XS Showband Archives - Smashing the Glass

A Pronovias Bride for an Interfaith Jewish Jamaican Wedding at Tewin Bury Barn, UK

10/04/2020 by Karen Cinnamon

We’re always curious to see what Jewish wedding vendors at the top of their game choose to do for their own weddings. So naturally we were pretty excited for today’s wedding. You see, beautiful bride Sarah-Louise is the rockstar bridal hair stylist behind Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Hair by SLO! She’s long been a favorite among our UK brides – you can see all her gorgeous weddings hair styles we’ve featured here – and her incredible interfaith Jewish-Jamaican (or Jew-maican!) wedding to groom Nathan is everything we could’ve hoped for and more.

Right off the bat, these two knew merging their backgrounds would be priority #1. Sarah-Louise is Jewish, while Nathan is a Christian pastor’s son – and every single detail of their ceremony reflected that.

The ceremony was under a chuppah, with the groom’s father officiating – along with a group of gospel singers all made up of Nathan’s relatives! Sarah-Louise circled Nathan 7 times, smashed the glass, and walked in to Hebrew singing.

Needless to say, the vendor lineup these two put together was pretty stellar. With simple, beautiful invitations from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Papier, exquisite hair styling handled by three amazing hairdressers who were all the bride’s former assistants, emotion-filled photography by Harry Michael, the most moving videography by mega-talented videographer Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion – seriously, don’t miss their wedding trailer – and music by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband, who worked with the couple to choose the perfect lineup of garage, Motown, and beyond to keep their guests on the dancefloor all night long.

Now over to the bride, who totally rocked her gown by Pronovias…

A Countryside Venue

Sarah-Louise, the bride: We got married at Tewin Bury Farm in the Meadow Barn. We chose this venue because it was really important to us to have a venue where our guests could stay and a suite large enough where I could get ready in – I’m a bridal hair dresser so the morning and getting ready part was very important to me. We didn’t want a venue I had worked in before so that it felt special and different for me.

A Pronovias Bride for a London-Meets-Israel Jewish Wedding at Offley Place, Hitchin, UK

09/12/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

What do you do when you’re dreaming of a destination wedding in Israel but family obligations keep you closer to home? Well, you could do worse than to follow the example of STG Brides Club member Nicola, a senior business analyst for a technical consultancy, and Dave, the CTO and co-founder of a digital design and marketing consultancy, who made it their goal to bring a little bit of Israel to their Jewish wedding right here in the UK.

How’d they do it? For starters, they worked with Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband to put together two party simcha sets with a mixture of Mizrahi and Israeli music that kept everyone on the dance floor in true Israeli style – Nicola also can’t stop raving about how helpful the XS team were in creating the couple’s day of plan and processional order, plus providing day of coordination.

And in good Israeli wedding style, Nicola and Dave had the “reliable and fantastic” (in the bride’s words) Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Magniv mobile photo magnet team taking photos of everyone throughout the festivities so that people could have a keepsake to take home.

Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Crawleys photographed the whole day so beautifully in their trademark artsy documentary style, and we’re so touched to hear Nicola say that the ultra-supportive community of STG Brides Club was “literally the only thing that kept me sane” during wedding planning

Now over the bride, who looked simply smashing in Pronovias…

How we met

Nicola, the bride: We met in the good old fashioned way… on a dating app – Jcrush to be precise (seems this is the only way to meet your soulmate these days).

There was an instant connection when we met but both of us were not long out of relationships and not ready for anything serious so we maintained a strong friendship. Even as friends, we would go out for regular dinners and lunches together, him insisting on paying for every single one being the kind and generous soul that he is.

It wasn’t until a mutual friends party, and the help of a bit of dutch courage (tequila), that we both realised what was right in front of us and shared a kiss. The first of many more to come.

A Pronovias Bride for a Jewish Wedding with a Flashmob at Sefton Park Palm House, Liverpool, UK

16/01/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

There’s not much we like better than hearing from couples that we’ve helped them plan the wedding of their dreams. So naturally we were thrilled to hear from Hannah and Jude that they booked Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor XS Showband on our founder, Karen’s recommendation!

Hannah, soon to be qualifying as a corporate lawyer, and Jude, a sales account manager, even squeezed in one of XS’s trademark wedding flashmobs — at the start of the ceremony, after the guests took their seats, instead of the groom walking down the aisle they found themselves in the midst of a flashmob performing Marvin Gaye’s ‘How Sweet It Is’! We’re so pleased (but not at all surprised) that the couple thought their band, who kept everyone dancing ALL night long, was “incredible beyond words” — some seriously high praise!

And it’s no surprise that a wedding as fabulous as this one was planned to perfection by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Qube Events and Productions, who, in addition to sorting the gold-themed dà©cor and sourcing appropriate florals to complement the palm house venue the couple report, “took all the stress off” them on the day. Can’t ask for much more than that!

And speaking of that palm house venue — it’s a seriously stunning backdrop, captured to perfection by photographer Rob Clayton and videographer Stefan of YSD Media.

