Oscar de la Renta Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Francesca Miranda Bride for a Romantic Jewish Wedding with a Touch of Edge at Ronit Farm, Kfar Shmariyahu, Israel

18/02/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

Wow. This Jewish wedding. It really doesn’t get much better.

Some couples want a delicate, romantic wedding. Others want their big day to be a massive party. May, the marketing manager of a co-working space for doctors, and Yaniv, who’s in real estate investment, managed to make their beautiful Jewish wedding both of those things — with some help from much-loved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Naama Raicher.

Naama, her colleague Yael Kfir Frumkes, and the rest of the team brought the duo’s dream wedding to life, providing their trademark finesse to every stage of the process from the very beginning to the day of – so much so that May reports that choosing Naama Raicher was “the best decision we made” during planning.

Naama and Yael helped the couple formulate their plan of action: first, an intimate late afternoon ceremony, set outdoors at the idyllic Ronit Farm, full of soft colors and romantic touches — like a totally stunning floral chuppah adorned with delicate white flowers.

Then, for the reception, things got a little edgier: May and Yaniv brought a hit of club style to their outdoor dinner and dance party, with moody colors galore — they even brought in professional dancers (who went through four costume changes throughout the night!) to perform on stages set on the sides of the dance floor to set the mood.

May’s Francesca Miranda gown easily made the transition from ceremony chic to party mode: made from 200 meters (!) of tulle and covered with thousands of hand-embroidered butterflies, this dress is most definitely soft and whimsical… but it was also the perfect lightweight bridal attire in which to dance all night.

We’ll turn you over to May in a second, but before we do we want to alert you to the fact that she and Yaniv provided one of the best favors we’ve yet encountered: loaves of fresh challah! Um, yes please!

How we met

May, the bride: I was jogging on the beach one day and Yaniv noticed me running. He then found a mutual friend of ours and asked her to make the connection, and the rest is history.

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Yukie & Jason’s Moroccan-themed destination wedding, with three designer dresses, at Caesar Yam, Caesarea, Israel

28/11/2016 by Karen

Yukie and Jason’s Moroccan market-themed Israeli destination wedding was an epic, four-part production, thanks to super helpful mother-in-law, Victoria and their incredibly talented planner, Adena at A to Z Events.

Bright colours abound with lavish gold accents, maximalist patterns and oh my goodness, check out that cake! At Smashing the Glass HQ, we’re also loving the drama of those fantastically opulent thrones for the bride and groom (move over Posh and Becks), and these brilliant stylistic choices are matched only by the loveliness of the couple’s story.

For anyone out there who is living the sometimes taxing reality of the old adage, absence makes the heart grow fonder, take heart – this loved-up pair have proved that long-distance relationships can have a truly happy ending. With a groom from New York, a bride from Tokyo, the groom’s parents from Moscow but living in Israel and most of the guests taking their first trip to the Holy Land for the couple’s wedding, this is a love that brought together cultures from all over the world for a truly beautiful celebration.

The ceremony was custom built for Yukie and Jason. While it was important to them to have a ceremony that was “official” according to the religion, with Yukie having recently joined the tribe, they also wanted it to reflect their own feelings and personal connection to Judaism. Some of the personalised details included a reciprocal ketubah, and when the groom smashed the glass, the bride simultaneously smashed a plate. The rabbi composed his speech by asking the bride and groom for three important memories and three reasons they were each other’s one and only — from this, he created an incredibly moving tribute to their relationship.

Oh, and if you’re not already sick with jealousy over Yukie’s amazing Oscar de la Renta gown, she also had two more gorgeous dresses for the evening parties! Feast your eyes on it below, all perfectly captured by photographer Shabi Kedem and Levi Dovid.

How we met

Yukie, the bride: I am Japanese and spent my entire life in Japan before I met Jason. We met nine years ago in Tokyo while he was on vacation with his brother.

Although at first I thought he wasn’t my type, once we started talking we got along so well that we had a date every day for the week he was in Tokyo. We kept in touch after he left – he called me every day for the next two years.

We visited each other any time we could — he even came to live in Japan for a year. We kept our long-distance love going for for years between Tokyo and New York.

Then, four years ago, I finally decided to move to New York and we started living together.

Madalyn & Aaron | Ultra-Creative and Chic Jewish Wedding at The Metropolitan Building, New York, USA

03/10/2013 by Karen

This wedding is cooler than an igloo with air con.

In the achingly chic wedding venue of The Metropolitan Building in New York, Madalyn, Aaron and their guests got together to celebrate one of the most exquisitely fashionable and creative weddings I have ever laid my eyes upon.

There are beautifully designed invitations, programs and custom illustrations of the bridal party (which the bride and groom created themselves), mismatched floral table centres, the cutest polka dot kippot you’ve ever seen, and something I didn’t think was even possible: personalised Converse black and orange sneakers made for every one of the groomsmen!

On top of that, frankly any bride that incorporates a gorgeous peplum into her bridal gown scores serious style points in my book.

Let’s take a look…

A CREATIVE ‘LOFT-STYLE’ VENUE
Madalyn, the Bride: I fell in love with the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City, New York, the minute I saw it on a wedding blog. The mismatched vibe and colourful alcoves and artsy rooms were exactly what we were looking for. Only when I got there did I realise I had been to a wedding there before!

Our colour palette was a mix of deep autumn colours like eggplants and plums. We wanted a warm and intimate atmosphere that beautifully accented the loft-like vibe of the building.

DESIGNING OUR OWN INVITATIONS
Aaron and I actually designed the invitation ourselves so it was completely unique to us. We letterpressed them onto real birch wood giving them a beautiful earthy vibe.

