Pink Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Suzanne Neville Bride for an Elegant Jewish Wedding at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London, UK

13/05/2019 by Karen Cinnamon 1 Comment

We love it when a couple really brings their skills and passions into their Jewish wedding – and Samantha and Alex did just that. The bride, a video editor by profession and lifelong music lover on the side, added THE most special, personal touches to her big day – teaming up with some of our very favourite London vendors to make it happen.

Given Samantha’s career, it’s no surprise she wanted only the best when it came to choosing a wedding videographer – and indeed, she opted for beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion. But instead of having her videography handle the whole business from start to finish, the team at Denee Motion handed their stunning footage over to Samantha and she edited it into her very own highlights film and wedding video – so special! (As if that’s not awesome enough, she also made a save-the-date video rather than sending out a standard paper note.)

This multitalented bride also happens to be an AMAZING singer, and she wanted to surprise Alex by performing at the wedding. She worked with the couple’s band, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Totem – who are just beyond awesome; in Samantha’s words, “watching them perform is like being at the greatest concert of your life” – to perform a song with Totem’s newly formed gospel choir. It made for such a special moment; please do scroll down and check out the video of her performance!

We love how photographer Paul Toeman captured all the emotion and energy of the day (and we’re totally obsessed with the post-wedding shoot he did of the couple wandering around London at midnight!). There’s lots more we could say about this wonderful wedding, but we’ll let the bride – who looked smashing in Suzanne Neville – tell you the rest…

Oh… and one final detail – the groom’s mother is the the manager at my daughter’s much-loved nursery. Mazal Tov Tina and family!

How we met

Samantha, the bride: We met at 18, he moved into the same flat as one of my best friends when he was at university in Manchester. I went up to visit my friend Anthony and ended up speaking to Alex for 2 hours instead. Fast forward 7 years when I happened to join his gym and bumped straight into him, a couple weeks later we went on a 3 hour dog walk and the rest is history.

A Louise Marie Bride for a Sunshine Party Jewish Wedding at Finca La Concepcion, Marbella, Spain

08/05/2019 by Karen Cinnamon 1 Comment

This glorious Jewish wedding in Spain is truly the stuff destination wedding fantasies are made of – and no wonder, given that Charlotte, an EA at a financial services firm, and Simon runs his own business, SB Jewellery, assembled a total dream team to help them pull off planning from abroad.

From Dyana Dessar Simmons and her team at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Optimum Weddings – who led the couple to their jawdroppingly gorgeous venue – to photography by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jeremy Standley and his assistant Ruth Blamire-Brown – who captured everything from that smashing the glass moment to the wild Israeli dancing perfectly – Charlotte and Simon had all the Jewish wedding expertise (not to mention creative talent!) you could ask for.

Getting the Jewish element just right was extra important to these two given that the bride had recently converted to Judaism, and she wanted to make sure her family felt included in the big day despite being new to Jewish weddings.

Happily, these two had a super supportive rabbi, who made sure everyone felt a part of the ceremony – and we love how they made some of our favourite Jewish wedding traditions their own, with lovely touches from a birch chuppah to a beautiful bespoke ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Danny Azoulay that the couple picked out when visiting his shop on a trip to Jerusalem.

Now over to Charlotte, who looked stunning in her bespoke lace gown from Louise Marie…

How we met

Charlotte, the bride: Simon and I met and University of Birmingham both doing a Chemistry degree, it wasn’t until our final year that we got together after being friends from the start.

We had been together 4 years when Simon proposed in the Four Seasons in Johannesburg the first night of our holiday in South Africa just before starting our safari. He arranged the whole thing with the hotel to have our room all decorated and champagne and canapes laid out for us. It was perfect and I really was surprised.

A Pronovias Bride for a Jewish Wedding with a Wisteria Chuppah at The Midland Hotel, Manchester, UK

15/04/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

Two words: Wisteria. Chuppah. Katie and Josh’s botanical canopy is truly breathtaking – between the abundant greenery, hanging wisteria, and bunches of red berries, they created the perfect autumnal fantasia. The bride reports that she felt like she was in a botanical garden standing under the chuppah, and we can totally see why!

We also LOVE a creative idea that we’ve never seen before! A deck of Top Trumps cards at every place setting, that told the story of Katie and Josh’s engagement from proposal to tying the knot. LOVE!

And everything about this beautiful Jewish wedding is just so exquisitely elegant, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rob Clayton could not have done a better job capturing all the lovely details – not to mention the emotion and love that radiates through every single shot! The couple picked Rob especially for his ability to capture the natural, spontaneous moments that make a wedding truly memorable, and they definitely made an awesome choice!

Katie – who looked so elegant in her two bodice-and-skirt pairings from Pronovias – will take it from here…

How we met

Katie, the bride: Josh and I met on J-Swipe within 3 weeks of me moving to London… the epitome of modern day romance. We planned a date for the following week, but coincidentally bumped in to each other in a bar in central London a few days before our planned date – it was beshert (and made the ‘first date’ a lot less nerve-racking)!

A Meaningful Family-Forward Jewish Wedding at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, Santa Susana, California, USA

03/04/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

What a treat to be blogging a beautiful Jewish wedding at one of our very favorite venues: SoCal’s stunning, Spanish-style Hummingbird Nest Ranch.

We’re obviously smitten with the lovely visuals Jessica, who works in entertainment marketing, and Michael, a high school statistics teacher, pulled together to make their big day pop – see the exquisite photos from One Love Photography and video from Fancy Fox for evidence -but we’re even more in love with all the wonderful meaning they brought to their wedding.

First off, the ketubah: sure, these two chose a gorgeous, fresh floral design from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent. But that’s just the beginning – to make the ketubah ultra-meaningful, the couple decided to write their own personal vows into their custom text (which they translated into Hebrew with some help from their families). Then, under the chuppah, Jessica and Michael read their own ketubah aloud together – isn’t that beautiful?!

We also love that – inspired by the memories of their late grandparents – the bride and groom worked with charity Petals for Patients to donate their wedding flowers to a local hospice at the end of the day. Such a wonderful way to make your wedding give back!

Jessica will fill you in on the rest of the details of this fab day…

How we met

Jessica, the bride: We probably met way back in 2009 at a youth group convention that we both attended. Of course, there are pictures of Jessica with Michael’s friends and Michael with Jessica’s friends, but unfortunately none of us together. High school Jessica and Michael must not have made a good enough impression on each other but luckily, the universe had other plans and decided to give us one more shot at getting to know each other.

We reconnected online in 2013, after Jessica graduated from UCLA and Michael from the University of Michigan. Michael took Jessica out on their first date on December 5th, 2013 where we really hit it off. A few amazing dates, and less than a month later, we decided to kick off 2014 as an official couple.

A Hayley Paige Bride for a Garden Jewish Wedding with a Eucalyptus Chuppah at El Molino Del Duque, Marbella, Spain

20/03/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

We’ve got something really special to share with you today: the gorgeous Jewish wedding of Dan to Ruthie, who is the marketing manager at Smashing The Glass Recommended Venue Kimpton Fitzroy London (where we’re currently running an amazing competition to win a luxe romantic stay for two — do check it out if you haven’t yet entered!).

Ruthie’s Australian, Dan’s Scottish, they live in London, met in Tel Aviv, and got married in sunny Spain (the closest they could come to matching that glorious Aussie sunshine without making their guests fly to the other side of the world) — how’s that for an international wedding?!

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Optimum Weddings helped the couple plan the joyous, laid-back, and, above, all, totally breathtakingly gorgeous celebration of their dreams, and we love how much attention went into the details…

…From the eucalyptus chuppah (in honor of Ruthie’s Australian background!) to the stunning invitations from STG Recommended Vendor Bigday Designs, with intricately adorned with flowers of the exact same types and shades as the ones in the gardens at the venue!

And we love that the couple placed top priority not only on music for their reception, but also for the ceremony —and it doesn’t get any more special than soulful Jewish tunes from STG Recommended Vendor Jonny Mosesson, who added that extra bit of wow factor to an already incredibly special ceremony (Pssst… Brides Club members – Jonny is doing a Jewish Wedding Music live singing + Q&A inside the private Brides Club Facebook group later today… not to be missed!)

Photographer Mireia Cordomi and videographer Antonio De Perez captured all the emotion and fun of the day so wonderfully — not to mention the lush setting, exquisite details, and that coveted Spanish sunlight.

Now over to Ruthie, who looked so glam in her beaded Hayley Paige…

How We Met

Ruthie, the bride: Daniel and I met when I was living in Tel Aviv and he was there on holiday. We were introduced by two mutual friends who both quite literally sat on me until I agreed to go and meet him. We had our second date in Paris and then our third date in London. The rest is history!