Hannah, who looked radiant in her mermaid fishtail Pronovias, will walk you through the rest, from picking the perfect exotic venue (without leaving home) to selecting flower girls and pageboys from their collective 31(!) nieces and nephews to smashing two glasses – but probably not for the reason you think…

Pssst want to ensure your wedding is as memorable as Hannah & Jude’s? Then make sure you’re signed up to Smashing The Glass’ FREE online event for Jewish and Jew-ish Brides, happening this Monday 21st January – sign up here!

How we met

Hannah, the bride: I went to Manchester University. I grew really close with the Aish campus family, which was Jude’s brother, Benji, and his wife, Shiffy, and their children. I spent alot of time with them over 4 years and had met Jude in passing but that was it.

I lost touch with Benji and Shiffy and then bumped in to Benji in Manchester 3 years later and he said I had to catch up with them. I went to see them the next week which was when they mentioned Jude to me.

Jude got in touch with me a couple of weeks later and that was it. We got engaged the day after our 1 year anniversary and married 9 days after our 2 year anniversary. Jude’s Auf Ruf was actually on our 2 year anniversary.

A Gemy Maalouf Bride for a City Chic Jewish Wedding at Plaisterers’ Hall, One London Wall, London, UK

26/11/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

It’s no secret that it gets us pretty excited to hear how couples have used Smashing The Glass to help them plan their own Jewish (or Jew-ish weddings). So you can only imagine the warm and fuzzies it gave us to read these lovely words from today’s beautiful bride (and member of Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club!) Aimee:

“We really wouldn’t have known where to start planning our wedding without Karen and Smashing The Glass. We used lots of STG Recommended Vendors and they were all incredible!”

Aww, we think you’re incredible too, Aimee! She and Ross planned the most fantastic day, and we’re so touched to have been a part of it. From the bride’s totally exquisite lace Gemy Maalouf gown from much beloved STG Recommended Vendor Mirror Mirror London — it’s really unlike any other we’ve seen — to the lovely flowers (including succulents — how cool!) from STG Recommended Vendor The Country Flower Company to the elegant wedding stationery, complete with personalized wax seal, from STG Recommended Vendor Dimitria Jordan.

We’re always excited when a wedding with STG Recommended Vendor XS Showband crosses our path, and today’s is no exception. We’re delighted (but not surprised) to hear that they were incredibly helpful to Aimee and Ross throughout the planning, and we LOVE that the couple had one of the band members sing the prayers during their ceremony.

Even more STG-sourced vendors captured the day in all its glory: STG Recommended Vendor David Morgan took the coolest photos — we can’t get enough of his modern style — and STG Recommended Vendor Denee Motion’s wedding trailer is pure cinematic splendor, as always!

Okay, now we’ll hand you over to our new BFF Aimee…

How we met

Aimee, the bride: We first met on the same family holiday. We were both on the same cruise with our families and were introduced. However, I was quite shy and we didn’t talk too much!

Once back it turned out that I was joining Ross’ sixth form and we ended up in many of the same classes. In our second year we started dating and have been together ever since. 9 years later Ross proposed in our flat and here we are 11 months later… MARRIED!

A Stella York Bride for a Winter Wonderland Jewish Wedding at Warren Weir, Luton Hoo, UK

18/07/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

Don’t mind us, we’re busy picking our jaws up off the floor after seeing today’s stunning Jewish wedding portraits in the snow. Almost enough to make you rethink that summer wedding, are we right?!

When Mel, a project manager, and Mitch, who works in IT, first chose Chiko Photography, they were drawn to a photo of his with a couple under an umbrella in the snow. Who would’ve thought they’d get to recreate it themselves?!

This is also a special wedding for us because bride Mel was one of our blogging brides but not only that, Mel was also a founding member of our Club for Jewish Brides, and as such, she and Mitch were the very first couple to ever use our own-brand (and super gorgeous!) smash glass pouch for breaking the glass under their chuppah!

We loved following Mel’s wedding planning journey, and we’re so glad to hear that the feeling was mutual. Mel found several of her amazing wedding vendors through Smashing the Glass, from their incredible videographer, STG Recommended Vendor Denee Motion,to another much loved STG Recommended Vendor XS Showband, best known as pioneers of the wedding flash mob!

XS Showband provided entertainment throughout the day, but we can’t take our eyes off Denee Motion’s fantastic video of Mel and Mitch’s very own musical wedding flash mob, just before their ceremony started. They wanted a special surprise for their guests, something to make sure their day really stood out, and we think this more than did the trick. You’ve got to check it out for yourself!

Do also take a moment to read through Mel’s fabulous account of her planning and prep, there are some really useful tips and a generous helping of super advice at the end. Over to Mel now (and by the way we think she looks SO elegant in her lace fishtail gown by Stella York. . .

How we met

Mel, the bride: We met on JDate in 2013. After chatting for a while we met for a drink. Our second date was an eight-hour lunch! I thought if someone can keep me engrossed in constant conversation for that long without getting bored then I am on to a winner.