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5 of Our Favorites: Sun-drenched Jewish Weddings in Spain

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Jade and Andy‘s Jewish Wedding in Spain | Photo by Signe Dzile Photography

Welcome back to “5 of Our Favorites,” where we highlight five stunning Jewish weddings, all curated around a unique theme. This week, we’re taking you to the sun-soaked landscapes and rich cultural heritage of Spain with 5 of our favorite Jewish destination weddings in Spain.

From the historic charm of Seville to the sunny splendor of Marbella, it’s no wonder so many Jewish couple choose Spain as the perfect setting for a destination wedding full of passion, tradition, and romance. 

We’re so excited to share these breathtaking Spanish weddings with you, and hopefully inspire your own destination celebration in this beautiful country!

Rebecca & Emmanuel, Villa Luisa, Seville, Spain

Rebecca and Emmanuel‘s Jewish Wedding in Spain | Photo by Juan Luis Morilla

Rebecca and Emmanuel’s Andalusian Fantasy Ashkenazi-Sephardi Jewish Wedding at Villa Luisa, Seville, Spain

We love it when a couple lets their Jewish wedding locale set the stage for an ultra-memorable celebration – which is exactly what Parisian duo Rebecca, a physiatrist, and Emmanuel, an epidemiologist, did when they chose to make it official in Seville, Spain!

Rebecca & Emmanuel, Villa Luisa, Seville, Spain

Rebecca and Emmanuel‘s Jewish Wedding in Spain | Photo by Juan Luis Morilla

The pair chose Andalusia not only for its fabulous East-meets-West architecture and delectable cuisine, but also for its rich Jewish history, in tribute to the bride’s Sephardic heritage.

Rebecca & Emmanuel, Villa Luisa, Seville, Spain

Rebecca and Emmanuel‘s Jewish Wedding in Spain | Photo by Juan Luis Morilla

And their amazing wedding planner, Charlotte Ricard-Quesada from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor La Fête – who Rebecca and Emmanuel found right here on Smashing The Glass – brought their dreams to life exquisitely – on a super tight timeline, no less! Charlotte’s fluency in Spanish and experience planning weddings in Seville made the process a breeze, and she connected the pair with many of their fabulous vendors – including their breathtaking venue Villa Luisa, which captures the splendor of old Andalusia in all its glory.

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Jade and Andy‘s Jewish Wedding in Spain | Photo by Signe Dzile Photography

Jade and Andy’s Cabana Chic Jewish Wedding with a Mirrored Chuppah at the Park Hyatt, Mallorca, Spain

HOW dreamy is Jade and Andy’s destination Jewish wedding in marvelous Mallorca?! Their venue, Park Hyatt Mallorca, is just BEYOND — it may be a hotel, but it feels like an ultra-glam villa. Of course, the stunning natural surroundings — mountains AND oceans — don’t hurt.

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Jade and Andy‘s Jewish Wedding in Spain | Photo by Signe Dzile Photography

We’re obsessed with the super cool mirrored silver chuppah — cleverly set up to reflect the gorgeous grove of olive trees in the sunken garden surrounding the ceremony space! We also love how Jade and Andy opted to seat their guests in a square formation on all sides of the chuppah, to enhance the intimate feel of the day — such a nice idea, especially if you’re having a smaller wedding like these two did.

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Jade and Andy‘s Jewish Wedding in Spain | Photo by Signe Dzile Photography

Weddings don’t come much more photogenic than this one, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion absolutely made the most of the cinematic surroundings — the aerial shot that opens his epic trailer is unforgettable.

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5 of Our Favorites: DIY Jewish Weddings Full of Ideas and Inspo

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Emily and Brant, Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas, USA

Emily and Brant‘s DIY Jewish Wedding at Kimpton Fitzroy London | Photo by Caitlin McWeeney Photography

Welcome back to “5 of Our Favorites,” where we showcase five breathtaking Jewish weddings each week, all curated around a special theme. This week, we’re celebrating creativity and personal touches with 5 of our favorite DIY Jewish weddings.

DIY weddings offer couples the chance to bring their vision to life, with every detail thoughtfully crafted by their own hands or with the help of close family and friends. From homemade decor to hand-built chuppahs to personalized favors and even home-baked wedding cakes, these weddings reflect the unique personality and love of the couple, creating a truly intimate and meaningful experience. Whether it’s an elegant outdoor affair or a cozy indoor celebration, these DIY Jewish weddings are full of heart, charm, and inspiration.

We can’t wait to share these beautiful, handcrafted celebrations with you and offer some ideas for incorporating your own personal touches into your big day!

Leah and Alex‘s DIY Jewish Wedding | Photo by Alex Gordias

Leah and Alex’s Literary Jewish Wedding with DIY Touches at the Bride’s Parents’ Family Home in Falmouth, Massachusetts

We love it when a couple makes their Jewish wedding 100% truly THEM. And that’s exactly what Leah and Alex did in their literary-themed backyard wedding, which celebrated the pair’s love of reading, family, and of course their beloved cats!

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Leah and Alex‘s DIY Jewish Wedding | Photo by Alex Gordias

Their wonderful wedding planner, Luba Gankin from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Primavera Dreams, helped them pull all these strands together to make one ultra-memorable day. We can’t get enough of all the fun details like centerpieces made of old books and escort card bookmarks made of recycled book pages – plus the super colorful chuppah canopy, made from a piece of traditional Egyptian wedding tent cloth the bride brought back with her after spending three years living in Egypt!

