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Meet Some of Our Favourite Vendors at De Vere Wokefield Estate’s Multi-Cultural Wedding Fair

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Jewish wedding Dartmouth House, Mayfair, London UK_0047
Jennifer and Charlie‘s Wedding  | Chuppah: The Happy Chuppah People | Photo: Paul Toeman

We know it’s not always easy finding the perfect vendors for your Jewish wedding. You want people who know their stuff – and who know Jewish weddings – but you also want to make sure you surround yourself with people you and your partner just click with when it comes to planning your big day.


Chloe and Danny‘s Wedding | Planning: Elegante by Michelle J | Photo: David Bastianoni

And if you’re in the midst of planning your Jewish or Jew-ish wedding in the UK, we’ve got just the thing for you: a fantastic multicultural wedding fair by De Vere Wokefield Estate, in partnership with Berkshire Wedding Fairs, where you can meet in person with some of the best names in the business, includingbeloved Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendors Elegante by Michelle J and the Happy Chuppah People!


Miri and Jon‘s Wedding  | Chuppah: The Happy Chuppah People | Photo: Marianne Chua

On Sunday, February 2, over 60 top-notch wedding suppliers from the Jewish, British, Asian, and Afro-Caribbean communities are coming together on the lush Berkshire grounds of De Vere Wokefield Estate to showcase their work and meet with engaged couples.

Jewish wedding Osea Island, Essex, UK_0041
Jasmin and Brett’s Wedding | Planning: Elegante by Michelle J | Photo: Claudine Hartzel

This unmissable event will include:

  • Interactive activities and live demonstrations from a variety of suppliers from each culture
  • Dressed rooms showcasing both civil and religious ceremonies and banquets
  • Catwalk fashion shows showcasing bridal and groomswear from each culture
  • Wedding planners’ lounge coordinated and hosted by SW Events, featuring master Jewish wedding planner Elegante by Michelle J
  • Complimentary refreshments available throughout the day
  • Pop-up restaurant featuring food from each culture – including kosher catering from Cohen’s Caterers
  • Free entry and parking
  • The first 50 couples through the door will receive a VIP goody bag

Sound good? All you need to do to register is RSVP here!

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Win a Performance from Balagan Roaming Band That ALL Your Wedding Guests Will Be Talking About!

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We’re so excited to announce something totally new from the team behind Sensation Band… Balagan, the first and only roaming acoustic band in the world that offers Jewish wedding music sets – this is seriously the ULTIMATE in live Jewish wedding entertainment!

We’ve long been fans of Sensation Band, who’ve been bringing music from the biggest stages around the world to Jewish and Jew-ish weddings in London and around the world. Since launching five years ago, they’ve worked with some of the most creative and talented vendors around and entertained tens of thousands of guests in some of the coolest venues across the globe ( and of course we’ve featured Sensation in so many gorgeous real Jewish weddings here on Smashing The Glass over the years).


Now, with Balagan, they’re ready to crank the fun factor up to 11. Offering a 5-6 piece band consisting of singing guitarists, saxophone, percussion, and even an unmissable sousaphone! The band can roam around singing, dancing and interacting with guests during reception drinks, dinner, or during your party set.

Win a show stopping Performance from Balagan Roaming Band

We’re teaming up with Balagan to offer one lucky couple a chance to win a 5-piece Balagan acoustic roaming band to play at their wedding, free of charge! This is a truly incredible prize, worth over £3000 – so if you’re getting married between 1st March 2020 and 1st March 2021, read on to find out how to enter!

Why Choose a Roaming Band?

The greatest feature of a roaming band like Balagan is that it is designed from the outset to be fully mobile and fully personalized, so it’s perfect for receptions, dinner music or regular parties where the band can roam from table to table.

The band members are all highly talented musicians with outgoing personalities – they love getting in amongst the crowd and getting the party started.

The Jewish Wedding Set

Balagan is the only roaming acoustic band in the world (that we know of!) that offers Jewish sets. Fronted by an Israeli folk singer, you get truly authentic Israeli music brought to life in an immersive and fun way never seen before (why oh why weren’t Balagan around when I had my wedding?!).

