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A Heartfelt Jewish Wedding filled with Emotion at Psagot Winery, Israel

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Saul & Yehudith, Psagot, Israel

Get ready to be blown away by today’s STUNNING Jewish wedding – exquisitely captured by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si. Israel-based couple Yehudit and Saul, who both work in high tech, chose to make it official at the ultra-romantic Psagot Winery.

With gorgeous surroundings ticked off the list – a place like Psagot doesn’t need anything extra to shine – Yehudit and Saul were free to focus on their top priority: crafting a day that truly reflected them and their values. And did they ever! The challenges the pair faced along the way – most notably Yehudit’s parents being denied at the airport – only served to bring them closer together.

But back to those incredible photos – in Yehudit’s words, Jossef Si was “incredible, professional, creative, and a pleasure to work with,” and his images do such an amazing job of capturing all the love and emotion of the day, and in high style too.

There’s lots more to say about this very special wedding – Yehudit and Saul have quite the how-we-met story – so read on for all the rest…

Saul & Yehudith, Psagot, Israel Saul & Yehudith, Psagot, Israel Saul & Yehudith, Psagot, Israel Saul & Yehudith, Psagot, Israel
How we Met

Yehudith, the bride: We met on my first Shabbat in Jerusalem, I sublet a room for 2 week and one of the girls who lived there was Saul’s friend. She invited him for Shabbat dinner and when he saw me he thought “wow this girl is tall! I need to talk with her”, but to his surprise I didn’t know English.

So, he invited me and his friend for lunch the next day and he told his friend that he wanted to ask me out, but …we could not communicate, and I was converting (guiur process) so I could not go out with anyone.

It was very cold that day and I forgot to bring a jacket so he gave me his jacked from the army (he served in Golani) hopping that it would make us to meet again.

I never gave the jacket back…Till the day I finished my guiur and learned English (1 and half years later). I texted him “Hey do you remember me? I have your jacket, I would like to give it back to you.” And he answered “lets make a deal, you can stay with the jacket if you go out with me.” So we started dating.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Dreamy Oceanside Jewish Wedding at Al Hayam in Caesarea, Israel

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May & Benjamin, Al Hayam, Ceaserea, Israel

How gorgeous is the fabulous Israeli Jewish wedding of May, a pilot, lawyer, and CEO of two organizations (talk about a busy bride!) and Benjy, the cofounder and CEO of a recruitment software company?!

These two chose to make it official at one of Israel’s most stunning seaside venues, Al Hayam in Caesarea. Al Hayam is totally swoonworthy in its own right, with its fabulous outdoor spaces and serene ocean views, but for this couple it also had tons of sentimental value since May grew up nearby – and the couple even visited the first time they came up to Caesarea to visit May’s family together!

And of course we’re absolutely obsessed with May and Benjy’s incredible photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si. His photos look like they came straight from the pages of the chicest glossy magazine – each image is a true work of art. Not only that, but the couple also report that Jossef and his team were an absolute delight to work with and made them feel super comfortable on the day.

May & Benjamin, Al Hayam, Ceaserea, Israel May & Benjamin, Al Hayam, Ceaserea, Israel May & Benjamin, Al Hayam, Ceaserea, Israel
A Seaside Venue 

We got married at Al Hayam in Caesarea, Israel. This venue is outdoors, and over looks the Mediterranean sea. May grew up in Caesarea and spend most her childhood in the sea. It was also the first place May took Benjy to when he came to visit her family for Shabbat. It has great significance to both of us.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Mordehai Avraham Bride for a Last-Minute Jewish Wedding at Ohel Moed, Tel Aviv, Israel

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Tal-and-Eldar.-Ohel-Moed-Israel

In the COVID era, lots of weddings come together at the last minute. But Israeli couple Tal, a textile designer at Terminal X, and Eldar, a marketing manager at Ikea, didn’t set their date until just a week before their Jewish wedding! It was a must for the couple to plan their celebration around Tal’s sister’s visit from abroad – so when she finally made it to Israel, they made it happen, FAST.

Not that you’d be able to tell – the venue, Ohel Moed TLV Synagogue, was so spectacular it didn’t need much added in the way of décor, and the photos by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si Photography are pure magic, full of emotion and love.

This being a pandemic wedding, Tal and Eldar were only allowed 40 in-person guests. But they worked with videographer Itay Bar Weddings to broadcast the proceedings live on YouTube for their friends and family around the world, so they could experience it all in real time.

