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Real Jewish Brides – Amanda: How To Deal With The Stress 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.


The stress of planning a wedding is no secret. According to Zola in the US, 71% of couples said that wedding planning is more stressful than moving house or finding a job. In fact, according to the same survey, a whopping 86% of engaged couples experience at least three stress-induced symptoms including heightened anxiety, difficulty sleeping, short temper and headaches.

Reading this, I can definitely relate. Although I consider myself fairly laid back both generally and while wedding planning, I have found myself struggling when the pressure has become too much. For me, these moments fall into 3 key categories:

  1. Price-Shock
  2. Blame Game
  3. Will it be all right on the night?

Your pressure points might be different, but are likely to overlap somewhere. So here I offer my advice on matters of wedding stress and how to overcome it.


Image by Niv Shimshon (STG Vendor) from Asha and Matt’s Jewish wedding

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A Pnina Tornai Bride for a Super Luxe Colorful Jewish Wedding With a Show-Stopping Chuppah at The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California USA

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Here at Smashing The Glass, we don’t use the word “luxe” lightly, but that is the only way to describe Della and Benjamin’s divine and decadent colorful Jewish wedding. 

Not many brides can say they met the dress before they met the man, but that’s exactly what happened to bride Della, who fell in love with her Pnina Tornai gown five years before the pair actually met! It was totally worth the wait – Della looked simply incredible. 

And her wedding was as extraordinary as her dress! The celebration was held at the glamorous Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, and was brought together by incredible planner, L’Amour Event, 

We’ve seen many a stunning chuppah in our time, but Della and Benjamin went all out, with a show-stopping garden-themed and foliage-rich chuppah, bursting with pops of color in the couple’s ‘shades of pink’ color palette. Butterfly Floral displayed ridiculous levels of talent in creating the absolute vision, and the complementary arrangements around the venue. 

The fabulous floristry was echoed in the couple’s sensational seven-tier cake by Joanie and Leigh’s Cakes, also an absolute work of art.

All of the magic and dà©cor details were captured with aplomb by photographer John Solano, and in the beautiful, cinematic wedding video below, provided by David Medill.

It’s time to pass you over to Della for the full story on her and Ben’s magical day – we just know you’ll love it as much as we do!

Jewish wedding The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California USA_0043

Jewish wedding The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California USA_0043

Jewish wedding The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California USA_0043

Jewish wedding The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California USA_0043
A venue with a beautiful ballroom

Della, the bride: We got married at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA. We choose this place because of the ballroom layout. I liked that it was three levels and everyone was on a higher level than the dance floor, so they would all have a good seat at our wedding. 

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A Pronovias Bride for a Colorful Jewish Wedding With a Stunning Chuppah at The Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London, UK

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wish wedding The Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London, UK_0010
Natasha and Barry’s Jewish London wedding was all about color – and boy did they go all out! The stunning chuppah, created by extraordinary florist, Amie Bone, made an incredible centerpiece for the entire celebration.

The wedding was held after Shabbat on Saturday night, Israeli style, and was a full-on family affair, with everybody close to the couple playing an important role in the big day. 

Beautiful bride Natasha looked simply incredible in her Pronovias gown, which was purchased at the 11th hour with a lot of help from the wonderful staff at Bridal Rogue Gallery. You’d never know there was behind-the-scenes dress drama, as Natasha looked like a dream!

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor and world-renowned kosher caterer, Food Story, outdid themselves with what can only be described as a sumptuous feast, complete with desserts with a little something extra…

Photographers Reportage Gallery captured all the action of the day and the wonderful writeup below was provided by bride Natasha, who we’ll hand you over to now! Take it away, Natasha!

Jewish wedding The Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London, UK_0087

Jewish wedding The Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London, UK_0105

wish wedding The Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London, UK_0010 wish wedding The Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London, UK_0010 wish wedding The Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London, UK_0010
How we met

Natasha, the bride: After dating for just under a year and a half, Barry proposed in Paris under the Eiffel Tower — no clichà©s at all! Without me knowing, he’d been planning this for a few months and had even bought a beautiful ring, made for me, which luckily fit!
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Top Five Above & Beyond Honeymoon Hotels {with Mr & Mrs Smith}

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After months, possibly years, of planning a wedding, you need — no — deserve to unwind together in the lap of luxury as newlyweds. Luckily, we know just the people to help you out: Mr & Mrs Smith, who happened to help founder, Karen, with her honeymoon planning. We are BIG FANS!)

