Converse Archives - Page 7 of 7 - Smashing the Glass

Sarah & Nick | Uber cool and intimate ‘Red’ Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London, UK

04/11/2014 by Karen

One, two, three and breathe Karen…

That’s what I said to myself when Smashing The Glass reader, Sarah’s à¼ber cool London wedding to Nick dropped into my inbox, so impressed was I by their unusual venue (a smoked salmon factory in London’s Olympic Park !), their teenage sweetheart love story, and their choice of wedding transport through the streets of London. Oh yes, these two traveled from synagogue to reception in a red convertible Mustang!

And you’ve got to hand it to a bride that rocks a leather biker jacket and Ray-Bans over her Pronovias dress…

I also love the fact that Sarah and Nick invited just their very closest friends and family, and that they found their chazan (cantor), Jonny Mosesson, via the blog’s Smashing Suppliers recommended vendor list. Jonny is one of the most talented people I know and to think that this blog is able to connect brides with the industry’s very best makes me a very happy bunny indeed.

But back to Sarah and Nick — thank you for submitting your beautiful wedding and thank you to Reportage By for capturing it so wonderfully. Here’s the whole story in Sarah’s words.

HOW WE MET
Sarah, the Bride: Nick and I met at school aged 11. We were always friends but nothing ever happened whilst we were studying together. We stayed in touch when we left at 16 but he and his family were in Miami and I was in LA. We went on a ‘catch up’ date when we were both back in London when we were 19, and my mum even said, you will marry Nick. She has always had a sixth sense…

Dana & Stuart | Autumn city rustic Jewish wedding at the spectacular Angel Orensanz Foundation, Lower East Side, New York City

19/06/2014 by Karen

Dana and Stuart’s wedding has Autumn completely wrapped up. Long farm tables with flowers and candles, orange and cream colours with pops of russet inspired by Dana’s amazing auburn hair, and a total sense of joy, warmth and tenderness thoughout.

Our bride is so very elegant but at the same time clearly having the time of her life… That smile – it’s so infectious! And what’s one of my favourite moments? When Dana swaps her jewelled Manolo Blahniks for white low top Converse when the former falls off during the Hora – so down to earth! I also love the little creative details like classic movies of their favourite Hollywood icons playing in the background during the cocktail hour.

Oh… and have you ever heard of ‘Dudesmaids’?! Dana had two – see them posing with the girls above?!

All the fantastic photography is by the one and only Karen Wise.

Steph & Juls | Boho English Country Garden Jewish Wedding, Narborough Hall, Norfolk

30/12/2013 by Karen

When I knew I’d be blogging this beauty of a wedding I whooped, hollered and clapped my hands with glee… Its filled with so many wonderful details, and the bride, Steph describes it all so beautifully.

It’s set in the depths of the Norfolk countryside at the resplendent garden venue that is Narborough Hall, and it’s full of creative details, fashion-inspired touches, and an achingly chic bride and groom ( well they do both work in fashion industry – in fact that’s how they met, but more about that later on).

Now not only do we have the delights of photographer extraordinaire, Katherine Ashdown, but we also have a wonderful film of this wedding included in the post, by the awesome Sugarfish.

You guys are in for a treat. Seriously. this wedding is a dream.

VENUE
Steph, the Bride: I fell in love with Narborough Hall as soon as I saw it… somewhere where we could feel at home, and relaxed. We were originally going to get married in Ibiza, but my family are farmers, so they couldn’t be away from the crops and the animals for any long amount of time, not to mention that my grandad wouldn’t be able to travel that far..

Narborough ticked all the boxes in terms of being a bit boho and absolutely beautiful, and somehow really tranquil and fun.. not at all stiff or pompous.

The fact that the flowers could all be sourced from Narborough’s own gardens also made it feel very natural and not ‘plastic’ or put on.

THEME
I sort of toyed around with loads of magazine tears and ideas from the internet..The problem was that trend seemed to be for kitsch, hand made, english country wedding, and although I love all that, I didn’t want our wedding to look like it had been taken straight out of someone else’s wedding shoot or too ‘theme’ wedding rather than my wedding..

So I began to look at films and other inspirations and found some fantastic images of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and that kind of era, mixed with a bit of faded English glamour and tarnished jewels became the background theme.

Madalyn & Aaron | Ultra-Creative and Chic Jewish Wedding at The Metropolitan Building, New York, USA

03/10/2013 by Karen

This wedding is cooler than an igloo with air con.

In the achingly chic wedding venue of The Metropolitan Building in New York, Madalyn, Aaron and their guests got together to celebrate one of the most exquisitely fashionable and creative weddings I have ever laid my eyes upon.

There are beautifully designed invitations, programs and custom illustrations of the bridal party (which the bride and groom created themselves), mismatched floral table centres, the cutest polka dot kippot you’ve ever seen, and something I didn’t think was even possible: personalised Converse black and orange sneakers made for every one of the groomsmen!

On top of that, frankly any bride that incorporates a gorgeous peplum into her bridal gown scores serious style points in my book.

Let’s take a look…

A CREATIVE ‘LOFT-STYLE’ VENUE
Madalyn, the Bride: I fell in love with the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City, New York, the minute I saw it on a wedding blog. The mismatched vibe and colourful alcoves and artsy rooms were exactly what we were looking for. Only when I got there did I realise I had been to a wedding there before!

Our colour palette was a mix of deep autumn colours like eggplants and plums. We wanted a warm and intimate atmosphere that beautifully accented the loft-like vibe of the building.

DESIGNING OUR OWN INVITATIONS
Aaron and I actually designed the invitation ourselves so it was completely unique to us. We letterpressed them onto real birch wood giving them a beautiful earthy vibe.

