Indian Jewish wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

Indo-Italian-Jewish wedding at The Garden City Hotel, Long Island, New York, USA

26/07/2016 by Karen

One of my main aims when I started Smashing The Glass was to ensure there would be an abundance of Jew-ish wedding inspiration, by which I mean interfaith wedding inspiration for readers who are marrying out, marrying in (or anywhere in between for that matter) – I call it Jew-ish!

Prior to starting the blog, I remember hearing the same complaint over and over again from friends who were marrying the love of their loves who were of another faith. They desperately wanted a ceremony that embraced both their and their partner’s religion / culture, but there was simply no inspiration, online or offline, for how to create a meaningful fusion Jew-ish wedding.

As a result the blog covers an array of topics from 5 ways to incorporate Jewish’ into a non-Jewish or Interfaith wedding to a diary of a Jewish bride who ‘married out‘, to spotlighting awesome Smashing Suppliers like Rabbi Paul Glantz who has lovingly officiated countless beautiful interfaith Jewish weddings.

It therefore goes without saying that I love blogging mixed faith Jew-ish weddings as part of this focus. I’ve showcased several Indian-Jewish weddings on the blog before, and they are often very colourful affairs, but today’s W Day takes brights and rainbow hues to another level and should definitely be viewed with your sunglasses on!

Ritu, of Indian heritage, and Greg, who’s Jewish, very much wanted a single ceremony versus two separate ones. They found that many of their individual traditions were able to be seamlessly intertwined eg. the chuppah / mandap structure is both a symbol of the home that they would build together (chuppah) and the universe (mandap) and the framework of each is very similar. This blending of both their cultures into one meaningful ceremony meant a lot to them (and by the way, I have a post going live this Friday on how to successfully mix two faiths into one beautiful ceremony… watch this space!).

This entire wedding is magnificent, and not only do we have the images from Priyanca Rao Photography, but also the wedding video from Unique Visions Studio. Ritu’s wedding report is super fun to read too. Don’t miss a beat!

How we met

I am not sure this story makes me look all that good! My friend (and eventual bridesmaid) Claudia and I were at a party for The Brooklyn Rugby Club’s final game of the season. I was a little hesitant about going in the first place… I had been sorta casually spending time with one of the rugby players and that dalliance had recently ended in a full on crash and burn! But Claudia convinced me to accompany her. And then I met the new guy on the team – Greg Aguele. He followed us to another bar and struck up a conversation with me. I was definitely stand-offish – I didn’t want to be the Brooklyn Rugby Groupie! But I will never forget him saying “I get it. But listen, I am a nice guy, and I think we should get to know each other”. And so we did.

The perfect Venue

You know how often the first dress a bride tries on is THE dress? Well that was the the case regarding our venue. The Garden City Hotel was actually recommended by my father. The second I met with the team there, led by Jerry Rizzo, I was in love. We wanted a place that was close to where we both grew up and where both our families could easily get to. And we loved that all of our events (an Indian wedding can have quite a few) could be in one central place where all guests could also stay.

LOVE IS LOVE: Marriages that cross boundaries

26/06/2016 by Karen

Today’s post marks a new series on the blog called LOVE IS LOVE where I will be documenting some very special marriages that cross boundaries that (to put it quite bluntly) certain ignoramus’s across the globe find unacceptable. Love is love, no matter if you’re of one faith or another, if you’re straight or if you’re LGBT.

It may be the annual Gay Pride festival this weekend in my home city of London, but that’s just a happy coincidence. This series has been triggered in response to an email I received last weekend from a young woman in India who greatly benefitted from Yana and Archita’s same-sex, mixed faith wedding that I lovingly blogged last year. I am reprinting her email, with her permission, below:

Hi Karen,

This is probably a pretty unorthodox request. You don’t know me but I’m reaching out because I am an Indian girl who recently came out to my parents as gay and they are having a lot of trouble dealing with it and imagining that I could have a happy life with a woman – especially in India (they currently live in Bangalore).

I believe that part of it is because our extended family, and all our friends are conservative (and fairly ignorant) community. I was hoping that if they could see, or speak to, happily married Indian lesbians, they might believe that happiness is possible even for me.

I noticed you wrote an article on Yana & Archita and was wondering if you could forward this email to Archita and ask her if she would be willing to speak with me?

Thank you so, so much.

It goes without saying that I passed the reader’s letter to Archita and the two of them are now in contact.

I want to use this space to bring more love to more people, and to show how every kind of love is perfectly valid. No-one should be able to tell you how to live, who to love, and who you should be spending a lifetime with. Love is universal and unbiased.

The film below? Now that’s ‘LOVE IS LOVE. It’s a video of a police officer breaking ranks with his colleagues to propose to his boyfriend yesterday at Pride in London.

The rest of his team look so pleased for him too! This film moves me so much, and it’s everything I value about living in this great country.

I would be so delighted to hear from you if you would like to write a post (anonymously if desired) about your ‘LOVE IS LOVE’ marriage on Smashing The Glass. And if you know a couple that might like to share their story, do send them my way.

So let’s kick off the series by featuring some of my favourite images from Yana and Archita’s Jewish-Hindu-Indian-Russian multicultural lesbian wedding. To see more images from their big day, and to read their story (in their own words), head over here.