We’ll let Tal, who looked perfectly boho chic in Mordehai Avraham, fill you in on the rest…

Tal-and-Eldar.-Ohel-Moed-Israel Tal-and-Eldar.-Ohel-Moed-Israel Tal-and-Eldar.-Ohel-Moed-Israel Tal-and-Eldar.-Ohel-Moed-Israel
How we Met

Tal, the bride: We met two years ago when working together at IKEA.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Liron Partouche Bride for a Jewish Pandemic Wedding Inspired by China at Yama, Herzliya, Israel

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Michal and Sam, Yama, Hertezlya, Israel

Israeli couple Michal and Sam, both of whom work for hi-tech start-up companies, first met in Chinese class at university. They got engaged at the end of a year spent living and studying the language together in Shanghai. So it was only natural that when it came to planning their Jewish wedding, they turned to their shared love of the language as inspiration for their Jewish wedding – along with the best of their home country, of course!

The pair made table numbers out of Chinese characters they wrote themselves and used the character 囍 (which symbolizes wedding in Chinese, meaning double happiness) on each napkin and on the wedding invitations. They even had the Chinese character for love embroidered on their chuppah canopy!

Michal and Sam dreamed of getting married by the sea at sunset – what better way to showcase Israel’s natural splendor? – and though COVID forced them to postpone twice (and change venues), in the end they were still able to have the wedding of their dreams at a gorgeous seaside venue in Herzliya (albeit with fewer guests than originally planned, and further-flung loved ones tuning in via livestream).

As always, we’re absolutely in love with the luminous photography by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si – an incredible talent Michal had had her eye on since before getting engaged.

Now over to the bride for all the details…

Michal and Sam, Yama, Hertezlya, Israel Michal and Sam, Yama, Hertezlya, Israel Michal and Sam, Yama, Hertezlya, Israel Michal and Sam, Yama, Hertezlya, Israel
How we Met

Michal, the bride: We met in my first Chinese class of my first year at university. It was so coincidental because it’s not Sam’s major (he was taking the class as an enrichment class) and I switched my major to Chinese at the last minute. We became friends and after a year of friendship we began to date.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Last-Minute Jewish Micro Wedding in the Forest, Eshta’ol, Israel

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Mayan-and-Mola-Jerusalem   

Today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding took place right at the start of the pandemic last year (hard to believe it’s been a year, right?), when we were just starting to hear about micro wedding and minimonies. But Mayan, a student in dance and movement therapy, and Mola, an animation student, pulled off their intimate celebration so expertly you’d never guess they were COVID wedding pioneers.

The Israeli couple had initially planned a big wedding in Jerusalem for May 2020, but as the situation started getting more serious they realized their Plan A was unlikely to work. Instead of waiting it out, Mayan and Mola decided to bump their wedding up, so they could make things official before Israel’s first lockdown began.

With just a few days’ notice, the pair planned a whole new wedding for an intimate crowd of 18, set outdoors in a beautiful forest near Jerusalem. Since their surroundings were so naturally gorgeous, they didn’t need to do much – the groom set up a little décor the morning of, and the couple opted for a simple chuppah with white cloth atop wooden poles, held by Mola’s brothers and cousin. Luckily, the couple’s amazing photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jossef Si, was able to make it – and we are absolutely in love with his dreamy photos of the day.

Being such a last-minute affair, there were a few challenges along the way – the groom’s suit wasn’t ready in time, and the bride’s got an amazing only-in-Israel story about how she sourced her wedding shoes on short notice when most shops had already closed due to COVID. But in the end, Mayan and Mola say they wouldn’t have had their wedding any other way. In the bride’s words, “I am glad that our wedding ended up being very simple and modest. Sometimes the stress of planning a large event takes out the fun and excitement of just getting married!”

We’ll let her take it from here…

Mayan-and-Mola-Jerusalem Mayan-and-Mola-Jerusalem Mayan-and-Mola-Jerusalem Mayan-and-Mola-Jerusalem
How We Met

Mayan, the bride: We were introduced to each other through a mutual friend who Mola met travelling in India and I met in a group with which I studied in “Nefesh Yehudi” in the campus of the Hebrew University. Gali and Adi who were in my group thought of the ‘Shiduch’ together, and that’s how we started dating.Continue ReadingContinue Reading