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A Caroline Castigliano Bride for a Super Stylish Jewish Wedding with Shabbat Dinner Vibes at Kin House, Wiltshire, UK

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Ben and Lauren, Kin House, Wiltshire, UK

We are totally and completely obsessed with Lauren and Ben’s super stylish Jewish wedding. Their vision for the big day was modern countryside with Shabbat dinner vibes – how awesome is that?!

Kin House in Wiltshire, England, with its combination of classic country exterior and quirky, modern interior, was the perfect setting for the celebration – and the couple’s fabulous florist, Sarah of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Way to Bloom, put together the most exquisite arrangements (not to mention a stunner of a chuppah) that added Lauren and Ben’s unique stamp to the space.

In Lauren’s words,

We both agree that Sarah and her floral arrangements, were the highlight of our wedding. Sarah doesn’t know the word “no” — she was always ready to try a new idea, offer some advice, and take charge where needed. We are forever grateful to her and her expertise for making our wedding shine, and we are lucky to still consider her a friend to this day.

For their band, Lauren and Ben chose another amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, The White Keys. Their 8-piece band – including both a saxophonist and an electric violinist – kept the dance floor packed all night (including an epic 12-minute hora!).

Lauren and Ben’s wedding day fell on Shabbat, and we love the fact that they wanted their wedding breakfast to feel like a giant Shabbat dinner. The couple lit the candles, their rabbi led the blessings, and they even had a challah tug-of-war! Spoiler: Lauren won. Don’t miss it in the incredible photos by Natalie J Weddings and video by John Taylor Films.

We’ll let Lauren fill you in on the rest…

Ben and Lauren, Kin House, Wiltshire, UK Ben and Lauren, Kin House, Wiltshire, UK Ben and Lauren, Kin House, Wiltshire, UK Ben and Lauren, Kin House, Wiltshire, UK

How We Met

Lauren, the bride: We met on a dating app in 2020. Fun fact – after our first date, I called my mom and told her, “I met my husband!”

Ben proposed in Dulwich Park in October 2022. A truly special place for us both, it reminds us both of Central Park in NYC, which is where I lived before moving to London and Ben spent a lot of time as well. We always called the bridge in Dulwich Park our “happy place” so it was fitting to get engaged there.

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An Interfaith Jewish Wedding with Tons of Personal Touches at West London Synagogue, London, UK

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Get ready for a fabulous interfaith Jewish wedding! We love everything about the way Nicole, a client manager for a technology company, and Pedro, a data analyst, built their relationship with Judaism as a couple, and how that shaped their plans for the big day.

When Nicole, who’s Jewish, got together with Pedro, who isn’t, she knew she’d need to find an open-minded and inclusive Jewish community that would welcome the two of them as a couple. She found exactly that in West London Synagogue, where the couple attended classes and an interfaith marriage workshop together, in addition to celebrating Shabbats and holidays.

Given the important role West London Synagogue plays in the couple’s lives – not to mention the fact that it’s absolutely stunning – getting married there was a no-brainer. We love the personal significance of the venue – as well as the other wonderful personal touches Nicole and Pedro included, like having Pedro’s sister hand paint their ketubah, and assigning close friends to give them original blessings rather than the traditional sheva brachot.

The day was captured so beautifully by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Claire Jonas, who not only captured the Jewish traditions fabulously but also took some knockout portraits of Nicole and Pedro on the streets of Marylebone. We’ll let Nicole take it from here…

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How We Met

Nicole, the bride: We are both Brazilians, and we met at a bar while we still lived in Rio, back in 2017. It’s a funny story actually – I was about to leave the bar because his friend was being too loud. On top of that, when he approached me he told me he was an airplane pilot, and I thought he was just showing off. But he was cute, and when he asked for my number I thought “why not? If I don’t want to speak with him, I don’t have to answer!”. Nevertheless, on his first message he actually apologized for his friend, so I ended replying – and here we are 6 years later! We currently live in London.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Pronovias Bride for a Wintery Chanukah Wedding at West London Synagogue and Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London, UK

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We love a good Chanukah wedding – and there’s no time more special than the eighth and final night. We’re loving the way Emma, an account director at a medical education communications agency, and Mike, an accountant, made the most of the holiday in their beautiful Jewish wedding.

The pair had the bride’s two grandmothers light the menorah together during their chuppah – how special is that?! Speaking of that chuppah, we’re in love with the green and white floral creation, and we can’t go without mentioning the couple’s gorgeous green and purple ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com. Also, fabulous chazan and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Jonny Mosesson sang at the chuppah (and Emma and Mike found him through Smashing The Glass!). Oh, and they used one of our smash glass pouches.

The couple kept their general vibe wintery, with rich burgundy tones and sparkly fairy lights abounding. And to keep things in the Chanukah spirit from start to finish, they even served doughnuts in personalized paper bags for their guests to take home at the end of the night!

Emma looked stunning in her fitted mermaid lace Pronovias dress, which she found at Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ann Louise Bridal – whose delightful service she can’t stop raving about. We’ll let her fill you in on the rest.

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A Family Venue

Emma, the bride: We got married at the West London Synagogue on Upper Berkeley Street. Not only is this a beautiful synagogue, but both Mike’s parents and grandparents got married here so this made it extremely special for us.

The reception and party followed at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel which has a beautiful art deco style ballroom which we loved from the first time we saw it. Dina the event planner there was an absolute dream to work with, no matter how many questions and requests we had!

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

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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 canapà©s 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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