Massachusetts Jewish Wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

A BHLDN Bride for a Literary Jewish Wedding with DIY Touches at the Bride’s Parents’ Family Home in Falmouth, MA, USA

01/11/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when a couple makes their Jewish wedding 100% truly THEM. And that’s exactly what Leah, a project manager, and Alex, a lab tech and soon-to-be nursing student, did in their literary-themed backyard wedding, which celebrated the pair’s love of reading, family, and of course their beloved cats!

Their wonderful wedding planner, Luba Gankin from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Primavera Dreams, helped them pull all these strands together to make one ultra-memorable day. We can’t get enough of all the fun details like centerpieces made of old books and escort card bookmarks made of recycled book pages – plus the super colorful chuppah canopy, made from a piece of traditional Egyptian wedding tent cloth the bride brought back with her after spending three years living in Egypt! Photographer Alex Gordias captured it all so beautifully.

Oh, and did we mention that the bride – who looked lovely in her wedding dress from BHLDN – baked the wedding cake (for 150 guests) herself?!

Now over to the couple…

How we met

Leah and Alex, the bride and the groom: The bride and groom first met 16 years ago at age 15 when they were competitive Latin ballroom dancers in high school! The groom claims he had a crush on the bride at the time.

Fast forward 14 years, and the groom moved in with one of the bride’s closest friends completely by chance. When the bride came to visit her friend, she was surprised to find Alex there but impressed with the excellent job he’d done growing up. And the rest is history! True to their roots, the bride and groom performed a sensual tango to Leonard Cohen’s ‘Dance Me To The End of Love’.
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A Rustic Chic Family-Focused Jewish Wedding at Gedney Farm in New Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA

15/07/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when a couple puts friends and family at the center of their big day – and that’s exactly what Miri, a social worker at the Women’s Prison Association, and Dan, a doctor and is the assistant professor of pathology & cell biology/assistant director of clinical microbiology at Columbia Presbyterian, did.

Not to say that they didn’t pay attention to the aesthetics – it’s hard to go wrong in the beautiful Berkshires, and we’re in love with their gorgeous rustic venue. And that floral chuppah – so sweet and simple, yet so perfect! If you’re anything like us, Christopher Duggan’s wonderful photos will have you wishing you could transport yourself to Western Massachusetts ASAP.

The groom’s father officiated the wedding, and the bride’s father and uncle participated in the ceremony too. And we love that Miri and Dan divided up a modern version of the the 7 blessing among family so that even more of their relatives could participate!

We love that Miri opted to wear her mother’s 50-year-old wedding dress for the big day (with some tailoring and modernization to make it work for her body AND the 21^stcentury) – how special is that?

And the canopy on that gorgeous chuppah? It was taken from Dan’s mom’s wedding dress.

There’s so much more to say about this amazing day, but we’ll leave the rest to Miri…

How we met

Miri, the bride: We met on Tinder in 2014.

A Rebecca Ingram Bride in a Leather Jacket for a Trilingual Rustic Jewish Wedding at Ferncroft Country Club in Middleton, Massachusetts, USA

28/09/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Okay, how cool is that customized leather jacket, today’s bride Lyubov paired with her classic Rebecca Ingram gown? We just love the touch of edge (not to mention the massive dose of personality) it adds to today’s fab Jewish wedding — and did we mention that Lyubov DIY’d it herself? #goals

There are just so many awesome touches in this fantastic day, from the sweet invitations — complete with cartoon portraits of Lyuobv and Juan, who both work in the pharmaceutical industry, in their W-day attire! — to the beautiful rustic birch chuppah, dolled up with touches of lace and greenery.

Fergie Medar Photography not only captured all the details beautifully, she really did an amazing job illustrating the love between these two and all the emotion that went into their day.

We’re also bowled over that the pair pulled off a tri-lingual (!) wedding. With the bride’s family speaking Russian, the groom’s speaking Spanish, and friends speaking English, Lyubov and Juan had speeches in not one, not two, but THREE languages. Prepare to be bowled over by Jonny Havens Wedding Films’ touching video.

Now over to Lyubov, who credits Smashing The Glass for providing loads of inspo in creating this special day!

How We Met

Lyubov, the bride: Juan and I met our freshman year of college in English class (he sat behind me), and we instantly connected. We were friends for a bit, and then started dating.Continue Reading

A Henry Roth Bride for a Magical Rock Garden Jewish Wedding at The Mount, Lenox, Massachusetts, USA

24/07/2017 by Karen

Today’s visually arresting real Jewish wedding marries black tie-chic with a quaint, English country garden theme. Using a soft color palette of nudes and greys, and an abundance of sprawling floral arrangements, Alexandra and Nicholas created an absolute vision of wedding pretty.

The Mount, chosen, in part, for its literary history, provided the perfect backdrop for a vintage-inspired, English garden aesthetic. The rock garden, in which the pair exchanged vows, was an idyllic setting for a truly magnificent, flower-heavy chuppah, which genuinely looked like a permanent part of the magical garden.

Beautiful bride, Alexandra, looked simply incredible in her Henry Roth gown and skyscraper Christian Louboutin heels, surrounded by bridesmaids in gorgeous grey.

The brilliant photography you see below was provided Cling&Peck, and the fabulous write up by bride, Alexandra. We hope you love soaking in all of the overwhelmingly stunning details as much as we did!

How we met

Alexandra, the bride: Nicholas and I met online through Match.com.
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Jennifer & Jessica | Wonderfully joyous Lesbian Jewish Wedding at The Old Manse, Concord, and John Pierce House, Lincoln, Massachusetts, USA

24/02/2015 by Karen

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It’s not so unusual to feature a wedding with homemade invitations, an extraordinarily meaningful chuppah, and a vegetarian menu… But arriving by canoe, personalised pencil favours, a custom neon sign, and a joint breaking of the glass on the same rock where revolutionists, Henry David Thoreau and Nathanial Hawthorne once sat? Now that is a little more unusual!

Jennifer and Jessica had a very personal wedding like no other. It was so very authentic to them, and they incorporated many wonderful personal and thoughtful details.

I absolutely LOVE their ‘how we met’ story too…

The report today is written by them both, and photography is by the brilliantly talented Prinos Photography.

how we met

Jessica: I was jumping rope in my apartment on the top floor of a high rise in Manhattan overlooking the East River and I was saying to myself, “I just want to meet my own Jen.” My eldest brother is married to a beautiful Jen with curly red hair and my other brother is married to a beautiful Jewish Jen from New Jersey. Two weeks later I met my Jen and she’s Jewish, from New Jersey and has curly red hair!

Jennifer: We met in February 2007 during a cocktail event at the Asia Society in Manhattan. We had less than fifteen minutes together but there was an intrigue about Jessica that made me want to learn more. I gave her my number, and she called three days later. We both lived on 1st Avenue, she was uptown and I was downtown… We fell in love on the 1st Avenue bus.