Monthly Archives: July 2010

Friday Favorites | A Little Nosh

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Alison in Friday Favorites

It’s Friday, so it’s time to gush as we give away one of our favorite things and we’re not kidding, this is a major favorite! You’ll want to nosh a lot with one of our favorite bakeries, A Little Nosh.

A Little Nosh bakes a variety of delicious goodies that are perfect for any wedding-related event! Bridal shower favors? A Little Nosh has got you covered! A dessert bar for late night munchies at your wedding reception? A Little Nosh is there for you! A day-after brunch for your relatives and out-of-towners? A Little Nosh will wake everyone up after all that late-night fun. Oh, and remember Monday’s post about Shabbat dinners? Well, Shabbat dessert should definitely include some yummies from A Little Nosh.

Cindy Daniels, creator and baker of all things wonderful, uses the finest quality ingredients and spices in all of her bakery items. She doesn’t skimp on deliciousness and she bakes it all with love. Cindy takes pride in all of her baked goods, having practiced and perfected all of her secret recipes, which is why her customers continue to come back for more (and more and more).

We’ve tasted her products and can guarantee that they’re totally delicious and addicting. Her mandelbrot (a biscotti-type cookie, sometimes known as mandelbread as well) could totally cause you to spend a few days in rehab because it’s just that addicting. Lindsay Lohan, take note. Cindy makes mandelbrot in several different flavors, but our personal favorite is chocolate chip. They contain the perfect ratio of chocolate chips to cookie and it’s sprinkled with magic yummy dust (a cinnamon and sugar combination — simply and perfectly sweet!).

Banana bread, chocolate cake, macaroons, ruggelah: all amazing creations from A Little Nosh. All of Cindy’s goods would be wonderful gifts for friends or contributions to a dessert table at a family gathering.

a-little-nosh-bakery

Or, if you’re like us, you can just sit in a closet and scarf it down all by yourself. Not that, uh, we’ve ever, um, actually done that.

Okay, so how do you get your paws on some stash from A Little Nosh?

You can find Cindy and her spread at the Calabasas Farmer’s Market every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at one of the most comprehensive and beautiful markets we’ve ever seen. This is excellent news for Los Angeles locals, but if you’re from out of the area, we still urge you to hop on a plane, stuff a bunch of ruggelah in your luggage, and munch on your provisions immediately.

You can also purchase what you love from A Little Nosh through her website. Cindy ships anywhere, making sure that tables across America are furnished with A Little Nosh delectables. Online shopping just got a little sweeter.

But, we have good news for you! You could win your very own collection of sweet goodness right here!

Check out A Little Nosh and leave a comment here telling us about your baked guilty pleasure and what you’d love to taste. You could be the very (very, very) lucky winner of a gift certificate to A Little Nosh to feed your friends… or yourself. Anyone is allowed to enter to win through Sunday, August 1st at 11:59 and the winner will be announced on Monday.

Real Weddings | Closter, NJ

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Alison in Real Jewish Weddings

Today’s Real Wedding is a lovely whirlwind of serendipity. Carly and Jack are from the same town, went to the same grade school, and had some of the same friends. They even played tennis at the same club. Yet, they never knew each other until Carly’s freshman year of college. Jack was a sophomore, and his roommate started going out with one of Carly’s best friends. They began seeing each other at parties, but nothing special happened until Jack was chaperoning a ski trip and asked Carly to help out. They went to Ottawa for a three-day trip and the rest is history.

The couple love jogging together, and on the first sunny Tuesday morning of July, Jack had Carly run to the field of their lower school to find the entire field covered with streamers spelling out the words “Will You Marry Me?” Then, she went to find her ring on the monkey bars surrounded by posters of the two of them over the years. Gush!

By May of the next year, all the wedding planning was done, and they were ready to get married. The wedding day was perfect: fun, relaxed, and beautiful. Carly made a stunning bride and Jack’s big smile showed just how much he loves his wife. They’re totally that adorable couple. We love adorable couples.

