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My Brand New Workshops for Wedding Vendors

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Wedding vendors, I have exciting news for you! For the first time ever I am presenting the expertise that I normally reserve solely for my 1:1 clients and sharing it with you in two interactive FUN workshops for wedding vendors.

If you’re looking to increase enquiries from Jewish couples, and turn those enquiries into sales, read on, my workshops have been created especially for for you!

WORKSHOP ONE: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT JEWISH WEDDINGS

In this 2-hour workshop we’ll cover:

  • Family dynamics
  • Understanding the client
  • Key differences between a Jewish and non-Jewish wedding
  • What you need to know about Jewish wedding traditions
  • Typical Jewish wedding timeline
  • The correct processional order for a Jewish wedding
  • Jewish wedding music
  • Live Q&A

WORKSHOP TWO: SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY + SALES

In this 2-hour workshop we’ll cover:

  • How to grow your audience of brides on Instagram and Facebook
  • How to turn your audience into customers and raving fans
  • Social media strategy and closing sales for wedding vendors
  • Live Q&A

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Real Jewish Brides: Introducing Maggie + Danny: How They Met To The Present Day…

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Today on the blog we’re introducing our latest gorgeous crop of 2020 / 2021 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Maggie, who will be marrying Danny on 6th June 2021 at Stone House of St. Charles in St. Charles, Missouri.

THREE FACTS: (1) Danny proposed to Maggie on his birthday! (2) Maggie is in the process of converting to Judaism (3) Maggie is a member of STG Brides Club!

Blogging Bride Maggie and Danny

How We Met

Well this is your traditional love story, one that your parents could have potentially told. Mine is like my aunt’s, who constantly told me “you will find him when you least expect it.” She met her husband through his sister who she worked with. My fiancé hates how I tell the story of our meeting (no, just a few of the details – the fiancé).

The year is 2018, the month is August. I had decided to move back closer to my family in St. Louis, Missouri in July of 2018. Danny moved to St. Louis earlier in the week we met. The weekend before, I had gone on a trip with my friends from high school. On the way back my friend Abby tells me the next weekend she and her husband planned a trip to a local winery with one of her husband’s friends from work. I agreed to go in hopes of making new friends. Danny was staying with this friend,  the friend invited Danny very last minute. Danny decided to go since he didn’t have anything else to do that day.

We go to lunch where I meet him briefly but don’t pay attention since there are 12 of us and we are at opposite ends of the table. Lunch is finally over, and we all begin to talk. He states that he just moved which is what caught my attention. We discover that we each studied math in college (meanwhile he is an engineer now and I am a hotel manager, not so useful for me) as well as comparing how long we had lived in St. Louis.

Maggie-and-Danny

He of course mentions right away about his adorable 7-month-old niece who he tried to kidnap when he was moving. At one point I remember texting my friend Abby saying how Danny was my type. The whole day I constantly try to stay close to him and flirt with him. Finally, we got to the wine tasting section where we shared a table and even shared each other’s drinks! I knew I wanted to date him after I made a mention of my favorite movie The Princess Bride and he stared to quote the movie with me.

The day ends and he doesn’t even ask me for my number. As we were walking out my friend Kayla and her husband Cameron teased me about how close we were, I mentioned my disappointment with him not asking for my number. That’s when Cameron mentioned he had gotten Danny’s number. For the first time in my life I got the courage to tell him to send my number to Danny. Well he did and 30 seconds later I receive my first message from Danny.

Now Danny loves to argue that he knew I was flirting with him but did not want to ask for my number as he had made friends with my friend’s husbands (yep, I didn’t want to be creepy – the fiancé again). Either way we connected and had our first date on August 21, 2018.  We went to dinner and then got edible cookie dough, we then sat outside the cookie dough place and talked for hours, past when the place closed.

It was a 6-hour date, our second date was 8 hours and our third was 7 hours. I remember coming home after our first date and freaking out to my dad about how I really liked this guy but was hesitant to continue dating him because he was Jewish.

Maggie Danny

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Passover in the Time of Social Distancing

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Made by Rebekah’s #NextYearInPerson Campaign

Why is this Passover different from all other Passovers?

One of the most important and beloved times of the Jewish year, Passover starts tomorrow night. But for most of us, the holiday isn’t going to look the way we expected it to. Social distancing means no getting together with friends and family for seders, and grocery limitations will likely lead to some lackluster menus.

