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An Ultra-Personal Chanukah Jewish Wedding Micklefield Hall, Hertfordshire, UK

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Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom

We love a Chanukah wedding, and Ella and Aaron’s is one of the best we’ve seen! Their vision for their winter Jewish wedding was “twinkly winter wonderland with lots of doughnuts, latkes and joy,” and they worked with the most talented team – including a number of beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors – to bring it to life.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Uptown Events planned the day to perfection, recommending vendors – including the couple’s stunning venue, Micklefield Hall, after their original location fell through – and making sure everything ran smoothly on the day. They also guided Ella and Aaron to choose a DJ Live act when it came to entertainment – and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Twentysomethings ended up being “such a hit that they’ve since become the unofficial band for our whole group, with two other couples booking them since!”

Ella and Aaron made all the stationery themselves (with their small business It IS Personal) – including the most adorable dreidel-shaped reserved seating signs and matchbox place cards in honor of Chanukah. Also perfectly on theme? The duo’s wedding menu, which included latkes, a full salt beef bar, and savoury pulled beef doughnuts (in addition to the sweet kind). Don’t miss all the fabulous details in the exquisite photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel, who captured all the emotion and joy of the day so beautifully.

Another Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, Carmel Designs, painted the couple’s wonderful custom ketubah, merging their vision for a design in keeping with their rustic wedding vibes, incorporating the Tree of Life and reflecting Ella and Aaron’s love of animals.

Read on for the full story in Ella’s own words…

 

Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom Ella and Aaron, Micklefield Hall, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom

How We Met

Ella, the bride: We met the way so many modern couples do these days – on good old Hinge! We first met in June 2022, when Aaron was finishing his teacher training year, and Ella was working at her local synagogue. Aaron is now Pastoral and Wellbeing Manager at his old Jewish secondary school, and Ella works as Children and Family Educator at the synagogue we’ve joined together, while training to be a therapist. Our professions are an example of how well our values align – something we were both aware of when we met, and is one of the many reasons we instantly clicked and fell for each other so quickly! Not even a month into dating, we’d booked our first holiday to Israel together for Chanukah that year.

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A Berta Bride for an Enchanted Garden Jewish Wedding at the Fairmont Windsor Park, UK

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Bianca-Jordan-Fairmont-Hotel-Windsor-Park-UK

It’s been a long couple of weeks for the Jewish people. In light of Hamas’s horrific acts of terrorism, we’ve taken a few weeks off from our usual wedding content to focus on supporting Israel and each other. While we sadly can’t say things have gotten to a better place, we are feeling more than ever that we need all the Jewish joy we can get – and that includes weddings.

Hence our decision to resume publishing the joyous, life-affirming celebrations of love that are the core of what we do here at Smashing The Glass. And we’re back today with something really special: Bianca and Jordan’s beautiful Jewish wedding at The Fairmont Hotel in Windsor, just outside London – made possibly by a fabulous team of #STGvendors.

 Bianca and Jordan turned to Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J to make their enchanted garden dreams a reality. Michelle planned Bianca’s sister’s wedding a few years back, so the couple knew from the beginning they were working with the best of the best. In Bianca’s words, “She was amazing and really helped guide us through the process and really understood our vision and what was important to us… Any concerns we had Michelle would deal with it for us and we knew we were in the best hands.” You can see for yourself how exquisitely it all came together in the wonderful photos by Paul Santos and the moving trailer by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Big Day Designs crafted Bianca and Jordan’s invitations, featuring rose gold foiling and wax seals, as well as their wedding day stationery, and Bianca found her stunner of a gown at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Wedding Club in Knightsbridge. She chose a strapless corset A-line dress by the Israeli designer Berta – which is all the more meaningful in light of the current situation.

Do read on for more Jewish joy, in Bianca’s own words…


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How We Met

Bianca, the bride: We knew of each other as we are both from Essex but we matched on J Swipe; after a few weeks of talking we finally met up and went on a date!Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Sassi Holford Bride for a Gothic Fairy Tale Halloween Wedding at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, UK

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There’s nothing we love like seeing a couple put their own totally unique stamp on their Jewish wedding – which is exactly what today’s couple, Candy and Sam, did! These two opted to get married on Halloween, and they let the date serve as inspiration for their gothic fairy tale-style day, low on pumpkins and skulls but high on haunted house vibes and tarot card styling.

Candy and Sam found the perfect partner to bring their vision to life in wedding planner Michelle Jacobs of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elegante by Michelle J. Michelle totally got their unique vision, and she introduced the pair to so many of their amazing suppliers – including Pippa Mackenzie Photography, who captured these incredible images. The duo can’t stop gushing about Michelle’s amazing service, throughout the planning process and on the day too.

 The couple chose Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rabbi Paul Glantz as their officiant, and they loved that he encouraged them to write their own personalized ketubah text – which they then read aloud from during the ceremony!

For entertainment, Candy and Sam chose Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Totem’s gospel choir and full live band, a choice that resulted in an awesome party. In Candy’s words, “The music was one of the huge successes of the night, during dinner we had a huge party break out and the band and guests went wild. People were dancing on chairs, people’s shoulders and even the windowsills. It was outrageous in the best way possible.”

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Adam Nathan Catering provided the couple’s kosher-style catering, and he was incredibly flexible and easy to work with, despite having a lot of opinions to take into account! Candy and Sam loved the way he brought everyone’s ideas together to create a totally delicious meal.

