Today’s Jewish wedding is a rather special one for me to blog as it’s the beautiful wedding of my right hand woman at Smashing The Glass, wonderful Claire who I work extremely closely with day in, day out!
Claire came on board just over a year ago and is literally the backbone of everything we do at Smashing The Glass. Having her on board, doing her fabulous thing, has enabled brand STG to grow in all sorts of wonderful ways.
It’s an absolute honor to feature Claire’s joyous wedding to Mark (held in a marquee at her parents house filled with family and friends) and even though their big day happened prior to Claire joining Team STG, it’s no surprise that it features not one, not two, but THREE incredible STG Recommended Vendors: photography superstar David Pullum (his images are everything), Sensation Band who rocked the night in the imitable way that only they can do, and the fabulous and meticulous Qube Events who we couldn’t love any more (read on to see what Claire has to say about each of them!).
And on a creative level, their chuppah is jaw-on-the-floor EVERYTHING!! Oh.. and you’re going to want to steal an amazing creative / favour idea that the guests went nuts for involving (wait for it…) napkins! Oh yeah. All I can say is that I wish I had one too…
Let’s hand over to Claire (dressed to perfection in Le Spose di Gio) for the full scoop!
A Wedding at Home
Claire, the bride: We got married in the garden of my family home. Ever since I was a little girl I had always dreamt of getting married there. With so many happy memories, it felt so special and perfect for us.
My family are from Liverpool and my husband’s are from London, so we also thought that creating our own “venue” would be a fun change from the norm and make it a little more exciting for those who were making the trip up north to Liverpool!
Warm in the Winter
When we first starting planning our wedding the one thing we were really conscious of was that we were having a winter wedding in a marquee, and with it potentially being so cold outside we wanted to make it feel as warm as possible.
We worked closely with our production company Light Tech, the marquee company Mahood Marquees, and our amazing florist Margaret Mason – and came up with a color scheme of warm colors including, peach, cream, and rose gold. We chose cream carpets for the marquee and clever lighting to create a warm atmosphere. All of our vendors really went above and beyond to help us achieve the look and feel we wanted.
I didn’t use a wedding planner; however in the weeks leading up to the wedding, Debbie from Qube worked closely with me to coordinate the day.
I seriously am so grateful for Debbie as she helped our wedding run so smoothly. She is such an expert in her field, she is so lovely and I don’t know what we would have done without her!
Invitations in Rose Gold and Grey
I am a bit of a stationery geek so when it came to designing our invitations, I was totally in my element. And with the amazing guidance from Invitation London we went for a dark grey card with rose gold foil text; we felt they were perfect for our winter wedding and we loved them so much!!!
Hair + Makeup
One of my friends recommended Kate Smith, who is an amazingly talented makeup artist. Kate listened to exactly what I wanted and my makeup lasted all night!
A Dress by Le Spose di Gio
My dress was from Le Spose di Gio. It wasn’t a style I thought I would go for, but I fell in love with the off the shoulder element, it fit perfectly and was SO comfortable to wear! I also highly recommend a visit to Le Spose Di Gio; every single member of staff are super lovely and the quality and service is absolutely outstanding.
Office Shoes
I tried on soooo many pairs of shoes, and in the end I went for a super high but so comfortable gold pair from Office. I didn’t take them off the whole night and still wear them!
Bridesmaids in Black
My sister was my maid of honor and two of my best friends were my bridesmaids – they chose their own dresses and actually in the end all went for black, which I loved!
A Floral Chuppah
All I knew when we started thinking about my chuppah is that I wanted it to be beautiful, and our florist Margaret Mason made this come true. It was made up of cream and peach flowers with a hint of rose gold.
A Moving Ceremony
The chuppah was our favorite part of our wedding. Our amazing rabbi and chazan made it so special. There was laughter, smiles, and beautiful music, and as cheesy as it sounds, I wanted it to last forever!
Our chazan Albert Chait also has an incredible voice (on par with Michael Bublà©!); he grew up in Liverpool and we have known his family since were young – so having him as part of our ceremony was also extra special.
Have You Got the Love
Processional dances were Mehera (groom/parents/bridesmaids) and Boi Kala (Hallelujah) for the bride’s entrance, all sung by super talented Alby Chait.
Our first dance was Have You Got the Love. To be really honest we found choosing a first dance song so hard that in the end we went with this because the band suggested it and in the end it was so perfect!
Peach and Cream Flowers
We wanted really simple flowers and nothing really “big” – so for the centerpieces our amazing florist collected small crystal vases and they were filled with a mix of peach and cream flowers.
Our fabulous photographer
We chose David Pullum because we both fell in love with his style and his ability to capture raw emotion and tell the story of the night.
He is incredibly professional and really goes out of his way to ensure he captures all the special moments.
A Sensational Band
Sensation Band helped us create an insane atmosphere at our wedding. They were truly incredible and really went above and beyond to help us with our requests and were a dream to work with.
We even had emails and messages from guests after the wedding telling us how wonderful they thought they were!
Personalized napkins
Smashing The Glass filled me with so much excitement when I was planning my wedding. It gave me answers to so many questions and so much inspiration. I became such a fan, I now work here!
I had SO many ideas for our wedding and lots and lots of Pinterest boards, but sadly not enough time to make everything happen!!
However, the things we did do included hand embroidered linen napkins that acted as place cards for our guests. We personalized them with nicknames for some guests, and they acted as a favor too!
Mobile whiskey and sweet bars
We found two really cool 1920s brass drinks trolleys on Ebay and created a whiskey bar on one and the second one was a sweet bar. The idea was that they could be wheeled round from table to table and were just a bit of fun.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
My advice to brides is not to take on everything yourself. People say it’s “just a party”; however, it takes so much time and organization to make everything happen. If everything is getting too much and you simply don’t have enough time – speak to friends and family and see if they can help!
Claire & Mark’s little white book
Photography – David Pullum Photography
Wedding planner – Qube Events and Productions
Band – Sensation Band
Bride’s dress – Le Spose di Gio
Bride’s shoes – purchased at Office
Makeup – Kate Smith
Flowers – Margaret Mason
Marquee – Mahood Marquees
Lighting – Light Tech
Chazan – Albert Chait
Invitation – Invitation London
Brass drinks trolleys – purchased on Ebay
It looks like a fantastic day was had all round! Great action shots in the evening!