Show Me Everything - Smashing the Glass

Top Five Above & Beyond Honeymoon Hotels {with Mr & Mrs Smith}

15/02/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

After months, possibly years, of planning a wedding, you need — no — deserve to unwind together in the lap of luxury as newlyweds. Luckily, we know just the people to help you out: Mr & Mrs Smith, who happened to help founder, Karen, with her honeymoon planning. We are BIG FANS!)

With so many amazing potential honeymoon spots to choose from, this year your trip starts with the hotel… And nobody knows more about picking out the perfect hotel than Mr & Mrs Smith.

In case you didn’t know, Mr & Mrs Smith is the travel club for hotel lovers. Each stay in their collection is a destination itself and comes with the all-important Smith stamp of approval; none more so than the 10 hotels shortlisted in the 2018 Mr & Mrs Smith Awards’ Above & Beyond category.

Seamless service

These Mr & Mrs Smith hotels are made even more special (if that’s possible) with seamless service and a generous spirit. Going the extra mile is the rule, not the exception, so it’s safe to say you’ll be well looked after. We really wish we could show you all of them, but we’ve had to narrow the list down to our five favourites.

Oh, and just to make things even easier for you, the Smith24 team can take care of everything from hotels and villas to itineraries and flights, so all you have to do is relax and have the time of your lives.

And now, without further ado, and in no particular order, we present the five stays that stole our hearts.Let us know your favourites in the comments below!

1. Chamba Camp Thiksey, Himalayas, India

The winner of the Above & Beyond category in the Smith Hotel Awards 2018, this breathtaking property is set an impressive 3,500 metres up in the Ladakh Valley.

Now, let’s talk service… What could be more decadent than having a personal butler assigned to each ultra-luxe tent? That’s right — everything is taken care of, so you’re free to enjoy exploring the mountains and watching the local dancers strut their stuff at dinner each night.

Every last detail has been thought of here — there’s even a well-stocked snack drawer for those who get peckish in the middle of the night. Above and beyond even the hotel’s lofty altitude…

Find out more about Chamba Camp Thiksey and book your stay here.

Our Valentine’s Day Gift to You!

14/02/2018 by Karen

Happy Valentine’s Day! What are you up to today? I’ll be having a cosy, intimate dinner at home with Mr STG this evening which I’m really looking forward to, but before that there’s some very exciting business to attend to!

You see, this Valentine’s morning I’m opening the doors to our shiny new private Facebook community for our Members Club Brides (a.k.a. known as VIB’s — Very Important Brides) where ALL the community action goes on, and it’s going to be ALL-SORTS-OF-FABULOUS!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two weeks, you’ll have heard of (and many of you are already signed up to!) our fabulous new Members Club for Jewish and Jew-ish Brides — the VIB Club — that we launched two weeks ago at our epic Smashing Summit.

Smash Glass Pouches (as above – gorgeous, right?!) have been posted out to VIB’s, and Wedding Vendor discounts have been claimed, but it’s only today that we are opening the doors to the VIB Club Facebook community where SO much of the action is happening!

What goes on inside the Members Club Facebook Community?

There’ll be ‘Ask The Rabbi’ sessions, Wedding Hashtag Masterminds, live interactive bridal masterclasses with Jewish wedding experts who ‘get it’, Bride’s Hot Seat (where I go split screen inside the group with one Bride and solve all her wedding planning issues live), a community of brides all over the world seeking advice and helping one another other, and SO much more!

And with today being the official day of love, I couldn’t let it pass by without giving YOU a gift with love from STG:

Here’s your 10 day access-all-areas pass inside the private VIB Club Facebook Community — just for you!

Just be aware though, that your 10 day access pass will not entitle you to any VIB discounts, gifts, or the limited-edition Smash Glass Pouch.

Next Sunday February 25th, should you not choose to sign up to become a VIB, you will lose access to the group and all the action, experts, advice, challenges, discussions, and community inside.

But should you choose to sign up I will:

Be jumping for joy that I can get hands-on and help plan your wedding with you. YAY!
Post you your limited edition Smash Glass Pouch
Unlock you access to 100’s of handpicked wedding vendor discounts and gifts covering all budgets, locations and styles of wedding. These are vendors handpicked by me that I know well and personally recommend. The best in the business — who are just as emotionally invested in your wedding day as you are.

