Scotland Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Flora Bride for a Fairy Tale Destination Jewish Wedding at Cluny Castle, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire Scotland, UK

31/01/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

We love it when a couple goes out of their way to make their guests feel extra loved at their Jewish wedding – especially when they’ve traveled across the world to celebrate together. But today’s couple, Anna, an architect, and Nir, a PhD student in economics with an online tutoring business, Israelis who opted to wed in Scotland, really amped it up to the next level.

With an intimate crew of just 26 guests, who traveled from Israel, the US, and Canada, Anna and Nir went all out, planning not just a wedding weekend but a full wedding week of classic Scottish activities, from Highland games and clay shooting to visits to Loch Ness and distilleries – and castles.

Although given the venue – not only was the wedding held at the majestic Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Cluny Castle, but the guests were also able to stay at the castle for the entire week – it’s hard to see a need to leave the grounds of this stunning spot. Catom Photographers captured the splendid setting in all its glory – not to mention the love and emotion of the big day.

Anna and Nir couldn’t possibly have picked a better place to make their guests all feel like princes and princesses for the week – and in pursuit of this goal, they even hired makeup artists and hairstylists to take care of each and every one of their female guests on the wedding day!

Now over to the groom, who’ll fill you in on all the details…

Theme

Nir, the groom: The theme was a “fairy tale” and Scottish wedding. We tried our best to make sure each guest would feel like a price/princess for the entire week. We planned a schedule for the week so each day would include a classic Scottish activity: Highland games, distilleries, clay shooting, castles, Lochness etc. The guests even saw her majesty the Queen and Prince Charles from a very close range at the highland games.

A Modeca Bride for a Multicultural Jewish-Scottish Wedding at The Principal Hotel, George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland

09/05/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Today’s Jew-ish wedding features a wonderful blend of the couple’s Jewish and Scottish heritages, with so many heartfelt personal touches. Leigh (@Leighjshhh), a personal assistant and team secretary, and Steven (@Hunter941), an ammunition technician in the British Army, married at The Principal Hotel in Edinburgh.

Leigh, who is Jewish, and Steven, who is Scottish, crafted an ultra-personal day that combined their two cultures seamlessly. They paired their registrar-run legal ceremony with a Jewish blessing from a rabbi they worked with closely to create a very personal service.

We just love how this couple strove to run their day in a way that was true to who they are, individually and as a pair, and that would feel inclusive to all of their guests. They had an archway of flowers instead of a chuppah; they didn’t have a ketubah but did smash the glass — and to make sure everyone could follow along, Leigh made a program explaining the Jewish traditions. In a very cool nod to Steven’s Scottish heritage, the color scheme of teal and gold was taken from his family tartan.

But we think our favorite way Leigh and Steven blended their backgrounds is through music — and dance. Their DJ, Graeme Barrie Entertainment, not only played music for the Israeli dancing; he also served as ceilidh caller (instructor) for their Scottish dancing! Check out Cro+Kow Photography’s stunning shots of the couple and their guests in action.

Now over to Leigh, who looked beautiful in her strapless ivory Modeca gown…

How we met

Leigh, the bride: We met at a mutual friend’s wedding. We both knew the groom, and after both of us enquiring about the other we started chatting and knew almost instantly that this would be a conversation that would never end!

Nearly four and a half years later, after an entire long-distance relationship, we got married ourselves and now start our new journey together as husband and wife – and finally living together!

Sara & Elliot | Scottish Castle Jewish Wedding, Dundas Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland

12/08/2013 by Karen

In today’s castle weekend wedding we have bagpipe players, custom made Gina shoes, a seriously breathtaking castle venue, and the best favours / name plates I have ever seen: personalised tubes of chocolate Rolos with each guests’ name on them. I’d have loved one of those!

For this wedding, I’m thrilled to welcome photographer extraodinaire, Claudine Hartzel, to Smashing The Glass whose wonderful images capture the occasion perfectly. Happy Monday all, I know you’re going to enjoy this one.

VENUE
Sara, the Bride: We didn’t want a typical “Jewish Wedding” as we both aren’t religious. We wanted something different and also wanted to try and make a weekend of it. We didn’t wanted to get married in London and had gone to Edinburgh for Hogmanay in 2009 and loved it there. I started to research castles and stately homes to get married in in Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy.
Dundas Castle in Edinburgh was the first venue that appeared in my search and nothing else came close to it. When we visited it, we both fell in love with the Castle and not just because everyone who worked there was incredible and couldn’t do enough to help, which made organising a wedding quite far from where you live hardly stressful at all!

CEREMONY Our Rabbi had us facing the guests during the whole ceremony which was lovely albeit a bit scary! We didn’t know he was going to do this and had he suggested this beforehand, I probably would have said no, but in the end it was a very special touch. We wanted our wedding to be really modern and not be long and bore anyone but also have some traditional touches like me walking around Elliot seven times (with the giggles!).

For me, my favourite part of the ceremony was the badeken as it was so personal and emotional. Also our Rabbi was amazing with his brilliant sense of humour, his personality and the most incredible voice you have ever heard. I don’t think there was a dry eye whilst he sang.