Monica Vinader Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Smashing the Glass

An Enchanted Woodland-Themed Destination Jewish wedding at Baya’ar, Israel

09/01/2017 by Karen

destination-wedding-israel
What do the words “fairytale wedding” evoke for you? For some, they conjure images of opulent castles, extravagant gowns and dreams come true. Colette and Rob’s fairytale took a wonderful twist away from the clichà©, through enchanted forests in a truly magical woodland-inspired celebration (check out the themed chuppah — it’s just sublime).

The backdrop for the big day was Baya’ar, a breathtaking Israeli nature reserve. We’re thrilled to say that STG had the immense honour of playing a big role in the venue selection, as the happy couple had come across it before right here on the blog.

Aside from the absolutely stunning aesthetic (including a breathtaking wedding dress by a hot new Israeli designer, and the cutest flower girls), captured by photographer Ronen Boidek, the wedding was also full of heart. Colette had been through a tumultuous time, surviving cancer before meeting the love of her life, and so seeing her walk down the aisle was an incredibly emotional moment for her whole family.

We’ll hand over to Colette to tell us more — it goes without saying that everyone at Smashing the Glass wishes the happy couple a long and wonderful married life together.

How we met

Colette, the bride: Rob went to university with my brother, we then had a drunken night in a very tacky bar in London!

A Berta Bridal gown and the perfect Jimmy Choos | A glam chic wedding at Villa Padierna Palace Hotel, Marbella, Spain

22/11/2016 by Karen

Ladies and gentlemen, if you’d please present your boarding passes — I mean invitations — and take a journey with us to Salena and Stefan’s super glam wedding at Villa Padierna Palace Hotel in Marbella, Spain

Captured with aplomb by much-loved and often-featured Smashing Supplier, photographer David Pullum and fabulous videographer AtMotion, Salena and Stefan’s big day was all about friends, family and, of course, the party of a lifetime, which lasted until 3am!

There are so many adorable details to look out for, but this one is particularly steal-worthy! The couple had the genius idea of sending their guests passport invitation packages. As it was an overseas wedding, this was a really fun way to represent that and present all of the necessary information in a cool, chic and creative way. Sticking with their stunning chosen colour palette of duck egg blue and gold, the invitations themselves were styled as boarding passes.

At Smashing the Glass, we love a bride who expresses herself, and wedding singer Salena looked every bit the belle of the ball in her show-stopping Berta Bridal dress, complete with jealousy-inducing Jimmy Choos and to-die-for jewellery. Looking catwalk ready with her perfectly executed hair and makeup, Salena was an absolute shining star.

‘What will be will be’ was this bride’s philosophy, opting to give her epic crowd of loving bridesmaids and her mother the freedom to choose their own styling – which she absolutely loved.

Perhaps the most touching detail of the day is that the bride’s own band, Muzika Showband, flew over to perform for Salena and Stefan’s big day, with dear friends singing them down the aisle.

How we met

Salena, the bride: We met at my husband’s friend’s wedding where I was the wedding singer. He chatted me up by the cheese board… enough said!

Yvonne & Craig’s rustic chic, beautifully personal Jewish wedding at Micklefield Hall, Hertfordshire ,UK

15/11/2016 by Karen

Some weddings are a feast for the eyes — some are a treat for the heart. And some weddings are beautifully both! Yvonne and Craig’s contemporary rustic chic wedding at Micklefield Hall in Hertfordshire, UK, shot by our inimitably talented Smashing Supplier Laura Babb, was a beautiful blend of eye-catching dà©cor and eye-dabbing personal detail.

Bride Yvonne, who recently converted to Judaism, works in design and boy can you tell. The wedding was dotted with perfectly pulled together design details; a colour scheme in soft blush pinks and whites, rustic ladders, chalkboards featuring gorgeous typography, a naked Victoria sponge — and then there was that stationery.

Yvonne took on the brave and loving task of designing and creating her whole stationery suite: from her box-set themed table signage to the 150 lovingly handcrafted (and hand gilded) invitations received by her guests.

Oh, and adorable favour idea alert: Yvonne and Craig treated each guest to a hand-decorated personalised mini bottle of pink champagne and stripy straw so they could be enjoyed during the festivities. How cute is that?

Yvonne and Craig’s big-hearted wedding also involved some astoundingly touching personal details, including a framed photograph of Yvonne’s late mother, which took pride of place during the ceremony. Yvonne and her father made the chuppah together from materials from both sides of the family, and don’t even get me started on the lovely personalised gift that Yvonne sent to Craig on the morning of the wedding…

I hope you love staring at this divine, detail-laden dream as much as I did — and make sure you check out the quirky and cool Marryoke video at the end? What’s that, you ask? I won’t ruin it for you. Enjoy!

