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A Ritva Westenius bride for an Italian Garden-themed wedding at Home in London, UK

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Today’s bride, Katie, is just the cutest, and what amazing fashion choices — a W-day gown from  Ritva Westenius  (she chose it as she was after  something pure,  spiritual and simple to reflect the chuppah), dusty pink Manolo Blahnik‘s, and then fired up her look with  a sparkly belt, headpiece and earrings for the  evening party. So so chic!

The venue  is very  special too. It’s Katie’s childhood home and it set the scene for a truly  intimate and meaningful day. The symbolism of their Jewish wedding was so important to these two, and they honoured a  traditional Jewish wedding ritual that I’ve  seen only a few times on the pages of Smashing The Glass: they  spent the entire week before the wedding apart. They didn’t speak, they didn’t even text! In Katie’s words, this made the day so much more special, and it really did  remind them of what the day is all about. Katie’s brother, Ben, spoke under the chuppah, and I love what Katie says about their chuppah design too:

We felt the beauty of the chuppah should come from what is happening underneath rather than what it looks like. We wanted it to be pure and spiritual allowing our guests to focus on the ceremony rather than the chuppah structure itself.

Another detail that was evidently very important to these two was their  Italian garden  theme. They  both spend a lot of time in Tuscany and love that part of the world and they wanted to bring Italiana into every  corner of their wedding! They brought their ideas to life with the help of Ben Krieger from  Outrage Events, and an incredible Italian feast  by Food Story  including spaghetti meatballs, tiramisu, and of limoncello!  The  beautiful themed stationery, designed by one of our much-loved Smashing Suppliers,  Emily & Jo, was even printed in Italian,  and  home-made olive oil  favours alongside oodles of  fresh herbs and lemons  were placed  on every table. You could literally see, touch, taste and smell Italy!

The stunning photography is  by another  of our  hugely talented Smashing Suppliers,  David Pullum Photography.  And there’s also a  fabulous film by Atmotion  too.

So all that leaves me to say is… Cin Cin. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

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How we  met

Katie, the Bride: We met through a friend and started talking on Facebook in that classic way  ?

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A Rustic Chic Jewish barn wedding at Heaton House Farm in the Cheshire countryside, UK

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Meredith & David  have got the balance of rustic AND glamorous just right. The combination of gorgeous wild flowers, pastel  tones and personal touches,  alongside the beautiful barn  setting of Heaton House Farm in the  Cheshire  countryside is utterly perfect.

Meredith is American, and David is British but they both live in NYC now, so this is actually a Jewish destination wedding in the UK! Their W Day  is  bursting at the seams with thoughtful details, elegance and fun, like the bride’s sky  high pink Prada heels, a beautiful lopsided wedding cake (read on to hear the story behind that!), a meaningful ceremony,  and girls on roller skates giving out shots at  the after party! F-U-N !

Something that really touched me was hearing about a keychain made by the bridesmaids for Meredith depicting her beloved brother and stepfather who had tragically passed away some years before the wedding. Meredith attached the keychain  to her bouquet for the wedding day itself, and to this day,  carries it on her keys for a  beautiful daily reminder of her  wedding and her brother and stepdad.

Enjoy this sweet treat of a wedding — it’s romantic and whimsical but also sleek and stylish. And looks effortlessly so at that.  All of the  fabulousness was captured by STG regulars,  Reportage Gallery, with the most gorgeous film by Minty Slippers at the end.

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How we met

Meredith, the Bride: Dave  is British (he’s from Manchester) and I’m American (born and raised in New York) and we  met though a mutual friend. My brother’s friend introduced me to his wife, who is from Manchester. We became friendly and she set me up with dave.  This is really meaningful to us, as Dave never got  to  meet my brother Gregg, who passed away in 2008. In a way, it feels like Gregg brought Dave into my life. Dave reminds me a lot of my brother and having this connection to my brother is very special.

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A literary-themed Jewish wedding at the West London Synagogue and the V&A Museum of Childhood, London, UK

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It’s a blistering heatwave here in London today and I am soaking up every last ray whilst working outdoors on my Macbook’s anti-glare screen (a must-have for any sun-loving blogger!). It’s a fabulous day, not only because I’m lucky enough to be working al fresco, but also because I have been immersing myself in every last detail of Simone and Micah’s brilliant Jewish wedding at a venue I’ve always wanted to feature, the V&A Museum of Childhood.

I love unusual wedding venues, especially museums and galleries (I got married in one myself) as guests can wander around, interact with the exhibits, and talk about the work with fellow guests which can be a great ice-breaker.

