Davids Bridal Archives - Smashing the Glass

A David’s Bridal Bride for a Jewish Wedding Steeped in History at The Old Palace, Hatfield House, Hatfield, UK

21/10/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

What better spot for a history-loving couple to wed than at Henry VIII’s summer palace?! That’s exactly what Natalie, a project manager, and Samson, who works in architecture, did when they opted for Hatfield House as their venue, and we are LOVING IT! Between the stunning 15^th-century building and the manicured knot gardens, this venue’s got serious wow factor.

And so does the couple’s chuppah, a wooden structure covered in soft white blossoms (also, how romantic is it that the chuppah aisle was lined with flowers and lanterns?!). And we love that the chuppah canopy was made by a friend, who quilted a design that will be turned into a family tree – and also a family heirloom for Natalie and Samson’s own future children to marry under one day.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Luz did the most amazing job capturing the photo and video, as always. The groom, who works in architecture, was especially drawn to the fact that the Luz team bring their own architecture backgrounds to their photography style – and the rest is history!

Natalie and Samson had The Matzoh Boys as their band – whose lead singer is the incredible Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jonny Mosesson – and the band brought their trademark soulful sound to the day.

A Venue with History

Natalie, the bride: We got married at The Old Palace, Hatfield House. Samson and I planned everything leading up to the day ourselves, which included the venue search. Hatfield House was the first venue we saw, and we found ourselves comparing every venue thereafter to it. That’s how we knew we had found the right one. The venue itself is steeped in history. It is King Henry the VIII former summer palace, and the location that Queen Elizabeth I found out that she would be queen. We both love history.

The space itself was incredible. The manicured knot gardens together with the 15th century building meant that the beauty was truly something spectacular. Being Australian, my aim was to pick a venue that our foreign guests would be ‘WOW’ed’ by. I think we achieved that aim!

The team at Hatfield House Hospitality were another massive selling point. They were kind, professional and engaged. I would recommend them to anyone.
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An Enzoani Bride for an Interfaith Jewish Wedding with Tons of Creative Touches at Offley Place, Great Offley, Hitchin, Hertfordshire UK

30/08/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

It’s always a special day when we get to blog the big day of one of our beloved Smashing the Glass Brides Club members, and Shelley’s gorgeous interfaith Jewish wedding is no exception. She and groom and Chris not only crafted an ultra-personal celebration full of creative touches, they used some of our very favourite vendors to pull it off too!

First and foremost, we love that the bride, who’s Jewish, and the groom, who isn’t, chose to work with the wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rabbi Paul Glantz (who they found right here on Smashing The Glass!) to craft an individual Jewish blessing that truly reflected the pair as a couple – complete with a lovely floral ketubah reflecting their theme of rustic elegance from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubata.

This wedding is just so full of love and emotion, perfectly captured by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rafe Abrook in the exquisite photos. And speaking of photos, we love that Shelley and Chris gave each table an ‘Instagram Challenge’ to complete, with instructions like ‘your whole table must take a photo that recreates a famous movie scene’ – what a great way to get everyone involved and socializing, right?!

Lovely Shelley could not have looked more radiant on the day, and we’re in love with her gorgeous bridal beauty look from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Makeup by Katy. Between the beautiful makeup and perfect gown from Enzoani, it’s no wonder she felt like a princess all day!

And we love that Shelley and Chris worked with the wonderful Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Abby Taubman of Colletts Travel to plan their fab honeymoon to Singapore, Bali and Hong Kong.

We so loved having Shelley in Brides Club and helping her along as she planned this amazing day – if you’re planning a Jewish or Jew-ish wedding of your own and could use a little support, guidance, community, referrals to great vendors, or anything else you can think of that will help make your day the very best it can be – do sign up for your free 30-day trial and join us!

Now over to Shelley…

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How we met

Shelley and Chris, the bride and the groom: It’s Chris writing this part! Shelley and I are teachers, as you probably would have guessed from all the crafty things we incorporated into the wedding! We met training on our PGCE, where I knew that she was the one I was going to ask to be my wife. 6 years, two houses and one cat later, we are now Mr and Mrs Amoss ☺

A Calla Blanche Bride for a Jewish Wedding at Al Hayam Caesarea, Israel

19/07/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

Is there anything better than an outdoor Jewish wedding by the ocean in Israel? We’re betting on no… and so did Sophie, a primary school teacher, and Elliott, a financial advisor, who opted for an epic destination wedding at Caesarea’s always stunning Al Hayam. This is one seriously stunning day – you don’t want to miss the splendid photography and videography by Camellia Art (who used a drone to capture some seriously awesome landscape shots).

This is a venue that really speaks for itself, and these two let the natural beauty of the location speak for itself, timing their chuppah for sunset, and going for a beautiful green and white chuppah that made a statement yet didn’t distract from the natural splendor of the surroundings.

We love that the couple opted to follow the tradition of doing the badeken on the aisle, honoring Elliott’s Sephardi heritage, so that the groom AND all the guests all got their first look at the beautiful bride as she walked down the aisle.

