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Bringing the Hamptons to the UK: Jewish Wedding Inspo on Osea Island

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Eight months into the pandemic, and I think most of us are experiencing some serious wanderlust. So today, we’re taking you on a little holiday to the Hamptons, navigated by master wedding planner and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J, who spearheaded this gorgeous Jewish wedding-themed shoot!

Wait, sorry, this actually isn’t the Hamptons – despite what you might assume from the chilled out ocean backdrop, the soft beachy color scheme, and the Adirondack chairs! But we ARE headed off on a fabulous journey that will be of particular interest to all of you UK couples out there dreaming of an immersive destination wedding but hesitant to make plans abroad, thanks to Michelle and a fantastic team of wedding professionals, including some other beloved #STGvendors like stationer Dimitria Jordan, makeup artist Katy Angelidi, florist Gabriella Shemtov, and bridal boutique Mirror Mirror London, and Judaica purveyor Contemporary Judaica!

Today’s destination is actually the UK’s magical Osea Island! A small, privately owned island just off the Essex coast and accessible via a tidal causeway (and only a little more than an hour from London!), Osea Island is offered for exclusive hire for weddings and special events – and it’s truly a venue like none other. 

Michelle and her team fell in love with the cool, casual vibe and Hamptons-style interiors abundant on Osea Island – and she should know, as the planner involved with this incredible Jewish wedding featured on STG last year – and we’re betting you will, too. 

There’s something incredibly calming about these exquisite photos, courtesy of Stuart Wood Photography – thanks to the idyllic setting, tranquil coastal color palette, and sophisticated yet understated design scheme – and who couldn’t use a little bit of that right now?

Even though Osea Island isn’t far from London at all, it really does feel like another world – and as such, it’s absolutely the perfect option for couples in the UK who want the feel of an immersive destination wedding without the hassle (and, in COVID times, uncertainty) of international travel.

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How to Create a Memorable Experience for Your Guests {Facebook Live Recap with Michelle Jacobs}

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I’m so excited to share with you my latest Facebook Live with the incredible luxury wedding planner Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J. Based in London with a focus on destination weddings and wedding weekends, Michelle is truly one of the best when it comes to working with Jewish and Jew-ish couples to craft standout wedding experiences (and is a favourite among STG brides!), and I was lucky to be able to chat with her at The Wedding Gallery in Central London about ways to make your wedding pop while at the same time keeping everything accessible for guests.

Michelle is just so full of wedding wisdom, and if you’re working to create a one-of-a-kind, ultra-memorable day everyone will enjoy (and honestly, who isn’t?), this Live is 100% worth your time. Starting with the premise that happy guests are what make or break a wedding’s atmosphere, Michelle’s got tips that apply to weddings of any budget and style.

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Chloe and Danny‘s Tuscan Jewish wedding, planned by Michelle! Photo by David Bastianoni

Focus on Guest Experience

We started off by chatting about how you can make sure your guests have a fantastic experience at your wedding from start to finish. This starts from the moment you send out those invites: pumping your guests up for your big day is step 1 to creating a killer atmosphere on the day. 

How to do it? First off, if you’re getting married somewhere far off or out of the way, make sure they know how to get there and what kind of arrangements you’ve made to help get them home (or back to their hotels) at the end of the night.

Second, if you have guests who may not have attended a Jewish wedding before, make sure to keep things accessible for them. Creating a wedding program outlining and explaining the elements of the ceremony is a wonderful way to do this. It’s also thoughtful to let guests know in advance about anything that might catch them off guard, like if they’ll be asked to wear kipper, or if you’ll be having separate dancing or separate seating for the ceremony.

Another type of guest who might need some special looking after? Anyone attending alone who doesn’t know any of the other guests. One idea is to assign a group of people to take care of your solo guests on the day (and seat them all together); another is to start a Facebook group for your guests in advance of the big day so they can get to know each other a bit beforehand!

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A Hayley Paige Bride for a Romantic Jewish Wedding at Villa Oliva, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

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What a wedding! If you’ve ever fantasized about jetting off to Tuscany to get married, the exquisite Jewish wedding of Stephanie and Dan, who did just that, is going to knock your socks off. In fact, it’ll probably do that even the thought of a Tuscan wedding has never even crossed your mind!

The couple’s wonderful planner, Michelle Jacobs of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elegante By Michelle J, took all the pressure out of planning while making sure the big day was as elegant, romantic, joyful, and memorable as it could possible be. And she connected the couple with their amazing roster of vendors!

Truly, these two used so many of the very best out there, from the amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Totem – who Stephanie and Dan flew over from London because they wanted to make sure their big day featured some EPIC Israeli dancing, and if you know Totem you know they get the party going like no one else – to mega-talented stationer Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Bigday Designs (love the stationery suite they came up with!) to a gift list with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Prezola.

Photographer David Bastianoni and videographer Federico of Waterfall Visuals both captured the day so beautifully, and we love that they were committed as to capturing the love between the couple – including lots of sweet casual moments – as to featuring the beautiful setting and décor (looking at you, floral chuppah!).

If you’re wondering how you can make your wedding as awesome as Stephanie and Dan’s, don’t miss our Facebook Live with none other than Michelle Jacobs herself, all about creating an ultra-memorable experience for your guests. It’s happening this Thursday, March 5, at 7:30 PM GMT / 2:30 PM EST / 11:30 PST, right on the Smashing The Glass Facebook Page.

