Online dating success story Archives - Page 11 of 43 - Smashing the Glass

A Joss Couture Bride for a Romantic Jewish Wedding Weekend at Monate Lodge, South Africa

21/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

How incredibly gorgeous is the Jewish wedding of South African couple Jess, an entrepreneur, and Dan, a financial director for a property company?! These two knew from the beginning they wanted to make their big day into a weekend away where they could kick back and enjoy the time with their family and friends, and they opted for a stunning game lodge highlighting South Africa’s stunning nature.

Jess and Dan kicked things off with a game drive and dinner in a candlelit cave in advance of their Sunday wedding, which took place outdoors right in the midst of the South African bush. To make the most of the scenery, the whole wedding, from chuppah to reception, took place outside (luckily, there was no rain!). We’re obsessed with the fact that the couple wed under a gorgeous 400-year-old (!) rock fig tree, and how special is it that Jess’s dad built the chuppah from scratch? And how beautiful are the luminous images from Agape Wedding Photography?

In the leadup to her wedding, Jess joined Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club, and we’re so touched by her wonderful words about the members club:

I have loved every minute of being part of STG Brides Club, the sense of community from total strangers, turned friends is just incredible. There is no better place to ask questions, share ideas, as well as wedding woes and wins than Brides Club! Dare I say the spin off from Brides Club, Smashing Life, is even better! None of us could bear the thought of leaving the community once we got married and it has become a place I often turn to for inspiration or advice.

Now we’ll turn you over to Jess…

How we Met

Jess, the bride: We met on Tinder which was an absolute fluke because I was in another city at the time at my best friend’s wedding and Dan did not usually look outside a certain radius.Continue Reading

Real Jewish Brides: Orli on Her Upcoming Wedding

05/05/2021 by Smashing The Glass

Orli will be marrying Ben on 22nd July 2021 in Orli’s parents’ garden, UK. Click here to read all Orli’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Orli and Ben met on Jswipe. (2) Orli & Ben will marry in an intimate setting in Orli’s parents’ garden (3) Orli is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!

A couple of days after I sent off my blog previous post we made the difficult and heartbreaking decision to postpone for the second time and to find what we hope and pray is our final wedding day. After all third time lucky. We met with the caterer and ran through the options that we had with a wedding on the 30 May with the restrictions lifting alongside the roadmap. This would mean we could have 30 people but there would be no dancing and social distancing in place. Whilst we had accepted only being able to have thirty people, we had thought that we would be allowed to dance and to celebrate with our closest 30 people or 28 including us.

An Amsale Bride for a Backyard Jewish Micro Wedding in Boynton Beach, Florida, USA

30/04/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

Like so many 2020 couples, Marissa, a physical therapist and reiki master, and Rory, an accountant, ended up with a Jewish wedding very different from the one they’d originally planned. The NYC couple had originally opted for a jam-packed wedding weekend on the beach at a private club in Florida’s Palm Beaches. Everything was just about ready to go for their May 2020 date when the pandemic hit.

Despite all the work and dreams that went into planning their dream wedding, two changes of date later Marissa and Rory ultimately had to make the hard decision to cancel their original celebration and plan a micro wedding for ten in Marissa’s parents’ backyard from scratch. For the most part, the pair had to find new vendors, but two of the ones they’d originally booked were able to make the shift: first, there was Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Nava Shoham, Marissa and Rory’s rock star ketubah designer, who came through with not one, not two, but THREE versions of the couple’s gorgeous ketubah, to account for all of their changes of date. Second was Emily Harris Photography, who’s responsible for the couple’s exquisitely joyous pics.

In Marissa’s words, “The day and night was the most perfect imperfect celebration and ended up being so much more than we imagined. We do hope to get the big party eventually but the night will always be so incredibly memorable.” We’ll let her take it from here…

How we Met

Marissa, the bride: We met online 6 years agoContinue Reading

Real Jewish Bride: Sarah on Finding the Perfect Dress

14/04/2021 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!

I was looking through my previous blog posts for Smashing the Glass and realised, much to my amazement, that I had never written about my experience dress shopping! Considering that I am a pretty typical girly girl, I don’t know how I let this quintessential wedding prep experience escape my blog posts! Anyway, nearly two years later (thanks Covid-19) I have had the pleasure of reminiscing over my dress shopping experience for this blog post, so read on and enjoy!

An Anne Barge Bride for a City Chic Jewish Wedding at Gotham Hall, NYC, New York, USA

15/03/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

Remember when weddings could be inside? And have triple-digit guest counts? Hopefully the day when weddings no longer have to be socially distanced will come sooner rather than later… but until then, feast your eyes on the gorgeous pre-pandemic Jewish wedding of Caroline, who runs operations at a diagnostics start-up, and Alex, a chemist-turned-management consultant.

These two worked withwedding planner Susie Blumenfeld of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Pink House Productions to craft their perfect Manhattan glam celebration – complete with the perfect grand midtown venue, Gotham Hall; classic letterpress invitations designed by the multi-talented Susie Blumenfeld of Pink House Productions; and an elegant Anne Barge gown purchased from none other than Kleinfeld! And, in one of those quintessential only-in-New-York moves, at the end of the night the couple capped things off with a 3 AM visit to a Korean restaurant for a late night snack – still wearing their wedding clothes. Don’t miss Rebecca Weiss Photography’s images of the whole NYC-perfect day.

We also love that Caroline and Alex each had their own tisch before the ceremony, where they could gather with their friends and family to get the celebration started. Alex didn’t have a ton of demands for the big day, but the one thing he was set on was having at least three types of herring at his tisch – and in the end, the venue (who also handled catering) supplied eight!

We’re also obsessed with the couple’s minimalist ketubah by the wonderful Stephanie Caplan of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Ketubah. Featuringa simple circular design with coppery-gold detail, it bears a quote from the Book of Ruth across the top: “Ki el asher telchi eilech,” “Wherever you go, I will go” – the same quote that’s inscribed on the inside of Alex’s ring.

We’ll leave it to the bride to fill you in on the rest…