How We Met

Yvonne, the bride: Craig and I met in a pub in Islington after Craig walked over to me and announced that he ‘had to introduce himself’! Craig played it very cool after that and waited another three weeks until he asked me out on our first date. We have been together for six years now and have made some incredible memories together. I decided to convert to Judaism a couple of years ago and although it was extremely hard work, it really was the most incredible experience and really brought me and Craig even closer together. Craig was a great support and spent hours helping me to revise and learn all the Jewish customs he was familiar with.

Personalise your wedding with Monica Vinader

14/10/2016 by Karen

monica-vinader-jewellery
Monica Vinader popped up on my radar four weeks after my first date with Mr STG, when he bought me a stunning, delicate Fiji Chain bracelet (pictured towards the bottom of the post) for my 36^th birthday.

Let’s face it; gift buying that early on in a relationship is dicey territory. It’s a situation that presents umpteen, unseen etiquette hazards.

Choose a gift too ostentatious and you risk overwhelming, give something modest or lacking in sophistication and you’re running the chance of a huge underwhelm. But wow! The future Mr STG got it so right. I was incredibly touched by the thought he’d put into choosing just the right piece (there are a lot of options) and I immediately fell for the – now iconic – classy, yet cool Fiji friendship bracelet.

Luckily for me and Mr STG, it was love at first sight and I would have married him regardless but the fact that he unveiled himself to be a master present buyer so early on in the relationship certainly didn’t hurt.

Since then, I have bought myself, friends and family a host of individually selected and engraved Monica Vinader pieces and I just love seeing their reaction when they open up the box.

A present for my friend who set me up with Mr STG

My first meeting with Mr STG was a blind date, set up by an old school friend. She’ll forever be our matchmaker, our Yenta and so for her birthday this year I sealed the deal with a mink cord, silver Havana bracelet with her nickname YENTA engraved on it (see it below). She was totally thrilled. It’s our in-joke and the gift was received with the warmth in which it was meant. No matter how old you get, there’s nothing like a friendship bracelet to make you feel special.

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Win a Monica Vinader Fiji Friendship Bracelet with your choice of engraving!

18/09/2015 by Karen

You may or may not know that I am completely obsessed with Monica Vinader‘s jewellery. I am fortunate enough to own several pieces but the ones that have become like a second skin to me (i.e. I never take them off) are my Fiji friendship bracelets. They’re simple, delicate, easy to layer and compliment any look (dressy or casual!).

What I love most about these bracelets is that they can also be personalised in such a way that they become really symbolic pieces. So for instance my latest purchase is bright fuschia (my favourite colour!) and engraved with my first name initial along with that of my husband and two daughters (K J S and Z for Karen, Jeremy, Sacha and Zara).

Of course anything is possible when it comes to the engraving — a symbolic date, a message, a motto, a nickname, a set of initials, or why not go for ‘Mrs [your-new-surname]’?!

Not only can you personalise your bracelet with an engraving, you can also choose from three metal finishes (sterling silver, 18ct gold vermeil or 18ct rose gold vermeil) and 14 adjustable and colourful cords (each colour symbolises different traits – peace, wisdom, calm, hope, prosperity, success, vitality etc.).

A Fiji friendship bracelet was the first piece of jewellery my husband (then boyfriend!) bought me and today I want to give you the chance to win one with the personalisation of your choice.

Clockwise from top left: The packaging is divine! / So many gorgeous colours to choose from / Source / Fans of Monica Vinader friendship bracelets include (L to R) Fearne Cotton, Rita Ora, and Sienna Miller

how to enter

Entering couldn’t be easier… just follow these simple steps and you could win a Monica Vinader Fiji Friendship Bracelet with your choice of engraving, colour cord, and metal.

Sign up to the brand new Smashing The Glass newsletter! I promise only to email you once every few months (with all sorts of nice stuff) and I’ll of course never ever pass your email address on to 3rd parties. Signing up for the newsletter also enables me to capture your email address so that I can contact you if you’re the prize winner.
Please ‘like’ or share this Facebook post.
Finally, for bonus points (but only if you’re so inclined!) please follow me on any of these social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Bloglovin.

The competition will close at 23:59 on Thursday 22nd October 2015 and the winner will be selected at random and contacted by email. Monica Vinader ship worldwide (including UK, USA, Israel, Australia, Canada, France, Spain, Italy etc.) so the competition is open to readers all over the world (aside from one or two exceptions — you can check if your country is listed here).

Good luck lovelies, and if you do win, I would LOVE to see a photo of you rocking your chosen Fiji friendship bracelet!