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Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Charlotte + James… How They Met to the Present Day

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 7th beautiful bride from our crop of 2017 and 2018 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Charlotte who will be marrying James on 26th August 2018 at The Brewery, in London, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) James proposed to Charlotte in Florence…. on her parent’s 36th wedding anniversary (aaaah – we love that!)  (2) They are planning a Jewish urban-rustic wedding in East London (3) They have already decided on their wedding hashtags — it’s #dropitlikeitshart !

REAL-JEWISH-BRIDES_Charlotte
How We Met

I met James through a mutual friend nearly four years ago, before going on a night out to none other than Ministry of Sound, we really hit it off and have been inseparable ever since.

Marrying my best friend

We can both admit that we aren’t the most conventional of couples, and didn’t really go on dates. We saw each other socially as we share a lot of mutual friends, we drew closer and the rest is history! I can really say that I am marrying my best friend.

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Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Leah + Zak… How They Met to the Present Day

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 6th amazing bride from our crop of 2017 and 2018 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Leah who will be marrying Zak on 1st June 2018 at Masia Notari in Spain.

THREE FACTS: (1) Leah knew she wanted to convert to Judaism long before she met Zak. She feels that having a Jewish wedding is another milestone in her Jewish identity and is an opportunity for some of her family to experience new traditions. (2) Leah & Zak met on JDate (3) Leah and Zak are planning a beautiful black tie destination wedding in Barcelona, Spain

REAL-JEWISH-BRIDES_Leah
How We Met

Now that we’ve been together over 4 years (and are engaged!), we are so much more open to admit that we met on JDate. In the early days of our relationship, whenever anyone would ask how Zak and I met, we’d often look at each other, shrug, and mumble quickly “online… JDate…” and hope to move on to a different line of questioning. This was pre JSwipe, Tinder, Bumble, etc so admitting that we met online wasn’t as normal as it is now.

I had just moved to North Texas for work and after moving four times in less than three years (all for the same company) I told myself I was going to try to settle in and make somewhere feel more like home. I found a shul where I felt comfortable and finally committed to something I always knew I wanted to do: converting to Judaism.

Around this time, a friend of mine was telling me about all of her awful JDate experiences. I figured I’d give JDate a try and worst case scenario if the dates were bad, we could laugh about them! Believe it or not, Zak was the second date I ever went on! I had seen his profile come up a few times and was intrigued when he messaged me. We messaged back and forth on JDate and finally when I was certain I wanted to talk to him, we exchanged numbers. 

Our First Date

I still remember the day he called me and asked me out to dinner later that week. A proper date?! Yes, please! I knew it was a good sign when we didn’t want the conversation to end at dinner and kept talking for hours after.

The very next day, Zak called me and asked me out again! We went to a movie and out for coffee after and talked for so long, they shut the restaurant down around us!

At the time, we lived 25 miles away from each other and we both left on trips soon after our second date which forced us to spend more time talking on the phone. I was so childishly excited to see him when we got back! There was never a day after that I wanted to be with anyone else!

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Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Clare + Chris… How They Met to the Present Day

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 5th gorgeous bride from our crop of 2017 and 2018 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Clare who will be marrying Chris on 5th May 2018 at Laura Ashley The Manor in Elstree, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Clare is not Jewish but discovered Smashing The Glass via her Jewish sister-in-law and during her wedding planning journey it has became her favorite and most useful wedding blog (2) She finds STG refreshing in a sea of wedding blogs as she loves reading stories of couples for whom the ceremony itself is as pivotal as all the other details. (3) Due to falling in love with so many amazing Jewish weddings through the blog, and then booking a wedding consultancy session with STG founder, Karen, it confirmed to her that there were a number of Jewish elements she was going to bring into her wedding that symbolise a lot of things that are very important to her and her fiancà© in their future marriage – she will be having a ‘Jewish-inspired’ wedding!

REAL-JEWISH-BRIDES_Clare
How We Met

Chris and I met in the summer of 2014 through that wonderful medium that I never wanted to admit… Tinder! Needless to say I was certainly not looking for a partner at the time and having both downloaded the app without much thought on the weekend (and most definitely with a bit of alcoholic influence!) we had begun chatting by the Monday. After what seemed like endless hours of funny messages where I genuinely laughed out loud he took me for a drink which turned into a dinner and a walk along the river by night. Following that I’m pretty sure we never went a day without talking and with a few ups and downs along the way, the rest is history….

A lucky auction

Our engagement in June 2016 wasn’t a complete surprise in that we had spoken very openly about marriage for some time and had begun looking for a house to buy together and generally planning a future. Chris had asked my views on rings and there had been plenty of screenshots sent over a good six months or so of the dream rock!