Mazel tov, Carly and Jack!

Venue – Temple Emanu-El
Catering – Northern Valley Caterers
Photographer – The Jason Groupp
Videographer – Seth David Cohen
Entertainment – Nafshenu
Flowers – Flowers on the River
Hair – Vanity & Mascara
Makeup – Tali Haddad

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You can now search for Real Weddings by state and then by couple. Click on Real Weddings in the navigation bar on top and look through all your favorites! Thank you to the awesome web team behind The Wedding Yentas!!

Real Weddings | Chicago, IL

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Alison in Real Jewish Weddings

Their names may not be Sandy and Danny, but they could probably tell you that their summer days drifted away, but oh! those summer nights! Lauren and Todd met in the summer of 2000 at overnight camp where they were counselors. They had both been campers several years before their summer of love, but they somehow never crossed paths.

After that summer, Todd started his freshman year at the University of Illinois and Lauren was in her senior year of high school. The following year she went to Indiana University, and they spent the next four years in a long-distance relationship. Despite those tough four years, they made it through and have been together ever since. Todd proposed to Lauren eight years later at the very place they met when they were visiting camp with friends. Talk about a kumbaya moment!

Lauren and Todd were married at the Ivy Room in Chicago on August 9, 2009. Their sweet story was told through sweet touches at the wedding. Our favorite was their wedding favors! Todd’s grandma’s famous fudge cookies were placed in little boxes for guests to take with them at the end of the night. Grandma made almost 400 cookies and it was literally a labor of love.

Mazel tov, Lauren and Todd!

Venue – The Ivy Room
Photographer – Amanda Hein
Caterer- Levy Events Catering
Florist – Bloom City Flowers
Entertainment – David Rothstein Music
Wedding Dress – Wtoo
Shoes – Nina
Bridesmaids Dresses – Two Birds Bridesmaid
Ketubah – MP Artworks

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Wedding Olympics: The Shabbat Event

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Alison in Jewish Traditions, Planning

I may have mentioned before that I refer to the wedding weekend as the Wedding Olympics. Instead of star athletes, there’s a star couple! There’s a lot of promotion that goes into it for months prior (the real Olympics has a theme song. Do you?). People travel to be there and set up camps in Wedding Olympics Village, otherwise known as “hotel blocks for the X wedding.” Nikes and leotards are traded in for tuxes and dresses, but there still seems to be a costume or uniform of sorts. Oh, and the bride and groom get a prize instead of medals, they get each other! And there are so many events!

The wedding weekend is a concentration of events that could start as early as the Thursday or Friday before a Sunday Jewish wedding. One of the Friday events is usually a Shabbat dinner hosted by a family member.

Since Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, begins on Friday night at sundown, traditionally, this is a time spent at home with family and those who feel like family as everyone gathers over a delicious meal, sprinkled with laughter, warm discussions, and in-house recreation that shies away from impersonal distractions like television and video games.

Check out the Ivory Dove Candlesticks for your Shabbat dinner at ModernTribe! Image courtesy of ModernTribe

Including out-of-town guests, immediate family members, and available bridal partiers is a great way to marry (ha ha) the Shabbat tradition with the simcha of the wedding. This event can set the tone of your weekend. Plus, it’s never too early to start spreading warm, fuzzy joy.

About a week or so after the formal wedding invitations go out, you may send your Shabbat dinner invitations to the selected guests. It’s up to you how many people you want to include. It’s not expected that you coordinate a pre-wedding wedding! Typically, your Shabbat dinner will be smaller than your wedding guest list and it’s perfectly acceptable. Take into consideration, that Friday or Saturday may be travel days for some out of town guests, so it’s likely your attendance won’t be 100% anyway.

Check out these fun and colorful Shabbat candles on ModernTribe! Image courtesy of ModernTribe.