Yana & Archita | Jewish-Hindu-Indian-Russian multicultural lesbian wedding at Trust, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

19/05/2015 by Karen

Now this wedding is not just special, stylish or merely a good day out – it’s a totally spectacular cocktail of uber-chic modernism, elegant traditionalism, multi-cultural funkiness and fun, all blended and shaken to perfection.

For any of you who are wondering how to mix two completely different backgrounds into one smooth and stylish day – get ready for some serious pinning action.

Yana and Archita seamlessly melded their loves, tastes and cultures together to create a unique day at Trust – a neoclassical styled art and event space gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

An art event in itself, our two gorgeous brides amalgamated a colourful and awesome blend of Russian, Jewish, Hindu and Indian traditions against the ridiculously gorgeous, all white, architectural splendour of a soaring 10,000 square foot, turn of the century building. Simple. Ahem.

What could have been contrived or clunky – trying to shoe horn different traditions and styles together – is instead thoughtful and elegant.

But the simplicity really lies in their motivation – to unite two families into one, representing both cultures. Even more, what underlined and defined the wedding was FUN. They wanted a huge, huge party and they got it, right down to the last few bars of Bohemian Rhapsody.

I’m still grinning from ear to ear at the image of the couple being raised high on chairs by friends and family, old and young – all partying together with the help of some homemade “traditional” vodka – to the Black Eyed Peas’ I Got a Feeling!

Even their choice of traditional wedding dresses had a twist… Archita wore a sari, whilst Yana wore a white wedding gown but with a sash around her waist made from the same material as Archita’s sari – a beautiful and subtle symbol to truly demonstrate the bond between the two.

All of the fantastic photography is by Michael and Melissa at M2 Photography. Now over to our beautiful brides…

How we met

Yana & Archita, the Brides: We met in undergrad at Penn at the largest party of the year called “Spring Fling”. To this day we debate about who made the first move. Chita’s friends were having a small party in a dorm room, and Yana crashed it. It was only three weeks before summer break began, so this was supposed to be just a fling… but we fell in love before the summer.

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Nirmala & Ian | Indo-Trini Jew-ish Barn Wedding at Full Moon Resort, Big Indian, New York, USA

03/03/2015 by Karen

Today I am bringing you the most immense interfaith wedding that came to my attention courtesy of the wonderful By Petronella. It’s a cultural extravaganza full of heart and sentiment, and anyone planning, or even thinking about, an interfaith wedding ceremony must read Nirmala’s W-day report.

I can’t promise that her wedding to Ian won’t make you cry, as at the end of the post is the wedding film by Mae B Films and hearing them recite their personalised vows set me off… I may just have shed a tear or two over how pure and emotive it was. Instead of feeling constrained by their interfaith ceremony, as some couples do, Nirmala and Ian’s was an undiluted celebration of love in its very purest form.

Apart from the obviously very happy and very in love Nirmala and Ian, and the unbearably gorgeous setting (a deer makes an appearance!), this wedding is all about the magical blend of cultures for me.

Oh and there’s the sparkler send-off…yep an actual send-off with hundreds of sparklers – I love that idea – and what a great photo opp! Take it away, Nirmala and Ian.

a rustic country wedding venue

Nirmala, the Bride: We chose the venue because of its natural beauty, rustic setting and low key vibe. We visited the area in the Autumn of 2013 and felt very connected. We also loved that no cell phone service was available in the area which allowed us and our guests to disconnect from the busy city life, reconnect and have a mini retreat. We fell head over heels in love with the barn on our first visit to Full Moon Resort. It simply brought a magical feeling the moment we stepped into it. Growing up in the country, the setting brought a sense of home for me. We both felt a sense of belonging and peace amidst the mountains.

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Roupa & Marcus | central London Jewish Hindu ‘HinJew’ wedding at The Criterion, London, UK

27/01/2015 by Karen

As a huge fan of glorious colour, multi-cultural weddings are such a visual treat for me and I love all the creative ways that our interfaith couples fuse their varying cultures, ceremonies and traditions into one magical blended feast.

Today’s couple are a prime example, and Marcus, the groom, puts it brilliantly, “Quite simply we amalgamated both religions, building the symbolic chuppah/mandap and so weaved together a merry religious dance come ceremony.”

Roupa and Marcus’s wedding is extra special because it has two ceremonies and three (yes THREE!) gowns. So there’s thrice as much wedding pretty for you, and it all takes place in the heart of London at the super opulent Criterion.

But I digress… Marcus and Roupa planned their spectacular, yet very laid back day in incredibly timely fashion, and in a very authentic, creative way. Marcus says, “Roupa was the planner, I was the protagonist and thorn in her side and together we planned a wedding from booking the venue to wedlock in around 12-14 weeks. We brought 160 guests together from all over the world, requesting the soothing colours or cream, ivory or beige to be worn… apart from us! With the opulence of the Criterion, I added brilliant blues and greens, whilst Roupa wore gold and green, mauve, and a luscious red for her three outfits.”

You can understand why I love this wedding already, right? And I haven’t even told you about the Brazilian carnival dancers, the Blues Brothers style entrance up to the chuppah / mandap, the thoughtful home-made wedding favours, not to mention the the DJ playing Mauritian Séga!

Roupa, our inspirational bride, provides the full inside story below, whilst all the stunning photography is by Matt Parry.