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STG has been nominated in two categories in the 2016 Wedding Blog Awards!

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VOTE-STG-2016
I have some really exciting news to share with you — Smashing The Glass  has been  shortlisted in not one, but  TWO  categories in the  2016 Wedding Blog Awards!

It’s an absolute honour to be named alongside so many of my favourite blogging peers (including some of the biggest blogs in the world!) in two fabulous categories — Best Multi-Cultural Weddings Blog and Best LGBT Wedding Blog. (In case you’re interested you can see all my amazing multi-cultural weddings here  and my  incredible  same-sex Jewish weddings here).

My categories includes some  of the biggest wedding blogs in the world so if you would like to signal support for Smashing The Glass, you can follow this link to vote.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all your wonderful  support so far (Oh G-d,  please stop me… I’m starting to sound like Gwyneth!)  but it genuinely means so much to me that you  share in the joint inspiration of Smashing The Glass.

Voting closes on 30 September and the Awards ceremony is being held in London in October. I’ll be sure to update you with all the news and gossip and hopefully a little something for the mantlepiece!

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click here to vote

 

‘Q&A with Karen Cinnamon’ – a return interview with the Save The Date wedding podcast

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Karen-Cinnamon
I had so much fun when I was interviewed last  December for the Save The Date Podcast that I jumped at the chance to meet  Aleisha, the head honcho of  Save The Date, for a sequel.

Aleisha came to  my London home last week to record a special Wedding Q&A episode and I answered everything ranging from  what’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen at a wedding, to my favourite affordable wedding dress designers, to helping a Jew-ish bride-to-be who felt under pressure from her mother to include too many Jewish traditions in her upcoming wedding.

You can listen to the podcast here or here, or by pressing the play button below.  I hope you find it useful and if you’d like me to answer any  other questions, feel free to leave a comment below, or email me at karen@smashingtheglass.com

Thanks for having me Aleisha!

 

Top 20 songs to play immediately after smashing the glass at a Jewish wedding!

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Breaking-The-Glass
Image by Dave & Charlotte

There’s no doubt about it, one of the theatrical highlights of any Jewish wedding is when the groom stamps his foot and smashes that glass (is it any surprise that it’s the Jewish wedding tradition this blog is named after?!).

For me, the breaking of the glass is THE moment of a Jewish wedding. With cries of ‘mazal tov’, cheering, clapping and hollering, it’s a great time to play your favourite party song to kickstart the celebrations, smooch your beloved for the first time as man and wife, and joyously embrace your loved ones.

You may want to choose a tune that’s personal to you as a couple, or perhaps something brilliantly traditional like Siman Tov U Mazal Tov or Hava Nagila, but if you want to pump up the party atmosphere, choose any one of following 20 songs.

The first 10 tunes are my top picks, whilst the following 10 come courtesy of Maya Bechor from Zebra Music, who’s an expert at gently encouraging couples to step out of their comfort zone of ordinary “wedding music”.

All 20 tunes are also handily compiled in this Spotify playlist for your entertainment pleasure.

Oh… and for the perfect accessory for smashing the glass, you’ll want one of our own-brand smash glass pouches!

Are there any other ‘breaking the glass songs’ you’ve you heard that really got the party started? Let me know in the comments section below!

1. Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder


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Juggling motherhood with running a business from home

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motherhood-self-employment
My life–both work and personal–has changed so much in the past couple of years with the appearance of my darling daughter, Sacha, now 13 months old, and the birth of the fast-growing  Smashing  The Glass, just 18 short months ago. I’ve had to strive for a gold medal in  multi-tasking whilst also trying to instil some semblance of balance in my life. And when you work from home, your productivity in all areas is both accelerated  and impeded.

I define myself as a: Wife, Mother, Daughter, Career-Woman, Blogger, Designer, and Adorer of Wonderful People In My Life. With each of those identities comes responsibilities and duties, but  most importantly I’m also blessed to say that they come with a hell of a lot of  fun and fulfilment!  At the grand old age of 39 (yes I turned the big 40-minus-one a couple of months ago), and with the birth of Sacha, I feel like I’ve designed a life where I revel in  every minute and  am surrounded by, and immersed in,  people and  projects I love.

In all honesty  I’m exhausted most of the time but I  also feel extremely privileged  to  have such a satisfying  career and home  life. I know that my daughter will only be little for so long, and I am lucky to get to spend the extra time with her that I do.  I  have part-time child-care but  I’m running  a full-time business so it’s a constant juggle and shifting of priorities. I’m often working around the clock, in the evenings  once  Sacha  is in bed, on weekends whilst  she’s  napping, and pretty much anytime I’m waiting, walking or  watching TV  thanks to my multitude of Apple gadgets.

Karen Cinnamon

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‘Meet The Blogger’ – my interview for the Save The Date wedding podcast

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Karen-Cinnamon-interview
Last week I was interviewed by  Aleisha from the  Save The Date Wedding Podcast  and it was so much  fun!  We laughed a lot whilst discussing everything from how to avoid a ‘cookie cutter’ Jewish wedding-by-numbers, to planning a fabulous Jewish (or Jew-ish!) wedding on a budget, to tailoring traditions to your tastes and beliefs and so much more. There’s also snippets from Charlotte York’s Sex and the City Jewish journey,  some  very unusual versions of Hava Nagila, and  lots more goodies.

If you’d like to listen to it, you can do so here  or here.

And yes, that is me pregnant in the picture above! It was taken last week by the phenomenal Laura Babb, and I’ll be reporting on that shoot very soon.

I hope you enjoy the podcast – let me know your thoughts! And  thanks so much for having me Aleisha!

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