Reiss Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Madi Lane Bride for an Intimate Jewish Wedding at Norrice Lea Synagogue, London, UK

19/03/2021 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Like so many 2020 couples, London couple Anna, a paralegal, and Simon, an English teacher, had to rethink their Jewish wedding plans when the pandemic hit. The pair had originally planned a 300-guest destination wedding in Israel for May 2020, but given the uncertainty of the situation they opted to shift things closer to home with an intimate synagogue wedding in London in September 2020, with a bigger celebration in Israel to follow when possible.

Anna and Simon chose Norrice Lea Synagogue as their new venue, and they were able to hold the wedding in two separate shifts – one for the chuppah and lunch afterward, attended by 30 members of the couple’s immediate families – and a second dinner shift just for 30 close friends who hadn’t attended the first half of the day.

As always, we’re absolutely in love with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel’s dreamy photos of the day – and we’re totally unsurprised to hear that the couple found Claudine an absolute joy to work with on the big day.

We’ll let Anna take it from here…

How we Met

Anna, the bride and Simon, the groom: We were introduced by a mutual friend of our parents; she told us very little about each other. We added each other on Facebook and messaged briefly before going on a ‘blind date’. Things flourished from there – it was an old fashioned introduction.Continue Reading

A Pronovias Bride for a Backyard Jewish Micro Wedding in Santa Barbara, California, USA

11/12/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

It’s a familiar story: Hailey, an attorney at a technology company, and Jeffrey, a management consultant, had planned a Labor Day weekend Jewish wedding at a historic Santa Barbara club, with a weekend’s worth of plans for their 150 guests flying in from all over the world.

That was pre-COVID. Once the pandemic hit, the couple made the decision to go forward with a 12-guest micro wedding on their original date, which the bride’s aunt and uncle generously hosted in their backyard. We’re obsessed with Hailey and Jeffrey’s cool copper chuppah adorned with greenery and white and pink blossoms – not to mention their beautifulblue and white paper cut ketubah was purchased from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com. Don’t miss Wedding Nature Photography’s gorgeous pics!

We also love the favors the pair put together for their guests, each containing a mask hand-sewn by the mother of the bride, a kippah, and a personalized embroidered handkerchief, plus a “Jeffrey and Hailey” granola blend.

And how sweet is it that the mother of the groom secretly reached out to the original guest list and asked them to submit a video with stories and well wishes?! She kept it all under wraps until the night before the wedding, when she surprised Hailey and Jeffrey with an incredibly touching video. Awwwww!

There’s so much more to say about this beautiful day, but we’ll leave the rest to Hailey, who looked stunning in her Pronovias dress (which she’d bough for the big bash, but happened to work perfectly for this intimate celebration)…

How we met

Hailey, the bride: We were matched on a dating app called Coffee Meets Bagel. After we met in person, we realized that we had one mutual friend in common: a Jewish matchmaker!

A Mori Lee Bride for a City Chic Jewish Wedding at St. Pancras Renaissance, London, UK

09/07/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Okay, how much do we love Natasha and Tal’s wisteria chuppah?! SO romantic, and yet somehow also understated, since the couple kept everything else about the structure super simple. What a great reminder that you don’t necessarily have to go all out and do something super dramatic and involved to have a beautiful, memorable chuppah at your Jewish wedding.

There’s so much more that was beautiful and memorable about this day, too — you’ve got to check out Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor David Pullum’s photos of all the action. But if you just see one, make sure it’s the pic where Natasha’s being tossed six feet in the air (!) on a tablecloth – scroll a bit, and you won’t miss it. It’s pretty dramatic, and we’re not even a little surprised that guests are still talking about it.

From that photo alone, you can probably guess that Natasha and Tal had a pretty rockin’ party. That was partly thanks to Smashing the Glass Recommended Vendor The Function Band, who the couple describe as “truly show-stopping.” They made sure the dance floor was packed all night, and guests are still remarking on their fantastic performance.

Now we’ll turn you over to Natasha, who looked stunning in her Mori Lee dress…

A London Venue

Natasha, the bride: We got married at St Pancras Renaissance. We were struggling to find a venue that we agreed on. We walked up to the front of the venue and were instantly wowed. We walked around imaging the photographs and knew it was going to be the one.

A Mediterranean Garden Destination Jewish Wedding at El Cortijo de los Caballos in Marbella, Spain

15/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

We’re always thrilled to blog the weddings of our real blogging brides, and we could not be more excited to feature beautiful Hayley’s sun-drenched Spanish wedding to Ashley at El Cortijo de los Caballos.

We loved reading along with Hayley as she went through the process of converting to Judaism during her engagement, and couldn’t be more proud to see her and Ashley standing under their lovely DIY chuppah, which put folded umbrellas to use as poles, draped in tulle and lace — including a square from Hayley’s dress! Check it out in Anna Gazda’s luminous photos.

This wedding was chock full of personal touches… between custom kippot inscribed with “Man Utd Rule” with footballs printed on them, as a nod to Ashley’s chosen team, to a very memorable rap by the bridesmaids (they turned Ice Ice Baby into “Ash Ash Hayley”!) Hayley and Ashley injected so much personality into their fun-filled day.

And to make sure their wedding was a party to remember, the couple flew out Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Totem as their band! Performing at both the ceremony and reception, Hayley and Ashley credit their fab band with making the party happen — and report that guests are still telling them how great the music was!

Now over to Hayley, who was lucky enough to have her gorgeous princess gown was custom designed for her by her new sister-in-law, who used to be a pro bridal wear designer…
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How we met

Hayley, the bride: We met online through Tinder, although I’m sure Ash told a few people we met at a bar in Shoreditch!

A Jewish-Indian Wedding with an ‘East Meets West’ theme at Sopwell House, St Albans, UK

04/09/2017 by Karen

What happens when you blend two beautiful, family-oriented cultures? The Jewish-Indian wedding of the year, that’s what!

Sharon and Simon took their favorite elements from their respective upbringings and brought them together for a gorgeous cultural fusion, celebrating their globetrotting history as a couple, and culminating in an epic party, led by our sensational Recommended Vendor, The Function Band. Check out their incredible dance floor-filling mashup in the video below!

Catering a Jewish-Indian wedding, of course, meant enough food to feed a small army – with a delicious ‘East meets West’ catering theme. We’re getting hungry just thinking about it.

Beautiful bride, Sharon, looked absolutely sublime in her traditional Indian dress, adjusted to incorporated western colors, adorned with antique-inspired accessories, against the picturesque backdrop of her blush pink, navy blue and ivory color scheme.

The inclusion of family was very important to the happy couple, with thoughtful groom Simon and his family performing a surprise Bollywood dance for his bride.

All of the action was captured by photographer, Ed Godden, and was written up below by Sharon herself. We’ll pass you over to her now for the full story!

An ‘East meets West’ theme

Sharon, the bride: We got married at Sopwell House in Hertfordshire. We wanted a venue that could accommodate 200 guests, and Sopwell House was perfect for us, as they are very experienced with dealing with big weddings and have different options of venue rooms, as well as beautiful gardens.

We also had in mind that we wanted the day to bring elements of both of cultures together. We had an idea that we would like to have an ‘east meets west’ theme for the food, and Sopwell House were amazing in creating a bespoke menu that added Indian elements to the dishes.

As we wanted the ceremony and reception to be held in one place, we were conscious that we didn’t want our guests to be confined indoors for the entire day. Sopwell House, as a venue, brings the perfect balance of luxury hotel with a country feel. The gardens were perfect for the drinks reception, and there were lots of great choice for the backdrop of our photos.
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