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Real Blogging Brides: Clare – My First Time At ‘Brides The Show’

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Clare 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!


Heading to ‘Brides The Show’

Having been mentally preparing for my wedding since around the age of five, going to a wedding show was always one of those essential activities that had to be done with my mum. Since getting engaged I had noticed the vast number of shows going on in London with even keener than normal interest.

It was therefore with much excitement that my mum and I went to Brides The Show on October 1st. Waiting to meet mum outside the tube, a constant stream of mums and daughters, sisters, grandmothers were making their way to the design centre in Islington.

Treated like VIPs

When we arrived, VIP tickets in hand I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from this experience. Would it meet my childhood wedding expectation dreams?! The first ten minutes or so were spent navigating our way around the exhibitors, glancing at our maps for those that we had pre planned to visit and taking in the overwhelming amount of dresses, photo booths, wedding cakes, stationery…

Our first stop was to the VIP lounge. We had debated the purchase of the VIP tickets but had decided we would treat ourselves to the promised goods that would be in store. The lounge was busy but with plenty of seating, and a lovely place to have our complimentary glass of bubbles and plan out our hit list of what we needed to see.

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I’m a VIP Expert at ‘Brides The Show’ and to celebrate I’m giving away a pair of VIP tickets (worth £100) and 10 pairs of regular tickets!

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Brides-The-Show
Attention lovely brides-to-be! I’m super excited to let you know that I’ve been invited by  Brides The Show  to be one of their VIP Experts  this Saturday 1st  October.  I’m one of several ‘wedding  experts’ available in the VIP Lounge to answer any wedding related questions that  VIP guests may have and  I can’t wait to help.

To celebrate,  I’m hosting a contest to give  away a pair of VIP tickets (worth £100) and 10 pairs of regular tickets. I hope any UK-based brides will enter as I really would love to meet you at the show. Keep reading until the end to find out how to win  (it’s super easy!).

I’m a big fan of  Brides The Show  as everything is so carefully curated under one roof to help you plan your dream wedding in style. A trip to the show brings you  exclusive access to the very best in bridal, from dresses to diamonds, flowers and  cakes, as the event brings together top wedding experts and over 150 luxury suppliers.

Expect the freshest ideas, the highest quality craftsmanship and the very latest trends. With hundreds of luxury exhibitors — including STG-faves, Prezola,  Potcakes Wedding Planners,  Stephanie Allin, The Wedding Shop, and  Wedding Smashers,  you can tick every  item  off your wedding to-do list in style.

As well as sourcing top notch suppliers, you’ll also be able to take part in DIY masterclasses in the  Imagination Room  and enjoy a mesmerising catwalk show featuring all the latest looks  and hottest designers including Monique Lhuillier, Halfpenny London, Stephanie Allin (my wedding dress designer!), Ian Stuart and Suzanne Neville.

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I’m speaking at ‘Brides The Show’ and to celebrate I’m giving away 2 pairs of Gold VIP tickets and 20 pairs of White tickets!

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Brides-The-Show
Attention  lovely  brides-to-be! I’m super excited to let you know that I’ve been invited by  Brides The Show  to give a talk  for the 2nd year in a row! After the success of last year’s session, I’m so excited to be speaking again — this time on Saturday  3rd October 2015 at 12.30pm — and I’m hoping to see lots  of your fabulous faces there.

The venue is the Business Design Centre in Islington, North London and, just like last year,  I’ll be sharing the sofa  with the lovely Charley from London Bride  (it seems our  partnership was such a hit last year, they asked us back for more!).

I’m a big fan of  Brides The Show  as everything has been carefully curated under one roof to help you plan your dream wedding in style. A trip to the show brings you  exclusive access to the very best in bridal, from dresses to diamonds, flowers and  cakes, as the event brings together top wedding experts and over 130 luxury suppliers.

Expect the freshest ideas, the highest quality craftsmanship and the very latest trends. With hundreds of luxury exhibitors — including STG-faves, Victoria Made  and Mary Jane Vaughan, you can tick every  item  off your wedding to-do list in style.

Brides The Show
Posing at last year’s Brides The Show with my then 12 week baby bump!

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12 online wedding resources every Bride-To-Be should know about

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12-online-wedding-resources
Last Sunday, myself and Charley from London Bride were interviewed ‘On The Sofa’ at Brides The Show about how to find everything you need online when it comes to planning your wedding.

We loved every minute of our talk and were delighted to be speaking to a packed floor with brides scribbling our tips away in their notebooks, so I thought I’d recap the main points we made so that everyone can benefit from the content.

1. WEDDING BLOGS

We’re lucky enough to be living in a wedding planning world that is packed full of hundreds and thousands of inspiring wedding blogs. Each one caters to a niche with everything from geeky weddings to tattooed brides to of course Jewish weddings and everything in between. Unlike wedding magazines, blogs are free to read so the bloggers who run them don’t need to worry about appealing to the masses or shifting however many copies. It’s the bloggers’ unbiased, unedited opinions and being digital, blogs are also very fast-moving, immediate and very regularly updated.

2. USING BLOGS TO SOURCE SUPPLIERS

The heart and soul of many wedding blogs, including Smashing The Glass, are the real weddings. Each wedding is hand-picked by the blogger with the intention of inspiring you with the fabulously creative ideas of the bride and groom. The wonderful thing is that all the suppliers that contributed to that wedding are listed at the bottom of the feature, with links to their websites, so it’s a great way to directly find suppliers that catch your eye.

And if you’re after a specific type of supplier, many blogs have their recommended vendors section which is a great place to start your search if you resonate with a particular blog.

3. DIY TUTORIALS

Many wedding blogs post step-by-step DIY tutorials that are great for the craft-loving or money-saving bride. Particular favourites for DIY’s are Love My Dress and Bespoke Bride, and don’t forget YouTube for video tutorials too… did you know that Martha Stewart has her own wedding DIY YouTube channel?

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Charley and I speaking ‘On The Sofa’ about how to plan your wedding online, at Brides The Show

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I’m speaking at ‘Brides The Show’ and to celebrate I’m giving away 20 pairs of tickets!

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Brides The Show
Today I have some very exciting news for all UK Smashing The Glass brides-to-be! I’ve been asked by the  wonderful team at Brides The Show  to speak at their fabulous super luxe wedding show  on Sunday 5th October, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

I’ll be sharing the sofa  with the lovely Charley from London Bride and together we’ll be telling you all our secrets  on  how to source the best bridal inspiration online, and what the top planning resources on the internet are.

Alongside our  On The Sofa  chat, you”ll  also find  an absolute  dream line up of exhibitors, an  awe-inspiring Imagination Room, and a breathtaking catwalk show. Oh, and    you’ll also be able to  pamper yourself with bubbles from  the Laurent-Perrier Champagne Bar, and  test  out your big day look  with a  team of professional make up artists.

Everything’s been  carefully curated under one roof to help you plan your perfect  wedding, and put it this way, if the  show were a department store, it’d be Liberty! It’s so gorgeously curated with an assemblage of brands so carefully edited that it makes for the ultimate wedding “little black book”, and I’m so delighted to be a part of it.

Brides The Show
Brides The Show is running from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th October 2014 at Islington’s Business Design Centre in North London,  and I’m giving away 20  pairs of tickets for Sunday 5th October (the day I’m speaking!) to you, my lovely  readers.

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