Handmade wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

Natalie & Eli | Informal DIY Boho Jewish Wedding at House Plantation, Texas

17/07/2014 by Karen

I think it took me exactly 3.6 seconds from the moment I first read Shaun Taylor‘s email, detailing Natalie and Eli’s wedding, to thinking oh yes, this has crashed through my submission barriers — I’ve got a killer Smashing The Glass wedding on my hands here!

I love that Natalie made her own dress and wore cowboy boots. I love that Natalie’s mum made her jewellery. I love that the couple flew out their photographer, Shaun Taylor all the way from Derby to Texas because they loved his work so much. I love what Natalie says about working together with your fiancà© as a team in the planning stages. And I love that it rained and then rained some more, but far from letting the weather dampen their spirits, they embraced it and the results are even better than they imagined, as Natalie describes below.

You’ll also see the most exquisite henna tattoos covering Natalie’s arms. A traditional Yemenite henna party is a popular pre-wedding ritual for Sephardi Jews and you can see theirs in full swing over on Shaun’s blog. It just goes to show you can stamp your personality onto your wedding weekend and dig deep into your culture’s traditions too. The two are not mutually exclusive and that’s exactly what this blog is all about.

Jessica & Pete | Vineyard Jewish Wedding on a full moon night, Naches, Washington, USA

11/03/2014 by Karen

I adore this wedding and not just because it’s set in a winery, there’s a full moon, a cute dog, and there’s an intimate outdoor ceremony, but because there is so much effort from family and friends.

Jessica, the Bride, says, “We didn’t have a particular theme – our wedding was really all about celebrating our relationship and commitment to one another with our friends and family, all of whom were an integral part of making the day come together: Our whole bridal party was made up of our brothers and sisters; friends and family came together to do all the floral arrangements, place settings and venue dà©cor; the groom built the chuppah; my father officiated; a dear friend did my hair; I wore my grandmother’s jewelry — from top to bottom our wedding was a reflection of the people who mean so much to us and have made us who we are.”

Sara & John | Incredible ‘Granny Chic’ vintage Jewish wedding, Kidbrooke Park, Sussex

28/10/2013 by Karen

Sara is one incredibly beautiful and creative bride. And I’m talking creative with a capital ‘C’ folks. Yep all the amazing decor and imaginative touches you see in the pictures below were all hand made by Sara. It’s one big explosion of colour and thrills with lots of vintage prettiness everywhere!

As the bride herself says, “With our wedding it was more “what did you leave alone?” than what did you create! It was the biggest project of my life but I was so happy with the way it all came together!”

Sara and John met at work in Sara’s first ever contract job as a copywriter. She left the job pretty soon afterwards but kept a special souvenir!

Over to Sara for the story of her gorgeous W-day.

VENUE
Sara, the Bride: Our wedding was at Kidbrooke Park in Sussex. We chose this venue because it’s actually my old school. At first I’d ruled it out because I thought it would be strange to get married just outside the room in which I sat all of my exams, but the first venue we booked fell through when they insisted we use their preferred caterers who priced us right out of our own wedding and wouldn’t do a simple meal for us citing colours and presentation (or something silly).

After that I revisited the idea of getting married at my old school and suddenly felt like it would be really great to say “I do” somewhere so close to my heart. There is a beautiful, crumbling outdoor theatre which is covered with flowers in the spring and summer, and I suddenly had a vision of making my entrance through the doors of the theatre. It was such a nice daydream that I booked immediately!

Sydney & William | Jewish Handmade DIY Barn Wedding, The Laurentians, Canada

23/10/2013 by Karen

Today I have for you a real-deal bona fide Smashing The Glass wedding. It’s a genuine do-it-yourself abundance of unique and creative perfection. Everything is handmade (with love!) by close friends and family.

Sydney and William chose to have their wedding at the bride’s grandparent’s country house in the Laurentians (about a hour north of Montreal) and the wedding rings, invitations, bride’s dress, floristry, hair + make-up, ketubah, kippot, cake, and favours were all handmade and created by close family.

There are many, many personal touches incorporated into their W-day (in particular into their Jewish ceremony) that really make it stand out. Let’s take a lovely look…

A COUNTRY HOUSE WITH FAMILY HISTORY
Sydney, The Bride: Our wedding was held at my grandparent’s country house in the Laurentians. I haven’t been to many weddings but my favourite wedding was my aunt’s that had been held at the same house almost exactly 11 years earlier. I was open to doing the wedding in the city but after checking out venues there was nothing I loved, and I always had the country house in the back of my head.

Freya & Tim | Outdoor Fun ‘n’ Games Jewish Wedding at Ketchum Rotary Park, Idaho, USA

18/10/2013 by Karen

This is a great example of a wedding that shows what you can achieve if you put a bit of time and effort in to doing something, and that a wedding doesn’t have to cost an absolute fortune! With the sun shining and your best friends and family around you, it’s easy to remember that the best things in life are free…cheesy but true.

Freya and Tim are both farmers – Tim is a 6th generation farmer in rural southern Minnesota and Freya is an organic farmer by profession and runs her own small produce business. Agriculture, food, and the outdoors is the core of who they are and being a totally ‘smashing’ couple and essentially being truly authentic to themselves, these elements came through beautifully and personally in their relaxed outdoor wedding.

A HOMEMADE, HANDMADE OUTDOOR WEDDING
Freya, The Bride: Our wedding was in Ketchum, Idaho and we held the ceremony and reception in Ketchum Rotary Park along the Bigwood river, the river upon which I grew up and love dearly. Tim and I didn’t really go for a theme or colour scheme. Everything was very simple and natural and the whole event was homemade and handmade – DIY style – very relaxed, like an afternoon picnic. We had lots of games like bean bag toss, ladder golf, hula hoops, bubbles, etc and these were played by both adult (and little) kids!

We had directional signs, chalkboards and such, all made by my husband. There was not much need for more decoration than that as it was such a beautiful venue.

MY OWN BRIDAL STYLE
I knew I wanted to be comfortable and feel like myself, not all made-up and princess-like. After trying on too many “cupcake” dresses, I found the “mini-cupcake” and loved it. I paired the dress with Canadian-made handcrafted Boulet western boots, that were a gift from my husband a few months before we got engaged. He knows I love my boots, and the collection keeps growing.

In terms of jewellery, I wore my mothers, sisters, late-grandmothers and my pearl bracelets. It meant a lot to me to have all those women with me under the chuppah….