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

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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?!

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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 ReadingContinue Reading

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

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Alexandra & Alec, Annadel Estate Winery, California, USA

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…

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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 ReadingContinue Reading

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

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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…

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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 ReadingContinue Reading

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

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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!

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How we met

Sidnie: We met working at a movie theater in Los Angeles 7 years ago!Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Pronovias Bride for a Backyard Jewish Micro Wedding in Santa Barbara, California, USA

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It’s a familiar story: Hailey, an attorney at a technology company, and Jeffrey, a management consultant, had planned a Labor Day weekend Jewish wedding at a historic Santa Barbara club, with a weekend’s worth of plans for their 150 guests flying in from all over the world.

That was pre-COVID. Once the pandemic hit, the couple made the decision to go forward with a 12-guest micro wedding on their original date, which the bride’s aunt and uncle generously hosted in their backyard. We’re obsessed with Hailey and Jeffrey’s cool copper chuppah adorned with greenery and white and pink blossoms – not to mention their beautifulblue and white paper cut ketubah was purchased from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com. Don’t miss Wedding Nature Photography’s gorgeous pics!

We also love the favors the pair put together for their guests, each containing a mask hand-sewn by the mother of the bride, a kippah, and a personalized embroidered handkerchief, plus a “Jeffrey and Hailey” granola blend.

And how sweet is it that the mother of the groom secretly reached out to the original guest list and asked them to submit a video with stories and well wishes?! She kept it all under wraps until the night before the wedding, when she surprised Hailey and Jeffrey with an incredibly touching video. Awwwww!

There’s so much more to say about this beautiful day, but we’ll leave the rest to Hailey, who looked stunning in her Pronovias dress (which she’d bough for the big bash, but happened to work perfectly for this intimate celebration)…

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How we met

Hailey, the bride: We were matched on a dating app called Coffee Meets Bagel. After we met in person, we realized that we had one mutual friend in common: a Jewish matchmaker!

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