I would SO love you to make this relationship official and have you sign up as a VIB as there is SO much more to being a VIB then just the Facebook community. But for starters, experience everything the community has to offer with our 10 day access-all-areas pass. Just click here!

I can’t wait to see you inside!

Real Jewish Brides – Mel: The Chance To Be Creative

13/02/2018 by Smashing The Glass

Mel will be marrying Mitch on Sunday 18 March 2018, in a Jewish wedding at Warren Weir at Luton Hoo, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Mel and Mitch met online on JDate (2) Their Jewish wedding will be classy and traditional with plenty of modern touches (3) Mel is a member of Smashing The Glass’s private Jewish & Jew-ish Brides Facebook Group. Not yet a member? Come join us here!

FAMOUS SIMILARITIES

What do I have in common with Albert Einstein, Ben Stiller, and Lisa Kudrow (aka, Phoebe from Friends)? Other than being Jewish, we are all left-handed.

As well as allegedly being more likely to have a higher IQ, they say left-handed people are more creative than right-handed people. How true this I don’t know. But it does (kind of) set the scene for this blog.

Image by Stacey Able from Melinda and Tobin’s wedding
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A Spine-Tingling Old City Destination Jewish Wedding at Mamilla Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel

12/02/2018 by Karen

We have goosebumps – and after immersing yourself in today’s absolutely beautiful Jewish destination wedding in Israel, we’re pretty sure you all will too. It’s GORGEOUS!

Iliya and Gavin chose to forego a wedding in their native Sydney in favor of a spine-tingling service in Jerusalem. With a chuppah overlooking the Old City, the couple expressed their mutual love of the country and how much it meant to both of them.

We adore the spirit of this wedding as much as the gorgeous Jerusalem-inspired aesthetic – from the Western Wall wish jar (what a moving idea) to the dancing Nachmanim – everything about it felt just perfect.

Iliya and Gavin wholeheartedly agreed that planning the wedding from such a distance would not have been possible without them.

Gorgeous bride, Iliya,

Iliya and Gavin are clearly both stunning souls, inside and out, and their devotion to each other is so clear in the breathtaking spread of photographs by Ronen Boidek and the moving, cinematic video by Nir Tenenbaum. Those speeches! We may be just a little bit second-hand in love.

And now, without further ado, we’ll hand you over to Iliya for the story in her own words – enjoy! (And by the way, didn’t she just rock the boho-chic look in her Rhonda Hemmingway gown? A-list-level stuff! )

How we met

Iliya, the bride: Gav and I attended the same Jewish day school in Sydney – but Gav was five years above me in school and we only met years after graduating. We met through mutual friends in 2013.

A Breathtaking Waterside Same Sex Jewish Wedding at a Private Residence, Kittery, Maine, USA

09/02/2018 by Karen

Today we have a real treat for you because we have not one, but TWO wonderful brides whose boho-beautiful style you’re totally going to want to steal.

Samantha and Elise had their tented waterside Jewish destination wedding at a private family residence and it was absolutely rub-your-eyes-and-look-again beautiful. The natural scenery provided a spectacular backdrop for the couple’s moving, family-oriented Jewish ceremony – oh, and just how cute are those flower girls?? There’s an awesome story about them which we won’t ruin, but read on, because it will just melt your heart.

Let’s talk about the brides’ breathtaking dresses, from Willowby by Watters and Lillian West respectively – they could not have looked more perfect together, with a relaxed but oh-so-chic feel and lush lace embellishments. Serious bridal style goals!

We’re also head over heels for the foliage-covered birch wood chuppah overlooking the water – what a perfect place to say ‘I do’. Oh, and the rustic-look but clean and contemporary reception dà©cor? Sublime.

The stunning spread of photographs was provided by Alex and Bett, who captured all the love, joy and big-day details with aplomb. We seriously can’t stop staring!

We’ll hand you over to Samantha and Elise for the full story of their perfect day. Get ready to fall in love with these two!