Yellow Archives - Smashing the Glass

An Idan Cohen Bride for a Colorful Modern Rustic Jewish Wedding at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

04/03/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

What. A. Wedding. We’re honestly STILL busy picking our jaws up off the floor from this one. One of our very favorite California venues, a truly breathtaking floral chuppah, colored smoke bombs, a magical, glittering gown from a fab Israeli designer… Jewish weddings don’t get much chicer than this.

Shaina and Shahab hit the bullseye when it came to combining their affinity for bold, bright, statement-making colors with the rustic-luxe vibes of the wonderful Hummingbird Nest Ranch. Their vibrant aesthetic really stands out from the pack — this is seriously one for the books! Photographer Katie Beverley did an epic job capturing all the gorgeous details and emotion of the big day.

Lucky Shaina just happens to be BFFs with mega-talented wedding planner Leora Soleymani of Best Bride (who did double duty as a bridesmaid on the day!), and we are totally blown away by how perfectly she pulled the vision for the day together.

Oh, and did we mention they picked the coolest ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com? They chose the beautiful papercut design because it features a gate that reminds them of the one at their venue! Love that.

There’s so much more we could say about this exquisite day, but we’ll leave it to the bride — who looked oh-so-stunning in the custom sparkly princess gown she worked with Israeli designer Idan Cohen to design — to fill you in on the rest.

Hummingbird Nest Ranch

Shaina, the bride: We got married at Hummingbird Nest Ranch in Simi Valley. From long before I was even engaged, I knew I wanted to get married there. I wanted something different, something magical, something natural. The ambiance and surroundings made me feel at peace, it had so much to offer.

I had also never been to a wedding there so it was exciting and unique to me. I wanted a blank canvas where I could design from scratch, and that’s exactly what Hummingbird gave me the opportunity to do. The entire property is breathtaking, from the mansion to the field, you can create whatever you dream. Shahab knew it would be a lot of work, but wanted a happy bride and went with the idea!

A Watters Bride for an Egalitarian Jewish Wedding with Fairy Lights and Sunflowers at The Oakley Court, Windsor, UK

21/01/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

Is this the perfect English country Jewish wedding, or what? We are totally obsessed with Miri and Jon’s sweet sunflower chuppah — not to mention the bride’s epic flower crown (which she opted for instead of a bouquet) and the charming table centers in repurposed whiskey bottles strewn with fairy lights. It was all the work of florist Gabriella Shem-Tov, who crafted the perfect colorful arrangements to complement the festival vibes and idyllic outdoor setting.

We also love that Miri, a project manager at the British Library, and Jon, community development director for Masorti Judaism in the UK, crafted an ultra-personal egalitarian ceremony totally in step with their values, where they circled each other, exchanged rings, and both smashed a glass.

Don’t miss Miri’s beautiful writeup, or Marianne Chua’s luminous documentary-style photography… and whilst you’re at it, you won’t want to miss our amazing FREE online event for Jewish and Jew-ish Brides happening later today called, ‘The Secrets to an Unforgettable Jewish Wedding”. Sign up here if you haven’t already – I can’t wait to see you there!

How we met

Miri, the bride: We had been friends for a few years but then accidentally went on a date, and were engaged a year later!

An Adrianna Papell Bride for a Colorful, Intimate Jewish Wedding with a View at Greens Restaurant and Fairmont Heritage Place, San Francisco, USA

04/05/2018 by Emily Sacharin

Happy Fri-yay! Emily here, and as a former Bay Area kid, today’s glorious Jewish wedding tugged at every last one of my heartstrings. From the ceremony at Fairmont Heritage Place at Ghirardelli Square, held on a balcony gazebo overlooking the bay, to the reception at iconic Greens Restaurant, which features yet more beautiful views of the bay — and also happens to be my absolute favorite special occasion restaurant from my California days — Judy and David’s wedding is so quintessentially San Francisco it hurts.

So I might be just a little biased. But even if you’re not a nostalgic ex-San Franciscan, there’s so much to love about this wedding, from the orange and yellow floral color scheme to the whimsical tree-themed ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent to the ultra-intimate ceremony, where the couple had their guests stand around them rather than facing them.

