Metallics Archives - Page 13 of 13 - Smashing the Glass

Abby & Elliot | DIY mid-century woodland Jewish wedding, Sequoia Lodge, Oakland, CA

18/03/2014 by Karen

“Take the time to make the ceremony really meaningful; go beyond the template to something that truly represents your spiritual and personal beliefs.”

That’s the brilliant advice from today’s couple who built in a lot of personal elements, unique to their lives and relationship to create a truly meaningful and memorable, pure and sacred wedding ceremony.

Elliot is a rabbi and Abby is a writer with musical background and together they worked in a lot of spiritual, literary, and musical touches. Their whole W-day was a truly handcrafted affair and the creative couple beavered away on several projects to create their charming mid-century woodland wedding… the exquisite home-made jam favours that doubled up as table numbers, the fifties-style dress, the handmade wedding programs, the challah and cake, the privacy tent (more on that later). Almost every detail was created by Abby, Elliot, or one of their talented family and friends. There was even an appointed ‘decor captain’ so that their woodland theme permeated effortlessly throughout!

Both Abby and Elliot report on their wedding and they have a gorgeous set of images from Miki Vargas that truly capture the emotions and spirit of their day.

Chelm & Jake | Uber cool Jewish Wedding at the Doodle Bar + Testbed1, Battersea, London

06/03/2014 by Karen

I promise that what you’re about to see is truly epic. This folks is how to do a super cool, super fun, superfly wedding.

There are so many things that I love about this W-day that I’d be here until midnight listing them all, but I’ll just mention Los Desterrados playing ‘The Final Countdown‘ in the synagogue; pornstar martinis and chilli martinis as the cocktails of choice in the reception; an after-party stretching until sunrise, a Jenny Packham bride with her Vivienne Westwood groom… and I’ll stop now. You just need to see it.

And as fabulous as this wedding is, some of my favourite elements are the way in which Chelm and Jake personalised their Jewish ceremony — in particular what they did with their Sheva Brachot, and also their spin on the traditional circling of the groom.

They chose the Doodle Bar in Battersea (don’t you think it’s one of the best venue websites you’ve ever seen?) for their reception. It’s housed in an old dairy in Battersea, on the banks of the Thames and the adjoining space, Testbed1, where the party continued, is normally used as an arts venue. It’s an incredible warehouse space that Chelm and Jake and their very creative friends decorated with real pizazz and flair. I’ll let Jake continue with all the details – yes it’s our cooler-than-a polar-bear’s-toenails groom reporting the wedding today! He’s a real character – we need more groom wedding reports!

The photography is phenomenal and it’s by our newest Smashing Supplier and STG favourite, Blake Ezra Photography.

VENUE

Jake, the groom: Friends of ours own Doodle Bar in Battersea and I’d visited the place several months previously and thought it was very cool – a bit of East London in Battersea! I asked my friend if there was any chance that it would make a workable wedding venue, and to my delight, he said yes – they’d already done a lot of parties there.

Lena & Asaf | Family + Fun Jewish wedding at Melbourne University + Luminare, Melbourne

19/02/2014 by Karen

I love all the effort that’s gone into this wedding from family and friends – there’s lots of thoughtful family input throughout this relaxed and pretty affair that I think anyone trying to pull of a wedding with that homespun feel can be inspired.
There’s tons of all-round fabulousness, and in particular lots of beautiful design touches like giant foam letters, and branded bars of wedding chocolate. Yes. Branded bars of wedding chocolate! I am completely obsessed with that idea.. and the execution.

I also *adore* the music that Lena and Asaf chose for their ceremony. They chose a medley of two hebrew songs that I’d actually never heard of before, but on giving them a whirl whilst compiling this post, I now can’t stop listening to them. Scroll down to hear more (literally!).

All of this awesomeness was captured forever by Vanilla Images. And you luckies have also got the immense film of this wedding, created by the fantastic Wheelhouse Studios. You’re gonna love that.

So without further ado, let me hand over to Lena, our gorgeous bride, for her account of STG’s first Australian wedding. It’s a corker!

