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Real Blogging Brides: Clare – Choosing Outfits for the Groom and Groomsmens

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Image by Aga Tomaszek from Rachel and Alex’s Jew-ish wedding (florist Mary Jane Vaughan and videographer HD Moments are STG Recommended Vendor)

About Blogging Bride Clare: She will be marrying Chris on 5th May 2018 at Laura Ashley The Manor in Elstree, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Clare is not Jewish but discovered Smashing The Glass via her Jewish sister-in-law and during her wedding planning journey it has (in her own words!) became her favorite and most useful wedding blog (2) She finds STG refreshing in a sea of wedding blogs as she loves reading stories of couples for whom the ceremony itself is as pivotal as all the other details. (3) Due to falling in love with so many amazing Jewish weddings through the blog, and then booking a wedding consultancy session with STG founder, Karen, it confirmed to her that there were a number of Jewish elements she was going to bring into her wedding that symbolise a lot of things that are very important to her and her fiancà© in their future marriage – she will be having a ‘Jewish-inspired’ wedding!

With TV shows like Say Yes To The Dress and numerous amount of time in wedding magazines and blogs given to brides finding the perfect dress, it can somewhat take over the wedding preparations. 

Any engaged girl will know that the amount of times you get asked ‘Have you got the dress yet? ‘or any number of other dress related questions just never stops! So what about the men in the wedding? 

I found that as we went through our long list of ‘to-do’s’ for the big day, choosing my fiancà©’s outfits and the groomsmen attire was getting pushed until quite near the end. For many brides, this may be an area they are happy to hand over to their man, but as a little bit of a wedding control freak (different to bridezilla I promise!) I definitely had to be involved in ensuring the overall look would suit the rest of the day.

When choosing outfits for the males in the wedding party there’s actually a lot more choice than I first imagined. The decision of black tie, morning suits or lounge suits before you even factor in colours and fabrics…

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Image by Blake Ezra (STG Recommended Vendor) from Sam and Jonny‘s Jewish wedding

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An Oleg Cassini Bride for a Multicultural Jewish Wedding at Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel, Belgravia, London, UK

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Today’s couple, Monica, a surveyor, and Damon, an e-commerce manager, had a beautiful multicultural Jewish wedding smack bang in the center of London. Their glam day featured a champagne color scheme, stunning flower arrangements, and a super cool Perspex chuppah.

Bride Monica converted to Judaism, and it was important to the couple to incorporate traditions reflecting all of their families’ heritage into the day. They had musicians from Sweden, Germany, Israel, and London brought in to perform songs in Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, and English, and their singers even learned some Greek to make sure they really mastered the performance!

Keeping with the theme of family, they chose their venue, Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Belgravia, partly because it’s where Damon’s sister got married previously, and they loved having that connection. The couple got their mothers to team up on the welcome speech, Monica’s dad not being much for public speaking! And Damon’s touching speech, including a musical performance by the groom himself (!) made every guest in the room tear up.

Their amazing photographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor David Morgan, was likewise chosen partly because he had worked on a previous family wedding – but also because when the couple met with him they just clicked. Monica sings his praises as not only a super calming influence on the day who “saw beauty in moments you wouldn’t expect,” but also a huge support in the lead-up to the wedding.

Lucky for you UK brides-to-be, David is also offering a 10% discount on any package to members of our  VIB [Very Important Bride] Brides Club! He’s just one of many handpicked vendors offering discounts or free gifts to members of this very special group, which also features a private members-only Facebook group with around-the-clock support and advice from my team and me, plus all kinds of cool bridal extras and goodies. If you haven’t joined yet, don’t delay as we’ll be closing membership for this quarter shortly!

Monica and Damon were also delighted with their videographer, Jamie Horton at Yours Truly. Jamie had never worked on a Jewish wedding before, but he was excited to learn about a new set of wedding customs.

In the VIB Facebook community, we hear from a lot of brides who are unsure about using vendors new to Jewish weddings, and this just goes to show that so long as the vendor in question is willing to learn about new wedding traditions there’s really no reason to worry.

Here’s more from Monica, who was just gorgeous in her sparkly Oleg Cassini gown…

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How we met

Monica, the bride: We met when I was 20 years old; he is my best friend’s brother.

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A Superhero-Themed Jewish Wedding during Hanukkah, Grace, Rishon LeZion, Israel

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Today’s Jewish wedding has got to be one of the most purely fun we’ve blogged. Rita (@ritalove14), a physiology student who works with high school students with special needs, and Tal, who works in media marketing, adore the Marvel Universe. How much, exactly? So much that they chose to theme their wedding around their love of superheroes!

