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A Monique Lhuillier Bride for a Tradition-Meets-Brooklyn-Style Jewish Wedding at Greenpoint Loft, Brooklyn, New York, USA
New York, NY // Catering by Marcey Brownstein Catering & Events


Combining Jewish tradition with your own 21st-century style isn’t always easy. That’s one of the reasons Smashing The Glass was founded. So we’re always excited to see couples finding creative ways to merge their contemporary lives with Judaism’s beautiful, if sometimes baffling, traditions.

Today’s couple, a Leigh, middle-school teacher and Ian, an attorney, did SUCH an amazing job of it with their Jewish wedding. Their wedding, at super cool Greenpoint Loft in the trendy Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood by the same name, exudes contemporary cool at the same time as it embraces tradition.

The couple found a kosher caterer able to provide a fun, of-the-moment menu featuring herb and bitters infused cocktails, bao buns, and chicken and waffles. And their music? This duo had a cantor, a klezmer band, AND a DJ to play all their favorite current hits.

Their understated, nature-inspired chuppah, wrapped in greenery with some accent florals, is totally Brooklyn chic, too—and guests got to watch the sun set over Manhattan through the windows behind the couple during the ceremony!

We also adore Leigh and Ian’s playful approach to the day – you’ve GOT to check out their impromptu Oktoberfest photo shoot, brilliantly captured by Unique Lapin Photography. And you won’t want to miss the super fun story of how it all came about.

Leigh, who looked so beautiful in her romantic, long-sleeved lace dress from Monique Lhuillier (purchased from STG favorite Kleinfeld), will fill you in on that, and the rest of the fab details…

How We Met

Leigh, the bride: Although we usually don’t admit it, we met on a dating app, way before they became the dating “norm” that they are today!

A Brooklyn Wedding

Our wedding was at Greenpoint Loft, a pre-war rope factory on the Brooklyn waterfront that had a major “wow” factor for friends and family who were used to more traditional wedding settings. We live locally and spend a lot of time in the area, so it was perfect for us. We had our badeken, ceremony, cocktail hour, and party all in the same space, which took a lot of interesting and creative planning.

Jewish Soul, Brooklyn Style

Everything about our wedding was a unique combination of Jewish tradition and Brooklyn style. We had a klezmer band and cantor for our cocktail hour and ceremony, but an amazing DJ from 74 Events who played our favorites for the party. We found a caterer (Marcey Brownstein Catering) who created a fun, modern menu that included options like herb and bitters infused cocktails, bao buns, and chicken and waffles. Both of us are huge coffee fanatics and travel all around the city (and country) for our fix, so our wedding favors were small bags of our favorite beans and Brooklyn tea that we put together ourselves.

As for decor, we wanted to highlight the natural beauty of the space as much as possible. We opted for long tables with off-white tablecloths and wooden chairs. Our tablescape included votive candles and seasonal flowers – deep berries, light pinks, and greenery. We brought the outdoors in with greenery installations hanging from the ceiling, from iron chandeliers, and inside the chuppah.

We used a great day-of-coordinator, Ashley Chamblin, who met with us several times before the big day. Our caterer was amazing and went above and beyond to make us happy every step of the way!

Local Invitations

In keeping with our theme to “stay local,” we used a small Brooklyn stationery shop called Lion in the Sun who created an invitation that we felt was the perfect combination of tradition and fun.

Hair + Makeup

Margie of Truly Happy Beauty did hair and makeup for all of the ladies! I initially was set to wear my hair up and ultimately decided that it didn’t feel like “me” when I looked in the mirror. At the last minute, I opted to wear my hair loose and to the side to highlight the dress’s unique back.

As for makeup, I hardly wear any in my day-to-day life, so it was important to me to look as natural as possible. My makeup artist listened to exactly what I wanted and perfected that look.

A Monique Lhuillier Dress

I was looking for a romantic, long-sleeved lace dress to fit our late-fall wedding weather and venue. The dress that I ultimately picked was a Monique Lhuillier from Kleinfeld. It was only the 4th or so dress that I tried on.

As for jewelry, I was lucky enough to borrow stunning diamond cluster earrings from Verstolo to complete my look.

J. Crew Kitten Heels

I am very much not a “shoe” person and comfort was important to me. As all of my friends and family know, my entire wardrobe is J. Crew, so I knew that I had to somehow include their brand on my wedding day and luckily, I found the perfect chic kitten heel that fit both of my requirements.

The handsome groom

Ian wore a tux by Enzo Custom Clothiers, shirt by Cego Custom Shirtma