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A Mark Lesley Bride for a Relaxed Countryside Jewish Wedding at Braxted Park, Essex, UK

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How many weddings have you been to that have featured a surprise ukulele performance… by the bride?! None, you say? Same here. But Amanda and Adam’s laid-back, ultra-personal day, which included just that, makes us wish we could’ve been there to see it!

We admit we were predisposed to adore this Jewish wedding, since the bride is none other than STG Blogging Bride Amanda, but take a peek at Steven Carter-Hewson’s fantastic photos and Filmmakers of London’s beautiful video of the day and we bet you’ll agree with us that this looks like one fun wedding.

It’s not just the ukulele performance (which even the groom didn’t know about beforehand!) that makes Amanda and Adam’s day stand out, though. Planned entirely by the couple (with a little help from our Facebook community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides and grooms — thanks for the shout-out, Amanda!), keeping things personal and involving friends and family were top goals throughout. And we love some of the touching ways this pair pulled that off — by inviting different guests to give each sheva bracha during the ceremony and having family members hold the poles of their chuppah.

The couple held their ceremony in Braxted Park’s gorgeous orangery and their reception in a marquee looking out on the lovely grounds. The couple wanted to complement their surroundings rather than overwhelm them with dà©cor and not knowing much about flowers, Amanda wanted to make sure she found a florist who could take charge. Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Emma Sousa of Urban Flower Farmer was exactly that. Her subtle arrangements focusing on delicate greenery and occasional bursts of soft color, with candles and hurricane jars added to the tabletops for a little extra glam.

Now over to the bride, who looked so elegant in her champagne-colored Mark Lesley dress…


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How we met

Amanda, the bride: I work in advertising as an account director and Adam works in financial services. We met on holiday in Israel back in June of 2014, so we’re coming up to 4 years together.

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An Oleg Cassini Bride for a Multicultural Jewish Wedding at Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel, Belgravia, London, UK

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Today’s couple, Monica, a surveyor, and Damon, an e-commerce manager, had a beautiful multicultural Jewish wedding smack bang in the center of London. Their glam day featured a champagne color scheme, stunning flower arrangements, and a super cool Perspex chuppah.

Bride Monica converted to Judaism, and it was important to the couple to incorporate traditions reflecting all of their families’ heritage into the day. They had musicians from Sweden, Germany, Israel, and London brought in to perform songs in Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, and English, and their singers even learned some Greek to make sure they really mastered the performance!

Keeping with the theme of family, they chose their venue, Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Belgravia, partly because it’s where Damon’s sister got married previously, and they loved having that connection. The couple got their mothers to team up on the welcome speech, Monica’s dad not being much for public speaking! And Damon’s touching speech, including a musical performance by the groom himself (!) made every guest in the room tear up.

Their amazing photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor David Morgan, was likewise chosen partly because he had worked on a previous family wedding – but also because when the couple met with him they just clicked. Monica sings his praises as not only a super calming influence on the day who “saw beauty in moments you wouldn’t expect,” but also a huge support in the lead-up to the wedding.

Lucky for you UK brides-to-be, David is also offering a 10% discount on any package to members of our  VIB [Very Important Bride] Brides Club! He’s just one of many handpicked vendors offering discounts or free gifts to members of this very special group, which also features a private members-only Facebook group with around-the-clock support and advice from my team and me, plus all kinds of cool bridal extras and goodies. If you haven’t joined yet, don’t delay as we’ll be closing membership for this quarter shortly!

Monica and Damon were also delighted with their videographer, Jamie Horton at Yours Truly. Jamie had never worked on a Jewish wedding before, but he was excited to learn about a new set of wedding customs.

In the VIB Facebook community, we hear from a lot of brides who are unsure about using vendors new to Jewish weddings, and this just goes to show that so long as the vendor in question is willing to learn about new wedding traditions there’s really no reason to worry.

Here’s more from Monica, who was just gorgeous in her sparkly Oleg Cassini gown…

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How we met

Monica, the bride: We met when I was 20 years old; he is my best friend’s brother.

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A Naturally Beautiful Jewish Wedding in the Colorado Mountains at Vail Wedding Deck, Vail, Colorado, USA

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Today’s gorgeous mountaintop Jewish real wedding is a testament to keeping it simple and letting your surroundings do the talking. This works particularly well when your surroundings happen to be the glorious mountains of Colorado! 

With a little help from the Internet, and a lot of help from a rabbi with encyclopaedic local knowledge, Jordan and Josh made their dream day a reality, complete with a first look, a gondola ride to the top of the mountain and an epic hora dance – all in the same place that the Obamas stayed during their visit to Colorado! 

Jordan and Josh are both lawyers, living in New York City, but had such a profound connection to Vail that they chose to have a destination wedding there, with 50+ friends and family flying out to celebrate with them. 

Their intimate ceremony involved their close family, with all hands on deck for the music and blessings, which we definitely approve of!

