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An Amanda Wakeley Bride for an Interfaith Irish-Jewish Wedding at Millhouse and Slane Castle, Slane, Ireland

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One of our favorite things here at STG is seeing all the different ways couples bring their backgrounds together in crafting their Jewish weddings… and today we’ve got a great example of exactly that in the Jewish-Irish wedding of Rebecca, who works in property, and Colm, a musician and client services director for a tech company.

The London-based couple opted to marry in Colm’s native Ireland, but they made sure each spouse’s traditions got equal billing, with clever touches like kippot inscribed with both Irish and Hebrew phrases (from STG Brides Club vendor Hebrewear), boxes at each table filled with Yiddish and Irish phrases, an Irish singalong AND a hora – oh, and a beautiful bright ketubah by Micky Caspi, purchased from beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com.

We’re also obsessed with Rebecca’s cool non-traditional bridal style. Her ethereal silver silk gown (and second strappy red number) from Amanda Wakeley just go to show that you don’t have to go white to be a totally gorgeous bride – plus we can’t go without mentioning her awesome starry veil (so on trend for 2019)! Photographer Marianne Chua captured the look splendidly – not to mention all the emotion, action and fun of the big day.

We’ll let Rebecca fill you in on the rest…

 
How we met

Rebecca, the bride: We met running up and down fields in Central London playing tag rugby. It’s a non-contact version, men and women, and we ended up on the same team. One sunny weekend tournament, I saw him glancing over and suspected he might be interested. We had a friendly chat, made our way to an afterparty together and were pretty much inseparable from there.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Watters Bride for an Egalitarian Jewish Wedding with Fairy Lights and Sunflowers at The Oakley Court, Windsor, UK

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Is this the perfect English country Jewish wedding, or what? We are totally obsessed with Miri and Jon’s sweet sunflower chuppah — not to mention the bride’s epic flower crown (which she opted for instead of a bouquet) and the charming table centers in repurposed whiskey bottles strewn with fairy lights. It was all the work of florist Gabriella Shem-Tov, who crafted the perfect colorful arrangements to complement the festival vibes and idyllic outdoor setting.

We also love that Miri, a project manager at the British Library, and Jon, community development director for Masorti Judaism in the UK, crafted an ultra-personal egalitarian ceremony totally in step with their values, where they circled each other, exchanged rings, and both smashed a glass.

Don’t miss Miri’s beautiful writeup, or Marianne Chua’s luminous documentary-style photography… and whilst you’re at it, you won’t want to miss our amazing FREE online event for Jewish and Jew-ish Brides happening later today called, ‘The Secrets to an Unforgettable Jewish Wedding”. Sign up here if you haven’t already – I can’t wait to see you there!

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Jewish wedding The Oakley Court Windsor UK_0068Jewish wedding The Oakley Court Windsor UK_0068

Jewish wedding The Oakley Court Windsor UK_0068

Jewish wedding The Oakley Court Windsor UK_0068
How we met

Miri, the bride: We had been friends for a few years but then accidentally went on a date, and were engaged a year later!

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A Cute and Quirky Springtime Jewish Wedding With a Blush Watters Gown at Royal Horticultural Halls, London UK

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WOW.

That was our first reaction when we clapped eyes on this ridiculous stunner of a Jewish wedding. It remained our reaction throughout every moment of gazing at, editing and reading all of the fabulous details of Michal and Sam’s quirky and incredible Big Day. Every single second produced a fresh ‘wow’ and we’re pretty sure you guys are going to agree. 

Where to start? We’re crazy about the adorable story of how Michal and Sam met and kept coming back together over the years. We can’t stress how much we rate beautiful bride Michal’s eye-popping, jaw-dropping wedding ensemble (including her ludicrously flattering blush Watters gown), in which she looked so ethereal and gorgeous, that we can’t imagine anyone in attendance could take their eyes off her for a second.

Attention also needs to be paid to the super cute, vintage-inspired aesthetic, and springtime color scheme, embellished with fabulous floral designs from none other than our ridiculously talented and much-loved Recommended Vendor, Liz at Blue Sky Flowers.

Another couple of honorable mentions go to the plethora of origami tulips, made by friends and provided by Etsy, and the ingenious idea for the kippot from Circes of Life – no spoilers!

Every last divine detail wast captured by fabulous photographer, and frequent STG photographer, Marianne Chua, and the goosebump-inducing video below was created by Uri v’Tamar. We adore Michal’s fantastic writeup, and hope you enjoy this visual and emotional treat as much as we did.

