unusual wedding venue Archives - Smashing the Glass

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

19/07/2016 by Karen

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 canapés 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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Art Deco Jewish wedding in an airport museum and hangar, at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum, Houston, Texas, USA

14/06/2016 by Karen

It goes without saying that your choice of venue is one of the most important pieces of your wedding puzzle. I personally love unusual wedding venues so when Elisheva Golani‘s submission dropped into my inbox, and I saw a wedding that took place in an Airplane Museum and hanger, I literally squealed with joy!

And it gets better – one of Talia’s bridesmaids was Balushka of the incredible Balushka Paper Floral Artistry who created an abundance of paper flowers to adorn the chuppah as well as decor for the entire space. Her work is totally and utterly gorgeous, and the paper floristry fills the space brilliantly.

There’s also a blush-coloured wedding gown, a surprise bottle dance choreographed by the groom and his friends, a sparkly confetti canon, and a bride and groom entrance from a vintage airplane to the sound of Rocky’s Theme Tune!

Talia and Barry are one super cool, super creative couple and I cannot wait to show your their W Day. Fasten your seat belts folks!

How we met

Talia, the Bride: Ours is an interesting story – we were first set up 10 years prior to our engagement, by my dad and his tennis partner in 2005. We went on our first date and Barry took me to an Ethiopian restaurant, opened doors, brought me flowers… the whole 9. He was a total gentleman, but alas I was just beginning to explore life as an adult and so was he – needless to say we were both very different people back then. After one date, he called, but I wasn’t interested. Of course, years later, he stuck in my mind as being the kind of guy I needed to date, we reached out to each other on a few occasions- but we were never able to meet up. Finally, we were able to meet for coffee and we were together ever since… He proposed 10 years to the day of our first date- we even went to that same Ethiopian Restaurant! (good thing about engineers is that they keep EVERYTHING).

A Johanna Johnson bride for Supper club inspired interfaith Jewish wedding at The Green Building, Brooklyn, New York City, USA

23/02/2016 by Karen

I love Danya’s mum – she told her about Smashing The Glass and shared the blog with Danya a few months before her wedding. Danya told me how much of a help it was for her as she planned her interfaith Jewish wedding to Andrew, and that makes me one very happy smiley blogger.

Danya and Andrew are a really creative couple who blended their heritages (she’s Jewish, he’s not) and their hobbies to start a pop-up restaurant inspired by Jewish culture. Their pop-up supper club was a big inspiration for their wedding ceremony and celebration as they wanted their guests to feel at home and as if they were at a really intimate, delicious, fun dinner party.

The attention to detail, craft and care for everything at this wedding is so apparent – the couple mixed age-old traditions together with individuality effortlessly, with a gorgeous Autumnal colour palette and lots of personalised details.

I also love this: Danya and Andrew asked two of their friends to decorate their apartment so that when they came home to it after the wedding (it was only a few roads away from the venue) it would feel celebratory and special. Their friends strung paper decorations and placed beautiful flowers and candles throughout the apartment together with a late-night snack plate of crackers, cheese, and champagne. Just wonderful!

Danya and Andrew were married in October 2015 at The Green Building in Brooklyn, an incredible warehouse / loft-style venue in the heart of Brooklyn. All the stunning images are by Chris Gifford from Weddings by Two

The background to our wedding

Danya, the Bride: I’m an East Coast Jew who loves neutral colours and socialising to relax. My husband is a Christmas-loving, West Coast guy who’s never met an outdoor sport he didn’t like. We wanted to combine our backgrounds in a way that felt authentic to us and in a way that our families would recognise, and we lucked out big time with a brilliant and quirky rabbi who totally got what we needed (Rabbi Jim Ponet, a close family friend and Yale University’s rabbi for 30 years – his first ever intermarriage was Chelsea Clinton and her husband!). We spent a lot of time coming up with an original, explanatory, sometimes funny program.

Aly & Zach | Mountain-top Jewish wedding at The Lodge at Sunspot, Winter Park, Colorado, USA

02/02/2016 by Karen

I’m ready to favourite this post, and I haven’t even written it yet! You see, as a self-confessed ski nut, any wedding that includes a bride and groom atop a chair lift, a mountaintop vista, cable cars as wedding transport, an oxygen bar (yes really!) and a beaming bride and groom is a winner in my book. And thanks to the talents of Daniel Lopez Perez Photography, this Colorado beauty is all that plus SO much more.

Aly and Zach decided to have their ceremony 10,700 feet up a mountain. You see, you really can have a Jewish wedding anywhere ! Aly’s skied down Winter Park Mountain every year of her life since she was five and the region means so much to her. What better reason to choose it as her wedding venue?

Frankly this W Day looks like it was a blast with so many cute details (like blue sunglasses as wedding favours) not to mention the sweetest dress and the most besotted groom I’ve seen in a while. I think you’ll love it all!

Take it away Aly…

how we met

Aly, the Bride: Zach and I met at a small dive bar that our mutual friends were playing a live show at. I saw him at the end of the bar and told my friend I thought he was cute and asked her what I should say to him. My friends’s answer: “hello.” So I did. The rest of night included giant jenga, funk music, three bars, dancing, a few drinks, and a lot of laughing…. We moved in together three months later, and never looked back.

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A Boho bride in cowboy boots for a DIY rustic Jewish wedding at Moshav Mevo Modi’im, Israel

22/10/2015 by Karen

Nikki and Gavriel met via the power of Google search (no kidding… read their ‘how we met’ story below!) but their Jewish wedding was far from hi-tech. It was a super cool, relaxed rustic affair set in Gavriel’s home town in Israel with an abundance of lovingly crafted DIY details.

So much of the wedding was DIY’ed straight from the heart, from the stunning florals organised by the couple and their families (no pro florists involved at all!) to the home-made wooden signs, hay bale seating, BBQ menu and the beautiful bride’s jewellery all made by Gavriel’s mother. She also created Nikki’s stunning baby’s breath flower crown. Is she one talented mama or what?

I absolutely love Nikki’s bridal style and how she accessorised her dress with that deep green sash. And she totally rocks those cowboy boots of hers. I’ve always loved a bride in cowboy boots – such a cool look for a country style affair.

The whole W Day is full of natural and rustic details – unfussy and relaxed, but ever so pretty. Perfect for a venue surrounded by wonderful nature.

Enjoy this treat of a Friday wedding with images by one of our ever-talented Smashing Suppliers, Herschel Gutman Photography, who captures the essence of the day perfectly.

How we met

Nikki, the Bride: A friend and I were looking for a new experience and for whatever reason googled “religious farms in Israel”. We found a little family farm on a moshav and helped out a here and there with the farm duties on our stay. The daughter of the family asked if we wanted to hang out with her and her friends. We said yes and through her we met a group of guys. The mother of the family told us, “be careful – moshav boys are dangerous!” But over the course of the weekend I hung out with Gavriel on the moshav.. we talked and I listened to him playing the guitar and singing (as well as admiring his devastatingly good looks!) I couldn’t not give him my number…. Well the rest is history and here we are about two years later…. as husband and wife!