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A Theia Bride for a Jewish Wedding at the Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange, New Jersey, USA

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Okay, how adorable is Carly and Seth’s antique chuppah?! So unique, and such a perfect fit for their country venue. And we also love that they went on an antiquing trip — a tradition in Carly’s family — with the intention of finding their wedding canopy — aww! The one they chose needed a little extra TLC, but you’d never know to look at it in their beautiful photos by Kathy Thomas.

Carly, who runs HR at a private equity firm in NYC, and Seth, a retail operations consultant, opted for just some light floral accents — in the form of roses, natch — so as not to detract from the vintage structure, and we think they got it just right.

Between the gorgeous rustic-chic aesthetic and the fab party, courtesy of Reggie Woods from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hank Lane — who led an 11-piece band in funk and oldies all night long— this is one wedding we seriously wish we could’ve attended.

Now over to Carly, who looked so effortlessly elegant in her Theia dress…

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Jersey Chateau 

Carly and Seth, the bride and the groom: We got married at the Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange, NJ. We were trying to find a place in between where our families were (New York > Southern New Jersey). Carly’s father had a friend who had attended a wedding at this location which prompted a visit.

We really wanted an easy outdoor feel. The Pleasantdale Chateau offered the structure of a well organized wedding venue with the ease of an outdoor ceremony and cocktail reception. They also have an amazing solarium. When we (Seth and Carly) saw that room in our initial visit, we decided that we would have the first look in that room.

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An Ines Di Santo Bride for a Super Luxe Secret Garden Destination Jewish Wedding at Soho Beach House in Miami, Florida, USA

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Today’s Jewish wedding is through-the-roof glam. From the couple, Alfee and Geoff, who are basically supermodels, to the breathtaking floral chuppah (flowers FOR DAYS), to the bride’s custom Ines Di Santo gown, there’s just SO much we adore.

Alfee dreamed of an enchanted secret garden aesthetic, and does this wedding ever deliver… Between that chuppah — seriously, it almost looks like a rose bush just magically grew into the shape of a perfect canopy — and the luxe florals by Jose Graterol Designs adorning the tabletops, this is basically a floral fantasy.

Oh, and did we mention all the fairy lights, and the super cool lanterns hanging from trees?! Davina and Daniel did such a fab job capturing all the stunning details — which is even more impressive given that this wedding took place at night, with no natural light to lean on.

The day was all made possible by the couple’s fantastic wedding planner Kristen Daniel from Mindy Weiss, the wedding planning superstar you may remember from our epic Smashing Summit earlier this year — and if you don’t, what are you waiting for?! We’ve got the whole thing recorded for you to watch at your leisure.

Now over to beautiful bride, Alfee…

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Jewish wedding at Soho Beach House Miami Florida USA_0001

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A Destination Wedding in Miami

Alfee, the bride: We got married at Soho Beach House in Miami. We wanted to have a destination wedding and loved the vibe of this entire hotel; we essentially took over the whole hotel for the weekend! It was so much fun.

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A Theia Bride for an Intimate Rooftop Destination Jewish Wedding at Sugar, Miami, Florida, USA

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Wow – that chuppah! The colors! The smiles! Looking at the fab photos of today’s colorful, laid-back wedding, you’d never guess what a bumpy wedding planning ride Dana, a product manager,, and Alex, who works in corporate strategy, had!

After a venue mishap forced the San Francisco-based couple to cancel their original wedding plans — for a large, traditional event — Dana and Alex decided to take a step back and rethink what really mattered to them on their day. Their “wedding planning reboot” inspired them to start from scratch and create an ultra-personal day reflecting their personalities and values.

Oh, and just three weeks before the wedding, Dana broke her elbow snowboarding — not that you’d be able to tell from how gorgeous she looked in her delicate petal-covered Theia dress.

The silver lining of all this drama was that it made Dana and Alex focus on what really mattered to them — which meant that their fun-filled, close-knit brunch (yes, brunch!) wedding at Sugar on the rooftop of the East Hotel in downtown Miami turned out to be such a wonderful reflection of their personalities. You can really feel the joy shining through Andrea Harborne and Diana Hogan’s vibrant photos of the day.

We love how the duo incorporated their values into the day was by authoring their own ketubah text. Dana reports that writing their own marriage contract was a great way to stay grounded during wedding planning, and what a special memento of this phase of their relationship. It doesn’t hurt that the finished product is stunning, with a lovely modern floral design courtesy of much-loved STG Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent.

And we can’t get enough of the couple’s DIY handheld chuppah. Constructed by Dana’s family (with a gorgeous, colorful tablecloth standing in as the canopy, which Dana and Alex can continue using in their home!) and held up by friends during the ceremony, it added an ultra-meaningful touch to the day. Now over to the bride…

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How we met

Dana, the bride: We met around 6 years ago when we were both working at the same company in Manhattan, and we moved out to San Francisco together 3 years ago.

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A DIY ‘Jew-Bu’ Wedding at The Wildflower Barn, Driftwood, Texas, USA

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There’s no two ways about it, Rachel and Michael’s gorgeous Texas Jew-Bu wedding ticks all of the STG boxes. Creative? Tick. Cool? Tick. Unique? Tick. Emotional? Tick. The couple’s quirky, alternative vibe was evident in every little detail.

With a little help from some very crafty friends, acupuncturist-moonlighting-as-an-office-manager, Rachel and product manager / DJ, Michael put their personalities into all of the DIY touches, from their origami cranes to their Tibetan prayer flag chuppah, their sunflower centerpieces to their gorgeous home baked cakes, courtesy of a friend.

Rachel looked every bit the beautiful bride in her stunning, textured Theia Couture gown, chosen for its immense huggability (totally a word), which we think is just adorable. We also have total style envy over her cute cat-eye makeup look and lashes!

The day was recorded for the ages by fabulous photographer, Caitlin McWeeney, we hope you enjoy the images, and Rachel’s brilliant write up, as much as we did.

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How we met

Rachel, the bride: We met at a party in May of 2008. Michael was DJing. I danced. The rest is history!

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

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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! 

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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.

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