We also ADORE the proposal story. Jordan and Josh met on a train platform when Jordan asked him for directions. The pair hit it off straight away, and Josh ended up riding the train to her destination with her. A few years later, Josh popped the question on the very same train platform. How adorable is that?? 

Back to the big day – Jordan looked simply beautiful in her David’s Bridal dress, and all the magic was expertly captured by photographer Sharee Davenport.

That’s enough from us – it’s now Jordan’s turn to take over Smashing The Glass to tell us all about her and Josh’s big day. Over to Jordan!

 
How we met

Jordan, the bride: We met when I was in law school (in Chicago) when Josh was visiting home for Yom Kippur from business school in New York. I was at the train station in Chicago going to my family’s house for breakfast and Josh was going to the suburbs for a Northwestern football game. I asked him for directions, and that’s how we met! 

We ended up riding the train together that day and added each other on Facebook. He messaged me that night and said that, while he liked me, he lived in New York, and asked to set me up with his cousin. I said no, but to let me know the next time he was in town.  We met up that night and have been together ever since (almost four years).
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A Melissa Sweet Bride for a Chic LA Jewish Interfaith Wedding at La Cañada Flintridge Country Club, California

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Today’s real Jew-ish wedding is a very special one for all of us here at STG – not just because it’s an absolute stunner, but because the bride, Lacey, is a much-loved, active and hugely supportive member of our Smashing The Glass Brides Club Facebook group.

It’s an absolute pleasure to finally be able to celebrate her and Brandon’s fabulous wedding day – and if you haven’t joined Brides Club yet, what are you waiting for?!

The fabulous event took place at La Cañada Flintridge Country Club, with spectacular views of downtown LA, and there were so many sweet and sentimental touches to the day.

The simply beautiful chuppah was the couple’s ‘something borrowed’ item, with several friends getting married underneath it. Lacey and Brandon were married by the same judge who married her parents, in a Jew-ish ceremony that incorporated all the important elements.

Style-savvy Lacey opted for a bold color scheme of navy blue with bright pops of orange, which looked absolutely wonderful and carried consistently throughout the floristry, decorations and wedding party outfits, along with a monogram motif, which we just LOVE. 

Lacey looked like an A-list dream in her gorgeous Melissa Sweet gown, which she bought at David’s Bridal, along with her veil and beautiful, navy blue bridesmaids’ dresses. 

The details and emotion of the day were captured by photographer, Jennifer Jasso Photography, tying everything together to perfection.

It’s now Lacey’s long-awaited moment to shine, after helping so many other of our brides with their big-day plans, so we’ll hand the blog over to her for the full writeup. Take it away, Lacey!

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A classic, timeless theme and bold color scheme

Lacey, the bride: We got married atLa Cañada Flintridge Country Club (LCFCC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. We wanted a venue that was close to where we and our families live.

We also wanted a venue that would provide “one-stop shopping,” such as providing the tables, chairs, linens, etc. as well as the catering and beverages. Our ceremony was at the same place.

We picked LCFCC because their pricing was very reasonable for the buffet options we wanted, they were willing to negotiate on some of the prices, and the club has amazing views from the ballroom.

It is located in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest and, in addition to the wraparound patio with views all the way to Downtown Los Angeles, the ballroom featured floor-to-ceiling windows going all the way around.

We knew the views would be spectacular for our guests and that we would not have to do a lot of decorating. The clubhouse is designed in a mid-century modern style that we both loved.

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A Rockstar Jewish Wedding with a ‘Sunset in the Garden’ Theme at New York Botanic Gardens, NYC

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Get your lighters out and get ready to turn the volume right up, because Andrea and Mark are, without a doubt, the rockiest couple we’ve ever featured on STG! 

Their Jewish wedding took place in the ultimate rockstar city, New York, at the beautiful New York Botanical Garden, with a ‘sunset in the garden’ theme that ran through the dà©cor and color scheme. The flowers were in auburn colors and gradients of red, and looked absolutely sublime.

The couple first met through their shared love of music, and are in a band together, along with bride Andrea’s sister. In fact, their band, MANCIE, gave a surprise performance at the wedding. The idea was to demonstrate how the pair communicates through their music, which we think is just wonderful. What an incredible and very special extra element to have in a relationship! Watching the brilliant wedding trailer by Nicholas Oliver, you can really see them in the zone! 

When they weren’t bringing the house down with their own music, the creative couple entrusted their entertainment to none other than Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, the fabulous Hank Lane Band! High praise indeed, to be booked by two musicians. 

Andrea is also a professional photographer, and so two of her colleagues,  Cory Goldberg and Kurt Sneddon were entrusted with capturing the story of the day – and didn’t they do a magnificent job?>

We’re just the warmup act, so we’ll pass you over to Andrea for the lowdown on her and Mark’s Jewish wedding – everybody make some noise for Andrea!

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How we met

Andrea, the bride: We met through music, as we are both musicians as well as entrepreneurs, so music and a great party were very important to us. There is more info about how we met here.

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