UK Archives - Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

A Stella York Bride for a Family-Centered Jewish Wedding at The Waldorf Hilton Aldwych, London, UK

15/05/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We are totally and completely in awe of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel’s exquisite photos from today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding. The way she captures the emotion, the details, and of course the Israeli dancing (there are some seriously unmissable action shots below!) – Claudine’s work never fails to bowl us over.

Another thing that consistently gives us the warm and fuzzies? When a couple prioritizes incorporating family into their big day. Danni, who works as a fundraiser for a Jewish charity, and Sam, an accountant, did just that, from having their parents help out with the planning to including as many family members as possible in their procession to the chuppah.

Both the bride and groom’s fathers drive black cabs in London, and in honour of their dads the pair opted to incorporate black cabs as a motif – love how they included a little black cab on their invitations!

And we love that Danni opted to pair her Stella York dress with her mum’s veil – which, with a few alterations, fit seamlessly into her bridal style. We’ll let her take things from here…

How we met

Danni, the bride: Before getting married we had been together for six and a half years. We met while at university, Sam came up to Leeds to surprise my housemate (and bridesmaid) and we got chatting… a few months later we met again and started going out. We’ve been together ever since.

A Suzanne Neville Bride for an Elegant Jewish Wedding at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London, UK

13/05/2019 by Karen Cinnamon 1 Comment

We love it when a couple really brings their skills and passions into their Jewish wedding – and Samantha and Alex did just that. The bride, a video editor by profession and lifelong music lover on the side, added THE most special, personal touches to her big day – teaming up with some of our very favourite London vendors to make it happen.

Given Samantha’s career, it’s no surprise she wanted only the best when it came to choosing a wedding videographer – and indeed, she opted for beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion. But instead of having her videography handle the whole business from start to finish, the team at Denee Motion handed their stunning footage over to Samantha and she edited it into her very own highlights film and wedding video – so special! (As if that’s not awesome enough, she also made a save-the-date video rather than sending out a standard paper note.)

This multitalented bride also happens to be an AMAZING singer, and she wanted to surprise Alex by performing at the wedding. She worked with the couple’s band, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Totem – who are just beyond awesome; in Samantha’s words, “watching them perform is like being at the greatest concert of your life” – to perform a song with Totem’s newly formed gospel choir. It made for such a special moment; please do scroll down and check out the video of her performance!

We love how photographer Paul Toeman captured all the emotion and energy of the day (and we’re totally obsessed with the post-wedding shoot he did of the couple wandering around London at midnight!). There’s lots more we could say about this wonderful wedding, but we’ll let the bride – who looked smashing in Suzanne Neville – tell you the rest…

Oh… and one final detail – the groom’s mother is the the manager at my daughter’s much-loved nursery. Mazal Tov Tina and family!

How we met

Samantha, the bride: We met at 18, he moved into the same flat as one of my best friends when he was at university in Manchester. I went up to visit my friend Anthony and ended up speaking to Alex for 2 hours instead. Fast forward 7 years when I happened to join his gym and bumped straight into him, a couple weeks later we went on a 3 hour dog walk and the rest is history.

A Suzanne Neville Bride for a Kosher Chrismukkah Jewish Wedding at the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, UK

01/05/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

A kosher Christmas wedding?! Sounds unlikely, but somehow Claire, a therapist, and James, who works in recruitment as a consultant in the City, pulled it off.

With a wedding date just a week before Christmas and the bridesmaids dressed in an unintentionally Christmassy hunter green, the pair decided they might as well go all out with their newfound Chrismukkah theme – even opting for a kosher Christmas dinner for the meal!

We’re also obsessed with Claire and James’s very cool chuppah – made out of copper pipes and decorated with a mix of flowers and hanging bulbs. It was a perfect fit for their stunning Victorian venue, the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel. All of the emotion and elegance of the day was captured so perfectly by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Blake Ezra, whose calm attitude on the day ensured Claire and James enjoyed their wedding photography to the max.

Claire looked stunning too, in her simple, sophisticated Suzanne Neville dress and her effortless natural makeup by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Philippa Louise.

And the fun didn’t stop once the big day was over: Claire and James went on an epic honeymoon to India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, organised by Claudia Newman at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Colletts Travel in London. Claudia made sure the honeymoon ran smoothly and even threw in some extra special touches, like leaving a framed picture of the couple on their wedding day waiting for them in one of their hotel room.

Now over to the couple…

How we met

Claire and James, the bride and the groom: We went to the same university but never met there, we met at a close friend’s birthday party. The friend actually wasn’t sure it was going to work but is very happy now that it did – and was part of the wedding as a bridesmaid and witness to thank her for bringing us together!

An Eliza Jane Howell Bride for an Ecofriendly Orthodox Feminist Jewish Wedding at The Brewery, London, UK

26/04/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We love it when a couple gives their values a starring role in their Jewish wedding. And Miriam, an environmental consultant in the water sector, and Lazarus, an intellectual property manager for a green hydrogen start up, did exactly that for their beautiful big day at beloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Brewery.

Unsurprisingly, sustainability is a big deal to these two – and they followed through on that value by using e-vites instead of paper, a mix of fake flowers along with fresh to reduce waste, and gave out wildflower seed favours for guests to plant to help save the bees.

We also love how Miriam and Lazarus worked with their rabbi to incorporate some feminist touches into their Orthodox ceremony – like having Miriam say a line back to Lazarus after he gave her the ring, and having female guests reading the Sheva Brachot in English as well as the men saying them in Hebrew.

Even cooler is the way they went about making sure all of their guests, Jewish and non-Jewish, felt involved in the wedding: Miriam and Lazarus went a step further than an explanatory order of service on the day, instead opting to send theirs out to guests in advance – along with FAQs about Jewish weddings and videos and music clips to prepare everyone for the dancing!

We love how Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Michael Lee’s photography captured all the fun, energy, and bold colours of the day – and he came up with some awesome ideas for creative shots.

Now over to the bride, who looked simply stunning in her vintage-inspired Eliza Jane Howell dress (not to mention that epic flower crown!)…

How we met

Miriam, the bride: We met on JSwipe – a truly 21st century couple!

A Sharon Cunningham Bride for a Jewish Interfaith Wedding with a Feather Chuppah at The Hyatt Churchill Hotel, London, UK

24/04/2019 by Karen Cinnamon 1 Comment

We see a lot of chuppah designs here at STG. But today’s Jew-ish wedding’s got one that’s totally new to us: a feather chuppah!

Jay, a fitness instructor and head trainer at F45 Camden (and one of our wonderful real blogging brides), and Tom, who works in recruitment at Facebook, wanted something their guests hadn’t seen before, and we’re pretty sure they succeeded. The wild feathered top paired with the clean translucent columns make for such a striking look.

The chic style – not to mention the emotion and fun of the day – was captured perfectly by Paul Toeman Photographers and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion on video. Watching their fab trailer makes us feel like we were right there in the thick of it.

And this is one wedding we truly do wish we could have attended. Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor the Function Band knows how to throw a party – the couple reports that guests packed the dancefloor all night, and that even months after the big day people are still telling them how awesome their band was. Bradley of the Function Band also served as the day-of coordinator, and managed the day so that Jay and Rom could sit back and relax.

Now over to the bride…

How we met

Jay, the bride: We met on Tinder just over 5 years ago, I don’t think either one of us thought that with the swipe of a finger you could find your soulmate but for us it worked. We are an amazing team, support each other through anything!