California Jewish Wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

A WTOO by Watters Bride for a Star Wars-Themed Jewish Wedding at Sterling Hills Golf Club in Camarillo, California, USA

04/04/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when couples add fun personal touches to their Jewish weddings – so naturally we got curious when we heard that Adina and Adam incorporated their shared love of Star Wars into their big day. While keeping the overall vibe classically elegant, the pair worked in fun, small touches: themed signature cocktails; Adam’s cufflinks and tie clip were shaped like the Millennium Falcon; the DJ even played some Star Wars music during cocktail hour!

And the couple’s gorgeous ketubah by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush is so out-of-this-world beautiful, it looks like it came from a galaxy far, far away. Adina and Adam chose artist Rachelle’s Midnight Lagoon design, and they love having a ketubah that’s also a beautiful piece of artwork.

Even Adina’s wedding dress shopping experience kept the sci fi magic going: she found her uber-elegant WTOO by Watters at Lorien Bridal Boutique, a boutique catering to nerdy brides who want to live out their Disney princess/Harry Potter/Star Wars dreams – how fun is that?

You can tell from Jenina Simplicio Photography’s beautiful, natural photos that this day was truly filled with joy at every moment – we’ll turn you over to Adina for all the details…

How we Met

Adina, the bride: While the story of how we met isn’t that unusual for the 21^st century, the fact that we didn’t meet until 2017 is! Both of us attended the same Jewish elementary school in Los Angeles, just two grades apart. Adam carpooled with my best friend Melissa to school for 6 years! Then in college, I met Adam’s sister Romy at a mutual friend’s birthday party and stayed friendly for years. When we came across each other’s profiles on J-Swipe on New Year’s Eve 2016 and saw we had mutual friends, I reached out to Melissa and Adam reached out to Romy to see if we should go on a date. 11 days later, we met up at a local bar and the rest is history!Continue Reading

A BHLDN Bride for a Desert Jewish Wedding at La Quinta Resort, California, USA

21/02/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

Here at Team STG, we love a good desert Jewish wedding… and even better when it’s a full-on wedding weekend full of sun, palm trees, and mountain views for days. So naturally we’re pretty obsessed with our Brides Club member Darah Wagner Boaz’s wedding to groom Jonathan (aka Yoni).

Darah, a television producer and certified coach, and Yoni, director of alliance partnerships for Shure Inc, opted to make things official right where they spent their very first weekend away as a couple – lucky they picked somewhere as gorgeous as La Quinta, right?!

The pair planned a wedding weekend so their guests could retreat into vacation mode and take in the surroundings, just like Darah and Yoni had on that first magical weekend. And honestly, who wouldn’t be thrilled to spend a couple of days in such stunning environs, captured perfectly by our photographer Michael Segal?

You can tell we’re pretty taken with the scenery, but that’s far from the only noteworthy aspect of this wedding! The day was full of special personal touches – for instance, the couple wrote a personal thank you note to every guest that they could pick up along with their escort card! – and we also love the Israeli-style aisle badeken, where Yoni came to meet Darah halfway down the aisle.

Oh, and did we mention how absolutely ravishing Darah looked in her gown from BHLDN?!

A Desert Getaway

Darah, the bride: We absolutely love the desert and La Quinta was our first weekend away together when we first started dating in the summer of 2019. We stayed overnight at La Quinta Resort and over brunch the next morning we looked at each other and both said “ I could get married here” and we weren’t even engaged yet! So when we got engaged, we both knew where exactly we were meant to have our special day.

We invited all of our guests to stay with us at La Quinta Resort and Spa and had our Welcome Party at the La Quinta Brewery Taproom and our wedding at La Quinta Country Club, just across the street. We kept it very La Quinta local! We wanted a weekend event where our guests felt like they were on vacation and could enjoy themselves and get to know each other poolside, playing golf, tennis all while sipping a Margarita.

We loved the La Quinta Country Club for our wedding day and what won us over was their mountain view and the gorgeous pavilion. Getting married under the mountains of the desert at sunset was our vision. Not to mention their incredible hospitality, the delicious food and the gorgeous space. Our guests enjoyed our ceremony at sunset, cocktail hour under the stars continuing by dancing the night away with us. Continue Reading

A Reem Acra Bride for a Sophisticated Garden Interfaith Jewish Wedding at Annadel Estate Winery, California, USA

11/02/2022 by Karen Cinnamon

Okay, HOW amazing is today’s chuppah?! Is it dreamy, or is it dreamy? For that matter, today’s entire floral scheme is pretty much #goals. Bay Area couple Alexandra, a manager of product operations, and Alec, a data scientist and product manager, have got seriously impeccable taste when it comes to flowers.

