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Your Ketubah, Your Way: Our Top Ketubot for 2019

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Brooklyn Ketubah | Ink With Intent | From $280 | (10% off for members of Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club)

One of my favourite wedding industry developments since I founded Smashing The Glass is the abundance of beautiful, lovingly crafted ketubahs to suit every style you could possibly imagine. 

It used to be that your rabbi would set you up with a plain, standard ketubah – or if you really wanted to go all out, you might strike out on your own and find something a bit more ornate, maybe a traditional floral border. Even ten years ago, the range of possibilities was truly nothing like it is today. 

Now, there are so many incredible ketubah artists putting their personal stamps on the ancient Jewish marriage contract. Whether you go for contemporary or traditional, whether you’re a minimalist or a maximalist, whether you love bright colours, pastels, or neutrals – there’s a ketubah for you. In fact, there are probably lots of ketubot for you.

And it’s not just design that can be customized to suit your style, either. So many ketubah creators offer a range of text options beyond the traditional, whether you’re looking for something interfaith, same sex, egalitarian, or just a little more modern – or maybe you even want to provide your own text that the two of you have written together! These days, the sky is truly the limit.

I’m privileged to work with some amazing ketubah artists, and I want to draw your attention to some of my very favorite pieces I’ve spotted recently – so here are just a few…

Silver Jewel Ketubah | Danny Azoulay | Price available upon request 

This exquisitely elegant paper cut ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Danny Azoulay is truly a work of art. Like museum quality. It’s a true heirloom, with an incredible level of detail.

Geometric Bouquet Ketubah | Ketubata | From $125

If you’re after something with a more playful look, you couldn’t do better than to check out Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubata. Think gorgeous watercolors, sweet botanicals, and totally modern geometric shapes.

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A Lee Petra Grebenau Bride for a Destination Jewish Wedding with a Dreamy Floral Chuppah at Boca Raton Resort and Club, Florida, USA

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Why hello, floral chuppah of our dreams. It was absolutely roses for daaaaays at the Florida-perfect destination Jewish wedding of Sara, a real estate broker (and Smashing The Glass Brides Club member!), and Eric, an immigration attorney — is it just us, or are those blooms a perfect match for Boca Raton Resort and Club’s trademark pink building?

We’re pretty sure you’ll agree that STGd Vendor Carlos Marquez of Boca by Design really outdid himself on this one (not to mention the cascading florals from the chandelier in the reception space!).

Photographer Susan Shek captured the day SO perfectly, from all the gorgeous details (and there are lots) to the ultra-emotional chuppah — seriously, this is one sequence you don’t want to miss. Sara raves that Susan “knows how to get the right photos, the right angles, and more than that, she became a friend in the process” — pretty much all you could ever ask for, right?!

Props to Sara’s mom for a cool, totally unexpected favor idea: she brought challah covers back from Israel for all the guests! We’re not surprised to hear that people loved them — and it’s a great reminder that the sky’s the limit when it comes to favors; it’s fine (actually, awesome!) to go off the beaten path with something unique.

Now over to the bride herself, who looked simply smashing in her gorgeous beaded dress from super cool Israeli designer Lee Petra Grebenau…

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A Wedding in Boca

Sara, the bride: We got married at Boca Raton Resort and Club. We wanted to get married somewhere that was relatively easy for everyone to get to (Texas, Paris, Israel, NYC, Costa Rica etc) and warm. I wasn’t, and still am not, too familiar with Boca, but when I went to visit the venue with my mom and sister, we all fell in love with the pink building, the outdoor space, and the cathedral ballroom.

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An Elia Vatine Bride for a Super Spiritual Destination Jewish Wedding at Baya’ar in Hadera, Israel

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OK could today’s destination Jewish wedding be any cooler? That portrait of the couple just chillin’ in shades against the backdrop of the Hadera skyline — LOVE. And the super colorful floral chuppah with the suspended tallit canopy? Perfection.

