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A whimsical woodland Jewish wedding with a Jenny Packham gown at South Farm, Royston, UK

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Pull on those wellies, we’re taking another trip to whimsical Hertfordshire venue, South Farm, for Clare and Toby’s magical, woodland-themed wedding. This country-inspired Jewish big day had everything from berries in the bouquet to a spot of light duck herding at the drinks reception — as you do!

There are so many divine details to drool over, from the beautiful moss, foliage and rose-heavy floral arrangements to the sublime scented candles, provided by the bride’s sister.

Fortunately, every last detail was perfectly captured in a collection of stunning images by much-loved sponsor and incredibly talented photographer Ria Mishaal.

We’re also totally head-over-heels in love with beautiful bride Clare’s drop-dead-gorgeous wintry and etherial Jenny Packham gown, paired with sparkly Jenny Packham headpieces.

Oh, and we’ve already mentioned the duck herding, but seriously, how cute are those ducks? It’s enough to make us think that every wedding should have a cheeky pen-full of feathered friends handy.

We’ll leave you with Clare now for the full report. Take it away, Clare!

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How we met

Clare, the bride: We met at work. Toby was a bit hesitant about dating someone at work so we ‘courted’ for about a year before we finally became official.

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A laid-back, intimate venue at South Farm, Royston 

We got married at South Farm in Royston. I thought it was such a beautiful, laid back and intimate venue. Plus, I love animals so the animal enclosure sold it to me. On a more practical level it had everything we needed: rooms for the night, indoor and outdoor ceremony options and a separate room for tea and coffee. 

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A Justin Alexander Bride for a bagel-themed Jewish wedding at Bevis Marks + Andaz London Liverpool Street, London, UK

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Todays couple had a bagel themed wedding, inspired by their surname, with bagels brought in from the legendary Beigel Bake in Brick Lane… I mean, could this Jewish wedding get any better?!

Well yes it could when Shaun Taylor is behind the lens, and my goodness aren’t his images beautiful? What’s more, the bride and groom found him via Smashing The Glass. Nicola & Simon told me,

We love your blog as it showcases the best weddings, but not by budget, size or glamour — you go after the individual personality of the wedding and the touches, which we really like. We found Shaun Taylor through your site via an advertising banner. We saw his work and it was exactly what we were after.”

Well that does make me happy! Nicola & Simon got married in Bevis Marks, the oldest synagogue in the UK, and a stone’s throw from their reception venue, The Andaz, in the City of London. The bride wore a sensational fishtail Justin Alexander dress, and looked absolutely incredible. Her bridesmaids rocked Jenny Packham, and just wait till you see the Jewish dancing images – off the scale!

Oh.. and they also had the most wonderful hashtag printed inside their kippot ‘#BestKuppleEver’.

This is SUCH a lovely wedding, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

A Justin Alexander Bride for a Jewish wedding at Andaz London Liverpool StreetA Justin Alexander Bride for a Jewish wedding at Andaz London Liverpool Street_0154

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A Vera Wang bride for a Jewish Ghanaian wedding at South London Liberal Synagogue and Nonsuch Mansion, Surrey, UK

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So we celebrated Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) at the beginning of this week. If you observed it, where did you spend it? I was with my husband’s family who live in Dulwich, South London where my husband was born and raised. The Jewish community of South London is really rather small and sadly very much dwindling these days with the majority of Jewish Londoners now residing north of the river. It’s therefore quite a treat to be blogging today’s wedding that took place at the South London Liberal Synagogue in Streatham (where Mr STG’s grandmother used to live!) followed by a glorious reception at Nonsuch Mansion.

There’s so much to love about this wedding. Prepare for bright pops of colour and a plethora of elegant details as well as homely touches like Brick Lane bagels (Ben’s dad was a Jewish East End guide and his walks would always take visitors to the famous Beigel Bake on Brick Lane). Prepare too for a wonderful melding of Jewish and Ghanaian traditions that just works so well!

And like all Smashing The Glass brides Bernice is one super cool dame. Not only does she have an incredible smile that lights up every photo, she also comes across as a really special person. I noticed in her wedding film at the end that she’s feeding a bottle to a baby whilst working that glorious Vera Wang wedding dress (something I’ve never seen a bride do unless the baby is her own!). She also told me the following in her wedding report:

I wanted the attention of the photos to be on our guests rather than us. You have very few opportunities to have all the special people in your life in one place at one time and I wanted to ensure it was documented.”

Special, right? All the wonderful photography is by David Long, and the film at the end is by Wedding Film Studio.