The pair’s whole vision for their day was “sophisticated dreamy garden,” and did they ever execute it to perfection! Even Alexandra’s stunning Reem Acra gown featured 3D floral embroidery. The incredible photos of the day from The De Jaureguis are truly unmissable – and how cool is it that Alexandra and Alec repurposed their chuppah after the ceremony by moving it to the dessert lounge and adding seating underneath?

As a counterpoint to all this floral splendor, we love that the duo chose an elegantly simple ketubah from the amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Ketubah – with artist Stephanie’s exquisite hand calligraphy, you don’t need much else.

There’s so much more we could say about this incredible wedding, but we’ll leave it to Alexandra to fill you in on the rest…

How we Met

Alexandra, the bride: We met on the dating app Hinge in 2017 in San Francisco. Our initial messages were standard, then I was struck at how communicative we continued to be even before meeting for our first date. We went to dinner and continued the night at a cocktail bar across the street, all the while talking and discovering more about one another. Most importantly, we realized we wanted to spend more and more time together, to share our families and celebrations, and to build a future together.Continue Reading

A Stella York Bride for a Dog-Friendly Jewish Wedding at Five Crowns, Corona Del Mar, California, USA

26/07/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

Rachel, a program manager, and Aaron, a software engineer, had a very special guest of honor at their Jewish wedding: their dog, Ryder!

Not only did this much-loved Mini Goldendoodle serve as the couple’s ring bearer, he sat in Aaron’s lap during speeches and joined the pair for their first dance. Rachel and Aaron even added special touches celebrating their best canine pal, like cocktail napkins featuring his likeness, dog-shaped cookies, and their signature cocktail, the Ryder Old Fashioned! We love how Rachel and Aaron figured out what was important to them early on in their wedding planning and made it happen.

Another thing we love? The duo’s sweet forget-me-not ketubah print with gold foiling detail by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush. It’s such a lovely piece of artwork, and the perfect fit for the SoCal-meets-England vibe these two had going on.

We’re also obsessed with the way Rachel and Aaron used the venue’s pergola as a base for their dreamy floral chuppah – which was transformed into the most swoonworthy sweetheart table for the reception!

Now over to Rachel, who looked radiant in Stella York…

How We Met

Rachel, the bride: Aaron and I met while studying at Chapman University in 2014. I transferred in as a sophomore and met him when he was tabling for Hillel during the student club fair. I was instantly drawn to Aaron and when we started talking, we realized we both grew up in LA and had many mutual friends. We began officially dating in October 2014 and have been inseparable ever since.Continue Reading

Two Gorgeous Brides for a Same-Sex Backyard DIY Jewish Micro Wedding in Cambria, California, USA

26/02/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

We are absolutely obsessed with the joyous, intimate, family-focused micro Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Sidnie, a diagnostic medical sonographer, and Monique, a cafe manager. Due to COVID, these two shifted their plans from a 115-guest wedding at a winery to a micro affair in Mo’s parents’ backyard.

While this obviously wasn’t their first choice, we love how the pair embraced the opportunities their minimony opened up for them – from being able to include all their friends and family from all over the world via livestream to special touches like a rehearsal dinner flower arrangement party, where everyone teamed up to assemble bouquets, corsages, and boutonnières for everyone at the wedding!

We love how Sidnie and Mo involved their family in everything from building their chuppah to cooking the reception meal to setting up and taking down all the décor – even their photographer, Adrian Throckmorton, is a cousin, and of course we’re SO incredibly touched by Sidnie’s beautiful words about her experience as a member of our Brides Club:

As a newly converted Jewish woman, it was incredibly powerful to feel such a sense of community with Jewish brides all over the world. From advice on a wedding dilemma to celebrating WPWs, these women made me feel like I had hundreds of the most dedicated bridesmaids supporting me! There were times I didn’t want to pester the people in my life with what was happening with the wedding and in those moments, Brides Club was there for me.

And we’re all over the couple’s stellar bridal fashion sense – Sidnie’s Essense of Australia gown, featuring elegant off the shoulder straps, buttons all the way down the back, and pockets, and Mo’s custom suit she created with LGBTQ+ and size inclusive company Sharpe Suiting, where, with the help of her consultant, she was able to tie in everything from the wedding colors and flowers to embroider “Ani Ledodi V’Dodi Le” inside her jacket!