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Danny & Aaron | Extraordinary Gay Jewish Wedding, with the Couple Arriving on a Unicorn, at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA

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Gay-Jewish-Wedding
OK guys, we are starting the week at TRULY EPIC on the wedding spectrum. Are you ready for what I have in store for you?

The truth is, I actually don’t know where to start with all the love that I have for Danny and Aaron’s immense Jewish wedding. And by the time you lot are through you won’t know what to do with yourselves either.

To begin with these two rode down the aisle to their chuppah atop a tallit-wearing horse dressed as a unicorn (or Jew-nicorn, as they dubbed it!) to the tune of Madonna’s Like a Virgin. What’s more Joss Stone (yes, the Joss Stone) undertook the role of cantor, singing Circle of Life as Danny and Aaron circled each other under the chuppah, and a 16 person gospel choir was on hand for a few of the ceremony songs as well.

When I asked Danny and Aaron what advice they’d give to brides and grooms currently planning their Jewish wedding, they told me, “be unique to your personalities. You can create new Jewish traditions by adding a personal flare to more traditional Jewish rituals, making your wedding unique to you as individuals and as a couple”, and boy did they live up to their own advice!

Danny and Aaron certainly know how to throw a phenomenal party. And throw a party they did. At their reception, John Legend, Ciara, Joss Stone, and Korean rapper, Psy (aka Mr. Gangnam Style!) performed live  keeping guests entertained till well into the small hours. But as much as there was world-class entertainment and flamboyant gestures, Danny and Aaron’s W Day was absolutely all about sharing, loving and being together. An ethos that the pair stood from the very start as they decided not to uphold the traditions of being apart until the ceremony, instead opting to get ready together — sharing every single moment of their wedding day.

Thank you to Danny, Aaron and Maya Myers Photography for letting me give you the most incredible start to your Smashing The Glass week!

Gay Jewish Wedding at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles
Choosing Paramount Studios in Hollywood as our wedding venue

Danny and Aaron, the Grooms: We both work in the music and television industries. We wanted to have our guests experience a Hollywood studio and wanted to create a grand overlaying look of our wedding and so Paramount Studios was a perfect fit for us. We wanted to design the whole room.

Gay Jewish Wedding at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles
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Michaela & Aviad | A Jewish wedding in the woods in Ben Shemen forest, Israel

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FOREST-WEDDING
I’m really excited about today’s wedding, not just because it’s epitomises my idea of simple beauty, but also because Liron Erel was the photographer, and I’ve been dying to get his work up again on the blog.

It also contains a few firsts: It’s the first Jewish wedding that I’ve blogged  on  Smashing The Glass to take place in a real bone fide forest, it’s  the first to feature a Jewish bride proudly (and resplendently!) showing off her tattoos, and it’s the first to feature my favourite boutique hotel in Tel Aviv, The Montefiore, which is where today’s lovely  couple got ready.

Here is what the  beautiful bride, Michaela, had to say about her Israeli wedding in the woods.

Forest Wedding
how we met

Michaela, the Bride:  We met whilst we were working together in  the same bar (in fact, our  first dance was to We found each other in the dark  because we  met in a  bar!).  Nothing happened between us for a long time until we were both invited to a friend’s wedding. Maybe it was the magic air of a Jewish wedding, but I started to see something between us…

Forest Wedding
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Sarah & Nick | Uber cool and intimate ‘Red’ Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London, UK

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super-cool-London-wedding
One, two, three and breathe Karen…

That’s what I said to myself when Smashing The Glass reader, Sarah’s à¼ber cool London wedding to Nick dropped into my inbox, so impressed was I by their unusual venue (a smoked salmon factory in London’s Olympic Park !), their teenage sweetheart love story, and their choice of wedding transport through the streets of London. Oh yes, these two traveled from synagogue to reception in a red convertible Mustang!

And you’ve got to hand it to a bride that rocks a leather biker jacket and Ray-Bans over her Pronovias dress…

I also love the fact that Sarah and Nick invited just their very closest friends and family, and that they found their chazan (cantor), Jonny Mosesson, via the blog’s Smashing Suppliers recommended vendor list. Jonny is one of the most talented people I know and to think that this blog is able to connect brides with the industry’s very best makes me a very happy bunny indeed.

But back to Sarah and Nick — thank you for submitting your beautiful wedding and thank you to Reportage By for capturing it so wonderfully. Here’s the whole story in Sarah’s words.

Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London
Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London
HOW WE MET
Sarah, the Bride: Nick and I met at school aged 11. We were always friends but nothing ever happened whilst we were studying together. We stayed in touch when we left at 16 but he and his family were in Miami and I was in LA. We went on a ‘catch up’ date when we were both back in London when we were 19, and my mum even said, you will marry Nick. She has always had a sixth sense…

Intimate Jewish wedding at Forman’s Smoked Salmon Fish Factory, Olympic Park, London, UK
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Stacey & Jono | NYE Fancy Dress Jewish Wedding in a Cinema, West Sussex, UK

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fancy-dress-cinema-wedding
There are no words. Truly — there are no words worthy enough to even  begin  to describe this fantastically creative W-day photographed by the always amazing  Martin Beddall. To start with this Jewish wedding is held in an old arthouse cinema (the oldest operating one in the UK) and all the guests are decked out in fancy dress which makes for such an inclusive atmosphere is genuinely special.

The couple organised everything themselves from the other side of the world (New Zealand!) and their attention to detail is astonishing. Jono, the groom, designed the delightful invitations himself, and both he and Stacey created the most beautiful short film that was played during their ceremony, full of images of their past, literally from birth through to the present day. You can watch their very special film lower down the page. Warning: you might tear up!

So without further ado, let’s dive into Martin Beddall’s exquisite photographs, and read all the juicy details in the words of Stacey and Jono themselves.
Sussex weddingSussex wedding Sussex weddingSussex wedding

Sussex weddingSussex wedding
ORGANISING A NEW YEAR’S EVE WEDDING FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD
Stacey and Jono:  We met and fell in love on New Year’s Eve 2007 so that has been such a special time for us. There’s also no better excuse for a party than New Year’s Eve so we decided to throw our big day five years later to the day! We now live in New Zealand but wanted to celebrate the big day in style with our oldest and dearest in the UK.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Sarah & Ben | Vintage Tea Party Jewish Wedding at London Zoo

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LONDON ZOO WEDDING
Now this is a wedding that I seriously would have LOVED to have attended. It’s so different, so creative and incredible fun. I mean what could be better than a vintage tea party at London Zoo culminating in an outdoor Jewish dancing session and big party (not forgetting a drunken guest attempting to climb into the gorilla enclosure!)?

Just scroll down and you’ll see the bride arriving in a flower-bedecked Karma Kab,  the groom arriving by canal boat,  a seriously jaw-dropping vintage styled bride, a hand-drawn animal-themed ketubah, stunning photography by  Steve Poole  and David Klein  that captures some of the most amazing Jewish dancing energy I’ve ever seen, and on top of everything this report is a little bit special as not only do we hear from Sarah, the bride, there is also a bit of commentary thrown in now and again from our groom, Ben. A Smashing The Glass first! The idea for holding their wedding at such an unusual venue was triggered by Ben proposing to  Sarah in the Penguin Pool building…. aaaah, I’ll let Ben take over from here:

IMAGERY BY STEVE POOLE UNLESS OTHERWISE CREDITED

LONDON ZOO WEDDING SP 14LONDON ZOO WEDDING SP 15
WHY WE CHOSE LONDON ZOO
Ben, the Groom: I proposed to Sarah at London Zoo  as when she was a child she wrote to Jim’ll Fix It to ask him to let her into to the zoo’s penguin pool building. She loved the architecture as a little girl – that space age type of feel – and she was a bit besotted with the building. When I proposed to her I organised with the zoo to take her round and then led her into the Penguin Pool building and proposed to her in there.

We also knew that we didn’t want a party in a hotel or ballroom, and we ideally loved the idea of getting married somewhere outdoors, but finding an outdoor London venue that could hold 250 guests for both the chuppah and the party on the same site, and that could also incorporate a kosher caterer didn’t leave us with many choices. Luckily London Zoo ticked all the boxes and we chose it as our wedding ceremony and party venue.
WEDDING PREPARATIONS
LONDON ZOO WEDDING SP 10 LONDON ZOO WEDDING SP 8
THEME
Sarah, the Bride:  We knew that we wanted to have a summer fete / vintage tea party feel and that really worked in the  beautiful garden terrace where we held the chuppah and Jewish dancing. We were fortunate enough to have an amazing, sunny day and the space couldn’t have worked out better for us.

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