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!