Leah and Alex‘s DIY Jewish Wedding | Photo by Alex Gordias

Oh, and did we mention that the bride – who looked lovely in her wedding dress from BHLDN – baked the wedding cake (for 150 guests) herself?!

Emily and Brant, Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas, USA

Emily and Brant‘s DIY Jewish Wedding | Photo by Caitlin McWeeney Photography

Emily and Brant’s Jewish Wedding Full of Wildflowers, Tacos, and DIY at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas

We always love featuring the gorgeous Jewish wedding of one of our Brides Club members – and that goes doubly for bride Emily, who was a beloved member of our Smashing Life community for Jewish women for years prior to her engagement to groom Brant. During her engagement, Emily was the absolute DIY queen of Brides Club, and we loved following along with all her fabulous projects. 

Emily and Brant, Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas, USA

Emily and Brant‘s DIY Jewish Wedding | Photo by Caitlin McWeeney Photography

In Brides Club, Emily couldn’t get enough of the supportive community, inspiration, and helpful resources. In her words,  

The encouragement and support was also invaluable as my mom passed 9yrs ago, and I just didn’t know who to ask about some of the important things. Coping with decisions I would normally ask my mom is also where Karen and her monthly sessions made me feel less alone – I could again, brag or problem solve or just talk weddings. Karen and the other Brides Club members stepped in, in a way, where I was missing my mom. 

Honoring her mom was a big part of Emily’s wedding planning vision – and the couple’s stunning venue, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas, was chosen in part because Emily had fond memories of visiting with her mom during her student days at The University of Texas at Austin.

Emily and Brant, Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas, USA

Emily and Brant‘s DIY Jewish Wedding | Photo by Caitlin McWeeney Photography

We’ve also got to tell you Emily’s hilarious ketubah story. She won her gorgeous tree ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink with Intent via a Smashing The Glass giveaway – before she was even engaged!

We adore everything about this very special wedding, from Emily’s DIY prowess to the chuppah built by the groom to the taco menu.

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Cheryl & Ernest | Super-special + meaningful Jewish wedding at The Long Center, Austin, Texas, USA

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Sometimes I think we forget that a wedding is about more than just the Bride and Groom. Weddings are also about two families coming together; the start of a new generation — but also about appreciating the older generation who have loved you and supported you through the good and the bad times.

Cheryl and Ernest’s wedding is a real celebration of that. Their chuppah (pictured above — and isn’t it one of the most beautiful you’ve ever clapped eyes on?) is the most meaningful and moving one I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen many! It’s a tribute to Cheryl’s mother who tragically passed away just as Cheryl and Ernest were embarking on their wedding planning, and it’s exquisitely made out of Cheryl’s mother’s clothes and other momentous pieces including her grandmother’s wedding dress and a shirt her mum had kept of her grandfather’s after he had died.

How special is that?
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I also have to mention that they dreamed up a brilliant idea for their ‘conversation starter’ escort cards — scroll down to see what I’m talking about — in fact these two made sure that they spoilt their guests with little treats here and there throughout their entire celebration ensuring that everyone had a day to remember.

Enough of me, I’m going to hand over to our gorgeous Bride, Cheryl, and the fabulous images of Daniel C. Photography, and let you lovelies experience this heart-warming, life-affirming, hearty big day for yourselves.
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Niki & Will | Super-fun + frolicsome Jewish Wedding at Santa Margarita Ranch, California

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Ok lovely people, we are starting the week at TRULY EPIC on the wedding spectrum. So get ready. ..

The bride and groom are both into comedy (Niki is a writer for The Office and Will is an actor) so they ramped up the fun factor to the extreme. In fact their wedding slogan was ‘Have fun. Get Messy’ and their monogram was two back to back guns that together formed a heart. ADORE! The couple made up personalised plastic bibs for their guests incorporating the Have fun. Get Messy logo too! How can you not have a ball at a wedding where bibs get handed out for goodness sake?!

The venue, Santa Margarita Ranch, is beyond incredible, and watch out for the couple’s chuppah too. I guarantee it’s one of the most unusual you will EVER catch sight of. Let’s just say that it’s essentially made up of shabby-chic-esque screen doors adorned with multi-coloured paper spiral flowers, and what’s more, a reading from Quentin Tarantino’s True Romance was one of the readings recited under it!

OK enough of me, right? Let’s hand over to our fabulous (and utterly gorgeous) bride, Niki, for the story of her and Will’s W-Day, and feast your eyes on onelove’s photographic delights..
Fun Jewish Wedding at Santa Margarita Ranch California
Fun Jewish Wedding at Santa Margarita Ranch CaliforniaFun Jewish Wedding at Santa Margarita Ranch California


AN INSANE PARTY
Niki, the Bride: The one thing we wanted to make sure we had was a fun freakin’ party! We didn’t want the vibe to be stuffy or serious, so we tried to let that be known from the get-go with our jokey save-the-dates. Will and I are both into comedy, so we wanted there to be some silly aspects to both the ceremony and the reception. And the after-party. And the hotel lobby.Continue ReadingContinue Reading