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How we met

Michal, the bride: We met when we were 17 on a trip to Europe with our Jewish youth movements. We sat next to each other on the coach and got on well enough that Sam invited me to his school prom.

After a few years as friends, and a false start on our gap year, we finally got together at Limmud on New Years, and got engaged on our anniversary seven years later.
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Jewish rustic barn wedding with a Fairy Gothmother Dress and fresh wildflowers at Colville Hall, Essex, UK

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Happy Friday everyone! To celebrate the imminent arrival of the weekend, sit back and enjoy this real wedding, which had such a fantastic party atmosphere that it spilled over into a second party the day after the big day.

Cool and quirky bride, Hannah, looked like a stunning artistic vision with wildflowers in her hair, in her tea-length Fairy Gothmother dress and wow-factor sparkly green Irregular Choice heels. 

We love all of the unique ideas that express the couple’s life together, with their many in jokes, including stick-figure illustrated invitations and some special, limited edition, Hannah and Peter Sauce. 

A personalised chuppah is always a winner and, in this case, the couple asked their loved ones to contribute a square each to a homemade patchwork chuppah, with their friends and family’s heartfelt wishes watching over them during the ceremony.

The whole story of the day and all of its detail and emotion was expertly captured by photographer Marianne Chau. We’ll hand over to Hannah now for the full report on her and Peter’s rustic barn wedding. Take it away, Hannah! 

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How we met

Hannah, the bride: We met on Jdate, much to our surprise and shock!

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A venue with character at an old converted Tudor barn in Essex

We got married at Colville Hall which is an old converted Tudor barn near Hatfield Heath in Essex, UK. There were two barns on the site and we used one for the ceremony and dancing and the other one for dinner. We chose the venue partly because we needed somewhere big enough to fit all of our guests (!) but mainly because we wanted somewhere with character and outdoor space as we were having a summer wedding.

We added a lot of personal touches throughout right from our hand drawn invites to the ceremony to the drinks at the bar which we think gave our wedding a unique ‘Hannah and Peter’ laid-back feel.

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Debbie & Eyal | A Jewish Turkish lovebird-themed wedding, filled with colour, at The HAC (Honourable Artillery Company), London, UK

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It absolutely makes my day when I read that the couple who’s real wedding I’m putting together found their photographer via Smashing The Glass. That’s exactly what Debbie and Eyal did in order to discover the amazing Marianne Chua — and oh my goodness, aren’t Marianne images awesome?

Debbie and Eyal chose a really unusual theme… birds! They both adore our feathered friends so weaved them into their wedding stationery, their guestbooks, on top of their wedding cake, into their ‘nest’-style table centrepieces, and even as dancing props later on in the evening! Such an unexpected theme and so well-executed.

Not surprisingly with Debbie working in events, and Eyal being a theatre lighting designer, there’s a whole heap of personality and creativity flowing throughout the day. From the wedding logo of two birds, sketched by the bride, to their super fun wedding website, to the surprise song and dance performed by friends, to the highly personalised Jewish wedding ceremony punctuated by musical interludes, this W-Day is overflowing with individuality and character.

Debbie’s report is longer than average, there’s no denying it but it’s well worth an in-depth read. Perhaps gawp at the emotive imagery and then come back later for a proper sit down. I’ll admit that parts of Debbie’s report brought me to tears. It’s brilliantly written, straight from the heart, and she gives some of the best advice I’ve ever heard from a bride at the end of the post. An absolute must-read.

By pure coincidence, I also had the pleasure of meeting Debbie in the run-up to her wedding when I was giving a talk at Brides The Show last year. After the talk she came over for a chat to ask my advice on her big day. One of the things she wanted to know was how she could come up with an idea for a meaningful chuppah design. Well, without wanting to pat myself on the back, I must have said something right, as what Debbie and Eyal came up with couldn’t have been more perfect. It’s a great example of how your chuppah canopy can be one of the most meaningful and personal elements of your wedding day. I’ll let Debbie divulge the details — it’s so very special.

Oh, and the wedding film at the end of the post, by The Dreamcatchers is an absolute must-see too. So much love and happiness oozes out of it, I literally found myself gazing at it thinking how lucky I am to be able to watch this breathtaking film as part of my job. Don’t miss it!

Ok lovely Debbie, take it away…

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how we met

Debbie, the Bride: I was moving in with two friends, Alma and Shiri (my BridesMates!) who introduced me to Eyal. He helped us move into the flat actually. We were friends for a few months, and got together the day before he went off to South America for almost four months away. Timing! We thought we’d ‘pick up’ when he got back, but in fact we ended up Skype-ing, writing and essentially starting out as a couple. He returned in February 2013 and the rest was history.

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