With so many amazing potential honeymoon spots to choose from, this year your trip starts with the hotel… And nobody knows more about picking out the perfect hotel than Mr & Mrs Smith.

In case you didn’t know, Mr & Mrs Smith is the travel club for hotel lovers. Each stay in their collection is a destination itself and comes with the all-important Smith stamp of approval; none more so than the 10 hotels shortlisted in the 2018 Mr & Mrs Smith Awards’ Above & Beyond category.

Seamless service

These Mr & Mrs Smith hotels are made even more special (if that’s possible) with seamless service and a generous spirit. Going the extra mile is the rule, not the exception, so it’s safe to say you’ll be well looked after. We really wish we could show you all of them, but we’ve had to narrow the list down to our five favourites.

Oh, and just to make things even easier for you, the Smith24 team can take care of everything from hotels and villas to itineraries and flights, so all you have to do is relax and have the time of your lives.

And now, without further ado, and in no particular order, we present the five stays that stole our hearts.Let us know your favourites in the comments below!

1. Chamba Camp Thiksey, Himalayas, India

The winner of the Above & Beyond category in the Smith Hotel Awards 2018, this breathtaking property is set an impressive 3,500 metres up in the Ladakh Valley.

Now, let’s talk service… What could be more decadent than having a personal butler assigned to each ultra-luxe tent? That’s right — everything is taken care of, so you’re free to enjoy exploring the mountains and watching the local dancers strut their stuff at dinner each night.

Every last detail has been thought of here — there’s even a well-stocked snack drawer for those who get peckish in the middle of the night. Above and beyond even the hotel’s lofty altitude…

Find out more about Chamba Camp Thiksey and book your stay here.

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Our Valentine’s Day Gift to You!

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VIB-GIFT
Happy Valentine’s Day! What are you up to today? I’ll be having a cosy, intimate dinner at home with Mr STG this evening which I’m really looking forward to, but before that there’s some very exciting business to attend to!

You see, this Valentine’s morning I’m opening the doors to our shiny new private Facebook community for our Members Club Brides (a.k.a. known as VIB’s — Very Important Brides) where ALL the community action goes on, and it’s going to be ALL-SORTS-OF-FABULOUS!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two weeks, you’ll have heard of (and many of you are already signed up to!) our fabulous new Members Club for Jewish and Jew-ish Brides — the VIB Club — that we launched two weeks ago at our epic Smashing Summit.

Smash-Pouch

Smash Glass Pouches (as above – gorgeous, right?!) have been posted out to VIB’s, and Wedding Vendor discounts have been claimed, but it’s only today that we are opening the doors to the VIB Club Facebook community where SO much of the action is happening!

What goes on inside the Members Club Facebook Community?

There’ll be ‘Ask The Rabbi’ sessions, Wedding Hashtag Masterminds, live interactive bridal masterclasses with Jewish wedding experts who ‘get it’, Bride’s Hot Seat (where I go split screen inside the group with one Bride and solve all her wedding planning issues live), a community of brides all over the world seeking advice and helping one another other, and SO much more!

And with today being the official day of love, I couldn’t let it pass by without giving YOU a gift with love from STG:

Here’s your 10 day access-all-areas pass inside the private VIB Club Facebook Community — just for you!

Just be aware though, that your 10 day access pass will not entitle you to any VIB discounts, gifts, or the limited-edition Smash Glass Pouch.

Next Sunday February 25th, should you not choose to sign up to become a VIB, you will lose access to the group and all the action, experts, advice, challenges, discussions, and community inside.

But should you choose to sign up I will:

  1. Be jumping for joy that I can get hands-on and help plan your wedding with you. YAY!
  2. Post you your limited edition Smash Glass Pouch
  3. Unlock you access to 100’s of handpicked wedding vendor discounts and gifts covering all budgets, locations and styles of wedding. These are vendors handpicked by me that I know well and personally recommend. The best in the business — who are just as emotionally invested in your wedding day as you are. 

I would SO love you to make this relationship official and have you sign up as a VIB  as there is SO much more to being a VIB then just the Facebook community. But for starters, experience everything the community has to offer with our 10 day access-all-areas pass. Just click here! 

I can’t wait to see you inside!

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