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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!

Royal Institute of British Architects Jewish weddingRoyal Institute of British Architects Jewish wedding

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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…

Home House London Wedding

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A Halfpenny London Bride for an interfaith Mexican-Jewish wedding at Searcys at 30 Pavilion Road, Knightsbridge, London, UK

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The last few weeks have been filled to the brim with all sorts of events and meetings… all in the name of work! From admiring the 2017 bridal collections at White Gallery London to a meeting with the Vivienne Westwood couture team in central London to the fabulous Not On The High Street press event where I got to meet the wonderful Kate Halfpenny and see her phenomenal wedding dress designs firsthand. Having been a fan of Kate’s for a long time (since I first heard her speak  at Paperfest in 2014) I’m delighted to be finally featuring a bride wearing one of her vintage-inspired Halfpenny London gowns in today’s interfaith (let’s call it Mexi-Jew!) fusion Jew-ish wedding.

Yes, today’s wedding features a surprise Mexican mariachi band singing Hava Nagila and Siman Tov… Epic, right?

And when it’s all captured by Matt Parry, you know it’s going to be utterly superb. Matt is one of those photographers whose work makes me do a little dance whenever I see it — there is something so very creative and fresh about his style — and I’m so happy to be able to say that today’s couple booked him after discovering his work on Smashing The Glass (which definitely elicits another happy dance from me!).

Mexican Jewish Wedding Searcys at 30 Pavilion Road
how we met

Liz, the Bride: Freddie and I met six years ago whilst I was living in London with friends.  We met at a club and exchanged phone numbers. We went on a date and I spent the rest of my time in London with him.

When I returned to Mexico we assumed that that was the end of our whirlwind romance, however two years later I came back to London for the Olympics and I met up with Freddie and we ended spending the entire summer together. The following summer I was back in London for work and after spending yet another summer together we finally decided to give it a go. I moved to London and the rest as they say is history…

We chose this venue as Freddie and his family used to live less than 100 yards away. As Freddie’s mum mentioned in her speech it felt like coming home…

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A Justin Alexander Bride for a bagel-themed Jewish wedding at Bevis Marks + Andaz London Liverpool Street, London, UK

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Todays couple had a bagel themed wedding, inspired by their surname, with bagels brought in from the legendary Beigel Bake in Brick Lane… I mean, could this Jewish wedding get any better?!

Well yes it could when Shaun Taylor is behind the lens, and my goodness aren’t his images beautiful? What’s more, the bride and groom found him via Smashing The Glass. Nicola & Simon told me,

We love your blog as it showcases the best weddings, but not by budget, size or glamour — you go after the individual personality of the wedding and the touches, which we really like. We found Shaun Taylor through your site via an advertising banner. We saw his work and it was exactly what we were after.”

Well that does make me happy! Nicola & Simon got married in Bevis Marks, the oldest synagogue in the UK, and a stone’s throw from their reception venue, The Andaz, in the City of London. The bride wore a sensational fishtail Justin Alexander dress, and looked absolutely incredible. Her bridesmaids rocked Jenny Packham, and just wait till you see the Jewish dancing images – off the scale!

Oh.. and they also had the most wonderful hashtag printed inside their kippot ‘#BestKuppleEver’.

This is SUCH a lovely wedding, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

A Justin Alexander Bride for a Jewish wedding at Andaz London Liverpool StreetA Justin Alexander Bride for a Jewish wedding at Andaz London Liverpool Street_0154

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A Pronovias bride for a ‘Northerner & The Jew’ interfaith Jewish wedding at Corinthia Hotel London, UK

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Today’s Jew-ish wedding can’t fail to put a smile on your face. It’s literally bursting at the seams with fashion, fun and some very original ideas. The bride and groom are a director and  actor respectively, and they incorporated some brilliantly inventive details  into their  day.

There’s a surprise  Fiddler & The Roof bottle dance  by the groom and his friends, an off-the-scale Pronovias  dress,  Vivienne Westwood shoes that I am MAJORLY  coveting, a dress code of ‘Imagine it’s the Oscar’s and get glamorous’, and one of the best Jew-ish wedding themes ever:  ‘The  Northerner & The Jew’. Genius! The bride  says:

My Judaism  is very important to  me — it is my cultural make-up. It was a big decision to get serious
 with John but luckily I have a great family who adore him. And I adore his. Our upbringing often clashes, mainly 
over little things and we are having to re-write our own rules for our life together. We can’t base it on our parents but there are some great discoveries — like a bacon and challah sandwich. So wrong its right. So ‘Northern and the Jew’.

A  bacon and challah sandwich? Too good to be true! There are so many good interfaith ceremony wedding ideas here, one of my favourite being  the laying out of  flags out on each seat during the chuppah  with different Lancashire and Yiddish sayings.

Jem &  John  had a very personal wedding  and, not surprisingly,  the  report today is written by them both. All the fun comes from the exquisite  Corinthia hotel  in the heart of London with sensational imagery by  Rhapsody Road.

Corinthia London Jewish WeddingCorinthia London Jewish Wedding
Choosing to get married at The Corinthia Hotel  London

Jem, the Bride: We were recommended to go and see The Corinthia  by a friend and fell in love with it. We have a love of architecture and restoration work and the way the hotel had been restored and modernised appealed to us. We also wanted somewhere in central London where we could have the ceremony and reception in one place.

John, the Groom: The place is magnificent. As Jem said, the architecture is splendid, the refurbishment is top notch. The welcome from the door staff was fantastic. In fact, everything was exemplary when we looked around. It just made sense. Once we had the food tasting, we knew it was money well spent.

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