Smashing the Glass | Jewish Wedding Blog

Inspired Jewish Weddings

Chitter Chatter with Aleisha McCormack, founder and hostess of the Save The Date Wedding Podcast

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Aleisha McCormack
Image:  Louisa Bailey Photography

With  the latest addition to our family there’ll be a few subtle changes to the schedule of the blog for the coming weeks  while I’m adjusting to life with our new baby.

I’ll still be posting the very coolest  real Jewish weddings  every week, but  there’ll also be  a brand new feature running where I interview all sorts of inspirational women in the wedding industry whom  I greatly admire. These women successfully combine  running their own business with married life and in a lot of cases, raising a young family.

The series is called Chitter Chatter and the twist is is they have to answer my questions  in just 140 characters or less….

Today I’m chitter chattering  with Aleisha McCormack, the brains and voice  behind the  Save the Date Wedding Podcast. I’ve been lucky enough to be a guest on Aleisha’s podcasts twice and you can hear the episodes here and here!

Aleisha has travelled the globe interviewing fascinating people including Richard Branson, Spice Girls and Prime Ministers, and with over a decade of experience on radio, screen and stage under her belt, Aleisha brings wit and game to the world of podcasting. Her hit wedding planning book Smart Wedding  will have a second print run in 2015. She  lives in London with her husband, Rich.

What was your first job?

I was 16 and selling home wares. I didn’t have a clue. I got really creative when it came to making stuff up at about crockery, if Wedgwood knew what I was promising their customers…

Tell me more about your career before launching the Save The Date podcast

How long have you got?! Lot’s of TV work both on camera and off, writing for panel shows and stand up comedy. The podcast is a perfect mesh of all of my skills.

What made you start  the Save The Date podcast?

I wrote a book  Smart Wedding  and after doing some promo for it, I realised just how much I love talking to people about weddings. I love listening to podcasts so it felt like it was meant to be.

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Deborah & Hernà¡n | ‘Intimate & international’ Jewish wedding on a farmhouse at South Farm, Cambridgeshire, UK

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Farmhouse Jewish Wedding
Over the past few weeks we’ve shown you real Jewish weddings on South American lakesides, Italian cliff tops, and a myriad of coastlines — but how about we take it back to the land and look at Deborah and Hernà¡n’s wedding on a glorious farm in Cambridgeshire, England.

With farmyard animals loitering outside the main reception, food and entertainment in the barn and painted gypsy caravans for the guests to sleep in — this was such an inspired choice of venue to share with their family and friends hailing from around the world.

Deborah and Argentinian-born Hernà¡n settled on stunning South Farm for their big ‘I do’ as they wanted to veer away from the traditional Jewish wedding — they wanted an international party and they certainly accomplished that, and all with such a thoughtful eye to detail.

I’m totally drawn to Deborah and Hernà¡n, not just because they’re regular visitors to Smashing The Glass or because they got married on my birthday (yay!) but because they seem such a happy, warm and inclusive couple…. And this spills out into their wedding. The love just radiates and the pictures and film by York Place Studios make me smile and well up in equal measure — everyone seems to be having the BEST time.

So how did they manage to be so inclusive for the whole international family? A few key things — as their speeches were in English and Spanish, they used a projector to translate, so all guests were in on all the jokes!

The order of service was in both English and Spanish and their Sheva Brachot were said in Hebrew, Spanish and English.

Their choice of band also showed such sensitivity to their guests needs — Storm played a mixture of Israeli, British and Argentinian music.

And even the chuppah had an international flavour — with materials bought in Argentina which were then taken back to the UK and the poles came from the North London Synagogue. I also love that the chuppah design incorporated handprints from both Deborah and Hernà¡n’s families…

With hosts like this — no wonder everyone looks so darn happy!

Jewish wedding on a farmhouse
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The Herve Leger Bridal Collection as experienced by Angie Silver, one of our much loved Sponsors

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HERVE-LEGER-BRIDAL
This is a guest post by Angie Silver, author of SilverSpoon London, London’s leading luxury lifestyle blog.

Hello there, I’m Angie and I’m a proud sponsor of Smashing the Glass. I write the blog SilverSpoon London, which focuses on luxurious London lifestyle, food and travel…if you get a moment I’d love for you take a look for some honeymoon inspiration!

Last year I was a Jewish bride myself and I loved looking to Karen’s blog for inspiration on how to break the mould for my wedding. Though my wedding preparation is all over I was thrilled when Karen asked me to pop along to the Herve Leger wedding dress preview on her behalf! Like Karen, I’m a huge fan of the designer and I must admit to having several of the multi-coloured bandage dresses filling my wardrobe.

Herve Leger Bridal
Herve Leger’s signature body-con look may not a be your typical princess dress but who wants to be the same as everyone else? I love the idea of stepping even further outside the box and moving away from white into pinks, silvers and even metallics for the big day…

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Chitter Chatter with Kat Williams, the brains behind Rock n Roll Bride, one of the biggest wedding blogs in the world

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Kat-Williams-Rock-N-Roll-Bride
Image: Shell de Mar

With the latest addition to our family there’ll be a few subtle changes to the schedule of the blog for the coming weeks while I’m adjusting to life with our new baby.

I’ll still be posting the very coolest real Jewish weddings every week, but there’ll also be a brand new feature running where I interview all sorts of inspirational women in the wedding industry whom I greatly admire. These women successfully combine running their own business with married life and in a lot of cases, raising a young family.

The series is called Chitter Chatter and the twist is is they have to answer my questions in just 140 characters or less….

Today I’m chitter chattering to one of the world’s most influential wedding bloggers, Kat Williams of the almighty Rock N Roll Bride. Back in 2007 Kat saw a niche for alternative wedding inspiration and ran with it! Kat now works on the blog, and the ever growing Rock n Roll Bride brand, full-time alongside her husband Gareth, and is also one of the headmistresses at The Blogcademy, a two-day blogging workshop that she co-founded and runs with prolific US bloggers Gala Darling and Shauna Haider.

What was your first job?

Sales assistant in Holland and Barrett.

Tell me more about your career before launching Rock N Roll Bride

I was a shopping TV producer for Bid TV (RIP!)

How do you cope with running two growing businesses: Rock N Roll Bride and The Blogcademy?

Its a lot of work, BUT I LOVE IT. Genuinely. It doesn’t feel like I ever have to ‘cope’ with it because I just love doing it all so much.

What inspires you to keep growing and developing both your businesses ?

I’m fiercely competitive! Ha!

What obstacles have you overcome along the way?

The usual – people letting you down, long hours, trolls, lack of social life… It’s all worth it though.

Kat Williams Rock N Roll Bride_0002
Image: Madeline Kate Photography
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Ciao bella! Super stylish Italian weddings with the Italian Wedding Company

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Weddings-in-Italy-2Is there any place more instantly connected with romance than Italy? The land of enchanting lakes, rolling green vine-covered hills and azure-blue sea. It’s certainly a country of contrasts, from its cosmopolitan historic cities, up to the majestic snow-topped Alps and back down to stunning heat-seared coastlines… with, of course, peerless cuisine and wines to make them the envy of the world.

I’ve blogged my fair share of Jewish Italian weddings on Smashing The Glass already, and in a couple of weeks time there’s another gem coming that was planned by the  Italian Wedding Company  – I can’t wait for you to see it! The Italian Wedding Company are really something special.  I snapped them up as  Smashing Suppliers, and today  I want to tell you a little bit more about  why I’m so fond of them.

Weddings in ItalyWeddings in ItalyContinue ReadingContinue Reading