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Honeymoon all year long with Mr & Mrs Smith

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One of the fabulous perks of being a wedding blogger is being invited to press days and WOW, what a fun time we had when we were invited to brunch with Mr & Mrs Smith at the super cool Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings, a couple of weeks ago on a sunny August morning.

In an enchanting, sun drenched, flower filled, Islington hot spot, along with a handful of other bloggers and press, we were introduced to Mr & Mrs Smith’s fabulous new cosmic-themed honeymoon hub.

The introductions were made by none other than Mr & Mrs Smith’s founder and current CTO — Tamara Heber-Percy. Admittedly we were a little star struck (if you missed the post outlining my obsession with Mr & Mrs Smith, then please allow me to fill you in right here). And as for the location, there’s no real surprise that they chose a stand-out spot for brunch… because that’s what they do.

To give you more of an idea what, and how they do it, Mr & Mrs Smith have rounded up into their stable, 1000 of arguably the most stylish hotels in the world, and as an extension of this, their honeymoon hub is essentially, a call-off-the-search, look-no-further, honeymoon finding and booking service. That’s whether you’re looking for a mini moon, midi moon, full moon or maxi moon. Indeed the terminology has moved on.

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Me and Sharon (STG team writer) at the fabulous Mr & Mrs Smith press breakfast at Bourne & Hollingsworth

We all just need a holiday

Gathered around an enormous farmhouse table laden with fruit salad, yoghurt, granola, smoked salmon bagels and toasted sourdough, Tamara — who, by the way is as smart, stylish, warm and inspirational as we’d heard – ran us through the results of their honeymoon inspired survey. Take a look at the graphic at the foot of the post for a roundup.

Aside from the hysterical number of people who’d been caught in a compromising position on honeymoon, there were some interesting findings in how people would choose to honeymoon again given the chance.

Given the choice between an all-expenses-paid trip to the Maldives or the moon, most people chose, perhaps unsurprisingly, sunbathing on the magical beaches in the Maldives. But let’s face it when it comes to a honeymoon, no matter how adventurous and intrepid we think we are, we all just need a holiday. Especially after organising your dream Jewish wedding and using your very last drop of energy and patience achieving just that.

And isn’t it interesting that only a third of couples opted for the combo-moon, pairing a city/culture stay with a beach break? Most opted solely for the beach retreat. The flying and flopping honeymoon isn’t dead after all.

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Of-the-moment honeymoon trends

So where is everyone going? Mr & Mrs Smith have identified five trending long-haul destinations. Given the choice to honeymoon again this year, half of the already married couples would head to Sri Lanka. There has been a burgeoning boutique hotel movement there for a while now and has become a firm holiday favourite for the big one. If that appeals you really must check out Mr & Mrs Smith’s Sri Lankan gems.

Japan is another favourite. It’s a bit different in terms of honeymoon destination, but it really has everything from skiing to crazy city culture. Considering it’s just got the Olympics, I can see this destination wedding going through the roof in the next four years.

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Where to go when…

That’s all well and good but what’s the best time to go to any of these places?

When’s the sweet spot between the rains and the searing heat, a time when hurricanes hardly ever happen? How many times have you goggled “best time to go to x”? You’re not alone.

Mr & Mrs Smith, always with an eye on service and those added extras, have created a simple but effective month-by-month breakdown of the globe’s best getaways.

January

Keemala Phuket, Thailand
Nestled in glorious greenery — a short drive from Patong beach , Keemala Phuket‘s holistic philosophy proposes healing spa rituals, healthful homegrown cuisine and an eco-friendly ethos. And did I mention that the swimming pools are on stilts?

January in Phuket = Very little rainfall and lower humidity.

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STG has been nominated in two categories in the 2016 Wedding Blog Awards!

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I have some really exciting news to share with you — Smashing The Glass  has been  shortlisted in not one, but  TWO  categories in the  2016 Wedding Blog Awards!

It’s an absolute honour to be named alongside so many of my favourite blogging peers (including some of the biggest blogs in the world!) in two fabulous categories — Best Multi-Cultural Weddings Blog and Best LGBT Wedding Blog. (In case you’re interested you can see all my amazing multi-cultural weddings here  and my  incredible  same-sex Jewish weddings here).

My categories includes some  of the biggest wedding blogs in the world so if you would like to signal support for Smashing The Glass, you can follow this link to vote.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all your wonderful  support so far (Oh G-d,  please stop me… I’m starting to sound like Gwyneth!)  but it genuinely means so much to me that you  share in the joint inspiration of Smashing The Glass.

Voting closes on 30 September and the Awards ceremony is being held in London in October. I’ll be sure to update you with all the news and gossip and hopefully a little something for the mantlepiece!

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click here to vote

 

Real Jewish Brides: How I selected all my wedding vendors in under 10 weeks

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We got engaged in January, and within 10 weeks, I had booked  all  our wedding vendors. I know, I know. That seems super fast, and a lot of brides are curious to know how I made such quick decisions in such a little amount of time, so I’m here to share my secrets…..

To preface, Alex and I are tying the knot across the country (in the USA) from where we currently live (think 3,700+ km). Rather than having the luxury of meeting potential vendors in person over coffee, at their respective studios, as many brides do, it meant that I was left with word-of-mouth referrals, online reviews, and phone conversations as the sole resources to make my final decision.

