Search Results for: ceremony

Smashing Wedding Consultancy is an entirely fresh concept and combines expertise drawn from both my time at Smashing the Glass, and more than a decade in award-winning creative design & branding. It’s designed to help you bring to life the wedding of your dreams.

Maybe those dreams are already perfectly defined and you’d love some guidance on making them reality. Or perhaps you’re not sure what you want yet, and need a helping hand with ideas; the look, the feel, the all-important location. Possibly, you’re just feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything there is to do (I remember the feeling well when I was planning my own wedding back in 2013).

Wherever you are on your journey, I’ll give you all the advice, inspiration and direction you need via an exclusive one-on-one session — so you’re free to create something that’s totally, utterly, wonderfully you.

How can I help?

This is an entirely new genre of service. Just like nobody else in the world currently curates a blog that focuses solely on creative, stylish Jewish weddings — my Wedding Consultancy is one of a kind.

Whatever stage of planning you’re at, my role is to give you a perfect springboard; to get the ideas flowing and kick-start the planning process, from which you can define your wedding with your own personal stamp – or solve all your wedding planning problems / issues if you’re mid-way through or towards the end of the planning process

Offering both practical guidance and inspirational ideas, I’ll sit down with you as an individual, a couple — and even with your parents if you like — to build and shape your special day.

So how is it different?

This isn’t a wedding planning service; it’s not about day-to-day ‘wedmin’ (don’t you just love that word?). Rather, during a two-hour one-on-one session, we’ll create a detailed picture of how your celebration will feel, look … even smell!

Plus of course, you’ll have access to the entire Smashing The Glass family; the very best-in-class suppliers and vendors that I’ve hand-picked over the years, and with whom I enjoy wonderful working relationships

I’ll be able to put you in touch with the right wedding planner, photographer, dress designer, caterer, musicians, venue and more… so you can move forward with excitement and total confidence.

Why come to me?

Over the years, I’ve received many and varied calls for help, advice and most importantly inspiration. Coming to a professional from “the get go” saves so much time in the long run — while allowing you to make informed (and inspired!) decisions equipped with all the right knowledge.

Whether your budget’s big or small, whatever stage you’re at, and whatever kind of wedding you’re dreaming of — I’ll help you feel assured and liberated to do what you really want.

For example, you might like to get in touch if you:

• Have no budget set aside for a wedding planner, but want some guidance
• Have ideas of your own, and want to know how to put them into practice
• Are just starting to plan your big day
• Have got to a point where you feel you need some direction or creative input
• Are feeling a bit overwhelmed and need some expert, practical help.

> Discover more about me, my wedding industry and design accolades — and why I’m so well-equipped to help you.

Your one-on-one session

Over a two-hour consultation, we’ll discuss the areas you want or need addressing — whether it be venue ideas, unearthing your theme, supplier recommendations or anything else that’s important to you. However you’d like to use your time, I’ll offer my expert advice and guidance to set you on the right path, saving you precious time, and of course, stress.

I’ll ask the right questions to reveal your true priorities, and your absolute deal-breakers. It’s easy to get confused and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of images (thank you Pinterest!) and influences you’re confronted with when planning a wedding — this can be especially frustrating and stressful when you have a defined budget to work to.

With so much information around, it’s easy to lose sight of original thoughts and the essence of what you want. I’m here to help you focus in on those, and give you confidence in your decisions. For me, it’s about empowering you to have the wedding you want, exactly the way that you want it.

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 For £790 I offer:

• A two-hour one-on-one session with me, either at your home if it’s within the London area, at my central London office, or via Zoom for other UK and global clients

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Kind words

Simply put, working directly with Karen made our wedding happen the way we wanted it to.

We used her wedding consultancy service primarily to help to source a venue that matched certain criteria, find the right Rabbi to marry us and create a theme.

She found what would be our perfect venue (before meeting Karen I had searched high and low and never found this one on my own!) and our perfect Rabbi (not straight forward as my now husband is not Jewish but we wanted to have a fully Jewish ceremony) and inspired us with creative ideas.

Karen helped me look at the bigger picture to form ideas of what I wanted my wedding to look and feel like, from the wedding ceremony to the vibe of the party to the details, encouraging us to personalise it as much as possible.

This is what led me to later make decisions on vendors and other details, many of which were Karen’s contacts who were all fabulous. Karen’s taste is cool, modern and elegant so needless to say her recommendations and ideas were excellent.

Karen was always a phone call or email away to offer support, which made the biggest difference when faced with the challenge of planning a wedding.

I can’t imagine what our wedding would have looked like without working with Karen.

When my then fiancé and I first met Karen, we were a mess and didn’t know where to start! We were excited to get married, but also completely overwhelmed.

There were a multitude of reasons, but mostly stemming from the fact that I am Jewish and American, and my (now) husband is not Jewish and British. We decided that we wanted to get married in the UK which it meant I would be largely planning the wedding on my own as my family was in America.

I had never planned a wedding before, let alone in a place that was still new to me! The biggest hurdle was that we wanted to have a traditional Jewish ceremony without having my partner go through conversion first, but it was proving difficult to find a Rabbi who would marry us in the way we wanted to be.

