Jewish Hindu wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

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 Sà©ga!

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

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Talia & Indra | Colourful fusion Jewish Hindu ‘HinJew’ wedding at The Wit, Chicago, IL, USA

16/12/2014 by Karen

As a fan of bold colour, multi-cultural weddings are such a visual treat for me. So I’m totally thrilled to be blogging this afternoon’s fusion Jewish Hindu or ‘HinJew’ wedding that’s an all-out explosion of colour and fun. From the bride’s multi-coloured hair to her stunning dress, vivid jewellery and wonderful mix of flowers, to the groom’s hip style and snazzy bejewelled shoes!

This wedding really shows how to perfectly amalgamate cultures, rituals, merrymaking, and personality! Talia and Indra made sure that amongst all their combined traditions they didn’t forget to let their personalities shine through. One of my favourite (and oh-so-simple) party details is that they had a design-your-own-‘mac-and-cheese-bar’ , because Talia is obsessed with this dish!

I absolutely adore Talia’s colourful dress and accessories which suit her down to the ground and I think that it’s safe to say that Talia’s dad agrees too. The emotional photo of him when he sees her for the first time gave me a lump in my throat…

So settle down and enjoy Talia’s infectiously fun words, alongside some super stunning imagery from Roots of Life Photography.

a colourful city chic venue

Talia, the Bride: We chose theWit in Chicago, as we wanted a unique and colourful wedding venue with a city feel within easy walking distance to fun things to do before and after the wedding. And in terms of Chicago, there is definitely a significance there. We knew we were going to be a destination wedding for most people no matter where we had it, since we had guests traveling from South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana, Texas, Canada, India, etc. So we chose to go with our favourite US city, which earned a special place in our hearts since we had our first date there. It made the whole event that much more meaningful to be able

Tina & David | Jewish / Hindu multi-cultural destination wedding at El Cerro De La Cruz and Las Capuchinas, Antigua, Guatemala

16/09/2014 by Karen

We have a delicious destination for you today folks. And they don’t come much more delicious than a beautiful melding of Jewish and Indian cultures all the way from Antigua, Guatemala!

The historic Central American city was the perfect location for Tina and David to tie the knot as they adore traveling and wanted their friends and family to experience the delights of Antigua in the Indian tradition of having a wedding celebration lasting several days.

Tina and David embraced both their cultures as much as possible with everything from a pre-wedding Henna Picnic to a combined Hindu and Jewish wedding ceremony, to a Bollywood Hora at the reception (Yes really! Words can’t express how much I love the sound of that) to serving both Indian and Jewish food during their cocktail hour.

Honestly folks this is a wedding and a half and it’s captured so emotively and beautifully by the talented Sean Carr.

Let’s check it out…

PICKING SOMEWHERE TO REFECT OUR LOVE OF TRAVELING FOR OUR DESTINATION WEDDING
Tina, the Bride: We love to travel and had been to the Central American city of Antigua, Guatemala on one of our first trips together several years ago when we first started dating. We picked Antigua for our wedding because it was such a charming, unusual place – and we wanted our friends and family to experience it with us. There were ruins and grand buildings from hundreds of years ago, beautiful lush gardens, and lots of activities so we though it would be the perfect location for our guests to relax, enjoy, and explore.

Anika & Dan | Jewish / Hindu multi-cultural wedding at the Mandarin Oriental London

25/03/2014 by Karen

Er….. WOW!

That’s pretty much all I said for 5 minutes when Anika and Dan’s Jewish/Hindu (or HinJew) fusion wedding hit my inbox. These two certainly know how to throw a party. And throw a party they did — more specifically a big day that embraced a vibrant union of culture, tradition and romance, all beautifully captured by Aneta Mak.

I’m particularly impressed with the way that Anika and Dan intertwined two religions and both Indian and Jewish heritage into the ceremony. It’s a tricky issue for many interfaith couples but these two did it with authenticity and heaps of style and panache.

I almost don’t know where to begin telling their epic wedding story, but luckily for me Anika, the bride explains it a lot better than I ever could.

Anika, the bride: I think most couples want their wedding to be a true reflection of themselves. Dan and I were no different in this respect, we wanted our wedding to showcase our passion for food and how we love to throw a good party, whilst also reflecting both our Indian and Jewish heritages.
The Mandarin Oriental enabled us to do just this. They were super accommodating on the food front, creating a menu that was non-offensive to Jews and Hindus that was also distinctly fusion, and the ball room is stunning and was the perfect place for us party hard after the day’s festivities. It ticked all our boxes.