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Romantic, Designer Weddings in Spain – planned to perfection by Reviva Weddings

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If you’re considering casting the biggest day of your life in a romantic sun-drenched destination and are fancy a trend setting, stylish and contemporary vibe – bespoke but definitely twinkly – then you simply must be introduced to Reviva Weddings. I’ve been following them for a while now and am totally impressed with this Marbella- based team of wedding planners, known for creating cutting edge weddings across Spain.

Jewish Weddings in Spain

Reviva Weddings has built up an extraordinary network of suppliers and has become one of the most established and popular wedding planners in Spain. And importantly for STG readers, they have created many beautiful Jewish weddings.

Having organised epic Jewish weddings for up to 400 guests, and with an understanding of the requirements for Jewish and mixed faith marriages, you’ll be in very capable hands with British-born Reviva founder, Laura Charles and her team. From beautifully dressed chuppahs to venues who can offer kosher catering, they’re on it.

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You had me at “Interior Designer”

Apart from the planning and coordination services you’d hope for, Reviva is holding a major trump card — Laura Charles, the  owner, is an interior designer. This is the first time I’ve come across an interior designer turned wedding planner and it’s like music to my ears. After all, this is one day when you need someone to really take charge of the mise en scà¨ne, to craft the stage and create the atmosphere and oh my, she is darn good at it.

Laura, who has lived in Spain for years, started Reviva in 2007 originally as a wedding stylist. There was a real demand for super stylish weddings in Spain but it didn’t seem like anyone was renting out any decor or equipment at all. You couldn’t even hire a chair sash, let alone sequin table runners and a neon bar.

So she started Reviva,  doing both wedding styling (including equipment/props hire) and the full wedding planning service. Because of her background and passion for the visual, Laura has formed an extremely accomplished, design-focused company. And to help – she has a fabulous team of trained wedding planners behind her who are brilliant, bilingual, and supremely creative. All ready to organise and style your day.

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Get the Look – Modern Bohemian Luxe – from Francis Bridal

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Just imagine how Pippa Middleton is feeling? She’s already stunned the world once in that ivory Alexander McQueen thunder-stealing gown when she walked down the aisle in 2011 behind her sister at  Westminster Abbey. Now she somehow has to top that for her own wedding, to hedge fund manager James Matthews.

Will she decide to set herself apart from that now iconic maid of honour silhouette and choose a completely different style? Will she move more towards opulent and embellished, floaty and ethereal or minimal and modern?

The point is Pippa is no different from any other bride — yes she is in the public eye but at that very moment she finally chooses her dress, she is saying to the rest of the world “this is how I want to be seen on the biggest day of my life”.  And every bride is saying exactly that.

Famous or not, you’ve got to find your own true wedding style. After all it is a (beautifully elevated) representation of yourself.

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Francis Bridal Design — Bohemian Luxe

If that ‘look’ that you are envisioning is tumbledown tresses and beautifully finished, bohemian elegance then you are in luck, I have just the designer for you!

I’m delighted to introduce to STG, Francis Bridal Design – the first bridal collection from designer Trish Irving.

This look is modern, low-key luxe — serious boho if you like. Just take a look for yourself at these gorgeous unstructured, vintage-feel masterpieces.  

Each piece — designed and made in London – is created with the best, carefully selected fabrics (right down to their signature stretch satin linings), the detailing is exquisite, the quality is sublime and the result is delicate, radiant, free-moving, elegance. It’s such a fresh approach to bridal. Chuck out your corsets — this is a love letter to bohemia.

Immediately it’s clear with Francis Bridal’s collection that there is a distinct and coherent personality and a very accomplished character – from Etienne – the gorgeous silk georgette bridal gown to the beautiful ivory embroidered lace Albi dress.

And this definitely was the intention.