We had met a few Rabbis before meeting with Karen, and although they were nice, we felt deflated as each one told us they could only give us a blessing but not the other components of a traditional Jewish wedding- circling the groom, being married under a Chuppah, reciting the Shevah Brachot and smashing the glass- that were so important to me and my family. We were so worried it wouldn’t be possible.

Within about two minutes Karen solved both of those problems by assuring us everything we wanted was possible. She really listened to us and this was the most valuable- we instantly felt like Karen understood us as people, and therefore understood what we felt was important to have in our wedding.

She was so non-judgmental and just made us feel relaxed. She turned our feeling of overwhelm into excitement by talking through with us what our wedding would look like if there were no obstacles, providing a solution for every problem and creative ideas we had never thought of before.

Her positivity and outside-the-box thinking got us on the right track and helped us move forward from engagement to planning a wedding. My then fiancé and I left the meeting feeling like everything is possible and that we could make our wedding whatever we wanted it to be- there are no rules!

Karen helped us save so much time by presenting us with a number of wedding venues that matched our criteria. I knew that she would find the best that was out there, and trusted her taste implicitly.

Having her expertise on selecting wedding venues made our wedding possible- without that I could have spent months researching and visiting venues, then having to wait for the following year to book as many fill up at least a year in advance.

When I didn’t know where to start with wedding dress shopping (it was a whole new world!), Karen gave me a list of boutiques and designers to check out that would suit me.

When I was stressing about what make-up artist to use rather last minute (how do you choose from the thousands out there?), I asked Karen and she gave me a list of her preferred contacts.

When I didn’t know what kind of cake I wanted, she gave some great ideas.

When I needed a seamstress for my dress which was bought out of country, Karen even asked her professional inner circle for the right recommendation and gave me a selection of seamstresses to contact. The fact that I knew she was there and I could turn to her for advice eased my stresses majorly!

It was amazing to feel like you had this secret weapon in planning your wedding. With Karen’s guidance, I knew that the wedding would turn out amazing, even before anything had been done.

Working with Karen felt like I was working with a friend- someone truly invested in helping you and having your best interest at heart. Most of all, it was a fun and collaborative experience

Smashing The Glass, the blog and website, is a gold mine of resources and inspiration. A lot can be found on there, for example I found a wedding Karen blogged from the same venue I had booked, to see what vendors they used. For that type of research, the website is incredible.

However, getting the personal help and attention from Karen was crucial to the outcome of my wedding. I really needed to be able to ask an expert specific questions and talk through ideas.

Smashing The Glass the website allowed me to see what can be possible, but I still needed more help to execute the ideas. Some invaluable aspects working with Karen: hand-picked venue recommendations, Rabbi recommendation and introduction, vendor recommendations and introductions, being able to contact her for advice on just about anything, chatting over ideas which made the experience so much more enjoyable.”

Caroline Porter

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Aside from the fact I got to meet Karen in her amazing apartment (which is to die for!) our meeting gave me so much focus and direction for the next stage of the planning process.

Karen and I discussed everything from my wedding dress fears to debates over open bar costs to adding really personal touches to the day. She has such a wealth of experience and so many recommendations I might never have found.

I left feeling so excited and positive and like I knew now what was most important for the day. Most of all I felt a new found sense of confidence that this was our day and that actually I could pretty much do it however I wanted (thank goodness for my wonderfully laid back fiancé!).

A real highlight was discussing with her my thoughts and hopes for the ceremony. Our conversation opened with me telling Karen that I was neither planning a Jewish or a Jew-ish wedding but rather more an ‘ish’ wedding! I talked through what was important to me and what I wanted to magpie from Jewish weddings and Karen helped to refine this into several traditions that would be key to our ceremony.

Just a couple of weeks later Karen sent the beautiful document covering everything we had discussed. It’s something to treasure and I have been constantly referring back to it to remind myself of different aspects discussed and the many recommended suppliers she has given me details for.

On top of this she also created the most stunning Pinterest board which sums up everything I am looking for from the wedding and has given some of my ‘wedding helpers’ (trust me, those six bridesmaids are being put to good use!) a ton of inspiration.

I now have a ceremony plan in place to be shared with our celebrant, a clear plan in place for a number of the outstanding details, along with personally recommended vendors, and a far more cohesive set of pictures on Pinterest than my own haphazard boards!

Last week my fiancé and I took his mother and step father for afternoon tea at the Laura Ashley and I felt my first wave of excitement since that initial rush last summer, rather than the panic and confusion I fell into! There may still be a lot to do but I’m now feeling such a clear sense of direction with where to go. 

Clare Robinson

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To get you started, I’d like to share my Top 5 Do’s and Don’ts for the perfect Jewish wedding with you.

Interested?

To find out more and arrange your one-on-one consultation, please contact me by email or simply fill out the details on the form below. Due to the exclusivity of this service, places are limited so there may be a waiting list.

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This page features the work of Claudine Hartzel and The Dreamcatchers who play a key role in supporting Smashing The Glass. Find out more about Claudine Hartzel and The Dreamcatchers in our Smashing Suppliers section