A 50’S-ESQUE PEPLUM DRESS + VALENTINO SHOES
I found my dress at Saks Fifth Avenue and it was by Oscar de la Renta. I totally fell in love with it the second I put it on. It was a strapless fit and flare with an attached peplum around the waist. I added the black band around it to make it a little more me. I would wear this dress every day if I could. It was the perfect blend of fashion and classic glamour.

My shoes were Valentino Prive bow pumps in black patent leather. The heel was perfect and they are so comfortable! I was able to wear them all night and many more times for other occasions.

I had nine bridesmaids and I told them to wear whatever long, black dress they wanted. That way everyone was happy!

A BEAUTIFUL BIRDCAGE VEIL
I bought a small net veil on Etsy.com because I just am not a big veil kind of girl. For jewellery I wore two bangles in black and gold from C Wonder and Miriam Salat and the most special piece, my grandmother’s sapphire and diamond ring. Something old, borrowed and blue.

A GLAMOROUS TOUCH
Anthea King from Timeless Glow Bridal did my make up and I really just wanted to look like myself, only better. I did soft colours with a little glow and a subtle cat-eye. Lacy Redway crafted the perfect waves into my hair for a little bit of old world glamour.

CUSTOM CONVERSE SNEAKERS FOR ALL THE GROOMSMEN
The entire grooms party wore grey ludlow suits from J.Crew together with custom Converse sneakers in black and orange (Aaron’s favourite colours). Each pair of Converse had the date and their individual nickname embroidered on the side.

CHUPPAH DESIGN + CEREMONY
The song that we walked into was actually composed by my oldest brother. He created the music just for us which was so moving and incredibly special. He has his own recording studio, Mirrortone Studios, so it was a natural choice. Walking down the aisle to Aaron was so exciting, I had to concentrate and enjoy every single second because I knew it would all go by so fast.

We created the chuppah out of birch wood to go with our ‘woodsy’ invites with minimal florals, giving another nod to that earthy vibe, and the ceremony itself was incredibly special to us – we stayed focused on one another the entire time – something our Rabbi told us she has never seen before!

LOTS OF CREATIVE DETAILS
Our kippot were black polka dot because I work in the fashion industry and it is one of my all-time favourite trends. The ketubah was just gorgeous, a laser-cut round intricately designed work of art. It now hangs in our living room and is just so beautiful.

The guest book was set next to the photo booth so guests were able to paste their photo strips inside and write us a note! We also designed the menu ourselves. Aaron illustrated all of the items, adding a bit of whimsy to the tables. Because of all of the design work we put into our wedding we actually launched our own company Tinyawesomethings, designing custom stationery, invitations etc., It has been such a blessing!

FLORALS + DECOR
We collaborated with Hatch Creative Studio for all of our design and decor. We used dahlias, succulents and host of other flowers to create the gorgeous centrepieces that were different on each table, again echoing the mismatched, organic theme. We wanted low light and lots of candles which set the mood for the entire evening.

POST-IT NOTE FAVOURS
We designed pads of post-it notes for our guests. We even used them as the escort cards as a nod to the fact that Aaron also hides post-its for me around our apartment with sweet little notes.

PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH AN EDITORIAL SLANT
We chose Photo Pink as our photographers. I loved their editorial style since I come from an editorial background and they captured all the best moments. Thankfully there are no traditional stiff shots that make you cringe years later!

A CAKE WITH THREE DIFFERENT FLAVOURS + A SURPRISE TREAT FOR THE GROOM
We had Betsy Thorleifson of Nine Cakes design our wedding cake. We had a 3 tiered cake with black bands around each layer as a nod to my dress and a bride and groom sock monkey cake topper made just for us. We had three different flavours actually- apple peanut butter, salted caramel and chocolate peanut butter. We had so much fun doing the tastings for that!

Since our wedding also coincided with our 5-year anniversary I had Aaron’s best-loved dessert, Ted Drewes frozen custard, shipped directly to the venue from St. Louis, where we met during our college years at Washington University.

ENTERTAINMENT
We had a 10 piece band from Hank Lane with Bobby Attiko as the leader. He was at my cousins wedding three years earlier and he was so good I knew I had to book him as soon as I got engaged. Luckily he was available! Our guests are still talking about how amazing the band was!

ADVICE TO OTHER BRIDES
I had so much fun planning the wedding and never over thought any detail. I knew what I wanted and I made it happen. I didn’t agonise over choosing any of the vendors, I just went with my gut! The planning of the event can be stressful but just remember the end result will be an evening you will never forget and it’s all about you and your husband-to-be so make it fun!

MADALYN + AARON’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Venue — Metropolitan Building
Photography — Photo Pink
Floral + Event Design — Hatch Creative Studio
Invitation + stationery — Tinyawesomethings
Bride’s dress — Oscar de la Renta
Bride’s Veil — Etsy
Bride’s shoes — Valentino
Jewellery — Miriam Salat + C Wonder
Make-up – Anthea King with Timeless Glow Bridal
Hair — Lacy Redway with Timeless Glow Bridal
Groom’s attire — J.Crew
Groom’s Shoes — Converse
Entertainment — Hank Lane
Cake — Nine Cakes

So…did you love it?

Bet you did! Tell me, which was your favourite element?

And Madalyn’s advice is so spot-on: your day should be 100% about you as a couple; if you hold firm to that mantra then you won’t stop smiling all day long.

Thank you to Madalyn and Aaron, a beautiful and wonderfully creative couple for sharing their immense day. And if you fancy some of their creative flair sprinkled on your wedding, check out their new custom stationery business, Tinyawesomethings.