And they really went all out! Their invitations featured a custom drawing of the pair as superheroes, the rest of their stationery cleverly carried on the theme, and at their reception they had all kinds of superhero props, from masks to balloons to Captain America armor!

As if that weren’t fun enough, Rita and Tal also had a balloon artist making glow-in-the-dark balloon sculptures and hats for their guests on the dancefloor! Plus, they made their two dogs (decked out in little bride and groom costumes!) part of the action. Photographer Yarin Taranos and videographers Aviv & Tali really captured the spirit of the day.

The pair chose to get married on the first night of Hanukkah, considered an auspicious time to wed in Jewish tradition. This gave Rita and Tal an opportunity to work the holiday into their wedding in some memorable ways: during the ceremony, Rita’s grandfather lit the menorah, and then their rabbi led the whole crowd in songs! And as favors, they gave out glittery boxes shaped like candles that were stuffed with chocolate gelt–as well as a tiny superhero figure, naturally!

Rita was the absolute MOST laidback bride: her primary objective in choosing a dress was to find something comfortable she could dance in, her shoes–glittery VANS–were chosen for the same reason, and she wasn’t even planning to hold a bouquet, until at the very last minute, on the day, she asked her driver to pick one up! She’ll fill you in on the details of her totally super day.

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A Brand New Venue 

Rita, the bride: We got married at Grace. It’s a new, urban venue, and we were one of the first couples who to book our wedding there! The newness was a bit scary, but we were so impressed with the staff and the appearance that we decided to book.
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Is the Buddymoon the New Honeymoon?: Here’s Why You Should Consider Bringing Your BFF’s Along for the Ride {with Mr & Mrs Smith}

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Your honeymoon should be the trip of a lifetime. Of course you want to capitalize on the chance to spend quality time with your new spouse, but what if you brought some of the other most important people in your life along for the ride too?

Today we’re talking about how you can have it both ways with Elise Tagatac, who heads hotel partnerships for Mr & Mrs Smith, the award-winning boutique-hotel booking business boasting a collection of more than 1,000 boutique and luxury hotels (all hand-picked and anonymously reviewed).

A travel club for true hotel connoisseurs, Mr & Mrs Smith is a brand that I’m absolutely obsessed with. Mr STG and I planned our own honeymoon (to the Bellevue Syrene on the Amalfi Coast!) with Mr & Mrs Smith, and we were just bowled over by the ridiculous beauty and off-the-charts service. Ever since, they’ve been our go-to when searching for a weekend getaway destination, and they’ve never let us down — on the contrary, they continue to surpass our expectations time and time again.

Photo courtesy of Elise Tagatac

As the head hotel hunter for this fab company, Elise knows more about planning the ultimate honeymoon than just about anyone. So what did she do for her own honeymoon?

Elise had the absolutely genius idea to split her big trip into two: the first half was a buddymoon — a holiday to a romantic destination with a group of friends — where she, her new husband, and their crew took in the splendor of India. The second half saw the newlyweds taking off solo, first to take in some of India’s most romantic spots, and then for private island paradise in the Maldives.

I just love the idea of a buddymoon, and it’s one that’s been gaining popularity among newlyweds. It’s not only a great way to include some of your nearest and dearest in a very special experience, but it can also lead to super savings in the form of group discounts, shared villas, and so on.

And given that a honeymoon is usually a fairly long trip, dividing it up between group time with your buddies and one-on-one romance with your honey, as Elise did, makes perfect sense. Her honeymoon hit the perfect combination of togetherness and alone time, adventure and relaxation, with Mr & Mrs Smith’s unwavering commitment to absolute luxury underlying every step.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Jewish Brides – Amanda: My Final Week of Wedding Planning!

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Amanda will be marrying Adam on 25th March 2018 in a Jewish wedding at Braxted Park, UK.

THREE FACTS: (1) Amanda & Adam met outside in a bar in Tel Aviv (2) Adam has a ridiculous sense of humor (as described by Amanda!) and we love him all the more for it (3) Amanda & Adam’s wedding is 100% focused on all the people and things that mean the most to them. You can click here to read all Amanda’s planning posts to date.

So here we are. My final post and the last week in my wedding planning journey. For those of you wondering, I most certainly did not follow all of the advice in my previous post and as a result, we’ve experienced a fairly stressful two weeks, culminating in a bout of flu in the Yaffe-Parker household at the end of last week!

I have no doubt that some of the virus can be attributed to the two and a half day stag do that Adam endured in Budapest, but I’m fairly certain this was more than man-flu! Fingers crossed that the terrible cough I’ve been listening to for the last 10 days disappears before the ceremony!

Jewish-Wedding-Villa-Padierna-Marbella-Spain_0015Image by David Pullum (STG’s Recommended Vendor) from Salena and Stefan‘s Jewish wedding in Spain

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