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A Suzanne Neville Bride for a Tuscan Fantasy of a Jewish Wedding at Villa Palmieri, Florence, Italy

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There’s something about a Jewish wedding in Tuscany that just makes our hearts beat a little faster. And the fantastic wedding of UK couple Holly, a business owner, and Ben, who works in acquisitions, captures ALL the most beloved things about this beautiful part of the world.

The couple’s venue, Villa Palmieri, is quintessentially Tuscan, and we can’t get enough of David Bastianoni’s exquisite photos of the day – scroll through them and we guarantee you’ll be tempted to book a flight to Italy ASAP!

This wedding was so much more than all the fabulous details, though – the joy and love between the couple is just beyond, and there’s no better way to experience it than through their wonderful wedding video by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion, who, in Holly’s words, “captured the day beautifully and really found the balance of emotional and atmospheric.”

We were also thrilled to hear that Holly and Ben turned to Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Wedding Shop when it came time to set up their wedding gift list. There’s so much more to say – like, how stunning did Holly look in her Suzanne Neville gown?! – but we’ll turn you over to the bride herself for the rest…

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How we Met

Holly, the Bride: Ben and I met on Hanoar Hatzioni camp when we were 9 and 10 years old. We have been best friends since, and became boyfriend and girlfriend nearly 10 years ago.

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A Hayley Paige Bride for a Romantic Jewish Wedding at Villa Oliva, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

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What a wedding! If you’ve ever fantasized about jetting off to Tuscany to get married, the exquisite Jewish wedding of Stephanie and Dan, who did just that, is going to knock your socks off. In fact, it’ll probably do that even the thought of a Tuscan wedding has never even crossed your mind!

The couple’s wonderful planner, Michelle Jacobs of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elegante By Michelle J, took all the pressure out of planning while making sure the big day was as elegant, romantic, joyful, and memorable as it could possible be. And she connected the couple with their amazing roster of vendors!

Truly, these two used so many of the very best out there, from the amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Totem – who Stephanie and Dan flew over from London because they wanted to make sure their big day featured some EPIC Israeli dancing, and if you know Totem you know they get the party going like no one else – to mega-talented stationer Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Bigday Designs (love the stationery suite they came up with!) to a gift list with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Prezola.

Photographer David Bastianoni and videographer Federico of Waterfall Visuals both captured the day so beautifully, and we love that they were committed as to capturing the love between the couple – including lots of sweet casual moments – as to featuring the beautiful setting and décor (looking at you, floral chuppah!).

If you’re wondering how you can make your wedding as awesome as Stephanie and Dan’s, don’t miss our Facebook Live with none other than Michelle Jacobs herself, all about creating an ultra-memorable experience for your guests. It’s happening this Thursday, March 5, at 7:30 PM GMT / 2:30 PM EST / 11:30 PST, right on the Smashing The Glass Facebook Page.

But for now, we’re going to turn you over to the lovely Stephanie, who looked simply ravishing in Hayley Paige…

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Venue

Stephanie, the bride: We got married in Villa Oliva, near Lucca in Tuscany. I’ve always dreamed of having a romantic wedding abroad and, luckily, Dan saw the appeal. We picked Tuscany because we both love Italy – from the food and wine to the art, landscape and scenery.

Dan and I are both nature lovers, so the idea of getting married in a Tuscan garden really appealed to us. The venue we chose had several gorgeous gardens surrounding the villa and we fell in love.

We also wanted each area of the party to be a surprise for the guests, so we got married at the front of the villa; had the drinks reception behind the villa; and dinner and dancing was held in a large garden slightly further away from the property. The front of the villa had a beautiful grotto, which was the perfect backdrop for the chuppah.

We were very grateful for the support of our family and friends flying out to celebrate our special day with us. The guests were able to get to know each other at the welcome party and by the pool, so everyone was friendly at the main event. It felt like a big holiday!

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A Galia Lahav Bride for a Jewish Wedding at Villa di Maiano, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

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There’s nothing like a Tuscan Jewish wedding. And we’re totally obsessed with the incredible nuptials of London-based couple Chloe, who works in PR, and Danny, who’s in property.

The couple’s incredible planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elegante by Michelle J, helped them bring the day of their dreams to life – not the easiest feat when planning from abroad! Michelle set them up with many of their fantastic vendors – like photographer David Bastianoni and videographer Waterfall Visuals– and suggested their picturesque venue, Villa di Maiano.

With grounds straight out of a Renaissance painting and epic views of Florence, this is a venue that doesn’t need much help to shine. But even so, Michelle knocked it out of the ballpark with her incredible chuppah setup – and the table décor’s pretty fantastic too.

