USA Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Martina Liana Bride for a Destination Jewish Barn Wedding at Blue Sky Ranch in Wanship, Park City, Utah, USA

11/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We’re so in love with today’s couple’s ultra-personal chuppah. Lennie and Mark combined ten (yes TEN!) family tallits (prayer shawls), from both sides, to make their fantastic canopy – literally weaving together their two families into a new one! Isn’t that beautiful?

And for the poles, the couple used Aspen branches, in a nod to the natural flora of their destination location, the stunning mountain retreat of Park City, Utah. Check out Pepper Nix‘s gorgeous photos of the ceremony – not to mention the fab party, before and after!

Yep, another thing we adore about Lennie and Mark’s Jewish wedding is their pre-chuppah cocktail hour. The pair made a point of attending and enjoying it fully, and clever bride Lennie even took the smart step of sourcing a special cocktail dress (purchased from BCBG on the sale rack for $100!) so she wouldn’t have to worry about anything spilling on her gown. The cocktail dress came in handy again when the bustle on Lennie’s modern, chic Martina Liana gown broke during a very energetic hora!

Oh, and one last detail we can’t get enough of: this pair seriously mixed up the standard hotel welcome bag formula, injecting some serious personality into your regular selection of snacks and water bottles: since Lennie is a dentist and Mark is a gastroenterologist, the goodies they handed out included monogrammed toothbrushes and reflux meds! Now over to Lennie…

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How we met

Lennie, the bride: We met on a blind date! One of my friends was out with her husband and another couple, and the guy happened to be one of Mark’s co-workers. Mark was talking about moving, and his coworker was trying to set him up so he wouldn’t move! He’s now stuck in Tampa (where I grew up 🙂

What’s ironic is that I had messaged Mark on Jswipe a year before we met, and he responded once and then never again. So when my friend called me telling me she was setting me up and describing him I said “oh, he didn’t message me back.” This time, he called me, we made plans, and that was that. (I later found out he was getting back together with his ex-girlfriend at the time when he didn’t message me back.)

A Carol Hannah Bride for an International Jewish Wedding at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, New York, New York, USA

06/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

You don’t get much more cosmopolitan than today’s couple. Hayley, from New York, and Emmanuel, from Paris, met while living in London, and chose to hold their Jewish wedding (well, one of them…) in the bride’s super-cool hometown, whilst including so many gorgeous creative details!

Their wedding at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers celebrated their international backgrounds through details like bilingual French-English invitations and a custom designed map displaying all of the places both Hayley and Emmanuel have lived, and that have been important in their relationship.

We love this idea for an ultra-personal touch, and Smartup Visuals came up with the most fun design – you’ve got to see Corey Torpie’s photos of it!

You know how we said in the intro that one of the duo’s weddings took place in NYC? Well, that’s because these two had already gotten legally married in a civil wedding in France, the groom’s home country, which let them let loose and enjoy the celebration and religious ceremony at wedding part 2.

With guests from all over the world, making sure everyone felt included was paramount. One lovely way Hayley and Emmanuel made all of their guests feel part of the day was by having a group reading of the Seven Blessings. They found some modern interpretations of the Seven Blessings they liked, printed out copies for all the guests, and asked everyone to join in during the ceremony – isn’t that beautiful?

Hayley, who looked stunning in her modern, almost sculptural Carol Hannah gown, will fill you in on the rest…

How we met

Hayley, the bride: Emmanuel and I met a few years ago when we were both living in London. Ironically, I had lived in Paris – where Emmanuel is from – for a few years before moving to London, and Emmanuel had lived in New York (my hometown) before moving to London. We had lived in the exact same places but at different times, so we connected right away.

An Ultra-Personal DIY Gay Jewish Wedding in the Hamptons, Amagansett, New York, USA

04/06/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

We love a good DIY Jewish wedding here at Smashing The Glass, and Adam and Curtis’s intimate day in the Hamptons ticks ALL of our boxes. NYC couple Adam, a senior news producer for CBS News’ 24/7 live streaming network CBSN, and Curtis, an actor and teaching artist currently performing in Angels In America on Broadway, in search of an affordable place to host a wedding weekend, found a gem of a house (with 17 bedrooms!) in Amagansett, in the Hamptons, via VRBO.

