We are absolutely obsessed with the joyous, intimate, family-focused micro Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Sidnie, a diagnostic medical sonographer, and Monique, a cafe manager. Due to COVID, these two shifted their plans from a 115-guest wedding at a winery to a micro affair in Mo’s parents’ backyard.
While this obviously wasn’t their first choice, we love how the pair embraced the opportunities their minimony opened up for them – from being able to include all their friends and family from all over the world via livestream to special touches like a rehearsal dinner flower arrangement party, where everyone teamed up to assemble bouquets, corsages, and boutonnières for everyone at the wedding!
We love how Sidnie and Mo involved their family in everything from building their chuppah to cooking the reception meal to setting up and taking down all the décor – even their photographer, Adrian Throckmorton, is a cousin, and of course we’re SO incredibly touched by Sidnie’s beautiful words about her experience as a member of our Brides Club:
As a newly converted Jewish woman, it was incredibly powerful to feel such a sense of community with Jewish brides all over the world. From advice on a wedding dilemma to celebrating WPWs, these women made me feel like I had hundreds of the most dedicated bridesmaids supporting me! There were times I didn’t want to pester the people in my life with what was happening with the wedding and in those moments, Brides Club was there for me.
And we’re all over the couple’s stellar bridal fashion sense – Sidnie’s Essense of Australia gown, featuring elegant off the shoulder straps, buttons all the way down the back, and pockets, and Mo’s custom suit she created with LGBTQ+ and size inclusive company Sharpe Suiting, where, with the help of her consultant, she was able to tie in everything from the wedding colors and flowers to embroider “Ani Ledodi V’Dodi Le” inside her jacket!
How we met
Sidnie: We met working at a movie theater in Los Angeles 7 years ago!
A COVID Wedding
We got married in Cambria, CA in Mo’s parent’s backyard. We were originally supposed to get married in Temecula, CA at a beautiful winery surrounded by 115 family and friends, but due to COVID-19, we decided to restructure our wedding plans for everyone’s safety. Having such an intimate space that was filled with our families love and support made the significance of the entire occasion even more magical and special.
One major difference in the new wedding was the fact that everyone in our lives, be it across the world or down the street, could safely celebrate the night with us. We had a guest limit in our previous venue but with this technology we were able to include everyone!
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
As a newly converted Jewish woman, it was incredibly powerful to feel such a sense of community with Jewish brides all over the world. From advice on a wedding dilemma to celebrating WPWs, these women made me feel like I had hundreds of the most dedicated bridesmaids supporting me! There were times I didn’t want to pester the people in my life with what was happening with the wedding and in those moments, STG was there for me.
Keeping It In the Family
It was a difficult for us to focus on us for this one day. With everything going on in the world, it was easy to lose sight of that goal. BUT we have to give that credit to our amazing family! They made sure we got everything we asked for. Both Mo and I wanted to make this as DIY as we could and our family couldn’t have been more helpful with that.
From our brothers putting together custom bouquets and corsages, to our parents cooking the reception meal, to setting up and taking down every decoration, they were our dream team! We kept joking that we could open a small weddings event planning business.
Invitations / stationery
Our invitations were made on smilebox.com by Mo and I. This website gave us the opportunity to have animated invitations which were accompanied by romantic music! We loved that unique aspect.
Hair + Make-up
In order to keep exposure to other people as low as we could we decided to do our own hair and make up.
An Essense of Australia Dress
My dress was an Essense of Australia in style D2761 from Della Curva in Los Angeles, CA. She is a beautiful dove satin ballgown with off the shoulder straps! My favorite parts of her were her elegant buttons all the way down the back and her awesome pockets! I always thought I would be wearing a dress covered in lace, but by the second lace dress I tried on, my bridal stylist stepped in and brought over “Grace”.
The second I laid my eyes on this dress I was in love. It was nothing I thought I would ever like, but the moment I put her on I knew this was the dress I wanted to marry Mo in.