Several months before he popped the question, his parents had come across a beautiful vintage ring at an auction house where they were looking for furniture. I had been away for the weekend and Chris had received a phone call from his step mother and a multitude of texts with pictures. After she sweet talked the auction rooms staying open long enough for Chris to make the last minute dash down there to see the ring he decided it was the one!

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Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Amanda + Adam… how they met to the present day

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 4th gorgeous bride from our crop of 2017 and 2018 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Amanda who will be marrying Adam on 25th March 2018 at Braxted Park, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Amanda & Adam met outside in a bar in Tel Aviv (2) Adam has a ridiculous sense of humor (as described by Amanda!) and we love him all the more for it (3) Amanda & Adam’s wedding is 100% focused on all the people and things that mean the most to them.

REAL-JEWISH-BRIDES_Amanda
How We Met

Both Adam and I will tell you that we weren’t attracted to each-other when we met outside a bar in Tel Aviv. In fact, we spent the entire evening trying to set our friends up. This led to hours of drunken giggling together as we discussed how excellent our matchmaking skills were. (Needless to say, they had no interest in each other). At 3am we were still high-fiving and I really felt like I had made a new friend.

A few days later, his friends were hosting a BBQ and he asked us to come along. A bottle of wine later and I was starting to wonder if this tall blonde man could be somebody I might like to see at home in London.

I was drawn to Adam’s ridiculous sense of humour and whilst he never managed to convince me that his job included ‘picking up penguins who have fallen over’, his silliness and laid back nature are still my favourite things about him now, almost 3 years later.

Our First Date

Our first official date was carefully planned by Adam at St Catherine’s docks in London, at the height of summer. But my favourite story from our early days took place just 4 days after we’d met.

We were back in London and Adam showed up to the local pub quiz where I’d told him my friends and I were regulars. He stuck out like a sore thumb in his suit and tie, but soon broke the ice with my friends by offering them all a pad of paper and a pen that he’d brought with him, ‘just in case’.

I think it’s fair to say that when he handed me the jar of pickles he’d bought on the way, my heart melted a little bit. Forget chocolates and roses, pickles are the way to my heart!

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Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Mel + Mitch… how they met to the present day

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our 3rd gorgeous bride from our crop of 2017 and 2018 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Mel who will be marrying Mitch on 18th March 2018 at Warren Weir at Luton Hoo, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Mel and Mitch met online on JDate (2) Their Jewish wedding will be classy and traditional with plenty of modern touches  (3) Mel is a member of Smashing The Glass’s private Jewish & Jew-ish Brides Facebook Group. Not yet a member? Come join us here!

REAL-JEWISH-BRIDES_Mel
How We Met

Mitch and I met on JDate (yes, we are one of those couples!) in 2013. I had not long come out of a long-term relationship so I joined with the main intention of just knowing that there were people out there and that I wouldn’t be single forever! I didn’t for one minute think that I would end meeting the man I was going to marry — funny how things come along when you least expect it. After a month or so I was actually going to delete my account — until I received what can only be described as an essay from ‘mitch2302’. I thought, if this person has taken the time to look through my profile and made the effort to write a long message, the least I could do is respond.

Going on a first date — particularly never having met the person before — is quite unnerving. I suggested a nice gastro pub for a drink near where I lived. I always think that a drink on a first date is the best option as you’re less committed to spending long there if you weren’t feeling it, compared to if you go for dinner (call me crazy!).

Three hours later, we were still talking but it was time to go, with so much still to say. Our second date was four days later. This time we went for lunch. Eight hours later we were still in the same spot, chatting away like we had known each other for years. I left still wanting to know more about him #GoodSign.

People in common…

Being Jewish, it doesn’t take long to come across mutual friends. We did the usual “do you know such-and-such?” Little did we know just how ‘close’ we were — it turned out his parents are best friends with my aunt and uncle and have known each other since they were 16! *Cue MIL-to-be insane excitement*

We chose to keep my last name a secret at first (that would have given the game away) so that Mitch’s mum didn’t get too ahead of herself and call my aunt and cry with excitement that she will be related to her best friend of 40 years — bearing in mind I met his parents after the fourth date so marriage was definitely not on the cards yet. Sadly, my identity was revealed – I was practically quizzed when I first met Mitch’s parents. His mum then decided to have a Facebook stalk (as you do when you meet someone for the first time) and found me. Luckily, she honoured our wishes not to tell my entire family we were dating until we were ready.

After a few more dates, we became ‘official’. And then gave Mitch’s mum ‘permission’ to call my aunt — she was probably more excited about this than knowing Mitch had a girlfriend.

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