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A Martina Liana Bride for a Beachy Jewish Wedding in Delray Beach, Florida, USA

28/02/2018 by Karen

It’s always a pleasure to write up the wedding of one of our Real Jewish Brides, and today’s is no exception! We love that Dawn and Harley made their Jewish wedding all about family and friends. With a “basketball team-sized” wedding party, friendors aplenty, a delicious kosher pareve cake from Smashing The Glass Recommend Vendor Ana Paz Cakes to include kosher-keeping guests, and plenty of family participation in the ceremony, the couple’s day was truly centered around the people they love.

Dawn, a career counselor, and Harley, an online entrepreneur, chose to hold their elegant beach-themed wedding at the Delray Beach Marriott in Delray Beach, Florida, out of deference to their many out-of-town guests.

Their day was captured beautifully by Jack Bates Photography, which is owned by a friend of the couple. Their videographers were also friends–Shelley, the female half of the husband and wife duo behind Gibson Production, even did double duty as a bridesmaid!

And did we mention that Dawn chose her gorgeous Martina Liana gown a whopping 14 months before the wedding?! She made an appointment on a whim after learning about an end-of-season sale, and, despite having barely begun her search, knew she’d found the one.

We’re sad to say goodbye to Dawn here on STG, but we’re sure you’ll enjoy reading about the day in her own words!

How we met

Dawn, the bride: in the summer of 2013, Harley and I both joined JDate. He was moving to South Florida by himself from Montreal and looking to make a connection, and I may have been a bit bored in graduate school looking for some Jewish romance! Although neither of us actually lived in Palm Beach County at the time (he still had a few more weeks in Montreal, and although I am originally from Palm Beach I had one more year of graduate school in North Florida), we both indicated that we were from the area and showed up in each other’s searches. We began messaging, Facebook-ing, texting, and Skype-ing (to ensure that neither one was a 60-year-old cat lady) every day until we finally met on June 24th, 2013… just hours after he had officially moved to the United States!

A BHLDN Bride for a Vintage-Style Cultural Fusion Peranakan Singaporean and Jewish Wedding at Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool and Lincoln Park Conservatory Illinois, Chicago, USA

23/02/2018 by Karen

Ahhh guys we don’t care how fan-girly we sound, today’s Jewish real wedding is just the COOLEST! Andrew and Lauren’s big day fused their Jewish and Peranakan Singaporean backgrounds in just the most inventive and beautiful ways.

A tea ceremony during the chuppah? Perfect. Pineapple tart rugelach? Yes please. Chocolate Shekel favors in Chinese double happiness red packets? Inspired. We also adore the themed Singapore Sling and Tel Aviv Sunset cocktails – just perfection. Everything, from the music to the menu, was chosen with both cultures in mind, finding amazing ways to bring them together. This wedding looked like a marriage.

Given the stunning aesthetic of the wedding, it will come as no surprise that bride Lauren, is a stationery designer, and put her skills to good use, designing the most stunning stationery suite that managed to honor both cultures and still fit in perfectly with the vintage-inspired vibe.

Lauren looked like an Old Hollywood A-lister in her beautiful lace BHLDN gown, and even more breathtaking under the rustic and charming chuppah using her grandparents’ lace.

The venues, Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool and Lincoln Park Conservatory, are two of the couple’s favorite spots – little oases of calm in their Illinois neighborhood.

The story of the day was beautifully captured by photographer Jaclyn Simpson and the happy couple provided the funny and charming write up below together. We could genuinely go on and on all day, so we’ll stop now and let Lauren and Andrew fill you in on the rest. Please give it up for the bride and groom!

A hidden garden in the neighborhood

Andrew, the groom: Lauren and I got married in our neighborhood, a two-minute walk from where we lived. We had a small family ceremony at the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, which is a hidden garden filled with native plants of Illinois. Afterwards, we had a slightly larger reception (just around 50 people) next door at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Since moving to Chicago we’ve visited these two sites regularly as a way to escape the city and the occasional sub-zero winter. I also worked for the Chicago Park District and knew many of the staff at the conservatory.

The AG & LM penny pattern in the pond was a complete surprise for us from the staff at the Chicago Park District! Many of the gardeners, naturally, are also talented visual artists and my co-worker Gustave spent a good deal of time putting this together without us even knowing. It was definitely a highlight of the reception!

