Food Story Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Pronovias Bride for an Ultra-Emotional Winter Glam Jewish Wedding at Two Temple Place, London, UK

12/11/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

We’re totally obsessed with today’s fantastic (and first time featured on STG) London venue. Two Temple Place. It’s positively bursting at the seams with Edwardian opulence, from the epic wood paneling to the lovely gold fixtures to the massive stained glass skylight!

Lucinda, who works in marketing, and Max, a lawyer (#teamopptiedtheknot)could not have picked a cooler spot for their winter glam Jewish wedding, and we love how they played it up with awesome candelabra centerpieces, a beautiful gold chuppah, and the perfect wintry florals in deep berries and greens.

We’re totally not surprised to hear the bride’s report that the kosher catering from STG Recommended Vendor Food Story was stellar (and that the catering manager was a huge help in coordinating the day, even beyond food), and we’re totally craving some of those luscious canapà©s in the photos. The cocktails look pretty swanky themselves, for that matter…

But this wedding is more than it’s luxe style. The emotion captured in Barney Walters’ wonderful photos is just something else — his captures of the couple under the chuppah are truly unmissable. We love that, since Lucinda’s father had passed away, Max’s dad stepped in and gave a beautiful speech — the fact that Lucinda was so bowled over with emotion after listening to his speech, plus Max’s, the MC’s and best man’s, that she couldn’t deliver her own bride’s speech she’d prepared for herself really says it all!

Now we’ll hand you over to Lucinda herself, who looked so elegant in her simple, chic Pronovias dress…

How we met

Lucinda, the bride: We met through mutual friends in a London nightclub… and the rest, as they say, is history!

A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Jewish Wedding at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London, UK

07/11/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

For years, we’ve been dreaming of blogging a Jewish wedding at one of the most spectacular venues in all of London: the majestic Natural History Museum in lovely South Kensington. An absolute masterpiece of Victorian architecture, it doesn’t get much more iconic than this.

And today, our wedding blogger dreams are coming true with the epic wedding of Orly and Zak! Following a ceremony at the New West End Synagogue in Bayswater — no slouch in the architecture department itself — the pair and their guests decamped to the museum’s stunning Hintze Hall — if you’ve been, or seen it in pictures, it’s the main space with the whale skeleton overhanging! HOW awesome is that?! And how cool are the epic action shots from Pascale at Reportage Gallery?

Orly, an OB/GYN, and Zak, who works in property development, rounded out their marvellous day with kosher catering from fabulous STG Recommended Vendor Food Story (the pair are STILL getting compliments on their unique canapà©s, cocktails, and everything else by the amazing Food Story team), and they also benefitted from the ultimate day-of coordination (plus a little assistance wrapping up the last few weeks of planning) from the amazing Georgia of Moriarty Events.

Orly’s princess-perfect Monique Lhuillier gown purchased from much-loved STG Recommended Vendor The Wedding Club (who added the PERFECT lace straps to keep Orly’s shoulders covered for the ceremony).

If that’s not enough to catch your attention, there’s also a super sweet story about the couple’s history with the venue, plus a dramatic Hora incident (don’t worry, though, it all ended well!).

We’ll hand you over to the bride in a moment, but first a quick reminder that our FREE online event, ‘The secrets to an unforgettable Jewish wedding’ with our founder and editor, Karen, is happening next Monday November 12 and spots are filling up FAST! Grab your place now to ensure that your Jewish or Jew-ish wedding is as unforgettable as Orly and Zak’s…

An Iconic Venue

Orly, the bride: We got married at the New West End Synagogue in Bayswater and had our reception in Hintze Hall at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. The synagogue is really one of the most beautiful in London with such magnificent architecture and such a warm, welcoming community.

The Natural History Museum has always been a really special place for us as a couple — on our very first date I told Zak about a little mistake I had noticed on a poster in the dinosaur exhibition. A few weeks later, unbeknownst to me, Zak had already decided we were going to get engaged and started trying to convince them to give him the poster for when he proposed.

It took him a few years, but eventually the NHM gave him the poster and he surprised me with it during his speech on our wedding day! Now it’s up in our hallway! Hintze Hall is such a stunning space and it was such a privilege to party under Hope the whale in such an iconic London venue!

Real Jewish Brides: What’s Most Important to Rebecca for her Wedding

16/10/2018 by Smashing The Glass

Rebecca will be marrying Danny on 1st September 2019 in London, UK. Click here to read all Rebecca’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Rebecca and Danny met on JSwipe (2) Rebecca is a Senior Event Planner at Food Story (who just so happen to be our favorite kosher caterers!) and plans other people’s weddings for a living (3) Rebecca and Danny are planning a “Marbella meets Tuscany” themed wedding in the heart of London!

What Really Matters

Working for Food Story I get to see so many beautiful weddings; stunning centrepieces, bespoke stages, dancefloors, bars, the list can go on. But when working on an event I am very much into the logistics and don’t often step back to take it all in.

