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Real Jewish Brides: Orli on Her Upcoming Wedding

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Orli will be marrying Ben on 30th May 2021 at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, UK. Click here to read all Orli’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Orli and Ben met on Jswipe. (2) Although their venue, the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, couldn’t be more quintessentially London, Orli and Ben are going for a countryside feel. (3) Orli is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!


When we first decided we were going to postpone in June of 2020, we had thought that by our new date 30 May 2021 everything would look normal and we would be able to have our planned wedding with 220 guests. We thought we would be able to get married with all of our family and friends around us and it would be at our original venue St Pancras Renaissance. However, the closer we got to our original date of 6 September 2020, the more we realised that things wouldn’t be back to what we used to think was a ‘normal wedding’. By November, we had postponed our honeymoon to South Africa and I had cancelled my hen. 

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A Rebecca Schoneveld Bride for a Magical Backyard Jewish Minimony in New York, USA

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We’ve seen our fair share of backyard micro Jewish weddings, and each and every one has been beautiful, but the nuptials of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Lilia, who works in arts philanthropy as a grants manager, and Alex, a digital solutions manager for an international publishing company, take it to a whole new level.

These two postponed their plans for a big wedding due to COVID but still wanted to make things official, and so they went forward with a micro celebration in Lilia’s parents’ backyard that was nothing short of magical. It doesn’t hurt that Lilia’s mom’s garden is totally stunning, and we love the way the couple ran with the vibe in planning their décor – for instance, how awesome is their chuppah?! Don’t miss Rachel Rodgers’ luminous photos of it, and all the other details of this ultra-memorable day.

Beyond the exquisite aesthetics, we love how much thought Lilia and Alex put in to making their minimony special in a way that wouldn’t leave them feeling like the bigger wedding they have planned for the future won’t feel “like just a performance.” To that end, they opted to leave some traditions, like circling and their ketubah, for Wedding 2.0. In place of a ketubah, the couple decided to write their own take on tenaim (a traditional Jewish engagement document that stipulates the conditions of the marriage that both families need to maintain prior to the chuppah), featuring promises to each other – kind of like vows!

Before we turn you over to Lilia, we want to leave you with her beautiful words about her experience as a member of our Bride’s Club:

I have found the group to be SO warm and welcoming, and a joy to be a part of. Karen has been such a great help – she even helped brainstorm ideas for when we were reimagining a wedding with no dancing (which is my favorite part of weddings!). It has been so wonderful to have so many knowledgeable brides and brides-to-be at my fingertips, and I’m so grateful to be part of the community.

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How we met

Lilia, the bride: We met on OKCupid in 2017.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Jewish Bride: Sarah on Postponing for the Third Time

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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!


In my last blog I mentioned how we had decided to get a backup date in place for 2022 and how we hoped it was just a “formality”. Well, the good news is that it was a sensible idea, the less exciting news is that it was less of a formality and more of a necessity! In January of this year we made the difficult decision to postpone our wedding one last time.

Needless to say, neither Richard or I can predict the future, but we felt that it was the safer option for many reasons. We have waited so long for our dream wedding, so in reality, one more year is not the end of the world to us.

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An Intimate Rainy Day Jewish Wedding for 30 at Dyson Place, Sheffield, UK

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Olivia and Daniel, Dyson Place, Sheffield, UK

When COVID forced Liv, a mortgage broker who recently opened a take away coffee shop called Olive and Joy, and Dan, a lawyer, to scrap their original plans for a 150-guest wedding at a stately home over the May bank holiday, they came up with something even better.

As soon as 30-person weddings were allowed in England, Liv and Dan sought the guidance of Victoria from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Linda Abrahams & Co in planning an ultra-memorable day in chic urban courtyard Dyson Place (Victoria, who does double duty as a planner and luxury stationer, also designed the couple’s stationery, complete with custom wedding logo). They put together a beautiful outdoor chuppah – which ended up having to be moved indoors halfway through the ceremony as the rain picked up – streamed on Zoom to all their loved ones who couldn’t be there in person. Don’t miss the gorgeous photos by Steven McNiven.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Feast by Ed Schaerf provided his trademark innovative kosher catering, featuring his kosher burger van which served up burgers, hotdogs, salt beef sandwiches, and fried chicken with all the trimmings.

In the bride’s words,

The thing that made it so special was that there were only 30 people so we could talk to everyone there really easily and all of them were our closest family and friends. Anyone who is doubting whether to go ahead with a smaller wedding during government restrictions – we definitely recommend it! 

Now we’ll turn you over to Liv…

Olivia and Daniel, Dyson Place, Sheffield, UKOlivia and Daniel, Dyson Place, Sheffield, UKOlivia and Daniel, Dyson Place, Sheffield, UK
How We Met

Olivia, the bride and Daniel, the groom: We have known each other for as long as we can remember. Our parents were friends when we were little and it turns out that we both liked each other but neither of us realised until we swiped each other on J-swipe!

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A Rime Arodaky Bride for a Backyard Jewish Micro Wedding in Connecticut, USA

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We are absolutely in love with the beautiful backyard Jewish wedding of NYC couple Alexis, a physician, and Marc, a lawyer! Alexis’s work as a front-line provider during the peak of the pandemic in New York made the pair realize it was time to seize the day and seal the deal.

Since Alexis and Marc didn’t want to wait long before making it official, a backyard wedding at the bride’s parents’ home made perfect sense. The couple didn’t have much time to spend planning, so they sought out micro wedding expert Susie Blumenfeld of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Pink House Productions to plan the rustic celebration of their dreams. And are we ever obsessed with the outcome – the perfect intimate romantic day, strewn with white blooms and greenery (including the most beautiful birch chuppah). Don’t miss the gorgeous photos from Dreamscapes Studio – or the stunning ketubah from Our ketubah was from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com.  

We also love that in shopping for the perfect dress for her casual outdoor day – something she had to do all online, since bridal stores were closed due to the pandemic – Alexis sought out French designers whose lines included civil ceremony dresses. And did she ever find her match in the most exquisite Rime Arodaky!

We’ll let her take it from here…


How we Met

Alexis, the bride: We both work very busy and opposite schedules and somehow were lucky enough to cross paths on the app Hinge in January 2019.Continue ReadingContinue Reading