A 50’S-ESQUE PEPLUM DRESS + VALENTINO SHOES
I found my dress at Saks Fifth Avenue and it was by Oscar de la Renta. I totally fell in love with it the second I put it on. It was a strapless fit and flare with an attached peplum around the waist. I added the black band around it to make it a little more me. I would wear this dress every day if I could. It was the perfect blend of fashion and classic glamour.

My shoes were Valentino Prive bow pumps in black patent leather. The heel was perfect and they are so comfortable! I was able to wear them all night and many more times for other occasions.

I had nine bridesmaids and I told them to wear whatever long, black dress they wanted. That way everyone was happy!

A BEAUTIFUL BIRDCAGE VEIL
I bought a small net veil on Etsy.com because I just am not a big veil kind of girl. For jewellery I wore two bangles in black and gold from C Wonder and Miriam Salat and the most special piece, my grandmother’s sapphire and diamond ring. Something old, borrowed and blue.

A GLAMOROUS TOUCH
Anthea King from Timeless Glow Bridal did my make up and I really just wanted to look like myself, only better. I did soft colours with a little glow and a subtle cat-eye. Lacy Redway crafted the perfect waves into my hair for a little bit of old world glamour.

CUSTOM CONVERSE SNEAKERS FOR ALL THE GROOMSMEN
The entire grooms party wore grey ludlow suits from J.Crew together with custom Converse sneakers in black and orange (Aaron’s favourite colours). Each pair of Converse had the date and their individual nickname embroidered on the side.

CHUPPAH DESIGN + CEREMONY
The song that we walked into was actually composed by my oldest brother. He created the music just for us which was so moving and incredibly special. He has his own recording studio, Mirrortone Studios, so it was a natural choice. Walking down the aisle to Aaron was so exciting, I had to concentrate and enjoy every single second because I knew it would all go by so fast.

We created the chuppah out of birch wood to go with our ‘woodsy’ invites with minimal florals, giving another nod to that earthy vibe, and the ceremony itself was incredibly special to us – we stayed focused on one another the entire time – something our Rabbi told us she has never seen before!

LOTS OF CREATIVE DETAILS
Our kippot were black polka dot because I work in the fashion industry and it is one of my all-time favourite trends. The ketubah was just gorgeous, a laser-cut round intricately designed work of art. It now hangs in our living room and is just so beautiful.

The guest book was set next to the photo booth so guests were able to paste their photo strips inside and write us a note! We also designed the menu ourselves. Aaron illustrated all of the items, adding a bit of whimsy to the tables. Because of all of the design work we put into our wedding we actually launched our own company Tinyawesomethings, designing custom stationery, invitations etc., It has been such a blessing!

FLORALS + DECOR
We collaborated with Hatch Creative Studio for all of our design and decor. We used dahlias, succulents and host of other flowers to create the gorgeous centrepieces that were different on each table, again echoing the mismatched, organic theme. We wanted low light and lots of candles which set the mood for the entire evening.

POST-IT NOTE FAVOURS
We designed pads of post-it notes for our guests. We even used them as the escort cards as a nod to the fact that Aaron also hides post-its for me around our apartment with sweet little notes.

PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH AN EDITORIAL SLANT
We chose Photo Pink as our photographers. I loved their editorial style since I come from an editorial background and they captured all the best moments. Thankfully there are no traditional stiff shots that make you cringe years later!

A CAKE WITH THREE DIFFERENT FLAVOURS + A SURPRISE TREAT FOR THE GROOM
We had Betsy Thorleifson of Nine Cakes design our wedding cake. We had a 3 tiered cake with black bands around each layer as a nod to my dress and a bride and groom sock monkey cake topper made just for us. We had three different flavours actually- apple peanut butter, salted caramel and chocolate peanut butter. We had so much fun doing the tastings for that!

Since our wedding also coincided with our 5-year anniversary I had Aaron’s best-loved dessert, Ted Drewes frozen custard, shipped directly to the venue from St. Louis, where we met during our college years at Washington University.

ENTERTAINMENT
We had a 10 piece band from Hank Lane with Bobby Attiko as the leader. He was at my cousins wedding three years earlier and he was so good I knew I had to book him as soon as I got engaged. Luckily he was available! Our guests are still talking about how amazing the band was!

ADVICE TO OTHER BRIDES
I had so much fun planning the wedding and never over thought any detail. I knew what I wanted and I made it happen. I didn’t agonise over choosing any of the vendors, I just went with my gut! The planning of the event can be stressful but just remember the end result will be an evening you will never forget and it’s all about you and your husband-to-be so make it fun!

MADALYN + AARON’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Venue — Metropolitan Building
Photography — Photo Pink
Floral + Event Design — Hatch Creative Studio
Invitation + stationery — Tinyawesomethings
Bride’s dress — Oscar de la Renta
Bride’s Veil — Etsy
Bride’s shoes — Valentino
Jewellery — Miriam Salat + C Wonder
Make-up – Anthea King with Timeless Glow Bridal
Hair — Lacy Redway with Timeless Glow Bridal
Groom’s attire — J.Crew
Groom’s Shoes — Converse
Entertainment — Hank Lane
Cake — Nine Cakes

So…did you love it?

Bet you did! Tell me, which was your favourite element?

And Madalyn’s advice is so spot-on: your day should be 100% about you as a couple; if you hold firm to that mantra then you won’t stop smiling all day long.

Thank you to Madalyn and Aaron, a beautiful and wonderfully creative couple for sharing their immense day. And if you fancy some of their creative flair sprinkled on your wedding, check out their new custom stationery business, Tinyawesomethings.