During the busy wedding season just gone, I tried to find moments to think about:

What is most important during a wedding?
What is important for guests to feel at a wedding?
What’s most important for the couple at a wedding?

I am not sure I have the answers for everyone, however for me I know that the answer to all three questions is… LOVE. Most people who know me will tell you I am not very sentimental, so this answer was a little surprising. But, when I think about our wedding day all I can think about is surrounding myself with the people I love most.

An Epic Enchanted Garden-Themed Jewish Wedding with Airplanes, Classic Cars, and a Carousel at Bicester Heritage, Bicester, UK

06/08/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Where do we even start with today’s Jewish wedding? It’s got to be one of the most amazing we’ve seen, like… EVER. Do you see that chuppah?! We’ve honestly never come across one like it before, like an actual magical forest transported indoors (thanks to the never-ending talents of Amie Bone Flowers)– and it’s about the size of one, too.

Shier, a junior doctor, and Xander, a product designer, went BIG with everything from their venue — an actual airplane hangar that they transformed into an enchanted forest for the day — to their glorious chuppah (!!!) to Shier’s wonderfully OTT flower crown.

The pair brought a Victorian-style carousel in for the day, and post-ceremony Shier and Xander drove onto the dancefloor in one of Xander’s many classic cars, a baby blue open top from the 1960s. Seriously. Check it out in At Motion’s brilliant video of the day. Oh, and the groom flew into the wedding, landing a 1930s open-top airplane in feet away from the crowd of guests.

When we say this pair went big with everything, we do mean everything. Dessert-loving Shier couldn’t bear to choose just one cake, so Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor Food Story put together a dessert table with literally dozens. The couple’s guests couldn’t stop raving about how delicious the food was, and many were shocked when they found out it was kosher (as is often the case with the amazing Food Story!).

Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor David Pullum did SUCH an amazing job photographing the day, capturing the drama of the setting, the emotion of the ceremony, and the fun of the party so well, we feel like we were there ourselves. We certainly wish we were — we’ve fallen head over heels for this wedding, and we’re pretty sure you will too.

Oh, and did we mention there’s a super cool story behind Shier’s fab gown (and no, it’s not a Vivienne Westwood). Read on to find out its unexpected journey — and all the other details of this most epic of weddings.

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Not Your Average Venue

Shier, the bride: We got married in a beautifully alternative venue, an airplane hangar within a site called Bicester Heritage. The site is a repurposed WW2 RAF bomber station now dedicated to all things relating to classic cars and motoring. My brother initially read about the site in a classic car magazine and immediately thought of Alexander (my now husband!) and me because Alexander’s biggest passion in life, apart from me of course, is his classic car collection and all things related.

I sent an email over to their event manager Tiggy Atkinson and the rest was history! Initially even Tiggy was a bit skeptical as they had never hosted a wedding before, although they do host many large-scale events such as car auctions and classic car conventions. Our families and friends were also very skeptical upon hearing we wanted to get married in what was essentially an empty 50,000ft garage, however Jess from Every Event London (our wedding planner) and my brilliantly creative mum consistently reassured us that together we could turn this monolithic empty space into a dream wedding venue.

A Suzanne Neville Bride for a Flower-Forward Jewish Wedding with the Ultimate Floral Chuppah at The Grove, Chandlers Cross, UK

25/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Um, wow. Just when we think we’ve seen it all when it comes to floral chuppah design, we’re proven wrong. Just look at this floral chuppah of dreams. Jaw-on-the-floor WOW!

Flowers were top priority for bride Natasha, who works in the diamond industry, and her groom, Charles, a solicitor. And it shows. The couple turned to Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Mary Jane Vaughan to realize their vision of an indoor spring garden, and did she ever!

She’s the visionary behind that chuppah — which is truly a floral fantasy, between the blossoms wrapped around the columns and the wisteria hanging from the canopy.

Their chuppah is pretty unbeatable, and the flowers they had for the reception hit the spot too. And all of it was captured so beautifully by yet another Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, the AMAZING Imaginarium Cinematography on film (below), with Chiko Photography on stills.

If flowers were priority #1, then food came in as a close second. Another incredible STG Recommended Vendor, Food Story created a menu including the likes of beef carpaccio with yuzu and pistachio (!) a totally different class to your standard kosher wedding fare. And don’t even get us started on the donut wall (we LOVE a donut wall!).

One last thing we loved about this fab day is the way Natasha got two totally different looks out of her classic strapless Suzanne Neville gown by pairing it with a demurely elegant Sassi Holford jacket for the chuppah (also handily keeping her shoulders covered).

If you love the idea of separate dresses for the ceremony and reception but don’t necessary have the budget for it, this is such a smart way to mix up your style throughout the day. Okay, now over to the bride, gorgeous Natasha…

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How we met

Natasha, the bride: We met through Jcrush! We had never met before but have many weird connections! One of Charles’s best friends happened to be my cousin! We both attended my cousin’s bar mitzvah at 13 years old, and my sister and Charles’s brother were friends, having met on Israel tour together when they were younger!