Looking at Libby Christensen’s artistic, emotion-filled photos of the day, you’d never guess this wedding was pulled off on a tight budget. But thanks to plenty of help from family and friends, Adam and Curtis were able to pull off an ultra-chic day without spending a fortune.

One of the biggest labors of love was food. Rather than going for a traditional caterer, the pair ordered food from Fresh Direct. The food was delivered to their NYC apartment the day before the wedding, and friends helped them drive all 70 (!) boxes out to the Hamptons so it would be ready on the day.

The couple’s super-devoted wedding party came through to save the day when some inevitable wedding mishaps occurred, too – you’ve got to see what one of the groomswomen did when the cake topper Adam and Curtis had ordered didn’t arrive on time…

The couple calls their wedding a group effort, and the day was really all about honoring their community. At their super-intimate ceremony Adam and Curtis asked their guests to stand around the chuppah, circling them in support and love.

Now over to the grooms, who looked incredibly handsome in their suits from ASOS, Adam ina tweed and Curt in maroon…

How we met

Adam and Curtis, the grooms: We met on Tinder.

A Theia Bride for an Intimate Rooftop Destination Jewish Wedding at Sugar, Miami, Florida, USA

30/05/2018 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Wow – that chuppah! The colors! The smiles! Looking at the fab photos of today’s colorful, laid-back wedding, you’d never guess what a bumpy wedding planning ride Dana, a product manager,, and Alex, who works in corporate strategy, had!

After a venue mishap forced the San Francisco-based couple to cancel their original wedding plans – for a large, traditional event – Dana and Alex decided to take a step back and rethink what really mattered to them on their day. Their “wedding planning reboot” inspired them to start from scratch and create an ultra-personal day reflecting their personalities and values.

Oh, and just three weeks before the wedding, Dana broke her elbow snowboarding – not that you’d be able to tell from how gorgeous she looked in her delicate petal-covered Theia dress.

The silver lining of all this drama was that it made Dana and Alex focus on what really mattered to them – which meant that their fun-filled, close-knit brunch (yes, brunch!) wedding at Sugar on the rooftop of the East Hotel in downtown Miami turned out to be such a wonderful reflection of their personalities. You can really feel the joy shining through Andrea Harborne and Diana Hogan’s vibrant photos of the day.

We love how the duo incorporated their values into the day was by authoring their own ketubah text. Dana reports that writing their own marriage contract was a great way to stay grounded during wedding planning, and what a special memento of this phase of their relationship. It doesn’t hurt that the finished product is stunning, with a lovely modern floral design courtesy of much-loved STG Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent.

And we can’t get enough of the couple’s DIY handheld chuppah. Constructed by Dana’s family (with a gorgeous, colorful tablecloth standing in as the canopy, which Dana and Alex can continue using in their home!) and held up by friends during the ceremony, it added an ultra-meaningful touch to the day. Now over to the bride…

How we met

Dana, the bride: We met around 6 years ago when we were both working at the same company in Manhattan, and we moved out to San Francisco together 3 years ago.

A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Texan Jewish Wedding with a Beer Bar at the Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas, USA

23/05/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Happy Wednesday, y’all! Today we’re headed to super cool Austin, where Meredith and Phillip held a Texas-themed wedding for the records. Marrying at the iconic, historic Driskill Hotel in the city center, the couple had one objective: to make their day “as Texas as possible.”

They incorporated their fab theme in so many ways, but our favorite has got to be the beer bar! They had 6 local Texas beers on tap for guests to sample – no generic alcohol for this pair! And as a surprise, Meredith’s parents had customized glasses made as wedding favors for the guests, with the couple’s names and wedding date as well as following text: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something brewed” How clever?!

Neither Meredith nor Phillip being huge cake fans, they decided to buck tradition and serve pie for their dessert instead – so on-theme, too! They had four luscious-sounding flavors: blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, chocolate, and pecan. We’d like a slice of each, please! And they still did a traditional cutting picture – just with pie.

Cory Ryan Photography captured all the details of the day beautifully. Now we’ll turn you over to Meredith, who looked gorgeous in her classic lace Monique Lhuillier gown…

How we met

Meredith, the bride: We met in college at the University of Richmond, at a Hillel event. We were together for nine years and three cities before tying the knot.