Elegante by Michelle J Archives - Smashing the Glass

All about Wedding Weekends {Live with Michelle Jacobs}

28/04/2019 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

There’s nothing like a wedding weekend! They are always being discussed inside our Brides Club community and with the rise of international destination weddings, we’re seeing a rise in wedding weekends too.

Once you’re asking guests to travel for the big day, it seems like a shame not to make the most of having all your nearest and dearest together in one (very scenic) place by planning a few days’ worth of events surrounding your nuptials.

But there’s no reason you have to jet off to Italy or Palm Beach to get everyone together in one place for a fun-filled weekend – think pre-wedding dinner the night before, a wedding with no curfew, and then a post-wedding day brunch or BBQ.

Luxury wedding planner Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J is finding more and more couples are coming to her for help planning this kind of wedding weekend, right here in my hometown of the UK, and I asked her if she’d share all her best tips with me and you!

A Suzanne Neville Bride for a Super Luxe Destination Jewish Wedding at the Great Synagogue of Florence and Villa de Maiano, Florence, Italy

03/10/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

BRB — booking a ticket to Florence. Okay, maybe not, but we are a million percent tempted by today’s dreamiest of Italian destination Jewish weddings. Between the ceremony at the majestic Great Synagogue of Florence to the swoon-worthy reception at Villa di Maiano, Paige and Richard‘s day was as dreamy as it gets (and they also had an adorable wedding hashtag — #paigegetsrich).

Much-loved STG Recommended Vendor Michelle Jacobs of Elegantà© by Michelle J helped the couple pull all the fab design elements together from London, where they live. From the magical floral chuppah (who would’ve thought such a fresh, natural design would be the PERFECT fit for such a grand, historic space?) to THE most stunning top table we have ever, ever seen complete with a pergola, crystal chandeliers, hanging glass globes filled with tea lights (seriously, check out David Bastianoni’s photos — it is not to be missed!), we can safely say she hit a home run with this epic day. Oh… and Waterfall Visuals‘s film below is the dreamiest thing ever.

We’re thrilled to have a chance to chat with their awesome planner, Michelle Jacobs, live on the Smashing The Glass Facebook page tomorrow at 7: 30 p.m. GMT/2:30 p.m. EST tomorrow, Thursday, October 4. And if you love today’s wedding as much as we do, do not miss this one as we’ll be covering all the ins and outs of planning a Jewish (or Jew-ish) wedding in Italy. Please do tune in, and bring your questions!

Another wonderful STG Recommended Vendor, Totem (who Paige and Richard loved enough to fly out from London!) provided ultra-emotional chuppah music before transitioning to party mode at the villa, where they kept the dancefloor packed all night. Talk about a smashing party! Oh, and speaking of things that are smashing, did we mention Paige and Richard used one of our very own Smash Glass pouches?!

We are also LOVING their exquisite stationery by Ruth Kaye Design another STG fave and Recommended Vendor… we’re literally dying over how fabulous everything about this wedding is. —don’t you agree?

We’ll let Paige, who looked goooooorgeous in her glam Suzanne Neville gown, take it from here…

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A Room with a View

Paige, the bride: Our chuppah took place at the Great Synagogue of Florence and then afterwards we moved over to Villa di Maiano, a beautiful villa in Fiesole, a small town in the hills above Florence. Villa di Maiano is where the movie A Room with a View, was filmed (just celebrating the 30th anniversary of the film).

We went to see several venues, this was the first. We had a special feeling as soon as we walked into the gardens — we both cried — so we just knew this was the place for us. We did consider having our ceremony at Villa di Maiano, but Michelle suggested we visit the synagogue… and again, the minute we walked in we just knew we had to have our chuppah there.Continue Reading

30/09/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

You might have noticed that I am totally obsessed with dreamy Italian destination Jewish (and Jew-ish) weddings. Between the historic elegance of the cities and those fantastic rolling hills in the countryside (not to mention that out-of-this-world Italian light), there’s just something about them I can’t get enough of.

That’s why I’m beyond thrilled that premiere Italian wedding specialist Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J will be chatting with me live on the the Smashing The Glass Facebook page this Thursday, 4 October!

Michelle’s specialty is helping UK-based couples plan luxury Jewish weddings in Italy, and her work is totally and utterly breathtaking. She has planned some absolutely epic weddings (one of which we’re ecstatic to be blogging this coming Wednesday — watch this space… eek!), full of the most gorgeous details. Based in London, Michelle is intimately familiar with both Italian and UK vendors who can help make your destination wedding a smashing success.