Online dating success story Archives - Smashing the Glass

An Anthropologie Bride for a Casual DIY Micro Jewish Wedding at Kensington MetroPark, Michigan, USA

18/06/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

Like so many couples these days, Marisa, a clinical social worker at a psychiatric hospital in downtown Detroit, and Dan, an electrical engineer project manager for car companies, had to change their wedding plans due to the pandemic. But for these two, postponing came with a pretty sweet silver lining: they were able to make it official on their five-year dating anniversary, April 9, 2021!

The couple’s families live out of state and couldn’t make it, but their awesome crew of local friends pitched in to make their chill outdoor wedding a smashing success. For those who couldn’t make it, Marisa and Dan are planning a bigger vow renewal celebration for 2022, complete with dancing, hugging, and food trucks. Sounds like an awesome party, though to be honest we’re already pretty smitten with the couple’s micro wedding – and after scrolling through the gorgeous photos from the pair’s photographer and friend, Eclectic Desire Photography, we bet you will be too.

We’re also in love with Marisa and Dan’s gorgeous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Windthrow Fine Art. Marisa and Stephanie – one half of Windthrow, along with her twin brother Eddie, the artist – are former coworkers, and when Marisa saw some of the gorgeous nature-inspired ketubot Windthrow is known for, she knew she’d found just the thing for her wedding – or rather, weddings: Marisa and Dan opted to sign their ketubah, along with one witness, at their micro wedding, and Marisa’s aunt (who also gifted the ketubah to the couple!) plus another witness will add further signatures at the vow renewal next year.

Now over to Marisa…

How we Met

Marisa, the bride and Dan the groom: Dan and Marisa’s wedding took place on the five year anniversary of their first date. Dan and Marisa met on Tinder and after talking via text for about a month, they met in person on April 9, 2016. Their first date was in Easton, PA at a small ice cream shop close to Lafayette College. This date was full of laughter and only a few awkward moments. Looking back, there’s a lot of different ways this first date could have unfolded (online dating is hard!) and it’s a great date to look back on and laugh about.

A year later, Dan and Marisa moved to Pittsburgh, PA. Marisa started a grad school program in social work and Dan started his career in electrical engineering. Two years after that, they moved to Michigan to pursue new job opportunities. They were open to doing something new and Marisa continued her career in Jewish non-profit community organizing before landing in her current role as a clinical social worker at a psychiatric hospital in downtown Detroit. And Dan continues his career as an electrical engineer project manager for car companies.Continue Reading

Real Jewish Bride: Sarah on the Last Two Years of Wedding Planning

09/06/2021 by Smashing The Glass

Sarah will be marrying Rich on 19th June 2022 at Tikitano Beach, Marbella, Spain. Click here to read all Sarah’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Sarah knew Rich was the one when he brought a gift of dog treats for her toy poodle Nuala along to their fourth date! (2) They are crafting an amazing destination wedding weekend in Marbella with beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended vendor optimum weddings as their planner. (3) Sarah is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!

As I sat down to write this, my last blog as a blogging bride for Smashing the Glass (I will still be a member of Brides Club), I took a quick minute to reflect on the past two years. I say two years because that was when I first became a blogging bride and signed up to Brides Club. I was full of excitement talking about all things wedding related, learning about dress fabrics, booking dress shopping appointments, booking flights to Spain to find our wedding planner and venue and creating multiple spreadsheets to keep track of the infamous wedding budget. It was summer 2019 and it is safe to say that I had no idea what 2020 would bring!

So, on that note let’s take a little trip down memory lane and reminisce on the good, the bad and the lessons I have learned over the past two years!

A Jewish Micro Wedding with the Most Breathtaking Floral Chuppah at Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, Massachusetts, USA

31/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

We see a lot of cool chuppahs around here, but the one Gaby, a life and career coach, and Michael, an investment advisor, dreamed up for their big day at Jacob’s Pillow in the picturesque Berkshires really takes the (wedding) cake. Filled with gorgeous flowers, centered on an otherwise empty stage overlooking the mountains surrounding the venue, it’s really, truly, 100% #chuppahgoals. We’re absolutely obsessed with the dreamy photos by Lauren Foley of 309 Productions, and we’re guessing you will be too.