We’re obsessed with the gorgeous wedding photos from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor LUZ Weddings. From the emotion and spirituality of the chuppah to the wild party (complete with Brazilian drum line) to the artsy portraits taking advantage of awesome architectural backdrops, every image is so memorable. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Lisa, a strategic consultant for The Behavioural Architects, and Igor, Igor is a press officer at the UK’s Home Office, are a totally stunning couple.

We also love how this pair put so much emphasis on the spiritual element of their day — you can really see it in Nir Tenenbaum’s moving videography. 

We’ll let Lisa fill you in on the rest — by the way, we are ALL about her simple, elegant dress from Elia Vatine. Like everything about this day, it’s the perfect mix of laid back and glam…


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How We Met

Igor’s version:

“She’s gorgeous but blind dates are really not my thing,” I said to Mika, a mutual friend who’d been trying to set me up with Lisa for months. “If one day we are ever in the same place you can introduce us but until then I’ll wait”…

A few months later when I had recently come back from spending New Year’s in Portugal, I attended a Shabbat dinner at the JLE, a social center for young Jews. Out of pure coincidence, Lisa also decided to attend and during the cocktail reception we were introduced for the very first time. “Nice to meet you,” I said, though what I really meant was “finally.”

In another strike of “coincidence,” we ended up sitting next to each other, in one of the 15 available round-tables. We talked until first course was served, but then some friends started coming to the table to catch up on my latest trip. I got distracted and stopped speaking to Lisa. This ended up taking all dinner and when I realized I should speak to her again it was too late and dinner was over.

I felt embarrassed and added her on Facebook a couple of days later. I messaged her apologizing for not being a good “table mate” and asked if I could make it up and take her out for a drink. She accepted and we went to Alice House, a classic local bar/pub in West Hampstead.

The date lasted for five hours and it felt like the most natural of things. We talked about dogs, vegetarianism, gin & tonics, Judaism, kids, and behavioral economics (something I still struggle to understand).

“I think I met the woman of my life,” I messaged Daniel Granditer and Simon Murray, two friends who knew about the upcoming date.

I was never so sure about something in life as wanting to see Lisa every hour of every day after that. I knew that no matter what, I should not let such a beautiful, kind, and generous soul pass. From that day onwards I would do all in my power to make her my life companion.

Ten months after our first date, while on holidays in the magical mountain town of Lenzerheide, in Switzerland, I proposed to Lisa. I knew that was her “happy place.” Yes, at the very top of the Swiss Alps.

Lisa’s version:

I pretended to have never heard of him before when my friend Mika told me about this handsome, smart, funny, and nice friend of hers. “You guys have to meet,” she said. A few weeks later I was discussing with a group of friends which Friday night dinner to go to — there were so many options, a dinner organized by the JLE being one of them. We decided to attend a Friday night dinner in town, but our plans fell through last minute and we were lucky to catch the last few spots at the JLE dinner.

When we got there, Mika absolutely wanted me to sit next to her, but when we sat down I turned around and it was not her sitting there, but Igor. We talked for a little bit, and the conversation actually became interesting, but he seemed to be the star of the evening and people did not stop coming over to him to say hi and chat. At some point he apologized and said he had to go to speak to a few friends… He didn’t come back to the table for the rest of the evening.

“Handsome, but a bit snobbish” was my conclusion, and I ended up having a fun night with my friends. Two days later I left to Israel, and when I turned on my phone after the flight I saw that I had a friend request on Facebook, and a couple of hours later I received a message from Igor.

He apologised for disappearing and said, “I’m not a fan of texting, do you want to meet up?” We ended up texting for the rest of the week — although he supposedly wasn’t a fan. We went for a drink as soon as I got back to London and our first date lasted until the bar closed.

The following weeks and months we saw each other more and more, and with every day we spent together, my feelings for him grew fonder. Soon there was such a strong bond between us that it was hard to spend even one day apart.