Come.. let’s take a look.

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how we met

Ben’s version: To quote Rihanna, Bernice and I found love in a hopeless place – The Staffordshire County Showground to be precise. On Thursday 16th October 2008 at 6.30am she arrived at my office in Shepherds Bush to help me at an auction for the weekend. I immediately put her to work asking her to do 200 copies of the sale notices and staple them together. She was not impressed. Neither was she impressed with my music choice or my banter on the three hour journey to Stafford – in fact her response was to fall asleep. On the Saturday evening I finally persuaded her to take off her geek chic glasses so I could see her beautiful face – and at that point I knew I needed to peruse her. After much pestering we went for dinner and things developed from there.

Bernice’s version:Ben and I met at work. It wasn’t until I had to work with him at an auction we finally met. It was an early morning on a Thursday, I made my way to Park Royal to help Ben with his sale. I arrived at 6am and as soon as I got through the door he asked me to photocopy 200 copies of a document. I was not impressed at all! I decided I did not like being around him and proceed to ignore him on the journey to Stafford. He tried his hardest to talk to me about music but I just kept ignoring him and fell asleep.  The next day he continually persisted to try and have a conversation with me. There were times at dinner I caught him staring at me and I was not too sure what was happening. On the final night after the sale, he decided to struck up another conversation with me and asked me to take off my glasses and then proceeded to say I had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. This eventually led to us having a date when we were back in London and then next thing I know we had been dating for seven years and finally decided to tie the knot.

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A Carolina Herrera bride and an Alexander McQueen groom for a Jewish Irish wedding at the Senate House Library, London, UK

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From the moment I started reading Francesca’s wedding report, it took all of five seconds for me to warm to this beautiful, sassy, witty woman. This really is one of the loveliest, and most entertaining, wedding reports I’ve read to date, so if you can spare five minutes to sit and read Francesca’s words as well as look at the stunning photography by Christian and Erica Ward I promise you, you’ll be inspired.

I can’t resist giving you a little snippet… Here’s how Francesca broke the news to her Jewish mother that she was dating Andrew, a non-Jewish guy:

When I told my mother that I was dating someone non-Jewish (the first time it had happened) and that it was serious, I softened her up first: “he’s not Jewish… but he is a tall, handsome trilingual rocket scientist!”. She agreed that my cost/benefit analysis was sound.”

Yes, what you’re about to see and read is truly special. This is how to do a super cool, super chic, interfaith wedding that blends traditions to perfection and oozes personality by the bucketload.

There are so many things I love about this wedding that I’d be here until midnight listing them all, but I will say that the table numbers and signs are old law reports that Francesca hand-painted (she’s a barrister), the confetti cones are made out of the Financial Times (Andrew works in finance), there’s an ‘Alhambra disco’ (Francesca will explain that later), an Irish harpist, and a traditional hora, personalised iced biscuits for each guest, and the most incredible invitations that perfectly symbolise the fusion of Francesca and Andrew through the art of paper-cut!

On the fashion front, there are the most exquisite pair of Harriet Wilde shoes, a Carolina Herrera dress (with a story and half to it), and a groom in an Alexander McQueen blue velvet tux… Need I say anymore? Over to the gorgeous Francesca.

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Naomi & Michael | free spirited ‘Wedstival’ Jewish wedding in a field in Epping Forest, Essex, UK

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Now this folks, this is how you do a ‘Wedstival’ wedding. Naomi and Michael have, in my opinion, only gone and nailed the most perfect laid back, fun-filled outdoor field wedding with a real festival vibe. There’s a Volkswagen Beetle photo booth, super sized balloons, wild flowers galore, madcap crazy Jewish dancing, a surprise speech by the bride especially for her groom, and a tent village for the glamping guests.

One of my favourite details from the wedding has to be Naomi’s bouquet made entirely of brooches. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and it’s such a heart-warming and impactful idea. Naomi told me. “I asked all the women to give me a brooch but didn’t tell them why and then used them in my bouquet. This meant all the women were walking down the aisle with me. I also used a couple of brooches from my grandmas, which was nice as they are no longer with us.”

This is one of those weddings that radiates a wholesome warmth that I can never seem to put into words. There’s just so much love, and it’s all been captured perfcetly by the super talented Adam and Hannah Photography making their debut on Smashing The Glass. Don’t miss the wonderful wedding film at the end of the post by One Wedding too. No matter what mood you’re in, I guarantee you’ll feel totally uplifted after watching it!

Naomi and Michael met on the first day university and had been together for 8 years when they got married. They have written their wedding report together.

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