Catherine Deane Archives - Smashing the Glass

An Industrial Warehouse Winter Jewish Wedding at Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, UK

23/07/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

After the popularity of last week’s winter wedding, we’re thrilled to be sharing another incredible (and very different!) winter Jewish wedding that’s cooler than a polar bear’s toe nails (sorry couldn’t resist that!).

Despite getting married in February in Manchester — when daylight is at a minimum, and you can pretty much forget about sun — Danielle and Jason (who run the travel blog 52WeekendsNY) had the most stunningly gorgeous day.

Knowing what they were up against, the couple decided to play up the dark, wintry vibe. Their venue, Victoria Warehouse — a former Kellogg’s factory — is just the kind of cavernous warehouse space that lends itself to some serious cozying up. Danielle and Jason did such a fantastic job warming up the concrete floors and unfinished brick walls with florals in claret and dark green, a candle aisle (!), and the dreamiest chuppah (built by Danielle’s dad!): pared-down in keeping with the industrial vibe of the day, but with the poles still wrapped in greenery and purple flowers — plus some fairy lights for a super magical wintry look.

We just love how the couple created such a unique and beautiful aesthetic for their day — and photographer Liam Crawley of The Crawleys did the best job of capturing not only the lovely details of the day but also all the emotion, of which there was plenty to go around.

One other thing we loved about this wedding is that not only did the bride give a speech, so did both of the mothers! On our Facebook group lately, there’s been some discussion about the English tradition of only the groom, best man, and father of the bride speaking.

Understandably, a lot of today’s brides aren’t so comfortable with this all-male lineup, but it’s not always easy going against such a longstanding tradition. So we’re always excited when we see brides — and their female relatives and friends — standing up and speaking out on their big days. Now over to Danielle…

How we met

Danielle, the bride: We met at university and now live together in NYC.

A big fat Jewish-Greek wedding with a Catherine Deane gown and a superb bridal entrance on the beach in Crete

06/03/2017 by Karen Cinnamon

The only type of wedding that compares culturally to a Jewish wedding is, of course, a big fat Greek wedding. So, as you can imagine, a combination of the two makes for a pretty epic Mediterranean family-centric celebration!

Christina and Oryan tied the knot on the beach in beautiful Crete, owing to both the bride and groom’s Greek and Greek-Cypriot backgrounds, and the convenient short hop from Israel, where Oryan has family ties.

We adore the laid-back feel of this gorgeous destination wedding, with the bride making her grand entrance on donkey-back, the couple exchanging vows barefoot on the beach (with one notable moment as an exception) and Greek / Israeli food and dancing.

The pair kept things simple, with no bridal party and ensuring that everything had a natural, organic feel to it. We LOVE the simplicity of the wooden Chuppah with its delicate floral arrangements perfectly framing the view of the sea. Stunning.

Family played a huge role in the ceremony, with both of the bride and groom’s sisters being given a significant part to play.

Oh, and Christina’s Catherine Deane dress was simply perfect — elegant, bridal, flattering and beach-wedding beautiful.

Christina and Oryan wrote up the story of their real wedding together as a couple, and we’re delighted to hear the story from both of their perspectives, so we’ll hand over to them now to tell us more…

How we met

Christina and Oryan, the bride and groom: We met through mutual friends in NYC. We had both moved to New York in 2010 and had mutual friends in common through which we were introduced. We remained friends for several years before starting to date in 2014.

Intimate and Joyful Israeli Wedding Organised in Just 3 Months at Lawrence Gallery, Old Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel

31/03/2015 by Karen

I have a real sweet treat of a Jewish wedding for you this afternoon folks. Set amidst the boats and charm of Old Jaffa in Tel Aviv, today’s W-Day was planned in just 3 months (nope, I’m not even kidding!) and is bursting at the seams with lots of personal and thoughtful touches.

Rachel and Moshe both come from Modern Orthodox backgrounds, yet it was important for them to make their ceremony as egalitarian and personal as possible. For example, for the Sheva Brachot part of their Jewish wedding ceremony, they invited couples to come up to the chuppah together. The man said the traditional blessing, whilst the woman wrote a personal blessing. Rachel says, “hearing the personal blessings written by the closest women in our lives was so moving and special. They are words that will accompany me throughout my life.”

They also loved the concept of having a procession with klezmer musicians parading through the alleys of Jaffa, leading them to their chuppah in a park overlooking the city and the sea. To them, it felt very timeless, reconnecting to a special tradition that doesn’t happen so much anymore.

Today, not only do I have the usual dose of W-day eye candy for you, taken by the super talented Noa Magger (in particular I am loving the Jaffa harbour images, and the ‘party faces’ of the guests – you have to check them out!) but for those of you that may be stressing over every minute detail in the run up to the big day, Rachel’s words are both wise and super helpful. I particularly love what she says at the end of the post: “I think the biggest piece of advice is to find ways to incorporate friends and family in a meaningful way — I think it makes for the best memories.”

So true… Let’s hear more from Rachel and Moshe, a smashingly creative, fun and outgoing couple.