Keeping things intimate was key for Judy, an elementary school principal, and David, a software engineer. The pair always knew they wanted a small wedding, with lots of participation from their closest family and friends: Judy’s friends assembled and decorated the chuppah (which the couple found on Craigslist!), family members recited the seven blessings during the ceremony, and they were married by David’s sister, who is rabbi.

Now over to Judy, who looked absolutely radiant in her Adrianna Pappell dress…

How we met

Judy, the bride: We met on Coffee Meets Bagel.

A BHLDN and Mordechai Avraham Bride for a Magical Forest Egalitarian Jewish Wedding at Tzel Hadumim, Neot Kdumim, Israel

24/11/2017 by Karen

We are totally in love with Esther and Yoni’s magical forest wedding venue, Neot Kdumim, which we’ve featured before on STG. Saying “I do” under the stars just sounds too dreamy and romantic — we can’t even!

Beautiful bride, Esther, couldn’t decide between a beautiful BHLDN number and a vintage lace boho gown by Mordechai Avraham – so she chose both! We are very much on board with this decision, and it perfectly tied together their laid-back-meets-formal vibe.

Esther accented the bohemian vibe with natural-look makeup and fresh flowers in her hair, making her the walking centerpiece of the whimsical forest wonderland. Guests were also adorned with flower crowns, which doubled up as favors, making everyone who attended a living part of the dÃ©cor. Divine!

Surrounded by natural beauty, Esther and Yoni kept things simple, with sweet floral accents adorning the chuppah and a much bigger focus on their egalitarian, highly personalized Jewish ceremony. We love these priorities, and it’s no secret that we’re always huge fans of consciously gender-equal weddings.

Phenomenal photographer, and much-loved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor, Ben Kelmer, captured the story of the day, and was met with absolutely glowing praise by the happy couple and their families. Looking over the stunning spread of images below, it’s easy to see why.

The vibe was also beautifully captured in the spine-tingling wedding video below, provided by Studio Polly.

It’s Esther’s turn to take over the blog to tell us all about her and Yoni’s unbelievably beautiful big day. Take it away, Esther!

Getting married under the stars

Esther, the bride: We got married in Tzel Hadumim; the wedding venue in Neot Kdumim. We wanted a place that was relaxed and fun, but also worked with the more formal direction our families were into, and this place perfectly combined the best of both worlds.

I also really wanted to get married outside and not in a hall. Tzel Hadumim has all the amenities of a hall, but it’s in the middle of a forest, under the stars. We also live in Jerusalem and it was only 40 minutes away, so it was pretty convenient.
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A Meital Zano Bride for a Galilee Summer Camp-Themed Jewish Wedding at Ramot Resort, Israel

04/10/2017 by Karen

We ADORE a laid-back Israeli wedding, particularly when the couple in question consists of two wedding planners and a wedding-planning sibling, combining the cool Israeli attitude with a gorgeous wedding aesthetic!

Arielle and Alon — a fashion-forward couple for sure — looked incredible, from handsome groom Alon’s unique suit to beautiful bride Arielle’s Meital Zano Bridal boho-style lace dress, surrounded by bridesmaids in mismatched florals. We say it a lot on Smashing The Glass, but there’s nothing quite like an Israeli dress designer!

Arielle and Alon did things their way, incorporating their own ideas to create a bespoke Jewish ceremony they felt represented who they are as a couple.

Fabulous photographer Idan Canfi captured the sensational spread of pictures you see below you, and Arielle wrote up all of the details below. We’ll leave you in their capable hands now. Enjoy!

A Galilee venue

Arielle, the bride: We got married in Ramot at a beautiful hotel overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Ramot Nofesh Hotel. We searched far and wide for a location that embodied the summer camp feel that we wanted to emulate, and a place that we could host the majority of our guests for the night.

We purposely chose a location that was a bit far from Tel Aviv, which is where we and our guests mostly live, to basically force our guests to spend the night, creating the destination wedding vibe we wanted.