Speaking of that beautiful bride – who totally smashed it bridal style-wise in Calla Blanche – we’re going to turn you over to her now for the rest of the story…

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A Wedding in Israel

Sophie, the bride: Back in October 2016, Elliott proposed to me by the Bahai Gardens in Haifa which is his favourite place in the world. He is half Israeli and with his family living there, he would go there throughout his childhood to visit them, and so Israel is a very special place to Elliott. Getting engaged there, we knew straight away that was where we wanted get married. We got married at Al Hayam, Caesarea, Israel – the minute we heard about the venue we instantly feel in love with it.

A Pronovias Bride for a Secret Garden Jewish Wedding at Alexander, Emek Hefer, Israel

10/07/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

It’s the beautiful Jewish wedding of our wonderful blogging bride Rebecca! It’s always a special moment for us seeing our blogging brides get married after following along throughout their planning, and today is no exception. Rebecca, a fashion buyer, and David, a financial advisor, had the most stunning destination wedding in Israel, and we are totally in love with everything about their big day.

Rebecca adores flowers, so it was a given that they’d play a big part in her day. And we’re totally blown away by her exquisite ketubah and gorgeous table centers – focusing on greens and whites, everything meshes so well with the natural beauty of the venue.

It doesn’t hurt that the couple worked with some of our very favorite Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors. From the amazing Ran Bergman on photography and videography – he and his team captured all the emotion and love, not to mention the gorgeous décor, so perfectly – to the pair’s gorgeous modern ketubah from Ketubata, with a green and white floral design that perfectly mirrored the décor for the day, Rebecca and David truly assembled a dream team.

We’re crazy about Rebecca’s long-sleeved fishtail lace gown by Pronovias, which she found at beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Mirror Mirror in London – in the bride’s own words, Mirror Mirror“want you to feel 100% and go above and beyond to make sure you are happy.” Rebecca’s Swarovski hair clip fromSmashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Emmy London was the perfect complement to her classically glam bridal style.

There’s so much more to say about this awesome wedding, but before we hand you off to the bride we’ll just leave you with this last little tidbit: the couple served their midnight snack in personalized Tupperware adorned with their wedding logo! If you’re looking for an unexpected favor idea that’s both fun and useful, we think this is a pretty excellent choice.

How we met

Rebecca, the bride: One night in March 2017 I was swiping on Jswipe and I came across David. We had lots of mutual friends, one being my best friend I had just booked my holiday with, so when we matched I instantly called her and said ‘who’s’ this?!’ to which she replied ‘OMG I love him he’s a really good friend you should definitely go on a date with him – I don’t think he’s THE ONE but I think you will fancy him and he is super tall’.

Being 5ft8 height is a REAL thing for me. I was like ‘how tall’ and she said ‘put it this way, you will be able to wear your highest heels’. The struggle is real for tall Jewish girls to find a tall Jewish man, I was so sick of wearing flats and worrying about how tall someone was — so knowing he was tall I already knew my outfit for the first date!

My friend messaged David saying you have matched with my friend and if he wanted my number — all he said was ‘oh she’s hot and he will have a look’. I wait 1 week and receive NO MESSAGE FROM HIM! I am obviously furious so decide to take matters in my own hand and message him first! #independentwoman (He still to this day said the app was “deleted” which is why he didn’t message me as he didn’t see it!)

We start messaging and we get on like a house on fire and start to arrange a first date. I am originally from Leeds and it was round Peseach in 2017 so was back home for the holiday, so we waited to meet up for a drink after.

A Pronovias Bride for a Rustic Destination Jewish Wedding at Topnotch Resort, Stowe, Vermont, USA

03/06/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

A destination Jewish wedding doesn’t have to take place thousands of miles from home to have a seriously big impact. For evidence, see the gorgeous rustic wedding of Erica, a content manager in the pharmaceutical industry and adjunct professor in business communications, and Jared, an electrical engineer.

They knew they wanted an intimate wedding that would allow their family and friends – who hadn’t spent much time together due to living far apart – to really get to know each other. So they opted to host #GordonWeddinGetaway in Vermont’s breathtaking Green Mountains – far enough away from their home in Philadelphia to qualify as a bona fide destination while still accessible to their guests.

We love that Erica and Jared really focused on keeping everything low key and fun for their 45 guests, and never lost sight of their ultimate goal for the wedding weekend: connecting with their nearest and dearest – and allowing their family and friends a chill couple of days to connect with each other, too! And based on the wonderful photos from Jesse Schloff Photography, it seems to have gone exactly to plan.

One of our biggest goals here at STG is to make sure all brides (and grooms) to be are able to craft a wedding day (or weekend!) that’s exactly how they want it to be – and we’re so excited to be launching our first-ever FREE Jewish Wedding Planning Bootcamp, starting TODAY, Monday, June 3! It’s going to be full of tips and tools for creating the wedding of your dreams, stress-free (or just about), and it’s not too late to sign up!

Now over to the bride, who looked exquisite in her off-the-shoulder mermaid gown from Pronovias…

How we met

Erica, the bride: Like many others these days, we met online—Jdate specifically. From reading his profile, I thought we had a lot in common (we’re both from the same town). I liked that he said he liked to go mini golfing and play board games—nerdy things that I also enjoy. We also both lived in South Florida; we even went to the same high school in PA but were a year apart.

We set up our first date for October 2, 2015. We went bowling and split a pizza. I thought he was very cute and felt a connection right away. Early on, I could see Jared being “the one.”