Mo: I knew I wanted to wear a suit because I never felt like dresses were for me. But I also knew that finding a suit off the rack that was designed for a man’s body was not going to work for me and my curves. In my research I came across Sharpe Suiting, a company that is LGBTQ+ inclusive and caters to all body shapes and sizes so I reached out to get a consultation. With the help of my consultant Antonio, we created my dream suit! The process of choosing every button, fabric, and stitch made this such a special experience.
I was able to tie in our wedding colors, flowers (which Sidnie loves), and even got to embroider “Ani Ledodi V’Dodi Le” inside my jacket. I’m so happy I was able to have this incredible experience and I absolutely loved my suit!
Ceremony
Our ceremony was so unique and well put together by our amazing Rabbi. Rabbi Janice Mehring not only outlined a beautiful ceremony she also made it incredibly easy to follow. Our non-Jewish attendees loved that she explained every tradition. Our favorite part was without a doubt sharing our personal and religious vows with each-other.
Ketubah
Our ketubah was hand crafted and designed especially for us. As a Lesbian couple, we knew we needed to get one that was catered with that in mind. RSVPaperie on Etsy did a phenomenal job creating such a beautiful and inclusive document.
Chuppah
Our chuppah was lovingly built by Mo and Jerome (Mo’s dad) a simple design using redwood for the entire structure. We then got drapery and flowers to complete the design.
Our Music Choice
For our processional song our brother sang Boi Kallah to the melody of John Legend’s ‘All of Me’. Our first dance was ‘You and I’ by John Legend.
Flowers
Our flowers were amazing and totally unique! When we decided to convert all of our efforts into a micro wedding, I thought I had to make a huge sacrifice which the flowers. But luckily, my brother in law works for a flower farm called Farmermaid Flowers! We were able to have all of our arrangements put together by our brother and his boyfriend! Our rehearsal the night before was a super fun flower arrangement party!
They helped all of us pick our flowers and put together bouquets, corsages, and boutonnières for everyone at our wedding! This was amazing and something that we wouldn’t have been able to do if we had our 100+ person wedding! I’m so grateful for this experience!!
Photographer
Our cousin, Adrian takes beautiful photos and did one of our first engagement shoots so it just felt like a no-brainer to ask if he wouldn’t mind taking our wedding photos. He did such a great job capturing some beautiful candid moments.
Food and Cake
Our wedding food was cooked with love by our family! Mo is Portuguese on her mom’s side so we had Espetada (cubed sirloin seasoned with rock salt, bay leaf, and garlic) and Bolo do caco (dense sweet potato bread) served with garlic butter. We also had a beautiful salad harvested in the home garden by Mo and her brother-in-law Tanner that morning. I made our wedding cakes.
We actually had 2 wedding cakes because I was so indecisive about flavors. I wanted a fresh fruity cake, but Mo loves cookies and cream so I did exactly that. I used my mom’s recipe and made a Cream of Sherry wine cake with a mixed berry compote filling and a bourbon vanilla buttercream for one cake. The second cake was a seven-layer devil’s food cake with a cookies & cream buttercream and dark chocolate ganache.
Extra details
We turned our rehearsal dinner into a fun casual crafting party! We had homemade pizza and margaritas and every guest was involved. This made a relaxing and creative atmosphere for everyone to bond and take home a memento! We painted garden gnomes, made rally blankets, and custom-made everyone’s’ bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres! Everyone got to choose their flowers and ribbons to make their piece unique!
SIDNIE & MONIQUE’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Adrian Throckmorton
Sidnie’s dress – Essence of Australia found at Della Curva
Monique’s attire – Sharpe Suiting
Flowers – Farmermaid Flowers
Cake – Sidnie
Ketubah – RSVPaperie on Etsy
Stationery/Invitation – Smilebox
Rabbi – Rabbi Janice Mehring
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
NICE POST!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING….