UK Jewish Wedding Archives - Smashing the Glass

A David’s Bride for an Interfaith Jewish Wedding with Tons of Personal Touches at Swynford Manor, Newmarket, UK

29/11/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

We’re so thrilled to be sharing the beautiful wedding of our Brides Club member Charlotte to groom Adam! We so loved following Charlotte’s wedding planning journey in the group… and we’re so touched to hear she loved her time in the club just as much as we did!

In Charlotte’s words,

I loved being part of Brides Club. It is the most supportive community. There are so many resources, checklists and guides to read through to help you prioritise and make sure you haven’t forgotten anything major! There is support for the wins and when planning is difficult there is always someone in the group who completely understands what you are going through who can help you through it.

Awww! We’re so glad to hear it – and even gladder to see what an absolutely gorgeous wedding Charlotte and Adam planned! We love their focus on keeping the day relaxed and fun – for their guests, and for themselves. One of Charlotte’s coolest comfort-first moves has got to be her choice to wear her awesome bridal trainers for the whole day, rather than waiting til after the ceremony to change into them! Not that the trainers stopped her from looking totally glam, as you’ll see if you have a scroll through Point and Click Photography’s wonderful photos.

Charlotte, who’s Jewish, and Adam, who isn’t, also opted for modern English versions of the traditional Sheva Brachot, personalized to represent their love and hopes for their future life together – and they chose seven VIPs who read one blessing each.

We’re also crazy about the fact that these two had all kinds of fun touches like garden games (who doesn’t love a giant Connect 4?), and a doughnut wall (featuring flavors like Biscoff and pistachio!), and even a piñata – a surprise from Charlotte’s parents, designed to match the couple’s wedding cake!

We’ll leave it to Charlotte, who looked beautiful in her White by Vera Wang dress from Davids Bridal, to fill you in on the rest…

How we Met

Charlotte, the bride: We met in October 2014 when a mutual friend brought Adam in to provide support in my workplace. Adam was living in Southampton, I was living in North London and long-distance dating was how our relationship started.Continue Reading

A Stella York Bride for a Classic Country House Jewish Wedding at Hedsor House, Taplow, UK

28/05/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

There’s nothing quite like a good English countryside Jewish wedding. And Kim, a secondary school maths teacher, and Josh, a quality manager, threw the absolute perfect bash at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hedsor House, which, despite being located conveniently just outside London, feels like it’s worlds away.

Family-run stately home Hedsor House ticked all the couple’s boxes: classic feel; exclusive hire for 150 people; rooms for the bridal party to sleep in, and ability to bring in a great kosher caterer. And if you scroll through the gorgeous images from Richard Galloway Photography, you’ll see that Hedsor could not have been a more perfect spot for Kim and Josh’s special day.

We’re in love with the couple’s exquisite lace effect chuppah (to match Kim’s lace gown!), supplied by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Happy Chuppah People, which has held up by Josh’s ushers during the ceremony.

We’re also totally taken with the couple’s Jenga “guest book,” a custom Jenga tower with Kim and Josh’s names and wedding date engraved into each block, which guests could then write messages on. The pair plans to bring it out for a game every year on their anniversary – how sweet is that?!

Now over to the bride, who looked stellar in Stella York…

How we Met

Kim, the bride: We met online on ‘Plenty of Fish’.Continue Reading

An Intimate Rainy Day Jewish Wedding for 30 at Dyson Place, Sheffield, UK

01/02/2021 by Karen Cinnamon

When COVID forced Liv, a mortgage broker who recently opened a take away coffee shop called Olive and Joy, and Dan, a lawyer, to scrap their original plans for a 150-guest wedding at a stately home over the May bank holiday, they came up with something even better.

As soon as 30-person weddings were allowed in England, Liv and Dan sought the guidance of Victoria from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Linda Abrahams & Co in planning an ultra-memorable day in chic urban courtyard Dyson Place (Victoria, who does double duty as a planner and luxury stationer, also designed the couple’s stationery, complete with custom wedding logo). They put together a beautiful outdoor chuppah – which ended up having to be moved indoors halfway through the ceremony as the rain picked up – streamed on Zoom to all their loved ones who couldn’t be there in person. Don’t miss the gorgeous photos by Steven McNiven.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Feast by Ed Schaerf provided his trademark innovative kosher catering, featuring his kosher burger van which served up burgers, hotdogs, salt beef sandwiches, and fried chicken with all the trimmings.