To be perfectly honest, the only vendor I really cared about meeting in person was the photographer, and of course seeing the venue IRL (in real life). The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is pin pointing where you want the wedding to be. The venue! And it’s true with what they say — Once you have that locked down, the rest sort of falls in line.

Securing a venue gives you a date and a place. You literally cannot do anything without those two. Picking our venue was slightly overwhelming, but once we stepped foot on Tubac Golf Resort and Spa, we knew we hit the jackpot. As I said before, we loved everything about it, and it incorporated everything both Alex and I envisioned for our wedding. We signed our contract within a week of our return flight to Washington, DC. Boom! We had our venue.

OK, so moving onto the other vendors: photographer, cake baker, musicians, florist, and a wedding planner! Now that’s when the ten weeks of non-stop planning really began.

Luckily Tubac had a list of their preferred vendors, folks that are (1) reasonably priced, (2) familiar with the space, staff, and (3) previous brides had been happy with — all aspects are important to a bride-to-be. I used Tubacs preferred vendor list as a springboard in my hunt.  I decided to focus on one vendor category at a time, and went in the order of which vendors I booked.

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Wedding Planner

Before I began with anything else, I figured that I wanted to secure a wedding planner. Someone to assist not only the day-of, but also guide me through the planning stages.

I had two phone interviews with two women who had been in the business for a long, long time which is great. I wanted someone with years of experience under their belt. They were both wonderful, but one wasn’t available on our wedding date to assist with day-of coordination, and the other was highly recommended by Tubac. It was a no brainer. We hired Jeri, our wedding planner and moved on.

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There are ketubahs, and there are ketubahs…

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One of the best things about working on Smashing The Glass is stumbling across great finds that I can’t wait to show you, or in this case, being contacted by people who completely get the Smashing The Glass ethos and have something brilliant to share. David Master and his incredible sculptural ketubot are truly one-of-a-kind and it gives me great pleasure to introduce his creations to you today.

David and his wife, Elana, recently opened their boutique online ketubah store — Timeless Ketubah — where they create and sell the world’s first truly sculptural ketubah, and just like the story of Smashing The Glass, their venture started when they were planning their own Jewish wedding. They were unable to find a ketubah that captured both the essence of rich Jewish tradition, as well as their individual and collective personalities, and from that experience their unique ketubah design was born, meaning you can now literally carve your individuality onto your wedding day and beyond.

So what exactly is a ketubah?

For the uninitiated, the ketubah (which means “something written” in Hebrew) is an integral part of the Jewish wedding and it outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom to the bride. The contract dates back to ancient times but it’s come a long way since then!

These days ketubahs (or ketubot, the Hebrew plural) are less about the business of marriage and more about the beauty. They have come to symbolise the love and commitment of a couple, and are often beautiful designs that the couple want to display prominently in their home well after their big day is over — and this is exactly where David’s creations come into their own.

The story of the sculptural ketubah

As already mentioned, the idea of creating a sculptural ketubah was born when David and his wife, Elana, were planning their own Jewish wedding.  A true ‘Smashing The Glass’ couple, they took a very hands-on approach by conceptualising and creating many elements themselves, from their in-depth ceremony program, to a family tree showing several generations of wedding photos, to creating their invitations by hand, to name but a few. Of course they looked around at other ketubot, but none had that truly ‘one-of-a-kind’ factor; so they decided to create their own.

They knew that their ketubah would be a focal point of their wedding, but the response from their guests was even more positive than they had imagined it would be.

Seeing a need for this type of ketubah, and wanting to share their experience with others, the idea of creating and selling sculptural ketubot was born. After almost two years of creating prototypes, working through operations and logistics, and creating a website, Timeless Ketubah is finally here!

Timeless Ketubah Sculptural Ketubah

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8 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Your Wedding Photography

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This is a guest post by Rob Clayton

A good wedding photographer should be able to take great photographs at any event, whatever the light, and whatever the circumstances. However, there are things that you, as the bride and groom, to help ensure you get the best possible images from your day

1. Do your research

Find a photographer whose work you love (not just like, but love!), meet up with him or her and make sure you’re the right fit for each other. And then trust them! If you love the photographer’s work, it will be much easier to trust them when they start taking unusual angles, or making seemingly peculiar requests, rather than you having to worry, ‘why are they doing that? Is that the best way to take this photograph or that? Etc’.

2. Discuss things with your photographer

Talk to your photographer about what you do and don’t like, and allow him or her to explain their methodology. This should give you reassurance on the day that there is a method and a purpose behind all their actions (which may not always be obvious).

3. Prepare a shot list

What you really don’t want to happen on your wedding day is to have to stand around thinking about exactly which combinations of people you want in the formal photographs (especially with all your guests stood around you!). A shot-list prepared in advance will not just take the worry away, but will ensure that the formal photographs can proceed smoothly without delay.

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4. Manage your expectations

Unrealistic expectations can only ever lead to disappointment. Your photographer should be able to help guide you in this respect, but just don’t expect the impossible. For example, if you only set aside a small window of opportunity in which to take the formal family photographs, and then produce a gigantic list to get through, it may just not be possible to do them all without re-arranging the timeline (not something the chef will be prepared to do, I can tell you now!).

An example I have had personally, was a request prior to the wedding to take some pictures of the bride and groom on a beach at sunset. The wedding was in Liverpool city centre. Some expectations are just harder to achieve than others.

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