Virgin America Safety Video

We just had to share this great safety video from Virgin America.

We bet the next time you travel you'd be paying attention to the seat belt fastening demonstration if this is how the flight crew presented it. Way to go Virgin America on making such a great video.

Destination Wedding JigSaw Puzzle Game

I thought for the holidays we'd do something fun and interactive on the blog. I've created a JigSaw puzzle of one of my favourite Canadian destination wedding spots. Can you guess what popular wedding spot it is?

 Enjoy the JigSaw Puzzle everyone. Let me know what you think of it. Should this become a regular feature of the blog?

Wedding Industry Experts Award 2012

We admit it. We're not very good at updating this blog; but we were so thrilled to hear that we had been nominated for a Wedding Industry Experts 2012 Award that we just had to tell the world.

It's true what they say. It is an honor just to be nominated; especially when it's our very own peers and brides who are voting so we'd like to thank that very special bride who nominated us. Our category is Best Destination Wedding Planner. Everyone is invited to vote here

The good people at The Wedding Industry Experts Awards are allowing people to vote daily until August, 31, 2012.

Thank you to everyone who has been voting. We sure do appreciate it.

Samantha Goldberg & Sandra Aaron on Savvy Living With Marcinho Savant

Thank you to Marcinho Savant for welcoming Samantha Goldberg and myself into his radio home.

If you would like more information about the seminar happening in Toronto March 16-18th mentioned during Marcinho's show feel free to click this link The Sassi Entrepreneur with Samantha Goldberg

If you missed the show; here it is:

Listen to internet radio with Marcinho Savant on Blog Talk Radio

Celebrity Event Designer Samantha Goldberg wants to meet you!

Are you a fan of the Style Networks hit television show Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? Do you love that shows sassi star Samantha Goldberg? Are you a wedding planner, wedding designer, wedding vendor, any type of business owner at all, or maybe just someone who wants to open up their own business? If you said yes to any of these questions then I have some really exciting news for you.


Sassi Samantha Goldberg herself wants to meet YOU. Not only does she want to meet you; but she wants to teach you how she grew her business into a large operation that employs 15 of New York and New Jersey's top wedding planners, PLUS has numerous other departments with many employee's. She wants to help you and your business be the best it can be.


Samantha will be in Toronto, Canada between March 16 and 18, 2012 conducting a seminar that Mindless Sophistication Events is sponsoring called The Sassi Entrepreneur with Samantha Goldberg. She's secured an incredible price on a room block at a luxury hotel. She's bringing gifts for everyone that will knock your socks off. This woman means business and when the weekend is over your business is going to thank you for going.

You will Learn

The True Logistics of Sales
Closing the Sale with the Right Clients
How to Find Your Niche'
Event Planner or Event Designer?
Learn to Market Yourself and Your Business
Does Social Media Pay Off...and How You Can Benefit
To Organize Better with Samantha's Simple Tools For Success
AND, MUCH, MUCH MORE!!

For an extra cost there will be an opportunity to have a private or semi-private mentoring session with Samantha. How great is that?

Early bird pricing is subject to a limited amount of spots and there are still a couple left so hurry up and register before the higher prices take effect.

For full pricing, host hotel, itinerary and other information log onto The Sassi Entrepreneur Web Site

Win A Maya Wedding In Belize

Photo by Richard Holder Photography

We're very excited to be able to tell you about an incredible contest that our friend Lara Goldman of Romantic Travel Belize is running. She's giving away a 10 day wedding-moon in Belize. That's right, you read that correctly 10 romantic days in Belize.

Here's the best part; if you don't win or for whatever reason decide that entering a contest is way to much trouble you can still purchase the wedding package. There is one slight catch, it's a Maya Marriage of Many so you won't be alone as you wed. You will be celebrating the end of the Mayan calendar with 35 other couples at a real Mayan temple in Belize on December 12, 2012.

Here's what Lara has to say about the Maya Marriage of Many:

"According to the Maya, December 2012 will mark the end of a 5,126-year era, and is a time of renewal, rebirth, renaissance and new beginnings. In honor of this historic moment in time, 12 Productions Belize teamed up with Romantic Travel Belize and Destination Bride to create an epic event designed to bring love from around the world to the epicenter of the Mayan world. The 2012 Mayan Marriage of Many will be a celebration of love with a marriage en mass for 36 lucky couples on the Maya ruins of Cahal Pech on 12 12 Twenty 12.


Each couple will be able to invite 6 of their closest loved ones to witness the marriage and partake in the celebration from December 9th through 13th, 2012. Package prices range from $14,030 to $24,030 depending on the chosen hotel, with other add-on options available and then be whisked away for a tropical paradise honeymoon on the exotic paradise, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize."

Now you might have noticed that it says Romantic Travel Belize has teamed up with "Destination Bride". Again, you saw that correctly. If you don't know, Destination Bride, LLC is owned by Celebrity Destination Wedding Planner, Lisa Light. The photographer they are working with to photograph the wedding is a celebrity too. It's an awesome once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Now for the contest. It's pretty simple. Register via their Facebook page: Click Here!!

Then get all your friends to vote for you. You might want to consider rallying up support with your local community. Call the newspapers, call local wedding vendors, call your old school, be creative.

Contest ends January 7, 2012. The prize includes accommodation; but does NOT include airfare. Winners will be announced February 13, 2012.

If you would like to purchase a wedding package email me at info@mindlessSophistication.com and I will put you in touch with Lara.

Jewish Barbados

 Nidhe Israel Synagogue

In the last four months I have been to Barbados twice. I know that sounds a bit excessive; especially when it's not yet winter in Canada; but as a destination wedding planner who also books travel that's my job. I'm lucky enough to be allowed to go there on business; but the truth is Barbados holds a very special place in my heart.

