Garden Wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

Sara & Ben | Gloriously Colourful and Creative Jewish Wedding at Castle Green, Pasadena, California, USA

26/01/2016 by Karen

Sara is a true Smashing The Glass bride — she did it her way (to paraphrase old blue eyes). For Sara, this meant a traditional Jewish ceremony with some of her and Ben’s own egalitarian touches added in. It meant a beautiful home-made chuppah, created by her mother, that integrated small pieces of her and Ben’s past, and it meant listening to her instincts when she felt weird, alternate pressure to create something quirky and cool, and needed a middle ground. Ben was great at helping her to acknowledge when she needed to relax and let it go, and he did much of the work, making a lot of small details happen.

The end result is a wedding full of personality, astonishing detail straight from the heart, intimacy and gloriously magnificent colour. What could be be more perfect?

The gorgeous couple first met in Israel whilst Sara was living there and Ben was visiting on holiday. She was taking classes in Jerusalem, and while Ben was in town he wanted to sit in on a class, since he had attended the same school a few years earlier. One morning in January, Sara walked into her usual class and Ben just happened to be sitting next to her regular seat. They struck up a conversation and ended up being chevruta (study partners), but spent most of their study time chatting and getting to know each other. By the end of that day’s class, they had exchanged emails and after Ben returned to the US they started getting to know each other first on email and Gchat, and then long hours over the phone. Several months later, when Sara arrived back in NYC, Ben was waiting for her at the airport with a bouquet of flowers. That was three and a half years ago…. I’ll now hand over to the lovely Sara to tell the story of her and Ben’s wedding day from June earlier this year.

VENUE + LOCATION

Sara, the Bride: We were married in Pasadena, California, which is a city in Los Angeles county. I’m from the Pasadena area, and although I moved to New York City seven years ago, I still feel very connected to Southern California. My family and many of my dear friends still live there.

Ben is from the Bronx, and likewise, feels very connected to his city, NYC. Since we both live in NYC, and our lives are anchored there now, I really wanted a wedding that would change the centre of gravity a little. California is such a huge part of who I am, and therefore it felt like an authentic place to officially declare our love. In addition, I wanted my family to feel connected and involved. The fact that I live in NYC often means they can’t be involved in the details of my life, and I wanted to change that.

Candace & Asher | Super-stylish ‘shabby chic’ Jewish wedding, Rancho Las Lomas, USA

06/02/2014 by Karen

An explosion of colour, a totally WOW vintage dress, and a sensationally decorated ‘shabby chic’ space. That’s what first struck me about today’s gorgeous lush garden wedding.

I should probably begin this beautiful big day with a Pinterest warning, because dear readers, Candace and Asher’s wedding is filled to bursting with oodles of gorgeous details that I can guarantee you’ll love. They accomplished their dream decor with bells on, creating a whimsical yet contemporary fairytale within a beautiful outside space.

There are so many details that I love about this W-day from the wonderfully colourful florals to a really original bouquet (featuring mini lockets with photos of the brides grandparents), to the astonishing decor, to the very personalised family input throughout the ceremony, that I think anyone trying to pull of a wedding with that homespun feel can be inspired. Essentially this wedding is FULL of covetable details, and all of this fabulousness is captured by the awesome Sloan Photographers. Enjoy!

Crystall & Ryan | Jewish/Greek Wedding at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York City, USA

31/10/2013 by Karen

A Greek and a Jewish wedding? Can it get much better than that?! Well in the case of this beauty, it does. Not only do we get the best of both cultures and traditions, it is literally oozing, hell, I’d even say *overflowing*, in style and creativity.

First off, Crystall and Ryan are one seriously hot couple. I’m talking hot with a capital ‘H’ guys, and I just know you’ll agree once you clap eyes on all the imagery below. Then there’s the fusion of the best Jewish and Greek traditions, plus the theme of music running through all the festivities, and on a fashion note, our lovely bride, Crystall wore not one but TWO fabulous dresses: a spectacular customised Oscar de la Renta for the ceremony, and a breathtaking Jenny Packham for the reception. I know — I must admit to being a teeny weeny bit green-eyed over this fact.

The backbone of Crystall and Ryan’s W-day is a certain symbolic willow tree in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden that was central in the early days of their relationship. The same tree went on to survive merciless Hurricane Sandy and the couple decided that this tree would form the framework of their chuppah.

I won’t delay you any further; let’s hear about this beautifully intertwined Jewish / Greek wedding day in the bride’s words. She infuses lots of lovely detail — you’ll feel as if you were right there at her wedding.

VENUE

Crystall, the Bride: The summer that Ryan and I met, we spent a perfect afternoon wandering the grounds of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It was the same day that Ryan moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, closer to where I was. We celebrated sitting under a large weeping willow tree, holding hands and completely in love. We had no way of knowing then that just 3 years later, we would be saying “I do” in that very spot in front of that same tree.

Very soon after getting engaged, we chose to marry in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a place that means so much to us. We wanted our guests to experience the sweeping 52-acre garden in an intimate way and truly be a part of the journey that led us full circle right back to that weeping willow tree.

Continue Reading

Deborah & Alex | Secret Garden Jewish Wedding at Baya’ar, Israel

04/08/2013 by Karen

I love this wedding. Fact.

Deborah and Alex got married in a truly spectacular venue in Israel. It’s a colourful garden wedding with some incredible creative details and beautiful outdoor ceremony. I have to admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for Israeli weddings. I’m not sure whether it’s their raw edged beauty, the party-loving Israeli energy, the outdoor vibe or the amazing scenery. Whatever the ‘x-factor’ may be, I’m so thrilled to be sharing this special wedding with you today.

Deborah and Alex first met aged 6 at a mutual friends birthday party and despite going to the same school, and both spending their gap years in Australia and New Zealand, they only met properly at Leeds University after being introduced by a good friend of both of theirs.

I’ll now hand over to the lovely Deborah for the tale of their wedding.

THE VENUE AND ‘SECRET GARDEN’ THEME
Deborah, The Bride: As a proud Zionist it was always my dream to marry in Israel. I wanted to ditch the formality of hotels and find something unique and personal. On one of our visits to Israel Alex and I visited a variety of venues in and around the Tel Aviv area. We had originally wanted a venue by the sea but there was none that were large enough. However when we saw Baya’ar (meaning the forest) we fell totally in love with it. It looked like a villa set within beautiful gardens and was both natural and spectacular.. The beautiful link between the modern interior and scenery outside was perfect. Lush, green, intimate and yet modern and elegant.

Inspired by our venue, the theme of the wedding became ‘the secret garden’. The colour scheme was multi-coloured (the bolder and brighter the better!) with yellow as the dominant colour. I wanted it to feel summery and vibrant.

As we were getting married abroad, we created a wedding website full of information about the various events and holiday tips for where to eat, go out and party in Israel.

INVITATION DESIGN
I designed the invitation myself as I couldn’t find anything I liked. The white card I was so frequently shown I found boring. Instead I designed the invitation to reflect the venue and theme with summery yellows and greens and an illustration of a tree engraved with our initials. It was modern and informal and despite the design process becoming quite stressful we were thrilled with the results (plus it was a fraction of the cost).

Dror & Yoni Smash The Glass In Caesarea!

03/06/2013 by Karen

I love these two – what a truly fabulous picture. Sourced from the wonderful Hatunot Blog that features really beautiful Israeli weddings. See more pictures of Dror and Yoni’s wedding on Hatunot here.