Steve Madden Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Smashing the Glass

Nature-themed Jewish wedding at Riverdale Community Hall, Edmonton, Canada

12/05/2017 by Karen

It seems strange to talk about a personalized wedding, given that committing the rest of your life to another human being is about as personal as it gets, so, fundamentally, all weddings are personalized. But some couples take it to a whole other level, injecting the essence of who they are as individuals, and a team, into every moment and every detail of their big day.

Leila and James did exactly this. The family-oriented pair celebrated their heritage, personalities and interests in each choice that they made. This strong unit, and the love that would surround them as they journeyed on into married life, was evident in every word and every beautiful image by FO Photography.

There is no better interior (exterior) decorator than Mother Nature, and the nature-themed wedding brought the best of the outside indoors, with forest-inspired centerpieces (created with a little help from a bonafide zoologist friend).

In addition to a personal zoologist, James and Leila’s creative cast of friends helped provide custom cocktails, created by a culinary artist pal, jars of vanilla extract as favours, with the vanilla beans brought back from a trip to Madagascar by a friend, and an international Chuppah, celebrating the couple’s respective heritages, sourced by the bride’s mother.

Added touches included HUE lighting to create an atmosphere (used with enthusiasm by the couple at home) and personalized vows, with the subject matter and key themes in common, but the final content as a surprise for one another..

We’ll hand over to beautiful bride, Leila, for her report on the big event. Take it away, Leila!

A nature-themed wedding

First and foremost, our wedding decorator was amazing. She is a good friend of ours, and worked with our limited budget to make our wedding incredibly beautiful.

She is the artist behind ID Bohemia and she did an amazing job. She helped us navigate all sorts of unknown channels, and we are so grateful for her friendship and her artistic eye for design. We had a nature theme, and our colours were green, gold and fuscia.

A bohemian Jewish wedding bringing the outdoors inside at Lourensford Wine Estate, Cape Town, South Africa

27/03/2017 by Karen

Today’s stunner of a real wedding comes all the way from Cape Town, South Africa, and is, unbelievably, only our second STG South African real wedding. Needless to say, if this is the level of wedding pretty coming from that part of the world, then we’d definitely like to see a lot more, please!

When presented with a chuppah this breathtaking, it seems ludicrous not to talk about it first, and, frankly, this divine design deserves all the positive adjectives. Decadently draped in fresh flowers, it’s so astounding that you’d be forgiven for almost failing to notice the awe-inspiring mountainous backdrop of Gavin and Kelly’s Jewish ceremony.

Beautiful bride, Kelly, looked a million bucks in her sublime custom-made, boho-inspired dress, flanked by no fewer than 12 bridesmaids.

With a natural ethos in mind, Kelly’s brief for wedding planner, Veronica, from Petals Group, was to bring the outdoors inside, which Veronica managed with aplomb.

The day was immortalised in images by much-sought-after photographer, Shanna Jones who did such a phenomenal job that she earned one of the most passionate reviews of a supplier we’ve published on these pages. We can certainly see what all the fuss is about — just look at this spread, a picture of perfection.

We’ll pass you over to Kelly’s capable hands to tell you more about her and Gavin’s ethereal and whimsical wedding day.

An idyllic Cape Town venue

Kelly, the bride: We got married at Lourensford Wine Estate in Somerset West, Cape Town. Gavin is originally from Cape Town, which really is one of the most beautiful places in the world, so we decided to look at venues there. We loved the relaxed and informal, homey feel of Lourensford and we knew we wanted to get married there from the second we viewed it.

Bringing the outdoors inside

We knew what we wanted from the beginning. We wanted a very earthy, natural boho look and feel. We wanted it to be understated and nothing over the top. We knew we wanted flowers, but, more so, we wanted greenery. If we could have done the whole wedding outside we would have, but with Cape Town weather being temperamental it wasn’t worth the risk, so we wanted to try bring outside inside. We used, Veronica, from Petals Group. She was outstanding and we could not have done a thing without her. She really guided us throughout the process.