Obviously, before you can send invitations for the Shabbat dinner, you need to secure a location. This can be someone’s house who is generous enough to host. Shabbat dinners can also be planned at a synagogue’s reception hall, JCC, or even at a restaurant in a private room. We’ve heard of some couples paying tribute to a meaningful place by enjoying Shabbat dinner at their university’s Hillel center if they are both alumni of the same school and are local. Basically, there is no rule for the location.

Menu items can vary, but traditional Shabbat dinner usually include roasted chicken, brisket, noodle kugel, soup, and vegetable dishes. There is no rule that these foods have to be part of the Shabbat dinner spread; this is just what I’ve seen at Shabbat dinners that I’ve attended and hey, they were a hit! If you’re having a Southern wedding, by all means, have a BBQ and serve cobbler for dessert! Do what’s personal and traditional for you, the couple!

The Modern Jewish Mom's Guide to Shabbat is a great read for anyone! Image courtesy of ModernTribe.

There are some items that you will definitely want to have at your Shabbat dinner.

Here’s a checklist:
Challah
Kosher wine
Kiddush cups
Candles
Candlesticks
Matches
Pitcher of water and bowl for hand washing
Nice tablecloths
The best dishes and silverware
Wine glasses
Kipot
Booklets with songs and birkat ha-mazon (blessings after a meal)

Having a Shabbat dinner during your wedding weekend will also give you a chance to spend time with people you may not get to see much on the big day. The wedding day has its own set of events, so setting aside an extra festive day to honor family, friends, your partner, and Judaism is typically welcome.

If there’s one thing I learned every summer at Jewish sleep-away camp, it’s that Shabbat is separate from the rest of the week. On Saturday night, when Shabbat is over and the first three stars appear in the sky, a new week begins and another chance to experience life to its fullest is in your hands. The wedding day is also the start of a new life with your partner so welcoming the Sabbath Bride a couple days before you are the bride will be special and forever memorable.

Just Call Our Names & We’ll Be There

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Alison in Featured, Friday Favorites, Inside Scoop, JDate, JMag

The #1 Jewish wedding planning blog has a new number and it’s all for you!

We are now making our toll-free hotline available to everyone so that we may assist our vendors and brides as easily as possible!

Hey brides: If you need a cantor at the last minute, you can call us! If your groom is looking to buy a new tallit, he can call us! We know people. We are Yentas after all, and we can call a friend or a reliable vendor that’s listed in our directory to make sure that all your needs are taken care of. We don’t want you to ever be left hanging because frankly, accidents happen. Let us clean up and make sure everything is as perfect as a slow-cooked brisket.

Hey vendors: You need to know information about the Yentas? Are you looking for promotion or a good ol’ fashioned thumbs up from the know-it-alls in the inner circle of Jewish weddings? We’re your go-to gals. Perhaps you want to offer your goods to our deserving readers. Just give us a call.

Sure, we’re still email-a-holics. We haven’t left the ’10s (just doesn’t have the same roll-off-the-tongue feel as “the ’90s” does it?). You can always reach us on that new-fangled Al Gore-invented Internet. However, if you want that more personal vocal interaction or you want to hear just how good we pronounce our Yiddish “ch” sounds, the phone is the way to go.

With our new number, 877-WYENTAS, it’s like we’re the matchmaker for engaged couples and wedding vendors all over the U.S.! We’re just doing our part to make the process a little easier for everyone involved.

So, dearest Brides and Vendors, here’s another fine reason to join The Wedding Yentas family. With our new hotline, this game of Telephone just got hotter!

Plus, we didn’t pay good money for nothing. Call us. Then call your mother.

877-WYENTAS, (877) 993-6827

Oh! And in other exciting news, you can find our latest installment in JMag®, the online lifestyle magazine brought to you by JDate®! Just click here to visit! If you met your partner on JDate®, why not submit your story and let them know that they made a good match!

And then you can call us at 877-WYENTAS to let us know that you did.