VENUE
Lena, The Bride: Our ceremony was held at Melbourne University, in the Old Quadrangle. We wanted an outdoor ceremony that had the option of going undercover if the weather turned bad. Asaf went to Melbourne Uni so we already had an idea of what it looked like, and on a friends recommendation we visited and loved the area.

The reception was held at Luminare, South Melbourne. One look at the breath-taking view and we knew we found the perfect venue. Our decision was complimented by the contemporary decor and inspiring menu.

Natalie & Oren | Spectacular Jewish wedding at The Great Synagogue + Villa Cora, Florence, Italy

03/01/2014 by Karen

I kid you not. The moment I laid my eyes on this magnificent wedding captured by David Bastianoni, I was speechless. As in, my mouth was unable to form words and my brain was unable to make sentences. And as a wedding blogger, that can be kind of a problem. But stare for even one minute at the array of images in this post, by the amazing David Bastianoni, and you’ll be doing the exact same thing.

So let’s hand over to our gorgeous bride, Natalie, to provide you with all the delicious detail of the day.

VENUE
Natalie, the Bride: We had our ceremony at The Great Synagogue of Florence. I lived in Florence for 9 months in 2002 and I always remembered the synagogue being remarkable. Upon re-visiting the synagogue I knew I wanted to get married there. We even decided to keep the ceremony at the synagogue despite it being an open house day where the synagogue was open to visitors throughout the day. Needless to say we had a lot of bystanders and ”extra” guests at our ceremony but we didn’t mind.

The reception was held at Villa Cora. The hotel was redone a few years ago and the main salon is breathtaking. As soon as I saw the main salon at Villa Cora my mind was made up. As you can see in the photos, the room speaks for itself. We ended up having more people than we expected and we used an adjoining room which was equally as gorgeous but with a totally different style (Moroccan).

AN ELEGANT WEDDING DRESS
I chose a dress by Marisa, New York. I knew I wanted something lace and I wasn’t looking for white. The material underneath the lace was a champagne color. When I saw my dress I knew it was the one as it had the perfect bustle (which we added to a bit) and an elegant lace overlay.

Rachel & David | Garden Party Jewish Wedding at Home in London

03/09/2013 by Karen

Back garden weddings always look so cosy, warm and welcoming and today’s is no exception. There are so many things that I like about this wedding — the homely setting is perfect and I love all the budget-friendly DIY ideas from the quotes attached to the drinks straws, to the colourful photo booth / guest book idea, to the pashminas on hand to warm up the guests – so very thoughtful! Rachel and Davids’ families and friends look like a really lovely, happy group of people, and it’s an overall joy to view this wedding through the eyes of their truly fantastic photographer, Dominique Bader.

Rachel and David met when she was invited to his 30th birthday party by mutual friends. She didn’t know that there was a theme (1980s TV and films) and that he would be dressed up as Tom Cruise from Top Gun in a flight suit. The first thing he asked, after looking at her non-costume, was who she had come dressed as. Twenty minutes later she gave him a delayed response and did an impression of the car voice from Knight Rider. They didn’t stop talking from that moment onwards…

VENUE AND THEME
Rachel, the Bride: The wedding was at my parents’ house where I grew up. It was funny how Friday evening dinner at my parents also became about going to see the venue! The house has a beautiful garden so we simply went with a garden party theme and picked a colour palette of soft greens, whites and pale pinks. I think it’s good to have a loose colour scheme to help create a cohesive look, but one shouldn’t be too worried about it — guests brings the colour and in our case, my 4 year old nephew Theo decided to wear a Fireman Sam costume in pillar box red!

GARDEN PARTY THEMED INVITATION DESIGN
The invitation design process was the unique part! I was writing about design at the time and have always been fascinated by print. I also thought that the invitation sets the tone of the wedding and searched for a long time for existing garden party themed designs that felt right for us.

I ended up appointing Australian graphic designer Tabitha Bray (who I discovered through a blog) to design a bespoke floral motif and illustrated map. Closer to home, graphic designer Rebecca Leggett created the most beautiful calligraphy for the main invitation and printed the invitation suite in Dorset. Paperless Post might have been an easier route, but we loved the end result.