In the bride’s words,

The thing that made it so special was that there were only 30 people so we could talk to everyone there really easily and all of them were our closest family and friends. Anyone who is doubting whether to go ahead with a smaller wedding during government restrictions – we definitely recommend it!

Now we’ll turn you over to Liv…

How We Met

Olivia, the bride and Daniel, the groom: We have known each other for as long as we can remember. Our parents were friends when we were little and it turns out that we both liked each other but neither of us realised until we swiped each other on J-swipe!

A Jewish Wedding with a Fabulous Wildflower Chuppah at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, UK

30/11/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

Ok, is this #chuppahgoals or what?! We’re positively obsessed with the floral masterpiece Deanna and Elliott dreamed up for their big day.

Inspired by the glorious wildflowers the pair saw on a hiking trip to the Dolomites, these two worked with their florist to concoct an absolutely stunning structure that really does look as if it was just airdropped in from a magical field in the Italian countryside. Don’t miss the exquisite photos from Nadine van Biljon – who did an absolutely masterful job capturing not only the luxe details, but all the love and emotion of the day too.

We’re not sure what’s got us feeling more FOMO, that chuppah or the mouthwatering menu from the incredible Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Feast by Ed Shaerf. Ed and his team dream up kosher wedding food like you’ve never seen before – we’re salivating over Deanna and Elliott’s dessert, which involved spiced ginger cake, strawberry daiquiri ice cream and candy floss! – and the couple reports that Ed was a delight to work with every step of the day, and made dealing with allergies and special diets a breeze. They’re still dreaming about his fresh, innovative food – and at this point, so are we!

We’ll let Deanna take it from here…

A Hometown Venue

Deanna, the bride: We got married at The Queens Hotel in Leeds. I grew up in Leeds and always knew I wanted to get married there. The space was exactly what we were after and the venue was located right in the centre of town next to the train station. We had been to weddings there before and seen how the space could be magically transformed. We had several guests from out of town so having our venue next door to the train station was super convenient for them.

Continue Reading

A Maggie Sottero Bride for an Italy-Meets-England Interfaith Jewish Wedding at The Italian Villa, Poole, UK

14/08/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

Dreaming of Italy but grounded by lockdown? Take some inspiration from Sarah-Jayne and Emile, who brought their love of the country to the UK in their (pre-COVID) interfaith Jewish wedding. Between their decision to wed at Poole’s The Italian Villa – a dead ringer for a Tuscan escape – adelectable Italian menu, and homemade limoncello favors, they truly created a little Italian oasis in Dorset!

We also love the way these two crafted a ceremony that was truly THEM. Their Jewish ceremony – officiated by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Paul Glantz, The Wedding Rabbi (who they found via Smashing the Glass!) – featured plenty of egalitarian touches: instead of the bride circling the groom the traditional 7 times, Sarah-Jayne and Emile each circled each other 3.5 times and did a badeken where not only did the groom veil the bride but the bride gave the groom a kippah in return – the pair even wrote and delivered a speech together!

These two were also ultra-attentive to their guests’ comfort and enjoyment, going out of their way to include special touches like a board game area and personalized kids’ packs for each child in attendance, featuring toys, snacks, coloring, and treasure hunts! All the love and joy of the day – not just the couple’s, but everyone’s – comes through so strongly in the beautiful photos from Ben Minnaar Photography and video from Mulhern Media.

There’s so much more we could say about this wonderful wedding, but we’ll leave the rest to the bride, who looked lovely in Maggie Sottero…

How we met

Sarah-Jayne, the bride: We have been together ever since our winter ball in our first year of university. We were in the same halls and we had the most incredibly extravagant winter formal in a huge circus tent, complete with a fun fair, acrobats and real snow.

A rather drunk, but cute guy approached me (my now husband) and said he remembered me from a go-kart social months earlier and he had thought about me since as I had given off dream girl vibes, rather flattered I added him on social media and 10 years later (including 3 long distance) here we are. We got engaged in the Gili Islands on the beach at sunset, whilst visiting his brother and sister-in-law. We had a long engagement of 3 years to save up and we are so excited for everything to come in married life!