Matt Parry Photography Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Halfpenny London Bride for an interfaith Mexican-Jewish wedding at Searcys at 30 Pavilion Road, Knightsbridge, London, UK

24/05/2016 by Karen

The last few weeks have been filled to the brim with all sorts of events and meetings… all in the name of work! From admiring the 2017 bridal collections at White Gallery London to a meeting with the Vivienne Westwood couture team in central London to the fabulous Not On The High Street press event where I got to meet the wonderful Kate Halfpenny and see her phenomenal wedding dress designs firsthand. Having been a fan of Kate’s for a long time (since I first heard her speak at Paperfest in 2014) I’m delighted to be finally featuring a bride wearing one of her vintage-inspired Halfpenny London gowns in today’s interfaith (let’s call it Mexi-Jew!) fusion Jew-ish wedding.

Yes, today’s wedding features a surprise Mexican mariachi band singing Hava Nagila and Siman Tov… Epic, right?

And when it’s all captured by Matt Parry, you know it’s going to be utterly superb. Matt is one of those photographers whose work makes me do a little dance whenever I see it — there is something so very creative and fresh about his style — and I’m so happy to be able to say that today’s couple booked him after discovering his work on Smashing The Glass (which definitely elicits another happy dance from me!).

how we met

Liz, the Bride: Freddie and I met six years ago whilst I was living in London with friends. We met at a club and exchanged phone numbers. We went on a date and I spent the rest of my time in London with him.

When I returned to Mexico we assumed that that was the end of our whirlwind romance, however two years later I came back to London for the Olympics and I met up with Freddie and we ended spending the entire summer together. The following summer I was back in London for work and after spending yet another summer together we finally decided to give it a go. I moved to London and the rest as they say is history…

We chose this venue as Freddie and his family used to live less than 100 yards away. As Freddie’s mum mentioned in her speech it felt like coming home…

“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Matt Parry

07/02/2016 by Karen

A weekly series where I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of Matt Parry.

‘Energy’ by Matt Parry

The only way to truly capture weddings is to get right in the thick of the action. One of the true innovators of photography Robert Capa once said “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

I love this shot. I love the dance floor at all Jewish weddings. OK I may take the odd elbow/chair leg to the face but its so worth it to get right up close and capture that sense of energy and happiness. Sometimes the energy and movement within images can be subtle (a moment just before a kiss) ….and sometimes it can be in your face obvious (a flying groom just before he collides with your camera lens).”

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.