This wedding is full of wonderful details, like Micah’s father officiating the service, and a lively post-chuppah musical ‘Jew-down’ as Micah calls it (I LOVE that terminology!). I’m also obsessing over the centrepieces that included scattered confetti cut from illustrated editions of Winnie the Pooh and Peter Rabbit, to tie in with the children’s books theme,  and desserts as canapà©s by Ben Tenenblat that were served during the after-dinner dancing.

Simone and Micah have written their wedding report together (well actually the vast majority of it is by Micah) and it’s wonderful to hear from a groom who had so much input into the big day — a trend I’m seeing more and more of. In fact, Micah had me at hello when he first submitted the wedding. He wrote:

I’d like to submit a wedding! Your blog already features my brother’s wedding (Yoni & Missy) and the wedding of our friends Debbie & Eyal so – yeah – we thought we’d join in too.

I love a groom submission! Welcome to the Smashing family, Simone & Micah! (And thank you to the wonderful Enchanting Wood for today’s images).

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A 50’s inspired bride for a chic Jewish wedding at New London Synagogue and the Royal Institute of British Architects, London, UK

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Rachel and Stephen  won their wedding photography through  a competition on this very wedding blog, and  when their fabulous photographer, Kate Nielen,  excitedly emailed me with the resulting gorgeous photos, I couldn’t wait to post them! Part of what Kate Nielen and I loved about Rachel’s winning entry was what she wrote below:

A Jewish wedding ceremony is steeped in tradition, ritual and spirituality. These are the elements I want to capture at the beginning of the ceremony whilst RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) is a classy and classic venue. We also have a New Orleans jazz band who will be playing klezmer.”

To me,  this  epitomises a Smashing The Glass couple. The desire to blend wonderful ancient Jewish wedding rituals  with twists like a  New Orleans jazz band playing traditional Jewish klezmer.  I just wish I could have been a guest at the wedding myself!

There were so many lovely personal  touches, like the mother of the bride  creating a beautiful painting that was incorporated  on all the stationery  and was also displayed on a  screen at the entrance of their gorgeous reception venue,  RIBA,  in the heart of central London. She also made their very arty three-tier wedding cake – what a talented mama!

One of the best things about this job is how uplifting it is to look at images of people in love. And I think it’s fair to say that Rachel and Stephen  are insanely, crazily, and meant-to-be-together-forever in love. That besottedness radiates from every  image captured by Kate Nielen.  Enjoy this one folks!

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An Ossie Clark Bride for a Super Cool Afternoon Tea Interfaith Jew-ish wedding at Home House, London, UK

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I am whole-heartedly in love with this super sassy, achingly chic wedding set in the magnificent  Home House, one of my favourite places  in London (and the place  I chose to get ready for  my wedding  and spend the  first night  of married life!).

Think sophisticated fashion and an abundance of green and white  blooms mixed in  with some brilliant creative details, a vintage Rolls Royce, so much love and warmth, and a wonderfully intimate Jew-ish wedding ceremony, complete with a beautiful chuppah and of course the  smashing of the glass!

I first heard from the bride two years ago when she emailed me  looking for ideas for her interfaith  ceremony, and I was so flattered to hear how the blog had helped her in the planning of her Jewish-Catholic  wedding.

I just wanted to say thank you for Smashing The Glass  —  I’ve found it massively helpful! I am Catholic and my fiancà©  is Jewish, so we really want to combine the best of both religions, and as the planning has fallen to me I’ve found it a really helpful resource to refer to.”

These kind of emails are the sort of thing that I thrive on so thank you so much Jess!

And  isn’t she  just the  most stunning Bride? She has that natural, thrown together look we all long for, but somehow never achieve (or maybe that’s just me).  She wears the most astonishing vintage Ossie Clark dress paired with Bionda Castana courts. Simply divine.

And the groom rocks the fashion stakes too with a very sharp suit, and you won’t want to miss the brilliant message sewn on the inside of his  collar which is revealed right at the bottom of the post. It’s a MUST SEE — it  will definitely make you chuckle!

I want to also  single out the couple’s exquisite stationery designed by the super lovely and talented  Ruth Kaye Design  and calligraphed by the ludicrously talented  Paul Antonio Scribe. I know these suppliers  very well and it’s so good to see  their work  at the epicentre of this wedding.

Of course it’s not just the decor and creative details that make a wedding awesome, it’s how much of a good time everyone is having and this lot  are having A REALLY GOOD time, all captured  by the wonderfully talented Rebecca Goddard whose work I’m  thrilled to be featuring on the blog today. Enjoy this one folks…

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