This is an amazing alternative to the traditional format of having a band performing the Israeli set on stage – with Balagan you are in amongst the music. The band can also perform on a central podium with guests gathered around for dancing.

An immersive experience

Balagan gets everyone involved and makes the experience as immersive and participative as possible. They often suggest providing guests with personalised drums and tambourines, so even if they don’t know the words to the songs on the set list they can help create the music!

Why We Love Balagan for Jewish Weddings

  • You can’t beat the fun factor of a roaming band – Balagan creates an intimate, informal atmosphere guaranteed to get your guests talking
  • As a roaming band, Balagan connects with guests and tables in a totally personalized way that will make each and every attendee feel effortlessly comfortable and engaged in the celebration from the very beginning
  • Roaming bands are great in situations where there are specific sound restrictions, and Balagan can play acoustically without issue even where there are sound limiters in place
  • Without the need for a stage or any sound equipment, Balagan can work in pretty much any space available, no matter how small or large
  • And they also work with a range of budgets, depending on your needs
  • Give your guests a huge surprise by introducing the band out of nowhere with a guerrilla/flash mob entrance, guaranteed to get the whole room on their feet
  • Balagan can go fully wireless, so you get all the advantages of being fully mobile and acoustic, but you still get a big sound, mixed by a sound engineer

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Discover Your Dream Bar or Bat Mitzvah Venue {with Pop Up Bar Mitzvah}

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Photo by Loft Studios

You might be wondering what we’re doing writing about bar and bat mitzvah venues. We are a wedding blog, after all. But when we met the fantastic team at Pop Up Bar Mitzvah, we couldn’t resist sharing their fab work with you – if STG did bar mitzvahs, this London-based outfit would be our go-to, no question. Plus, we figure chances are you might know someone who’s planning a bar or bat mitzvah and looking for the perfect team to help make it a smashing success.

This is the first part in a series with Pop Up Bar Mitzvah, where we’ll be looking at different elements that go into planning a memorable, personal bar or bat mitzvah – this time, we’re focusing on venues. 

Photo by West Reservoir Center (part of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hackney Venues)

The Perfect Match

Finding the perfect anything isn’t easy – the perfect match, the perfect place to get married and sooner than you’d ever expect, the gentle patter of tiny feet has turned into the stress of searching for the perfect bar or bat mitzvah venue.

Photo by Secret River Garden

If you’re at that stage in life when you’re starting to think about where would be a great place for your child’s bar mitzvah party but the prospect of researching venues brings you out in hives then you’ll be excited to know about event planning company Pop Up Bar Mitzvah whose team of experts can assist you in compiling a shortlist of venues to suit your requirements.

Photo by Sunbeam Studios

A Wealth of Experience

Their wealth of experience means that you can trust their recommendations as they use their keen eye and expertise in their field to put together a carefully selected list of the best, chicest and most gorgeous bar mitzvah venues in London.

Photo by Postal Museum

Working with them is a bit like being able to ask your most stylish friend to give you the inside scoop on the best places to party because you know their recommendations are going to be honest, impartial and on trend.

Photo by The Printworks

Pop Up Bar Mitzvah have an amazing black book of unusual venues and specialise in blank canvas venues, which basically means somewhere that you can style and transform to create something unique.

Photo by Bankside Vaults

You won’t find the standard hotels in their recommendations, instead you might discover a secret river garden perfect for a festival vibe, an underground tunnel that takes you on a journey beneath the streets of London, industrial warehouses in East London that ooze character or even a beautiful castle suitable for a prince or princess. What all the venues have in common is their flexibility; a unique space that can be styled to suit you.

Photo by Strawberry Hill House

The Best Venues in London

Over the years they’ve produced countless events and parties so they’ve done all the legwork, getting to know the best venues in London, saving you the slog of studying endless websites.

Photo by The Tate Switch House

Visiting venues is key to choosing the right place and the team can organise and attend the show-rounds with you; they’ve even got a handy little guide that lets you know the 20 questions you need to ask to when you visit a venue to ensure you get the most out of your time.

