Maya Myers Photography Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Vera Wang Bride for an Elegant Spring Jewish Wedding at Pleasantdale Chateau West Orange, NJ, USA

23/03/2020 by Karen Cinnamon 1 Comment

Because we can all use a bit of springtime cheer right now, we’re excited to share the beautiful Jewish wedding of two high school sweethearts: Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Elizabeth, a lawyer, and Bernie, a doctor (#cantTARASaPART).

It’s always a pleasure blogging the weddings of our Brides Club members, and we’re so touched by the bride’s kind words about how the group helped her plan her big day. Elizabeth especially loved the personal vendor referrals Team STG provides to Brides Club members on a daily basis – we connected her with her fab planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Amy Katz Events, who did SUCH an incredible job bringing the couple’s vision for their day together and keeping everything running smoothly on the day, as well as the couple’s ketubah designer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Melanie Dankowicz – the gorgeous floral papercut she created was the absolute perfect fit for the soft springtime vibes that characterized the day.

Speaking of springtime vibes, how about that chuppah?! We adore the profusion of roses and peonies in soft pinks, corals, and whites – and those hanging floral strands just add that little something extra. The mirrored frame keeps the whole structure looking contemporary, too – don’t miss it in the wonderful photos from Maya Myers and video from Motoko Fukayama of Love in Progress.

We’ll let Elizabeth, who was a total knockout in Vera Wang, take it from here…

A Chateau Wedding

Elizabeth, the bride: We got married at Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange, NJ. We are both from NY so neither one of us had any particular ties to NJ, but we were struggling to find a venue that spoke to us. Then someone suggested Pleasantdale and we fell in love from the moment we walked in.

A Vera Wang Bride for an Urban Chic NYC Foodie Jewish Wedding with a Tequila Bar at Weylin, Brooklyn, NYC, USA

25/04/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

This has got to be the ultimate NYC foodie dream Jewish wedding! Rachel and Dan got married at Weylin, an iconic 19th-century former bank space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As New Yorkers, it was important to the couple to wed in their home city — and to showcase some of its finest food offerings.

For starters, there was the cake: supercool bakery Momofuku’s rainbow layered birthday cake. Then, for the afterparty, a late-night snack from NYC pizza joint Lil Frankies. And guests even got a little taste of the city to take home with them at the end of the night, in the form of cookie favors from beloved bakery Levain, a neighborhood favorite for the Upper West Side couple. These are truly some of the most delicious cookies NYC has to offer — good going, guys!

But that’s not even the coolest thing about this wedding. What is? The tequila tasting room (!). Rachel and Dan are both tequila fans, and they figured their wedding was the perfect time to share their passion for the drink with their family and friends. They report that it was a massive hit, and I believe it! What a fun way to personalize your wedding, if you and your beloved happen to be connoisseurs of a particular drink — it’s like signature cocktails on steroids!

Photographer Maya Myers took the most elegant shots of the couple’s chic day, and Rachel looked classically elegant in sublime Vera Wang. Take it away Rachel!

How we met

Rachel, the bride: Dan and I met through jSwipe.

Danny & Aaron | Extraordinary Gay Jewish Wedding, with the Couple Arriving on a Unicorn, at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA

10/03/2015 by Karen

Gay-Jewish-Wedding
OK guys, we are starting the week at TRULY EPIC on the wedding spectrum. Are you ready for what I have in store for you?

The truth is, I actually don’t know where to start with all the love that I have for Danny and Aaron’s immense Jewish wedding. And by the time you lot are through you won’t know what to do with yourselves either.

To begin with these two rode down the aisle to their chuppah atop a tallit-wearing horse dressed as a unicorn (or Jew-nicorn, as they dubbed it!) to the tune of Madonna’s Like a Virgin. What’s more Joss Stone (yes, the Joss Stone) undertook the role of cantor, singing Circle of Life as Danny and Aaron circled each other under the chuppah, and a 16 person gospel choir was on hand for a few of the ceremony songs as well.

When I asked Danny and Aaron what advice they’d give to brides and grooms currently planning their Jewish wedding, they told me, “be unique to your personalities. You can create new Jewish traditions by adding a personal flare to more traditional Jewish rituals, making your wedding unique to you as individuals and as a couple”, and boy did they live up to their own advice!

Danny and Aaron certainly know how to throw a phenomenal party. And throw a party they did. At their reception, John Legend, Ciara, Joss Stone, and Korean rapper, Psy (aka Mr. Gangnam Style!) performed live keeping guests entertained till well into the small hours. But as much as there was world-class entertainment and flamboyant gestures, Danny and Aaron’s W Day was absolutely all about sharing, loving and being together. An ethos that the pair stood from the very start as they decided not to uphold the traditions of being apart until the ceremony, instead opting to get ready together — sharing every single moment of their wedding day.

Thank you to Danny, Aaron and Maya Myers Photography for letting me give you the most incredible start to your Smashing The Glass week!

Choosing Paramount Studios in Hollywood as our wedding venue

Danny and Aaron, the Grooms: We both work in the music and television industries. We wanted to have our guests experience a Hollywood studio and wanted to create a grand overlaying look of our wedding and so Paramount Studios was a perfect fit for us. We wanted to design the whole room.