rocked her bold, unique and jaw-droppingly gorgeous Liz Martinez gown, with its stunning plunge neckline and layers of fairytale tulle.

There were no fewer than three of our much-loved recommended vendors involved in Caroline and Robbie’s wedding. The Function Band, who created magical moments with their music and kept the party going into the early hours, Philippa Louise whose epic makeup skills brought out Caroline’s best features and Rabbi Paul Glantz, who worked with the couple to create the perfect traditional Jew-ish ceremony.

All of the delightful decor details and happy moments were captured by fabulous photographer Philippa James.

It’s finally beautiful Caroline’s turn in the spotlight on the Smashing The Glass pages – please give her a very warm welcome!

How we met

Caroline, the bride: Robbie and I met five years ago in Sydney, Australia. I was a backpacker on a year’s work and holiday visa, while Robbie was working there as a junior doctor for the year. We met completely by chance in a nightclub in Sydney’s famous Surrey Hills neighbourhood, and the rest is history!

We spent our first three years together traveling the world, including a few months’ journey on the Trans-Siberian Express through China, Mongolia and Russia, and living in Australia and South Africa. Two years ago, we relocated back to Robbie’s hometown of London and have been here ever since.
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An Enchanted Woodland-Themed Destination Jewish wedding at Baya’ar, Israel

09/01/2017 by Karen

destination-wedding-israel
What do the words “fairytale wedding” evoke for you? For some, they conjure images of opulent castles, extravagant gowns and dreams come true. Colette and Rob’s fairytale took a wonderful twist away from the clichà©, through enchanted forests in a truly magical woodland-inspired celebration (check out the themed chuppah — it’s just sublime).

The backdrop for the big day was Baya’ar, a breathtaking Israeli nature reserve. We’re thrilled to say that STG had the immense honour of playing a big role in the venue selection, as the happy couple had come across it before right here on the blog.

Aside from the absolutely stunning aesthetic (including a breathtaking wedding dress by a hot new Israeli designer, and the cutest flower girls), captured by photographer Ronen Boidek, the wedding was also full of heart. Colette had been through a tumultuous time, surviving cancer before meeting the love of her life, and so seeing her walk down the aisle was an incredibly emotional moment for her whole family.

We’ll hand over to Colette to tell us more — it goes without saying that everyone at Smashing the Glass wishes the happy couple a long and wonderful married life together.