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A Vera Wang Bride for an Israeli-American Jewish Wedding at Hagiva, Givat Brenner, Israel

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If you can’t get enough of Israeli weddings, we’ve got a treat for you! The fabulous Jewish wedding of Alexa and Nitay, at gorgeous Hagiva, has all the things we love about weddings in Israel: a gorgeous outdoor setting filled with greenery and Jerusalem stone, gorgeous chuppah, Israeli food and music, and, of course, epic party vibes.

Nitay is Israeli, while Alexa is American – and the pair perfectly combined the best of both wedding traditions to make sure everyone felt comfortable and included on the day. They turned to Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Vanessa Ohayon to help bring their vision to life – and did she ever! In Alexa’s words,

Vanessa is a true professional at what she does. When we first met Vanessa, we connected instantly and she understood our vision from the start. Vanessa brings her amazing energy into every detail of any wedding. She had a solution for everything and when there were any hiccups (there are always hiccups), she knew how to bring us down to earth and find the best way to handle them. We couldn’t have done it without her!

We’re also obsessed with the couple’s exquisite photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Tzahi Shemesh. Have a scroll through and we’re pretty sure you’ll agree with Alexa’s assessment:

He made us laugh, feel comfortable, and most importantly, captured our “in the moment” memories. Him and his team were at every angle and made sure to not miss a thing! He is an artist and makes us relive our special day every time we look back at the photos. They’re magnificent!

There are so many more fabulous details to share about this very special wedding – we’ll turn you over to the bride, who looked timelessly elegant in Vera Wang, to fill you in…

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How We Met

Alexa, the bride: Nitay and I both lived in Chicago after college. We had many mutual friends who all met up one night to go out in January 2017. Nitay approached me the second he saw me and made sure he didn’t leave without getting my number! Later that week we went on our first date to a sushi restaurant. The rest is history 🙂Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Pronovias Bride for an Outdoor Jewish Wedding with TWO Ketubahs at Bear Brook Valley, Fredon, New Jersey, USA

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Lots of couples find that choosing a beautiful ketubah is one of the most meaningful and fun parts of planning their Jewish wedding. Well, Melanie and Keith enjoyed it so much they did it twice!

Let’s back up a little. Like with so many couples, COVID got in the way of the pair’s initial plans to wed in September 2020. Nevertheless, they decided to make it official on their original date with just immediate family present – and a gorgeous colorful ketubah by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Nava Shoham – 1800ketubah. Melanie and Keith adored their design so much that when the time came to plan their big celebration in June 2021, they decided to get a second lovely ketubah from Nava to mark the occasion! Don’t miss ketubah #2 in Anthony Ziccardi Studios’ wonderful photos!

And while that’s got to be our favorite story about this awesome Jewish wedding, it’s not the only unique touch. We love that Melanie and Keith wrote and read their own personal vows – heartfelt, but with a touch of humor – and we’re also crazy about their doughnut board exit station! Instead of traditional favors, guests could choose a donut from the wall on their way out, placed in personalized bags as a sweet treat for the trip home. How fun is that?

There’s so much more we could say, but we’ll leave the rest to Melanie, who looked so elegant in Pronovias…

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How we Met

Melanie, the bride: We met on a dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel, in September of 2016. At the time, we were both in graduate school in New York City. We now live in Central New York, in the Syracuse area, where we moved for a great opportunity for Keith. Keith is a Podiatric Surgeon and he works in a group practice and I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and I work at a middle school. Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Kelly Faetanini Bride for a Rustic Romantic Oceanview Jewish Wedding at Seacoast Science Center, New Hampshire, USA

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Tara & Avi, Seacoast Science Center, New Hampshire

Like most 2020 couples, Tara, a registered nurse, and Avi, a government contractor in counterterrorism, went through several changes of plan before they finally got to throw the Jewish wedding of their dreams. The DC-based couple, who both grew up in the Boston area, had initially planned a Memorial Day wedding on the North Shore of Massachusetts – until COVID hit. Next, they postponed to Thanksgiving – but just seven weeks before the date that became their wedding day, they decided to bump things up to Labor Day.   

And we’re so glad they did, because the end-of-summer date was the perfect time of year to get married outdoors at Seacoast Science Center on the gorgeous New Hampshire coast. When you’ve got the ocean as a backdrop, you don’t need much in the way of décor – but nonetheless, we’re obsessed with Tara and Avi’s gorgeous birch chuppah, which fit into the natural landscape so seamlessly. Don’t miss the breathtaking images by Alex Gordias Photography and Bob Accettulo’s moving trailer.