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If you build it they will come

New Zealand-born Trish began the Francis Bridal collection after struggling to find her own wedding dress. All the boho styles that she was drawn to were too skimpy and not particularly accommodating to the more, lets say, bountiful bosom. She also felt like boho was perhaps becoming a bit of a clichà© and wanted to introduce something a bit more modern in the mix.  

So after a 15-year career in luxury fashion, trained pattern cutter Trish Irving  decided to tap into this wealth of experience and harness her unyielding energy and creativity to orchestrate her own exquisite portfolio of elegant boho luxe dresses for modern brides.

I love her vision and totally understand her drive and passion. The idea for STG came to me when I was also preparing for my wedding and I couldn’t find what I was looking for (one single place that brought inventive and original ideas together for a style-focused Jewish bride). I knew exactly what I wanted but had to create it myself. Just as Trish has.

So I’m instantly drawn to Francis Bridal, not just because of the breathtakingly  beautiful gowns Trish has dreamed up, but because I know the intention and designs come from a very real place.  Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Personalise your wedding with Monica Vinader

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Monica Vinader popped up on my radar four weeks after my first date with Mr STG, when he bought me a stunning, delicate Fiji Chain bracelet  (pictured towards the bottom of the post) for my 36th birthday.

Let’s face it; gift buying that early on in a relationship is dicey territory. It’s a situation that presents umpteen, unseen etiquette hazards.

Choose a gift too ostentatious and you risk overwhelming, give something modest or lacking in sophistication and you’re running the chance of a huge underwhelm. But wow! The future Mr STG got it so right. I was incredibly touched by the thought he’d put into choosing just the right piece (there are a lot of options) and I immediately fell for the – now iconic – classy, yet cool Fiji friendship bracelet.

Luckily for me and Mr STG, it was love at first sight and I would have married him regardless but the fact that he unveiled himself to be a master present buyer so early on in the relationship certainly didn’t hurt.

Since then, I have bought myself, friends and family a host of individually selected and engraved Monica Vinader pieces and I just love seeing their reaction when they open up the box.

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A present for my  friend who set me up with  Mr STG

My first meeting with Mr STG was a blind date, set up by an old school friend. She’ll forever be our matchmaker, our Yenta and so for her birthday this year I sealed the deal with a mink cord, silver Havana bracelet with her nickname YENTA engraved on it (see it below). She was totally thrilled. It’s our in-joke and the gift was received with the warmth in which it was meant. No matter how old you get, there’s nothing like a friendship bracelet to make you feel special.

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10 Luxury Honeymoon Destinations that go above & beyond

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Wouldn’t it be great if a super-stylish crack team of travel experts scoured the globe and tracked down the best boutique hotels for you to choose from for your honeymoon? The best that is, according to the really important stuff, for this most romantic holiday of your life. How about the hotel with the most extravagant view from the pool or the most indulgent spa, the sexiest bedroom, the most intimate bar or those places that simply go above and beyond anyone’s expectations?

Well that’s what’s happening right now in the gorgeous, totally dreamy world of Mr & Mrs Smith. Believe me, they are your secret honeymoon weapon.

For those who haven’t yet heard me extol the many virtues of this extraordinary boutique hotel finding and booking site, let me fill you in here.

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Six Senses Yao Noi, Thailand

Mr & Mrs Smith Awards 2016

Ok, so they’re not technically looking for honeymoon destinations in this current global search but, Mr & Mrs Smith are running their annual awards to identify and reward the boutique hotels in their outrageously impressive portfolio – that create THE most special stays. They are singling out those utterly unique, personality-packed places that raise the bar in terms of design, food, service and all- round wow factor.

So that’s great news for us as we get to take a peek at those choice contenders – the best boutique hotels in the world in the most desirable destinations. This has to be the hottest shortlist in travel right now!

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Nihiwatu, Indonesia

And the award goes to…

The awards are being judged on 12 different categories. Namely: Pool with a View, World’s Sexiest Bedroom, Best Dressed Hotel, Best Date-Night Bar, Best Gourmet Getaway, Most Spoiling Spa, Local Hotel Hero, Best Family Hotel, Above and Beyond, Coolest Creative Hub, Hottest Hotel Soundtrack, Best Smith Hotel 2016.