There’s so much more to say, but we’ll leave the rest to the bride, who looked smashing in Sassi Holford… 

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How we Met

Candice, the bride: We met at The University of Leeds in our third year. Sam then moved down to London so that we could carry on seeing each other and we began our careers. Sam pursued a role in television and is now a TV Director launching a food and wine show whilst I am a Creative Director at a creative agency specialising in social media.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Rosa Clara Bride for an Elegant Ballroom Jewish Wedding at the Kimpton Fitzroy London, UK

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Chloe & Mike, Kimpton Fitzroy London, London, UK

There’s nothing like that feeling when a couple teams up with some of our very favorite Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors to craft an absolutely jawdroppingly stellar Jewish wedding – which is exactly what our Brides Club member Chloe, a senior internal account manager for an IT reseller, and Mike, who works as a group management accountant for a pharmaceutical company, did!

First off, these two opted to make it official at one of our most beloved London venues, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kimpton Fitzroy London in Russell Square. After taking one look at the hotel’s exquisite ballroom, they knew it was the spot for them – and scrolling through their beautiful photos by David Pullum Photography, can you blame them?!

Kimpton Fitzroy London is known not only for its dreamy interiors but also for its top-notch customer service, and indeed Chloe and Mike can’t stop raving about how amazing the events team was through the planning process – which included not one but two COVID postponements!

We’re delighted to report that the couple found a whole bunch of their other vendors through Brides Club – including fabulous videographer Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion and swoonworthy florist Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Alexandra’s Florist. Speaking of Alexandra’s Florist – she’s the one responsible for the pair’s lush floral ketubah in shades of green and white, and how perfect is it?!

Chloe and Mike also opted to work with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Adam Nathan Catering, Kimpton Fitzroy London’s kosher-style catering partner, who was “a dream to work with” – and whose food is still getting rave reviews from guests!

Finally, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Toastmaster Jango “took care of absolutely everything on the day,” – so much so that one of Chloe’s top recs to engaged couples is to book yourselves a toastmaster of your own!

There’s so much more to be said about this wonderful day, but we’ll let Chloe – who looked positively ravishing in Rosa Clara – fill you in on the rest…

Chloe & Mike, Kimpton Fitzroy London, London, UKChloe & Mike, Kimpton Fitzroy London, London, UKChloe & Mike, Kimpton Fitzroy London, London, UKChloe & Mike, Kimpton Fitzroy London, London, UK
How We Met

Chloe, the bride: Mike and I met all the way back in 2014 on a well-known dating app…(Tinder!). I had just graduated university and wasn’t looking for anything too serious, but when we met we just clicked. We are two totally different people! He’s very relaxed and chilled, and I’m the other end of the spectrum but somehow it works wonderfully!

We did long (ish) distance for over 4 years, with Mike living in Essex and me in Hertfordshire. The first few years were tough, with us only seeing each other twice a month. In 2018, Mike made the move to Hertfordshire where he rented a room in a house (on the same road as my parents) which made it so much easier from then on. It was that same year Mike came to me with the idea that he wanted to convert to Judaism, something that we had previously discussed but I never pressured him into. Having already had Jewish ancestry on his father’s side, it was something he was passionate about and wanted to realign his roots. After 18 months of conversion classes and shul on Saturday mornings, Mike converted at Radlett Reform Synagogue . It meant so much more to us standing under the chuppah on our wedding day, knowing that all his hard-work and dedication led us to that special moment, and I will forever cherish that.

We now live together in our house in Borehamwood, with our gorgeous rescue dog Rose! Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Sassi Holford Bride for an Elegant Jewish Wedding at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, UK

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Laura and Josh, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London

We’re so excited to be sharing the gorgeous Jewish wedding of another of our Smashing The Glass Brides Club members today! Not only did Laura, a nutritionist, and Josh, a project management consultant, have the quintessential London wedding at the stunning St Pancras Renaissance, but they also worked with some of our very favorite Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors to make sure their big day was nothing less than a smashing success, as evidenced in the joyous photos from Chiko Photography.

First off, we’re all about Laura’s elegant bridal look, featuring a classic gown by Sassi Holford and the chicest updo by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hair by Slo. Stylist Sarah-Louise is so loved by #STGbrides, and reading Laura’s kind words it’s no wonder why: “She was always at the end of the phone when I needed both hair and non-hair related advice, and on the day she blew me away with how she did everyone’s hair and made everyone feel.”

And then there’s the cinematic masterpiece that is the couple’s wedding video from beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion. We’re not at all surprised to hear that the team made Laura and Josh feel super comfortable on the day – or that they’re obsessed with their video and the amazing memories it brings back. This is one trailer not to be missed!

We’re also crazy about the couple’s modern ketubah by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elena Berlo, in the most wonderful palette of blues, greens, and golds. It’s a true piece of art, which Laura and Josh now proudly display in their living room as a memento of their special day.

Now over to the bride… 

Laura and Josh, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, LondonLaura and Josh, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, LondonLaura and Josh, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, LondonLaura and Josh, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London

Venue

Laura, the bride: We got married at the St Pancras Renaissance hotel in London. I have worked around the corner from the venue for 5 years and every time I walked past it, I fell in love with it a little bit more. Soon after we were engaged, I made Josh come with me to have a look at the hotel.  After we had been shown around, I couldn’t imagine getting married anywhere else.

We loved all the rooms and the iconic stair case, which all could be used as part of the wedding and how the spaces were naturally beautiful and didn’t need too much dressing. Continue ReadingContinue Reading