Early January, a few days after New Year’s, in the most beautiful spot on the planet, Igor made me happier than ever with just one question.

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A Maria Farbinni Bride for an Ultra Glam Jewish Wedding with a Mirrored Peony Chuppah at the Metropolitan Club, New York City, USA

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Um, WOW. Excuse us as we pick our jaws up off the floor. We are just floored by the magnificent mirrored (!) peony (!!) chuppah in today’s Jewish wedding.

It is just BEYOND, and those hanging peonies suspended from the canopy? Serious, serious #chuppahgoals. Bride Marina says standing under it felt like being in a midsummer night’s dream garden!

Actually, just about everything about this wedding is hardcore #goals. And it’s no wonder, with superstar wedding planner and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Amy Katz running the show.

Marina, who works in product development, and Gary, an MBA student at UPenn’s Wharton School, can’t stop singing her praises, but her work bringing this epic day together really speaks for itself.

This duo had absolutely the quintessential NYC wedding, just bursting with old-school elegance (but with some very cool, very contemporary touches thrown in to keep things from getting stodgy — you won’t want to miss their tequila-infused Mar-Garita cake pops!.

And we could not be more in love with their exquisite Central Park photo shoot spearheaded by the couple’s fantastic photographer, Lilian Haidar.

There’s so much more to say, but we’ll leave it to Marina, who looked stunning in her strikingly elegant princess gown by Maria Farbinni…

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How We Met

Marina, the bride: We met at a 4th of July party in Amagansett, NY. Marina invited Gary’s friend to a party her friend was hosting. The friend brought Gary along and the rest is history.

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A Kenneth Winston Bride for a Musical Jewish Wedding with DIY Touches at Belsize Square Synagogue and the Liberal Club, London, UK

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We all know how overwhelming wedding planning can be. There are so many choices to be made, from color schemes to venues to symbolism and more — and so many vendors to choose from. Of course a wedding planner can be a huge help in sorting through everything that’s out there and focusing your vision, but what if you want to do a lot of the planning yourself?

Today’s couple, Bekka, a lecturer in international relations, and Benjamin, a musician and lecturer in music went for a wedding consultancy session with Smashing the Glass’s own Karen to help and advise with their Jewish wedding.

She directed them toward many of their fantastic vendors, from Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor Once Upon A Paper, who provided the couple’s beautiful watercolor guest book, to Adams Photography, who captured all the emotion and excitement so exquisitely, to Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor Prezola registry, which Bekka and Benjamin loved for its wonderful selection of gifts from different stores in the UK, as well as cash funds, Judaica, and charities, to The Wedding Gallery, the world’s first wedding department store, for the groom’s outfit.

All this freed up their time and energy to focus on the many DIY elements the pair incorporated into their wedding.

Bekka and Benjamin designed their invitations themselves and built their own chuppah, but music is where the pair really put their own stamp on the day. For one thing, their ceremony venue, Belsize Square Synagogue, was chosen because Benjamin is the congregation’s music director. So it was only natural that he arranged and composed pieces to be performed during the ceremony, performed by Benjamin’s quartet, bOYbershop, and three (!) choirs that he conducts.

We’ll leave it to Bekka, who looked beautiful in her ivory lace Kenneth Winston dress, to fill you in on the rest…

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A Venue with History

Bekka, the bride, and Benjamin, the groom: We got married at Belsize Square Synagogue. We chose it as Benjamin has worked there as musical director for 12 years.

The evening was at the Liberal Club (1 Whitehall Place). Bekka found the venue online. The venue had a small personal connection as Benjamin’s grandfather was a member of the Liberal Party, and Bekka’s father is fascinated with William Gladstone.

Mainly, however, we just loved the venue when we saw it. We also loved the idea of a dusky double decker bus ride through London from the synagogue (particularly for our international guests).

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