But for now, we’re going to turn you over to the lovely Stephanie, who looked simply ravishing in Hayley Paige…

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Venue

Stephanie, the bride: We got married in Villa Oliva, near Lucca in Tuscany. I’ve always dreamed of having a romantic wedding abroad and, luckily, Dan saw the appeal. We picked Tuscany because we both love Italy – from the food and wine to the art, landscape and scenery.

Dan and I are both nature lovers, so the idea of getting married in a Tuscan garden really appealed to us. The venue we chose had several gorgeous gardens surrounding the villa and we fell in love.

We also wanted each area of the party to be a surprise for the guests, so we got married at the front of the villa; had the drinks reception behind the villa; and dinner and dancing was held in a large garden slightly further away from the property. The front of the villa had a beautiful grotto, which was the perfect backdrop for the chuppah.

We were very grateful for the support of our family and friends flying out to celebrate our special day with us. The guests were able to get to know each other at the welcome party and by the pool, so everyone was friendly at the main event. It felt like a big holiday!

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How to Create a Memorable Experience for Your Guests {with Michelle Jacobs}

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Luxury wedding planner Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J is the best of the best when it comes to working with Jewish and Jew-ish couples to craft standout wedding experiences that will make your guests feel comfortable and included at the same time you’re knocking their socks off with your individual spin on the big day.

Working out how to make your wedding pop while at the same time keeping everything accessible for guests is a topic I get asked about by couples ALL the time, so I asked the amazing Michelle if she’d share all her best tips with me and you!

Michelle helped Emma and Pete plan a Mary Poppins-themed wedding – talk about unique! Photo by Claudine Hartzel

She’ll be going over ways to make your wedding truly unforgettable – including a breakdown of just what it is that sets apart weddings that pop from those that don’t. She’ll show that there isn’t just one path to a standout day; there are as many possibilities as there are couples, from picking a unique venue to going for an alternative (and extra delicious!) food service, entertainment with a difference, and beyond.

Then she’ll go over her top tips for making your guests feel comfortable and included in whatever way you choose to personalize the big day – everything from how to approach your seating chart, to ensuring your guests will be confident about how to get home at the end of the night!

Michelle will be chatting with me on our Smashing The Glass Facebook page this Thursday, 5 March, live from central London’s The Wedding Gallery, all about how to create an unforgettable experience for your guests.
 
Michelle will be answering all your questions live, so if there’s anything you want to know about planning the wedding weekend of your dreams, ask away!

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A Mary Poppins-Themed Jewish Wedding at Bevis Marks and Behind the Bike Shed, London, UK

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Happy 2020! Seeing as this is our first real Jewish wedding feature of the year, we wanted to make it something really special – and we found just the thing. Emma, a product manager, and Pete, a data scientist, wanted a wedding that showcased their love of London in a fresh, unexpected, and whimsical way – and did they ever hit the jackpot when Emma realized her love of Mary Poppins was the perfect theme to center it all!

The couple’s wedding planner, the amazing Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Elegante By Michelle J – whose experience, knowledge, and knack for handling wedding logistics seamlessly made it easy for the duo to stay focused on the fun details and creative touches – helped them transform their dream into reality, crafting a Mary Poppins-perfect day that always stayed classy and never veered into the cheesy or childish.

Bringing in iconic touches like kites, umbrellas, carpet bags, lampposts, chimneys – for example, Emma and Pete had a giant table plan where the numbers were kites and everyone’s names were hanging down on the bows – and fun details like cocktails with Poppins-inspired names, the whole team really went all in.

And nowhere is this more evident than in the choice to center the reception décor around a totally incredible balloon arrangement by Balloonista, who the couple’s planner connected them with. Working with Emma and Pete’s wedding colours and theme, Balloonista created a stunning, one-of-a-kind overhead installation featuring balloons, and, in true Mary Poppins style, hanging umbrellas too.

The amazing photographer STG Recommended Vendor Claudine Hartzel did a great job capturing all the special moments and details of the day, as did videographer Marco Windham.

And speaking of STG Recommended Vendors – we love that Emma and Peter opted to work with so many of them, from Philippa Louise Makeup, the force between the bride’s glam bridal look, to the mega-talented Jonny Mosesson, who not only sang beautifully during the chuppah but also went above and beyond helping the couple choose their music.

Now over to the gorgeous bride, Emma…

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Bevis Marks to Bike Shed

Emma, the bride: Pete and I both come from fairly traditional Jewish backgrounds but are also quite liberal in our thinking and outlook on life. Our wedding had to be a balance between honouring our families’ perspective and the Jewish tradition that we love while keeping true to our values, lifestyle and quirky taste.

We always knew we wanted to have a London wedding and something that captured the way we live together now, which is very much about living in London Bridge and spending a lot of time around the City and East London.

We knew we wanted to have a wedding in a synagogue – we both grew up going to synagogue and being in a venue that was part of Jewish life and connected to years of simchas felt like it would make the service more spiritual for us.

In this respect we got so lucky to be able to get married at the historic Bevis Marks. I had seen a friend get married there years ago and the beauty of the synagogue left such a strong impression on me that it was the first place I thought of when we got engaged. Bevis Marks is also a short walk from our flat so it fitted perfectly with our idea of a local London wedding. We loved getting more involved in the community as we prepared for the wedding.

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