The couple had a traditional Modern Orthodox ceremony – with a few added touches to reflect their contemporary values. We love that, in addition to calling seven men up to the chuppah to recite the sheva brachot per Jewish tradition, they opted to also invite seven women up to read Torah verses selected by the couple. We’re also in love with Tara and Avi’s exquisite ketubah by mega-talented Israeli artist Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Noa Attias.

We’ll let Tara fill you in on the rest…

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How we Met

Tara, the bride: We met when we were 12 years old and went to the same sleep-away camp and middle and high school. We dated when we were in 9th grade for a short period of time and then rekindled our relationship when we were both camp counselors at Camp Yavneh  in 2015 and have been together ever since!Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A BHLDN Bride for a Classic Jewish Wedding Featuring Tons of DIY Details at Gainey Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

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We always love seeing all the cool DIYs couples incorporate into their Jewish weddings – but Audrey, a project manager at a media company, and Idan, an investment banker, really took it to another level!

Crafty bride Audrey DIY’d just about all the couple’s wedding details, from crafting escort cards (and a gorgeous escort card wall) to writing out the bar menus (on marble!) to monograming the bridesmaids’ pajamas customizing a white leather jacket with her wedding date – and that’s just for starters!

So it comes as no surprise that this is one couple with seriously good taste – as evidenced in their choice of a seriously stunning paper cut peacock ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Noa Attias. Even the couple’s Upper West Side framer back home in NYC – who we can only assume has seen plenty of ketubot in his time – said it’s the most beautiful he’d ever seen! And of course we’re totally unsurprised to hear that Audrey and Idan found Noa a complete pleasure to work with. Don’t miss this gorgeous work of art in Rachael Koscica Photography’s images and The Good Vibe Media’s trailer.

There are so many more cool details to share, but we’ll leave it to Audrey – who looked radiant in her Jenny Yoo dress from BHLDN – to tell you about all that…

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How We Met

Audrey, the bride: We met at the Scottsdale, Arizona Moishe House back in 2016! Shortly after meeting, I moved to Chicago for work and Idan moved to Michigan for graduate school, and we did long distance for a few years until we moved to New York together in 2019.

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A Tony Ward Bride for a Desert Glam Jewish Wedding at the Westin La Paloma, Tucson, Arizona, USA

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Today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding has made us realize we don’t see nearly enough desert celebrations. But we’re hoping to see a lot more after today, because who could see the stunning nuptials of Simone, the co-founder of an educational services company that brings wellbeing programs to college students, and Isaac, who works in real estate development, and not want to get married amidst the mountains and saguaros?!

Although mountain lovers Simone and Isaac live in Tucson, home to plentiful dramatic scenery, it wasn’t so easy for them to find a chuppah spot that met their specs: it needed breathtaking mountain views that could be enjoyed by both guests AND the couple themselves while standing under the chuppah. We’re glad they didn’t give up, though, because they totally hit the jackpot when they found The Westin La Paloma.

And how amazing is their chuppah, which, in keeping with the theme of celebrating Tucson’s natural beauty, incorporates not only flowers but also cactus pads?!

We’re obsessed with their gorgeous artistic ketubah from STG Recommended Vendor ketubah.com too. Truly a work of art!

OK – time to ogle over the stunning pics from Ben & Kelly Photography and video by Black Sheep Filmworks. And let’s hand over to the bride, who looked radiant in Tony Ward…

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Mountain Views

Simone, the bride: We got married at The Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Arizona. I had two main criteria when it came to selecting a venue. The first, and most important, was to have mountain views from the ceremony site and the second was to select a hotel venue since a lot of our guests would be coming from out of town.

I visited every hotel venue in Tucson and while all were beautiful, none had the dramatic mountain views that I had wanted from the ceremony site and if they did, only the guests would be able to see them, not me or my husband from under the chuppah. I actually started to scope out venues in Scottsdale because this was one area I was not willing to compromise.

As a Jersey girl, my favorite thing about living in Tucson are the mountains and I am just as enamored with their beauty today as I was when I first moved here 6 years ago. My husband, who is a native Tucsonan, shares my love of the mountains and I couldn’t imagine them not being a part of our big day.

Anyways, La Paloma was the last stop on our Tucson hotel tour and I didn’t want to get my hopes up. As we were going around the property everything else checked the boxes in terms of what we were looking for and I was eager to see the ceremony site, which was the last stop on our tour.

The minute we pulled up I knew with 100% certainty that we had found our venue. The ceremony site was beyond perfect. It was quiet, secluded, and had unbelievable views of the mountains for both us and our guests. 

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