There’s so much more to say about this gorgeous wedding, but we’ll leave the rest to the bride – who could not have looked more elegant in her Galia Lahav gown, which she worked with beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Browns Bride to customize…

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How we met

Chloe, the bride: We met at Glastonbury for the first time about 5 years ago but we only started dating 2 years ago.

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A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Destination Jewish Wedding with a Peony Chuppah at L’Andana, Castiglione della Pescaia, Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy

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We can hardly believe it ourselves, but this is our LAST real Jewish wedding of 2018!! Before Team STG heads off on our holiday break next week, we’re sending the year out with a bang (both literally and figuratively) with an amazing destination wedding in Tuscany, full of the most delicious Italian food, fireworks, and flowers for days.

We’ll be back with fresh content the first week of January, but until then be sure to check out our Instagram over the holidays for the latest and greatest Jewish wedding inspo.

So to close the year, we’ve got the fabulous Italian wedding of Meredith, who works in children’s fashion, and Sean, who’s in corporate finance. With the help of masterful planner Sara from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Infinity Weddings, the couple pulled together the wedding of their dreams all the way from New York.

We can’t get over all the wonderful details they put into the day, from a luxe peony chuppah (!) to surprise fireworks to a classic lace gown from Monique Lhuillier to a silk ribbon-strewn walkway on the way to the dinner — we’re totally obsessed with this last, ultra-creative idea, courtesy of the mother of the bride.

Not only did the colorful silk ribbons cast a magical ambience, each also had a handwritten fact about the couple, from where they met to their favorite vacation spots. Photographer David Bastianoni and videographer Marco Caputo did such a fantastic job of capturing the day in all its elegant splendor.

Oh, and did we mention that Meredith and Sean served their guests cacio e pepe out of a giant cheese wheel at dinner? Um, yes please!

There’s so much more we could say, but we’ll turn you over to the bride now…

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How we met

Meredith, the bride: We met on Jdate!

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A Suzanne Neville Bride for a Super Luxe Destination Jewish Wedding at the Great Synagogue of Florence and Villa de Maiano, Florence, Italy

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BRB — booking a ticket to Florence. Okay, maybe not, but we are a million percent tempted by today’s dreamiest of Italian destination Jewish weddings. Between the ceremony at the majestic Great Synagogue of Florence to the swoon-worthy reception at Villa di Maiano, Paige and Richard‘s day was as dreamy as it gets (and they also had an adorable wedding hashtag — #paigegetsrich).

Much-loved STG Recommended Vendor Michelle Jacobs of Eleganté by Michelle J helped the couple pull all the fab design elements together from London, where they live. From the magical floral chuppah (who would’ve thought such a fresh, natural design would be the PERFECT fit for such a grand, historic space?) to THE most stunning top table we have ever, ever seen complete with a pergola, crystal chandeliers, hanging glass globes filled with tea lights (seriously, check out David Bastianoni’s photos — it is not to be missed!), we can safely say she hit a home run with this epic day. Oh… and Waterfall Visuals‘s film  below is the dreamiest thing ever.

We’re thrilled to have a chance to chat with their awesome planner, Michelle Jacobs, live on the Smashing The Glass Facebook page tomorrow at 7: 30 p.m. GMT/2:30 p.m. EST tomorrow, Thursday, October 4. And if you love today’s wedding as much as we do, do not miss this one as we’ll be covering all the ins and outs of planning a Jewish (or Jew-ish) wedding in Italy. Please do tune in, and bring your questions!

Another wonderful STG Recommended Vendor, Totem (who Paige and Richard loved enough to fly out from London!) provided ultra-emotional chuppah music before transitioning to party mode at the villa, where they kept the dancefloor packed all night. Talk about a smashing party! Oh, and speaking of things that are smashing, did we mention Paige and Richard used one of our very own Smash Glass pouches?!

We are also LOVING their exquisite stationery by Ruth Kaye Design another STG fave and Recommended Vendor… we’re literally dying over how fabulous everything about this wedding is. —don’t you agree?

We’ll let Paige, who looked goooooorgeous in her glam Suzanne Neville gown, take it from here…

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A Room with a View

Paige, the bride: Our chuppah took place at the Great Synagogue of Florence and then afterwards we moved over to Villa di Maiano, a beautiful villa in Fiesole, a small town in the hills above Florence. Villa di Maiano is where the movie A Room with a View, was filmed (just celebrating the 30th anniversary of the film).

We went to see several venues, this was the first. We had a special feeling as soon as we walked into the gardens — we both cried — so we just knew this was the place for us. We did consider having our ceremony at Villa di Maiano, but Michelle suggested we visit the synagogue… and again, the minute we walked in we just knew we had to have our chuppah there.Continue ReadingContinue Reading