Overall, what we really wanted was our wedding not to be a big show. We wanted it to be small, intimate and authentic and really just to celebrate our love. Every part of my day felt sincere and genuine and all the love and care for me and Gavin was so present. I think people felt that sincerity, and enjoyed the evening because of it. That’s what made it special to me.Continue Reading

Melisa & Mickey | A chic Tel Aviv wedding with an incredibly moving ceremony

30/11/2016 by Karen

It’s freezing cold today in London and I think we could all do with a little injection of sunshine and romance! Well we have just the real wedding to put a smile on everyone’s faces. Beautifully captured by photographer Alon Gruber of Studio AGS, Melisa and Mickey’s effortlessly chic, urban Tel Aviv W Day. is guaranteed to light up your Wednesday!

First of all, we’re blown away by the totally unique tale of how they met— on a niche Chinese messaging app of all things. Their engagement followed after just one year and the wedding was planned in two and a half months, Melisa and Mickey are a living example of the phrase ‘when you know, you know’.

While we absolutely adore getting carried away with the fun of planning a wedding, it is really telling that bride Melisa spoke with the most passion and in the most detail about her feelings during ceremony. The dress, the dà©cor and all of those little details paled into insignificance in comparison to the intense emotion felt by the couple.

These two brought their happy outlook to the dà©cor scheme, infusing the day and details, like the flowers and invitations, with accents of bright yellow, their favourite colour. And if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, Mickey, the groom, walked down the aisle to Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. We really do love these two…

How we met

Melisa, the bride: We met against all odds on a Chinese messaging app called WeChat we both used to communicate with colleagues and clients (even stranger when you think about where we come from – Mickey’s family is originally from the States, and I come from Argentina).

We fell in love right away, got engaged after a little over a year, and planned our wedding in two and a half months!

Amanda & Charley | Super fun and intimate laidback Jew-ish wedding at the Santa Barbara Courthouse, and The Lark, Santa Barbara, California

20/01/2015 by Karen

I love it when my readers email me with their wedding planning queries and stories. I first heard from Amanda, a Smashing The Glass reader (and today’s beautiful bride!) back in July 2014 with the following email:

Hi Karen! I am reaching out in regards to Kathleen and Liz’s beautiful wedding in Palm Springs that you featured on Smashing the Glass earlier this year. I am getting married this September and I have been looking for a chuppah far and wide. I haven’t had much luck, but I absolutely love Kathleen and Liz’s chuppah and was hoping you would be able to either provide their contact information or pass this email along with my details. I would love to ask if I could potentially rent their chuppah and incorporate their beautiful handmade piece in another celebration of love. If not, I completely understand but I figured it never hurt to ask!

I was so delighted that Amanda had reached out to me about this idea, and immediately put her in touch with Kathleen and Liz. For logistical reasons, the ‘passing of the chuppah’ didn’t work out, but there is a happy ending to the story! Amanda and Charley found a local craftsman who constructed their ideal chuppah out of reclaimed wood, and what’s really lovely, is that after their wedding, Amanda and Charley wanted to spread the love of their chuppah and pass it on, and they did just that (full story below!)

Amanda contacted me after her big day with her wedding story, and I am so delighted to share it with you today. It’s a true ‘Smashing The Glass’ W Day, bursting with creativity, authenticity and bucket loads of L.O.V.E.

These two pulled off their big day on a modest budget, and what an incredible job they did. So although the top image looks truly opulent, this is in fact an incredibly casual, laid back wedding with some amazing budget ideas. In fact Amanda says “keeping our wedding small and manageable left enough money for a honeymoon to Cambodia which was the best way to kick off spending the rest of our lives together!”

The biggest budget tip these two adhered to was keeping it small. They shared their celebration with a select group of close family and friends (just 40 people) and were confident enough not to invite the people who weren’t closely involved in their lives.

Can you believe that Amanda’s TWO divine wedding dresses, her shoes and her accessories were all purchased for under $1000 ( £650)?! All the florals were bought by Amanda from a local flower shop the day before the wedding, and instead of spending their budget on live music or a DJ, these two had their nearest and dearest contribute to a wonderfully personal Spotify playlist.

Amanda and Charley… I take my hat off to you. You definitely achieved your aim of creating the greatest party on the smallest budget.

Enjoy Amanda’s story below, and all the wonderful images taken by the rather talented Casey from CLB Creative

A nature-themed wedding

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An idyllic Cape Town venue

Bringing the outdoors inside

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How we met

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Continue Reading

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