JDate couple Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Smashing the Glass

Amy & Anthony | Vintage themed Jewish wedding, with Route 66 details, at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, UK

06/07/2015 by Karen

Meet Amy and Anthony who married in the evocative and enchanting Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, where none other than Queen Elizabeth I — England’s most elusive bride – tudored away much of her childhood. I’ve visited this gem north of London and the sense of history is absolutely spell-binding.

Amy chose a vintage vibe — not so vintage that she wore an Elizabethan ruffle – but as far back as the 1920’s where her sweeping gown and ridiculously beautiful beaded caplet stole the show. Pure and utter glamour.

I love this wedding because whilst it has clear direction — Amy knew what colour scheme and look she wanted from the outset – it’s also nostalgic and sentimental, all in the right measure.

Amy and Anthony chose a Route 66 theme throughout their day, an ode to the famous highway where the couple got engaged. How romantic is that? And quite appropriately, their first dance was Chuck Berry’s Get your kicks on Route 66.

…And those sentimental touches — Amy wore her two beloved grandmothers’ jewels — a gorgeous gesture.

Amy and Anthony didn’t use a wedding planner— they organised what they could (please lay your peepers on those sensational bridesmaids multi-wrap, one size fits all dresses by Two Birds) took advice when they should (the inspired churros and shots), and delegated with instruction elsewhere.

Take the flower arrangement, let’s face it flowers are super important but you don’t want to be a Bridezilla obsessing about exactly which colour flower spray goes where, it’s more about choosing the right florist who “gets you”. Give them clear direction and then leave it in their capable green-fingered hands. That’s exactly what Amy did and her seasonal freshly-picked-that-morning flowers were a sensation.

Anyway enough of me waxing lyrical about Amy and Anthony’s day — award-winning photo journalist Paul Rogers will give you thousands of words in a few stunning pictures.

how we met

Amy, the Bride: We met on JDate… it does work! We actually grew up on the roads backing onto each other and our families knew each other but we had never actually met.

Lee & Gary | Show-Stopping Jewish Wedding at The Criterion, London

16/07/2013 by Karen

Lee and Gary married at the gorgeously opulent Criterion Restaurant in Piccadilly, London. And when I say opulent, I’m talking a sumptuous neo-Byzantine Piccadilly haven with marble walls, decorative archways and a glorious golden mosaic ceiling.

And that’s not the only reason I’m excited to feature this wedding. You see I’m also totally in love with Lee’s couture dress and head piece which she designed herself. AND the fact that Le Gateau Chocolat, the big black transvestite opera-singer, with a penchant for being wrapped in body-hugging glittery lycra, performed at this wedding!

So here’s their story: Although this gorgeous couple are both Jewish, Lee (a former fashion designer, now a full-time mummy) and Gary, a barrister, are both, in their own words, “devout atheists”. Even so, both felt a need for some familiar cultural background in a partner and ended up finding each other on the Jewish dating site, JDate.

I’ll now hand over to Lee with all the delicious detail from the day:

VENUE + DECOR
Lee, the Bride: Gary, my then fiancà©, had been to The Criterion Restaurant before and knowing my love for art deco, thought I might like it. He literally thought of it the day after he proposed (which by the way completely flew over my head as he did it in his usual verbally subtle way!) We were on holiday at the time and arranged to see the venue a few days after our return over lunch. The moment we sat down and took the place in, we knew we needn’t look any further.

With such a beautiful venue choice, we didn’t need or want a theme or colour scheme as we didn’t want to detract from the beauty of the room with many other colours. Our floral and table layouts were fairly clean and simple too, with a combination of old school & clean modern – just how we like it!

Shiri & Yariv | Intimate ‘Surprise’ Jewish Wedding at Taboon, New York City

08/07/2013 by Karen

This has to be one of the most original and ‘true-to-themselves’ weddings I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing about. It’s a very small affair with the bride and groom, Shiri and Yariv, inviting just 20 of their closest family members out for brunch and then surprising them with a chuppah! And if that wasn’t exciting enough, the ceremony took place on a bustling New York street corner! How incredibly atmospheric must that have been? The chuppah itself is very special but more about that later.

Shiri and Yariv met in New York City several years ago. When they met, Shiri was living in London but spending most of her time in the US on business. She was single and didn’t have much of a social life so used JDate as a platform to meet interesting people. That’s how they met. He took her out for dinner at one of his favorite haunts, a restaurant called Taboon, and the rest is history.

VENUE & THE IDEA FOR A ‘SURPRISE WEDDING’!
Shiri the bride: Our ‘surprise’ wedding took place at Taboon, the restaurant Yariv took me to on our first date. It’s a beautiful yet unassuming Mediterranean restaurant in a neighbourhood of NYC called Hell’s Kitchen. Their menu is full of delicious twists on Israeli dishes and carefully chosen Mediterranean wines. I don’t have to tell you the magical memories the site of a couple’s first date has — I remember that night as if it was yesterday.

Yariv and I return once a year on the date of the night we first met, and that year, halfway through my Haloumi salad (and a few glasses of Chenin Blanc), the idea of having an intimate surprise wedding at Taboon took over my imagination. We had been together for 3 years and really wanted to start a family, but not before sealing the deal under a chuppah. Our families were going to be in town that following Thanksgiving, a few months away… the idea took on a mind of its own!

Thankfully Yariv liked the idea as much as I did. He’s a very modest, low-key guy and the thought of not having a big hoopla wedding sat very well with him. We booked Taboon and very slowly started calling our close family members inviting them for “brunch”.

REVEALING THE SECRET
Uncovering the purpose of our get-together was one of the most exciting moments of our lives. We’d been keeping a secret for what felt like an eternity and our guests had absolutely no idea. Some thought we might announce our engagement at the “brunch” (that’s right, we weren’t even officially engaged) but nothing more.

Once the appetisers were cleared, Yariv & I stood up to toast the occasion. When Yariv announced that we would like to invite everyone to be part of our chuppah just before dessert, the energy of the room became electric. Everyone cheered, our mothers had tears in their eyes and the guests’ excitement was something indescribable.

CEREMONY
The Rabbi who wed us is a superstar. He’s a young Chabad Rabbi of a small (yet growing!) congregation in our neighbourhood. When we came to him asking whether he would marry us in a non-kosher restaurant he looked perplexed. We assured him no meat would be served, he took a minute to think about it and said “how about the nearest street corner?” A surprise wedding on a bustling New York street corner? We loved it!

And so did our guests. They stepped outside on a windy but dry day, the men wearing napkins on their heads because someone forgot to buy kippot (!). Four of our male guests held the chuppah poles, the backdrop was the usual hustle & bustle of the city, taxis and buses honking as they whizzed by, a FedEx guy even stopped to watch the show… you get the picture. I will always remember every detail.