Facebook Live Archives - Smashing the Glass

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

26/05/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

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.

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!

The Songs You’ll Need for Your Jewish Wedding {Facebook Live with Kimpton Fitzroy London and Jonny Mosesson}

06/03/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 17, at 7:00 pm GMT (3:00 pm EST/12:00 pm PST), I’m so as excited as I’ll be going live at one of my very favourite London venues, Kimpton Fitzroy London, with the ridiculously talented Jonny Mosesson, the chazan I had at my own wedding!

A firm favourite with STG brides, Jonny is truly the very best – and when it comes to Jewish wedding music, his knowledge is positively encyclopaedic. And he’ll be sharing it all with us, as he performs a multitude of songs from different traditions that you may consider including at various points on your big day.

He’s here to help you choose the right music for your Jewish wedding, so this is your chance to ask away!

Interspersed with Jonny’s angelic singing will be a live Q&A, where you can ask me, Jonny, and the Kimpton Fitzroy London weddings team anything you’ve ever wanted to know about either Jewish wedding music OR this in-demand Jewish wedding venue. Definitely not to be missed!

We’ll be filming live from Kimpton Fitzroy London’s magical Palm Court, complete with a soaring glass ceiling that floods the room with light, comfortable clusters of seating, and lots of gorgeous greenery — the vibe is conservatory meets lounge meets members club, and it is exactly as fabulous as it sounds. Intimate yet fun, hip yet classic.

But that’s not all! Once we’ve wrapped up with Jonny, we’ll be launching straight in to Facebook Live #2 of the evening, a venue tour of the Kimpton Fitzroy London starting at 8:00 pm GMT / 3:00 pm EST / 12:00 PM PST.

Located oh-so-centrally in Bloomsbury’s Russell Square, the Kimpton Fitzroy London combines historic charm with modern luxury. It’s a mega-luxe, uber-stylish place, with every inch full of the chicest of contemporary details.

There’s no place like it for an urban glam Jewish wedding in London, and I can’t wait to take you along as I tour through all the stunning spaces on offer for your big day.

In between it all, we’ll be enjoying delectable canapés and drinks from Adam Nathan Catering, Kimpton Fitzroy London’s preferred partner for kosher-style catering.

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

01/03/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

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!

Everything You Need to Know about Jewish Wedding Stationery {With Jack McGinnigal of EYI Love}

10/12/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

I’m so excited to share with you my latest Facebook Live with the incredible Jack McGinnigal of luxury design and print studio EYI Love. EYI Love, which Jack runs with his wife Lorna, have been translating their respective engineering and fashion backgrounds into memorable, modern stationery design since 2010. They adore Jewish weddings, and work with Jewish couples all over the world from their home base in Glasgow – including many happy STG brides!

Jack and I chatted about all things Jewish wedding stationery, from timings to aesthetics, and if I say so myself we created some excellent content. If you’ve still got decisions about wedding stationery to make, this Live is truly not to be missed.

Wedding invitation suite of fab wedding planner and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Rachel Flax – wedding coming soon to STG!

Everything You Need to Know about Jewish Wedding Stationery {Live with Jack McGinnigal of EYI Love}

21/11/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

Ever been baffled by the standard layout for a Jewish wedding invitation? Wondered how far in advance of the wedding you need to choose your stationer? Or maybe you’re just curious what’s trending in the wedding stationery world at the moment?

We know selecting your wedding stationery can be a daunting task, with so many factors to take into consideration. That’s why we’re so excited to be bringing you a live session on everything you need to know about Jewish wedding stationery with Jack McGinnigal of luxury design and print studio EYI Love.

Based in Glasgow and working with Jewish couples all over the world, EYI Love are among the best in the industry – and they’re experts when it comes to what sets Jewish wedding stationery in particular apart.

Jack will be chatting with me on our Smashing The Glass – Jewish Wedding Blog Facebook page this Monday, 25 November, all about the logistics of planning a wedding weekend. Jack will be answering all your questions live, so if there’s anything you want to know about wedding stationery, ask away!

We’ll be covering topics including:

How to choose your stationery style
When to contact a stationer, and how far in advance to order various components of your stationery suite
Special layouts for Jewish weddings, and working with Hebrew text
Current wedding stationery trends
How to incorporate your stationery design across your wedding, from save the dates to thank yous
Details to make your wedding stationery extra special

And much more!

We’ll be chatting in real time, so you can ask Jack and me anything you want during our live broadcast, or you can submit a question in advance by emailing karen@smashingtheglass.com