A Pnina Tornai Bride for a Super Luxe Colorful Jewish Wedding With a Show-Stopping Chuppah at The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California USA

19/02/2018 by Karen

Here at Smashing The Glass, we don’t use the word “luxe” lightly, but that is the only way to describe Della and Benjamin’s divine and decadent colorful Jewish wedding.

Not many brides can say they met the dress before they met the man, but that’s exactly what happened to bride Della, who fell in love with her Pnina Tornai gown five years before the pair actually met! It was totally worth the wait – Della looked simply incredible.

And her wedding was as extraordinary as her dress! The celebration was held at the glamorous Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, and was brought together by incredible planner, L’Amour Event,

We’ve seen many a stunning chuppah in our time, but Della and Benjamin went all out, with a show-stopping garden-themed and foliage-rich chuppah, bursting with pops of color in the couple’s ‘shades of pink’ color palette. Butterfly Floral displayed ridiculous levels of talent in creating the absolute vision, and the complementary arrangements around the venue.

The fabulous floristry was echoed in the couple’s sensational seven-tier cake by Joanie and Leigh’s Cakes, also an absolute work of art.

All of the magic and dà©cor details were captured with aplomb by photographer John Solano, and in the beautiful, cinematic wedding video below, provided by David Medill.

It’s time to pass you over to Della for the full story on her and Ben’s magical day – we just know you’ll love it as much as we do!

A venue with a beautiful ballroom

Della, the bride: We got married at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA. We choose this place because of the ballroom layout. I liked that it was three levels and everyone was on a higher level than the dance floor, so they would all have a good seat at our wedding.

A Breathtaking Waterside Same Sex Jewish Wedding at a Private Residence, Kittery, Maine, USA

09/02/2018 by Karen

Today we have a real treat for you because we have not one, but TWO wonderful brides whose boho-beautiful style you’re totally going to want to steal.

Samantha and Elise had their tented waterside Jewish destination wedding at a private family residence and it was absolutely rub-your-eyes-and-look-again beautiful. The natural scenery provided a spectacular backdrop for the couple’s moving, family-oriented Jewish ceremony – oh, and just how cute are those flower girls?? There’s an awesome story about them which we won’t ruin, but read on, because it will just melt your heart.

Let’s talk about the brides’ breathtaking dresses, from Willowby by Watters and Lillian West respectively – they could not have looked more perfect together, with a relaxed but oh-so-chic feel and lush lace embellishments. Serious bridal style goals!

We’re also head over heels for the foliage-covered birch wood chuppah overlooking the water – what a perfect place to say ‘I do’. Oh, and the rustic-look but clean and contemporary reception dà©cor? Sublime.

The stunning spread of photographs was provided by Alex and Bett, who captured all the love, joy and big-day details with aplomb. We seriously can’t stop staring!

We’ll hand you over to Samantha and Elise for the full story of their perfect day. Get ready to fall in love with these two!

How we met

Samantha and Elise, the brides: We met online, on OkCupid, before the days of dating apps.
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An Ines di Santo Bride for a Classic and Timeless Super Luxe Jewish Wedding at Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, California, USA

05/02/2018 by Karen

What happens when some of LA’s, scratch that – the world’s finest wedding vendors come together? A visual feast of classically elegant wedding wonderment, that’s what! Alina and Raphael’s super luxe Jewish wedding was the very definition of what a divine wedding looks like – down to every last detail.

Let’s start with bride Alina’s sophisticated and timeless style. She looked straight off the red carpet in her breathtaking off-the-shoulder Ines di Santo gown. We had the immense pleasure of interviewing Ines Di Santo for a Facebook Live, which is an absolute must watch if, like us, you’ve fallen in love with her work.

We have also featured outstanding florist Butterfly Floral in several past real weddings, and, as you can see from that INSANE ethereal garden-look chuppah, there’s a very good reason for that.

A wedding this spectacular could only have been brought together by a top-tier planner, and they don’t make ’em better than the unstoppable Delicate Details who, you’ve guessed it, has featured on the STG pages several times before (and is also offering all our STG Members Club Brides an exclusive 10% discount!). I think we can all agree that Maryam outdid herself!

It’s also very hard to do capturing a wedding of this calibre justice, but just LOOK at these absolutely phenomenal images by ridiculously talented photographers Lin & Jirsa (also offering our STG Members Club Brides a very special gift!). Everything is amazing about this big day, but those under-the-chuppah shots are out of this world!

We’ll leave you now with Alina’s awesome write up. A warning – you are going to want to steal every single detail about this stunner of a wedding.