Why does it hold a special place in my heart? Well it's because I'm Jewish. For almost 400 years Barbados has been a bit of a safe haven for Jews. In return the Jews have thanked the tiny island by being a huge part in helping Barbados become the prosperous epicenter of the Caribbean that it is.

Officially the Jews arrived in Barbados one year after the British in 1628. Unofficially, we were there much longer in the form of Marrano Jews. A Marrano Jew is a Spanish Jew that had been forcibly converted to Christianity by threat of death; but who secretly still practiced Judaism when the authorities weren't watching. In this case the Marrano Jews had arrived from Portugal after determining that life really wasn't that much safer for them after their conversions. That's the problem with threatening to kill someone unless they do what you want. The authorities knew the Jews had only converted because they didn't want to die and not because they believed in the Church. So off to Barbados the Marrano Jews went.

Barbados is named after the bearded fig tree which reminded the British of the Portuguese (Jews) they met upon landing on the island. Like the tree's the Portuguese men sported beards (sounds kind of Jewy of them, doesn't it?). Outside of Israel I can't think of another country in the world that derives it's name from Jews. Even with Israel it's more the other way around. We derive our name from the country; so as a Jew I have to say "Barbados I really love your name".

Equipment used to distill Rum

Now back to 1628 the year after the British arrived and the arrival of the first "official" Jewish community. These Jews were from Brazil and were themselves seeking refuge from people who would have preferred to see them dead. They brought with them skills, agricultural knowledge and technological advances that were at the time unique to Brazil. Specifically, sugarcane, coffee, and the technology that would later be used to distill a new product called rum. Yes, that's right; the three major products that were instrumental in creating an entire economy for Barbados; and eventually the Caribbean as a whole; came about because of the Jews. I think that's really neat.

The sad part of the story is that in order to maintain a viable sugarcane industry it required a huge workforce. That's when the British imported a workforce of slaves. Barbados was a British territory so Jews were not allowed to own slaves; which means thankfully they can't be accused of participating in this aspect of the sugarcane industry; but introducing an industry to Barbados that contributed to the slave trade is not an outcome the Jews could have anticipated or desired. There is no way the Jews could have competed against the Brit's massive "slave" workforce so they did what Jews do best; they adapted. They became the merchants, bankers and they were the leaders in the developing the spice trade. They encountered Anti-Semitism and persecution from the British; but all in all they thrived as successful businesspeople and contributed greatly to making Barbados what it was and is today.

During my last trip to Barbados a native Bajan remarked to me his displeasure regarding how the Jews were treated during Barbados early history. I was stunned. This kind and gentle man is the descendant of slaves. He was remarking on the injustice of Jews being taxed to high, occasionally being physically attacked, and having lies told about them. This mans ancestors were forcibly taken from their homeland, sold like a piece of meat, regularly beaten, and generally treated as inhumane. Compared to that the Jews of Barbados had everything to be thankful for. It's this type of dignity and compassion for people regardless of how much better off they are then them that makes me love the Bajan people. It's a mutual thing that we both have in common. He was thinking of the Jews while I was thinking of his ancestors. That's why together both cultures have created such a fabulous country.

 Nidhe Israel Museum (Jewish Musuem)

Years later Barbados came to the rescue of Jews again. During World War II Barbados became a safe haven for Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. The Jews felt comfortable there. By that time with the mix of Jews who had married outside their religion and Marrano Jews many native Bajans had Jewish last names. It's a fact that I've found noticeable 70 years later during my visits.

Not only are the Jews a vital part of Barbados history and culture; but Barbados has it's place in Jewish history as well. The oldest Synagogue in the America's and the Western Hemispheres first Mikvah can both be found in Bridgetown on a street often called Synagogue Lane. The Synagogue has been commemorated by the government of Barbados on a stamp. It's also proudly featured on the Barbados Tourism Authorities web site. When I first stopped people on the street to ask directions to Synagogue Lane I was thanked by huge smiles of excitement. Not every Bajan fully knows the history of the Bajan Jews; but they sure do seem to like them. This is not an island where an Anti-Semite would do well.

I highly recommend that anyone who visits Barbados visit the Jewish Museum. It doesn't matter if someone is Jewish because the museum holds fascinating gems of history that will touch many souls. In speaking with the manager of the museum, who is Catholic, I was told about many spiritual and miraculous happenings that have taken place on the property. There were stories of non-Jews who upon walking into the Mikvah building experienced such a dose of spirituality they instinctively asked to be Baptised in the water. There were stories of people discovering long lost relatives who happened to walk in off the street. There bigger miraculous stories that would take way to much space to write about. There were also many smaller stories exactly like the one I told the museums manager. The story is that my father who never enters a synagogue here at home used to religiously attend services in Barbados while on business trips there. It's a small story; but one that has always made me feel close to both the synagogues there. I was happy to learn it's not an unusual story. It seems that many people who would never think to attend services in their own city are drawn to the services held in Barbados.

The clean water of the Mikvah

The Mikvah was reopened in 2008. The water is very well taken care of. It has a clean, crisp look to it. The community doesn't use it as a working Mikvah. They have no intention to start using it; but I've been challenged to find the first bride willing to immerse herself in it. I make this plea to anyone reading. If you are Halachically Jewish, engaged, will let me book the travel, want to get married in the Bridgetown Synagogue, and are willing to be the first bride to immerse herself in the Western Hemisphere's oldest Mikvah I will donate my destination wedding planning services to you as a gift.

If you are interested in being this lucky bride please email me at sandra@mindlessSophistication.com so we can begin planning your Jewish destination wedding in Barbados. All I ask is that my expenses be covered.