Orange Archives - Smashing the Glass

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 clichés 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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A Melissa Sweet Bride for a Chic LA Jew-ish Wedding at La Cañada Flintridge Country Club, California

20/12/2017 by Karen

Today’s real Jew-ish wedding is a very special one for all of us here at STG – not just because it’s an absolute stunner, but because the bride, Lacey, is a much-loved, active and hugely supportive member of our Jewish (and Jew-ish) Brides Facebook group!

It’s an absolute pleasure to finally be able to celebrate her and Brandon’s fabulous wedding day – and if you haven’t joined our private Facebook group for brides yet, what are you waiting for?!

The fabulous event took place at La Cañada Flintridge Country Club, with spectacular views of downtown LA, and there were so many sweet and sentimental touches to the day.

The simply beautiful chuppah was the couple’s ‘something borrowed’ item, with several friends getting married underneath it. Lacey and Brandon were married by the same judge who married her parents, in a Jew-ish ceremony that incorporated all the important elements.

Style-savvy Lacey opted for a bold color scheme of navy blue with bright pops of orange, which looked absolutely wonderful and carried consistently throughout the floristry, decorations and wedding party outfits, along with a monogram motif, which we just LOVE.

Lacey looked like an A-list dream in her gorgeous Melissa Sweet gown, which she bought at David’s Bridal, along with her veil and beautiful, navy blue bridesmaids’ dresses.

The details and emotion of the day were captured by photographer, Jennifer Jasso Photography, tying everything together to perfection.

It’s now Lacey’s long-awaited moment to shine, after helping so many other of our brides with their big-day plans, so we’ll hand the blog over to her for the full writeup. Take it away, Lacey!

A classic, timeless theme and bold color scheme

Lacey, the bride: We got married at La Cañada Flintridge Country Club (LCFCC) in La Cañade Flintridge, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. We wanted a venue that was close to where we and our families live.

We also wanted a venue that would provide “one-stop shopping,” such as providing the tables, chairs, linens, etc. as well as the catering and beverages. Our ceremony was at the same place.

We picked LCFCC because their pricing was very reasonable for the buffet options we wanted, they were willing to negotiate on some of the prices, and the club has amazing views from the ballroom.

It is located in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest and, in addition to the wraparound patio with views all the way to Downtown Los Angeles, the ballroom featured floor-to-ceiling windows going all the way around.

We knew the views would be spectacular for our guests and that we would not have to do a lot of decorating. The clubhouse is designed in a mid-century modern style that we both loved.

Bringing the countryside to the city – a rustic Jewish wedding with a Phillipa Lepley bride at St Pancras Hotel, London, UK

22/05/2017 by Karen

If it’s impractical to have a countryside wedding, there’s one clear solution: bring the countryside to the city – and that’s exactly what rustic-loving couple, Miranda and Gabriel, decided to do.

Their beautiful wedding incorporated elements of farmhouse chic, including doodled dress codes (what a fantastic idea) a multitude of painstakingly collected jam jars, and loose, tumbling floral arrangements – oh, and a Chuppah (designed by the amazing Blue Sky Flowers) to stop you in your tracks. Have you ever seen such a thing of beauty? We are in LOVE!

All of this was lovingly captured by our beloved Recommended Vendor, Ria Mishaal, whose work has graced the pages of STG many times before.

In fact, it was one of her past real weddings, Claudia & Ed, who inspired much of the cast of Miranda and Gabriel’s big day. Miranda actually attended that wedding as a guest, and when she later saw the feature on STG, she knew that she couldn’t go wrong by contacting a few of their vendors!

Miranda and Gabriel ended up using Claudia and Ed’s photographer, planner AND florist, and were delighted with their choices.

There’s so much more to talk about, including the bride’s beautiful Philippa Lepley gown, the couple’s egalitarian ceremony and speeches and the simplification of bridesmaid politics, so we’ll hand over to Miranda to tell you all about it!

How we met

Miranda, the bride: I’m a teacher and Gabriel is a doctor. We met through a fix up – his brother and my sister were friends from university, and my sister passed on my number to Gabriel at a dinner party.

Then, after an awkward phone call, and some unsuccessful attempts at Facebook stalking on my part, we went on a completely blind date (all I had to go on was my sister’s description – “he is extremely tall with large hair”) to the extremely romantic (!) Cottons Rum Shack in Chalk Farm. We met at eight and stayed out until 2am, talking and laughing – it just went from there!

A fun festival Masorti Jewish wedding with a bride in an Alice Temperley dress at South Farm, Hertfordshire, UK

27/01/2017 by Karen

Every now and then, one of those real weddings lands in the STG inbox that just genuinely looks like so much fun that we wish we would have been invited too!

Between the vintage funfair games, pink flamingos, glamping, bouncy castle, ice cream truck (in that order, we hope) and photobooth, as well as providing a crèche for their friends’ kids, this conscientious couple could not have put more effort into keeping their guests entertained.

Charlotte and Dan’s fun-filled, laid-back, festival-style wedding took place at South Farm in Royston, Hertfordshire and was shot by photographer Kristian Leven.

Bride, Charlotte, wowed with fresh flowers in her hair and an an Alice Temperley dress fit for a boho bride (and for a quick go on the bouncy castle!).

Charlotte and Dan didn’t let the disappointment of their outdoor ceremony being rained off spoil their big day. Instead, they ran with their plan B, moving the ceremony to the barn. Forget crying babies, this couple had to contend with oinking pigs and crowing cockerels, making their Masorti ceremony all the more interesting.

Equality was also an important factor in the planning of the day. The Masorti ceremony was chosen due to its inclusivity and Charlotte delivered a speech, as did her close, female friends. Who runs the world?

In true festival style, the party went on until the early hours – a roaring success all round. Let’s hand over to Charlotte to tell us more about her and Dan’s special day.

How we met

Charlotte, the bride: Dan is my big brother Paul’s best friend. Naughty naughty…

A quirky, outdoorsy venue at South Farm in Royston, UK

We chose to get married at South Farm in Royston due to its laid-back style and country feel. It was the only venue we looked at because we knew exactly what we wanted. We aren’t into fussy formal weddings and we wanted everyone to feel relaxed and happy.

The venue is quirky yet beautiful and we had free range to personalise it which was really important to us. I grew up in the country and am quite outdoorsy and so wanted the venue to reflect that.

South Farm is not too far from London (50 minutes) but still has that rural feel. We wanted to make the wedding as stress free as possible for everyone especially seeing as were married on a Monday.

Everyone that worked at South Farm was so passionate about the venue, in particular the incredible chef Matt and our beyond amazing event organizer Becky. I could not have asked for more helpful, dedicated and lovely people to help plan the day with.