And reassuringly the top ten hotels in each category have been selected by none other that the King and Queen of Mr & Mrs Smith themselves — company founders James and Tamara Lohan, along with the amazing founding editor Juliet Kinsman. They know, live and breathe their stuff. So any hotel worthy enough to make their short list is good enough for me.

As you can see by the colourful categories of awards — this is a cool company that understands the changing boutique-hotel scene around the world.

There is a new order in what people are looking for and it’s moved on considerably from “how far to the beach?” and “is breakfast included?’. Mr & Mrs Smith recognise those unique aspects for the hotel experience that have particular resonance to today’s traveller. Be that acting as a hub for the neighbourhood creative scene; having the perfect date night bar; being a destination foodie spot or of course setting the stage for an out of this world, memory-making honeymoon.

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Aman Tokyo

Do Judge me

The chosen hotels will be put to a panel of three specialist judges in each category.

And the judging panel? It’s basically across the board cool — a network of travel experts from the fashion, music, food industries, including chef and author Tom Aitken, writer and broadcaster Lauren Laverne, singer Jessie Ware, legendary restaurateur Jeremy King, cocktail maestro Tony Conigliaro … take a look here at the impressive line up.

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Keemala, Thailand

Above and Beyond

For Smashing The Glass, I really wanted to feature a list of the best of the best — essentially the Above and Beyond category. These are Smith stays that are made even more special by seamless service and generosity of spirit — where going the extra mile is the starting point. Is there nothing this hotel won’t do?

They boast dedicated, flexible and helpful staff who totally rock at enhancing your stay, or maybe the hotel goes above and beyond in terms of products or services — full-size bathroom products, free laundry, transfers by speedboat?

Sometimes, it’s one individual who makes the biggest impact. The sommelier who helps you discover a new favourite wine; the concierge with an unbeatable book of contacts; the chef who keeps the kitchen open a little longer because your flight was delayed.

The Above and Beyond category is by far my favourite, and that’s what you really want for a honeymoon. Natural hosts who instinctively know how to spoil you, anticipate your every need and upgrade your trip beyond measure. Oh yes and it so happens that all the hotels are in sublime and wildly different locations.

A trad twenties hunting lodge on the banks of Waikato, New Zealand to the thoroughly modern English countryside manor with just a sprinkling of rock star style to a remote ecolodge on the rainforest clad coast of Nicaragua. Where would you even start to choose between them?

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Fasano, Rio, Brazil

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Basic Invite – Pushing the Envelope on Wedding Stationery

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My former life as a graphic designer – pre STG – was awash with Pantone references, fonts, typefaces and paper stock. A love you can’t take out of the girl it seems. So when it comes to wedding invitations, I’m the first in line to coo over a sassy design, a bold choice of colour, thoughtful monogramming, the texture of the invite and the weight of an envelope.     And believe me attention, individuality and quality never go unnoticed.

It’s important to set the tone for your big day and nothing builds anticipation better than the invitation.   It’s the movie trailer, the pre-promote and the amuse bouche to tantalise your guests.

Just as e-commerce for luxury fashion goods has developed over the last decade – think Net a Porter – so too have online destinations for luxury, customised, wedding stationery.

And Basic Invite is one of the best I’ve seen.

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Every paper product you could possibly need

It’s an elegant, online hub for all things printed and wedding –  save the date, invitations, RSVP cards, menus, programs, and thank you cards. And I love that it covers the whole gamut because it’s so important to pull all the threads of your wedding together and coordinate your paper products into one look – it is your brand after all.   But it’s also an incredibly efficient way of organising such an important aspect of the big day, without compromising on style.   Quite honestly, it sometimes feels as though you could make a full time job out of wedding preparation, that is on top of your actual job, so at STG we welcome style-conscious efficiency whole—heartedly.

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