Orange Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Theia Bride for an Intimate Rooftop Destination Jewish Wedding at Sugar, Miami, Florida, USA

30/05/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Wow – that chuppah! The colors! The smiles! Looking at the fab photos of today’s colorful, laid-back wedding, you’d never guess what a bumpy wedding planning ride Dana, a product manager,, and Alex, who works in corporate strategy, had!

After a venue mishap forced the San Francisco-based couple to cancel their original wedding plans — for a large, traditional event — Dana and Alex decided to take a step back and rethink what really mattered to them on their day. Their “wedding planning reboot” inspired them to start from scratch and create an ultra-personal day reflecting their personalities and values.

Oh, and just three weeks before the wedding, Dana broke her elbow snowboarding — not that you’d be able to tell from how gorgeous she looked in her delicate petal-covered Theia dress.

The silver lining of all this drama was that it made Dana and Alex focus on what really mattered to them — which meant that their fun-filled, close-knit brunch (yes, brunch!) wedding at Sugar on the rooftop of the East Hotel in downtown Miami turned out to be such a wonderful reflection of their personalities. You can really feel the joy shining through Andrea Harborne and Diana Hogan’s vibrant photos of the day.

We love how the duo incorporated their values into the day was by authoring their own ketubah text. Dana reports that writing their own marriage contract was a great way to stay grounded during wedding planning, and what a special memento of this phase of their relationship. It doesn’t hurt that the finished product is stunning, with a lovely modern floral design courtesy of much-loved STG Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent.

And we can’t get enough of the couple’s DIY handheld chuppah. Constructed by Dana’s family (with a gorgeous, colorful tablecloth standing in as the canopy, which Dana and Alex can continue using in their home!) and held up by friends during the ceremony, it added an ultra-meaningful touch to the day. Now over to the bride…

How we met

Dana, the bride: We met around 6 years ago when we were both working at the same company in Manhattan, and we moved out to San Francisco together 3 years ago.

A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Texan Jewish Wedding with a Beer Bar at the Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas, USA

23/05/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Happy Wednesday, y’all! Today we’re headed to super cool Austin, where Meredith and Phillip held a Texas-themed wedding for the records. Marrying at the iconic, historic Driskill Hotel in the city center, the couple had one objective: to make their day “as Texas as possible.”

They incorporated their fab theme in so many ways, but our favorite has got to be the beer bar! They had 6 local Texas beers on tap for guests to sample — no generic alcohol for this pair! And as a surprise, Meredith’s parents had customized glasses made as wedding favors for the guests, with the couple’s names and wedding date as well as following text: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something brewed” How clever?!

Neither Meredith nor Phillip being huge cake fans, they decided to buck tradition and serve pie for their dessert instead — so on-theme, too! They had four luscious-sounding flavors: blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, chocolate, and pecan. We’d like a slice of each, please! And they still did a traditional cutting picture — just with pie.

Cory Ryan Photography captured all the details of the day beautifully. Now we’ll turn you over to Meredith, who looked gorgeous in her classic lace Monique Lhuillier gown…

How we met

Meredith, the bride: We met in college at the University of Richmond, at a Hillel event. We were together for nine years and three cities before tying the knot.

An Adrianna Papell Bride for a Colorful, Intimate Jewish Wedding with a View at Greens Restaurant and Fairmont Heritage Place, San Francisco, USA

04/05/2018 by Emily Sacharin

Happy Fri-yay! Emily here, and as a former Bay Area kid, today’s glorious Jewish wedding tugged at every last one of my heartstrings. From the ceremony at Fairmont Heritage Place at Ghirardelli Square, held on a balcony gazebo overlooking the bay, to the reception at iconic Greens Restaurant, which features yet more beautiful views of the bay — and also happens to be my absolute favorite special occasion restaurant from my California days — Judy and David’s wedding is so quintessentially San Francisco it hurts.

So I might be just a little biased. But even if you’re not a nostalgic ex-San Franciscan, there’s so much to love about this wedding, from the orange and yellow floral color scheme to the whimsical tree-themed ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent to the ultra-intimate ceremony, where the couple had their guests stand around them rather than facing them.

Keeping things intimate was key for Judy, an elementary school principal, and David, a software engineer. The pair always knew they wanted a small wedding, with lots of participation from their closest family and friends: Judy’s friends assembled and decorated the chuppah (which the couple found on Craigslist!), family members recited the seven blessings during the ceremony, and they were married by David’s sister, who is rabbi.

Now over to Judy, who looked absolutely radiant in her Adrianna Pappell dress…

How we met

Judy, the bride: We met on Coffee Meets Bagel.

A Pronovias Bride for a Colorful Jewish Wedding With a Stunning Chuppah at The Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London, UK

16/02/2018 by Karen

Natasha and Barry’s Jewish London wedding was all about color – and boy did they go all out! The stunning chuppah, created by extraordinary florist, Amie Bone, made an incredible centerpiece for the entire celebration.

The wedding was held after Shabbat on Saturday night, Israeli style, and was a full-on family affair, with everybody close to the couple playing an important role in the big day.

Beautiful bride Natasha looked simply incredible in her Pronovias gown, which was purchased at the 11th hour with a lot of help from the wonderful staff at Bridal Rogue Gallery. You’d never know there was behind-the-scenes dress drama, as Natasha looked like a dream!

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor and world-renowned kosher caterer, Food Story, outdid themselves with what can only be described as a sumptuous feast, complete with desserts with a little something extra…

Photographers Reportage Gallery captured all the action of the day and the wonderful writeup below was provided by bride Natasha, who we’ll hand you over to now! Take it away, Natasha!

How we met

Natasha, the bride: After dating for just under a year and a half, Barry proposed in Paris under the Eiffel Tower — no clichà©s at all! Without me knowing, he’d been planning this for a few months and had even bought a beautiful ring, made for me, which luckily fit!
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A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a SUPER Luxe Jewish Wedding with an EPIC Colorful Chuppah at Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, California, USA

02/01/2018 by Karen

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2018 is officially here, and after a little blogging break for the holidays, we’re delighted to be back with a real bang – the explosion of color and floral fabulousness that is Gilda and Shahin’s super, super, SUPER luxe Jewish wedding! (With the perfect hashtag #Gildafindshershah )

We couldn’t start anywhere else if we tried – that chuppah is just BEGGING to be talked about. With its rainbow of stunning color and abundance of blooms, the chuppah was no less than a work of art, created by Celio’s Design, who also provided the divine arrangements for the reception. We are not worthy!

Not only was it show-stopping in its own right, but the chuppah perfectly framed all of the incredible ceremony and wedding party shots captured by photography GENIUS Jessica Claire. If you’ve heard the name Jessica Claire before, it’s because she’s truly one of the very very best in the business, a world-renowned photographer working out of the LA area and an absolute wedding industry legend – we absolutely adore showing off her work on Smashing The Glass.

After Eight Event Productions made the very most of the already unbelievable venue, Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, creating a truly outstanding event.

Beautiful bride, Gilda, looked like a designer’s dream in her timeless Monique Lhuillier gown and epic Christian Louboutin heels. Here at Smashing The Glass, we all have serious bridal style envy!

We’ll hand over to 2018’s very first Smashing The Glass real bride, Gilda, for the full writeup – take it away Gilda!

How we met

Gilda, the bride: My best friend, Della, introduced us at a party. She gave me the best gift a girl could ever ask for! Working around our schedules to plan our wedding was hard (I’m a dietician and Shahin is a vascular surgeon) but we did it!
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