As Smashing The Glass’s Community Manager, I know so many of our Brides Club members have had to cancel long-held plans to celebrate with loves ones, in favor of staying home.  

No seder plate, no problem: Made by Rebekah‘s got a great tutorial for making your own.

I feel you. As The World’s Singlest Wedding Blogger™, I’ll be spending Passover all alone in my studio apartment in New York City, which seems to be the world’s coronavirus epicenter at present. It all happened gradually, and then suddenly, and by the time I realized how serious the situation was, and long it was likely to last, it was really out of the question to travel out of state to be with my parents.

I’m going to be honest, it’s pretty scary here. I haven’t left my apartment in three weeks (I think? Time is weird now)—not even to go to the grocery store. For a while it was looking iffy as to whether or not I’d even get my hands on a box of matzah (thankfully, I was able to secure myself a grocery delivery slot, eventually). Other than a furtive thank you to said grocery delivery guy, I’ve had zero human contact that hasn’t taken place through a screen.

The prettiest Zoom seder you ever did see, courtesy of Made by Rebekah 

We’re lucky to live in a time when it’s so easy to be virtually connected, of course, and where Zoom seders are a possibility. But it’s not the same. And whether you’re in lockdown alone, with a partner, or even with a kid or two, it’s never easy. Nothing drives it home (or not, haha) like a holiday. It’s okay to be sad. I certainly am.

In addition to the plethora of roles I serve at Team STG, I also run Poppy and Prune, a Jewish food history and culture blog, and so it was only natural for me to conclude that it might be worthwhile to spend some time reading up on how Jews have observed Passover in difficult circumstances throughout history. Because the truth is, while what we’re facing this year is totally unprecedented for most of us living today, throughout history there’ve been plenty of plagues afflicting the Jewish people—both literal and metaphorical ones.

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How to handle overwhelm + stress during wedding planning {with Howard Cooper and Blake Ezra}

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Planning a wedding is exciting, there’s no question about that. But it can also be stressful – from dealing with family drama and pressure along the way to feeling less than comfortable being the center of attention on the big day, there are so many elements that can be anxiety-provoking.

Usually we focus on the fun and meaningful aspects of a wedding, and while those are always front of mind for us, the truth is there are a lot of difficult issues wedding planning can bring out (and that’s one of the big reasons why I started Smashing The Glass’s bride-to-be community, Brides Club – a safe space for everyone to be open and honest about the real ups and downs of the engaged life.). 

Meaningful conversations, and talking about mental health and weddings are so important – and that’s what I’m so excited to be chatting live with one of my favorite Jewish wedding photographers, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Blake Ezra, and Howard Cooper, one of Britain’s leading rapid change therapists, all about dealing with wedding anxiety.

Known for helping people to create rapid shifts in their thinking, Howard’s rapid change approach rejects the notion that deep and lasting change needs to take a long time. Drawing on a variety of psychological tools, Howard has supported thousands of individuals over the past 15 years on an international level, bringing about transformational changes to their lives. A specialist in helping people tackle fears and phobias, Howard uses a practical, dynamic and innovative approach to help people from all walks of life and ages.

With over 150 Jewish weddings under his belt (many of which have appeared here on Smashing The Glass) plus a BA (Hons) in Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Blake has a deep understanding of the traditions and rituals of a Jewish wedding and the ways brides, grooms, and families tend to respond to the unique dynamics a Jewish (or Jew-ish) wedding can bring out.

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Why LUZ’s Urban Photography Style Might Be Right for You

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This is a guest post by the team at international wedding photographers LUZ. 

Nowadays, there’s more diversity of style within the wedding industry than ever before: the event’s design, the wedding dress and groom suit’s styles, and of course the wedding photography style.

More often than not, when asked to imagine and describe wedding photography, people will refer to romantic photoshoot at sunset, or in a magical Norwegian forest.

But there is an up and coming alternative wedding photography style, one that appeals to couples who value an urban lifestyle — we’re talking about urban wedding photography.

What is urban photography?

While the focus of a photoshoot in a natural environment is the romance, the tenderness, and the fantasy of fairytales, urban wedding photography is all about using the day to day environment – the city – from a completely different perspective.

Different colors and textures of walls, light and shadow, movement, composition – these are all tools that we use to create an interesting (and beautiful) photoshoot. There are also different personal elements that can be integrated into the photoshoot: a specific color that excites you, the place you first met, or even just an amazing structure with architecture that takes your breath away and makes you want to look at it forever.

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