Gaby and Michael had initially planned a 200-person wedding, but when the pandemic hit they had to scale their day down to just 20 guests. Luckily, the couple had incredible wedding planner Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Tara Consolati on their team to redesign the day to perfectly fit their new, smaller event. Together, they came up with a unique “interactive” ceremony that included participation by 32 guests (including some of the 300 who attended virtually via Zoom)! Friends and family gave musical performances, mini speeches, and blessings, and lit memorial candles. What an incredibly special way to make guests really feel a part of things – especially those who are physically far away!

Another wonderful touch is that Gaby’s step-sister Rachel painted the most gorgeous border on the ketubah they purchased from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor ketubah.com, incorporating lots of personal touches with special meaning to the couple.

There’s so much more we could say about this fab day (did we mention that Gaby found her dress by chance off the rack at Bloomingdales, for 1/10 of the price of the bridal gowns she’d been looking at?), but we’ll leave it to the bride to fill you in on the rest…

How we Met

Gaby, the bride and Michael, the groom: Gaby and Michael met on the dating app, Hinge, in the summer of 2018! After only a few messages back and forth they met for drinks at La Pecora Bianca in Midtown Manhattan. The night was perfect and was filled with many laughs, stories and glasses of wine. Even more fitting, Gaby went to her family home in the Berkshires the weekend afterward, a place that proved incredibly important to our relationship given we lived there for nearly 7 months during the pandemic.Continue Reading

A Stella York Bride for a Classic Country House Jewish Wedding at Hedsor House, Taplow, UK

28/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

There’s nothing quite like a good English countryside Jewish wedding. And Kim, a secondary school maths teacher, and Josh, a quality manager, threw the absolute perfect bash at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hedsor House, which, despite being located conveniently just outside London, feels like it’s worlds away.

Family-run stately home Hedsor House ticked all the couple’s boxes: classic feel; exclusive hire for 150 people; rooms for the bridal party to sleep in, and ability to bring in a great kosher caterer. And if you scroll through the gorgeous images from Richard Galloway Photography, you’ll see that Hedsor could not have been a more perfect spot for Kim and Josh’s special day.

We’re in love with the couple’s exquisite lace effect chuppah (to match Kim’s lace gown!), supplied by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Happy Chuppah People, which has held up by Josh’s ushers during the ceremony.

We’re also totally taken with the couple’s Jenga “guest book,” a custom Jenga tower with Kim and Josh’s names and wedding date engraved into each block, which guests could then write messages on. The pair plans to bring it out for a game every year on their anniversary – how sweet is that?!

Now over to the bride, who looked stellar in Stella York…

How we Met

Kim, the bride: We met online on ‘Plenty of Fish’.Continue Reading

A Pronovias Bride for a Sustainable Backyard Jewish Micro Wedding in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA

24/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

Today’s fantastic couple, Alana and Leo, are always up for an adventure – whether that means marking their 10-month dating anniversary by taking part in The Amazing Race or retooling their plans for a three-day summer camp-style wedding extravaganza in the Berkshires to an intimate micro affair in their very own backyard!

And do we ever love the way these two ended up leaning into their homey, sustainable low-pressure celebration. From a gorgeous simple chuppah built by a friend a wedding gift to a ketubah handcrafted by a designer friend featuring hand-pressed wildflowers from the couple’s own garden, this Jewish wedding is just chock full of meaningful touches.

We’re in love with Simi Rabinowitz’s luminous, joy-filled photos of the day. And though only a handful of the couple’s original guest list could attend in person, thanks to the professional live streaming services of Bob Antonelli friends and family around the world were able to take part.

Echoing the sentiments we’ve heard from so many couples who’ve married during the pandemic under circumstances very different than the ones they’d expected, Alana says, “We wouldn’t have done our wedding any other way. It was true to us, and felt like a real celebration of our friends and our neighborhood!”

Over to you, Alana!

How we Met

Alana, the bride: We met on Tinder in January 2018! And then, right after moving in together six months after we met — all our friends thought we were crazy! — we did something even crazier and applied for The Amazing Race on a whim … and we were cast! It was such a whirlwind. We actually started the first leg of The Amazing Race on our ten-month anniversary!

Racing around the world together wasn’t what convinced us we were meant to be (we’d known that probablyyyy since our third date) but it was such an affirming experience. After you’ve done such wild things with someone and been in such high-stress situations, getting married is a no brainer. We got engaged on our one year anniversary at Walden Pond in Massachusetts.Continue Reading