Photo by Hawker House

And once you’ve found that perfect place, Pop Up Bar Mitzvah are also able to help you organise the party. From helping you find the perfect venue, to styling or theming, sourcing unforgettable entertainment to creative menu ideas your guests will love, the team will be with you ever step of the way, making sure everything is perfect on the night.

Photo by Kent House Knightsbridge

Why not have a look at their website full of venues to inspire you or ask the team to send you a shortlist of recommended venues.

Photo by Merchant Taylors’

About Pop Up Bar Mitzvah

Pop Up Bar Mitzvah was set up by Gary Peters, the director of award-winning event agency Evolve Events. During his 20 years of producing countless events one of the most common questions he’s been asked is how can you make your Bar Mitzvah celebration stand out from all the rest. That’s why he set up Pop Up Bar Mitzvah, to create one-of-a-kind, over-the-top experiences, specialising in creating unique parties that celebrate the individualism of your child. Each celebration is tailored to your needs and personalised to your child and your family. From the venue finding to creating the overall look, including lighting and styling, the team at Pop Up Bar Mitzvah will be there to make sure all the elements, including food and entertainment, come together in a night of extravaganza and celebration.

What People Say

We wanted to say how much we appreciated your hard work – both before and on the day itself. The Bat Mitzvah went incredibly smoothly and your meticulous preparation meant everything was under control. Thank you for your amazing professionalism and charming approach throughout the process. With you at the helm, working in such harmony with the caterers and florist we were able to enjoy the party from beginning to end.

Lord and Lady Leigh of Hurley

Photo by 8 Northumberland Avenue

Contact Details

info@popupbarmitzvah.com

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Location: London

Pop Up Bar Mitzvah is a Smashing The Glass handpicked sponsor and this is a sponsored post. We only ever work with sponsors that we absolutely ADORE and would use ourselves. You can find out more about sponsored posts here.

Luxury Kosher Cakes and Sweets from GC Couture are Now Available at Selfridges (and We’re Obsessed!)

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If you’ve been following us for a while, you probably know how much we adore award-winning London-based luxury cake purveyor GC Couture. Earlier this year we raved about their exquisite (and ultra-Instagrammable) Indulgence Bar,® available from a dedicated kosher production kitchen supervision of KLBD- if you don’t know what we’re talking about, you can read all about it here.

Now we’re back with some equally exciting news: GC Couture’s kosher line, ‘K by GC Couture,’ doesn’t have to be reserved for special events anymore. As of the past month, a line of edible (and kosher certified) works of art from the GC Couture team are available for purchase in legendary London department store Selfridges.

Savor the Flavors

GC Couture cakes are available in 16 mouthwatering flavors, from classics like chocolate and vanilla to more exotic varieties such as white chocolate cranberry, coconut lime, and salted caramel. And if a full-fledged deluxe cake isn’t on the horizon, you can also pickup an array of smaller treats from handcrafted cupcakes to gold leaf macarons and lolli cakes.

The range available at Selfridges – all of which is kosher and diary-free – is not only eye-catching but delicious. A GC Couture creation is the perfect addition to any kosher celebration – or the perfect little just-because luxury.

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Bringing Your Jewish Wedding Fairy Tale to Life {with La Fete}

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Who doesn’t love a good fairy tale wedding? Here at STG HQ, we sure do. And no one does fairy tale magic quite like the mega-talented planning team at La Fete, focusing on luxury weddings and corporate events globally since 2016. 

Founder Charlotte Ricard-Quesada brings her multicultural background, language skills (she’s fluent in four!), and background in luxury fashion (she worked for Tom Ford, Dior, and more) to every once-in-a-lifetime experience she creates for her clients.

Based in London and planning weddings throughout the UK as well as in Italy, France, and Spain, La Fete covers all aspects of wedding planing, from vendor selection to design to event production to on-the-day management – and every planning package is fully bespoke, to make sure each couple’s individual needs are met.

We’re not usually one to feature styled shoots, but when La Fete let us know they were working on a fairy tale Jewish wedding shoot (a rarity in itself) set in a swoon-worthy chateau in France, we knew we couldn’t pass it up. 

They even used one of our signature Smashed It! smash glass pouches in the shoot! And how good does it look in that photo?!

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