Category Archives: Inside Scoop

Register to Make Your House a Home

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Alison in Featured, Inside Scoop

The Wedding Yentas always loves working with Deposit a Gift to discuss all things gifty! When it comes to your wedding, you’ll be showered in presents and Deposit a Gift allows you to make receiving these presents convenient and helpful for you. If you’re not in need of a new toaster or a new set of tumblers, think outside the box and with the help of Deposit a Gift, you and your love will love unwrapping what really matters to you. Read on for a home registry brainstorm by Dana, the Chief Gifting Officer and Founder of Deposit a Gift.

There are so many ways to make a nontraditional wedding registry work for you, and one of the best is a Home Registry! Users often ask me how they can make the most of their registry to start their lives as new homeowners off right. Here are some of the best ways to do it!

Register for Big-Ticket Items
Maybe you don’t need a blender or linens to complete your home, but you do need some bigger items that guests can’t purchase individually. Items like refrigerators and furniture, or your planned Boynton beach house painters job and construction work. Let guests contribute to these items together so that you can get what you really need.

Take Care of the Landscaping

Maybe you and your fiancé are already happy with your home and furnishings but the yard could use a little work. Ask guests to contribute towards a garden, new planters, or a lawn service to make your house as beautiful outside as it is inside. You can even plant a tree for the future!

Contribute Toward a Home Down Payment

You can’t register for furnishings and landscaping if you haven’t got the home yet! If you’re ready to begin your life in your own home, but need a little help getting started, ask guests to contribute towards your first down payment, just like this couple did. They’ll be so happy to help you on such a big step in your life.

It’s easy to make the most of your registry by asking guests to help your turn your house into a home. Guests want to celebrate this next big step in your life, and what better way to do so! Don’t forget to invite them over for a housewarming party to see what they helped bring to life — there’s nothing more gratifying than seeing you happy and settled in your new home.

A Groom with a View: Advice From A Married Man

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Alison in From the Expert, Inside Scoop, Planning

Ladies, today you might want to — oops! — leave The Wedding Yentas up on your fiance’s Internet browser. This day is dedicated to him. Well, and you, too. Special Guest Blogger and Mr. Yenta himself, Bryan, is here to share a little inside information from the groom’s point of view. In short, he wants you to know that your wedding day should be about you both… as a couple. It’s easy to get caught up in a different frame of mind, but maybe this will give you two a little reminder of what the day is celebrating in the first place!

Unlike my wife, I did not grow up planning my wedding or picturing what it would look like. In fact, I used to think that once I bought the ring and popped the question, my job was pretty much done until I was told where to show up and at what time. It didn’t take me long after the proposal to find out just how wrong I was, but it wasn’t until after I was the groom that I fully understood just how important my role was in planning the big day.

If you’re a groom who thinks like I did, you probably pretty much figure the wedding day is all about the bride. It’s understandable. I mean as men, we are practically taught to believe that. Think about it – nobody stands when the groom comes down the aisle; the song isn’t “Here Comes The Groom”; the groom isn’t who people stare at when the photographer is taking portraits in public areas. It’s all of these kinds of things that make it so we grooms have it engrained in our heads that we are merely an accessory – a “monkey in a suit” so to speak.

And while I’m sure many brides will cringe at the thought of reducing their poor man into nothing but arm-candy, the one making the magic happen for the wedding day is the bride because she is usually the one perusing the wedding blogs and scouring the Internet for photos to get ideas for color schemes, dresses, flowers, hairstyles, centerpieces, chair covers, and you know the list goes on and on. For the most part, the groom doesn’t particularly care too much about these kinds of details. I know I didn’t really have an opinion one way or another when it came to that stuff.

But wedding planning isn’t all just colors and flowers. There are hundreds of decisions to be made, and they’re not all totally bride-focused. Even though the groom probably isn’t too concerned about whether or not there are roses in the bouquet or if there should be candles on the tables, there are plenty of things for him to be interested in, even if he doesn’t know it at first. For me, it took some time, but I did find myself becoming very interested in things like the order of day’s events, who was going to be giving a speech, what music the band should be playing, and who was sitting at what table. It sounds like a headache at first but table seating was my personal favorite part of the entire planning process. I guess I just had fun putting everybody into categories of 8-12 people. It’s like Google+ but for weddings.

Anyway, with all the decisions along the way, I guess planning a wedding is like making a movie. And while the bride may indeed be the director, the groom is the director’s right hand man — maybe the cinematographer, maybe the assistant director, maybe the creative consultant — but he’s right up there and he deserves equal billing. After all, the groom probably gets the best part of the whole day: he steps on the glass and prompts all the “Mazel Tov” declarations! The point is that the wedding day is actually about the bride and the groom. It’s about you celebrating each other with close family and friends, and about starting your life together as a married couple.

So if you’re a bride with a groom who seems disinterested, find something he can take part in and I bet he jumps in willingly. And if you’re a groom who’s sitting in the corner watching your bride stalk wedding blogs and change her color scheme ideas daily, maybe offer to take control of something you care about that you can handle, like the entertainment or the table seatings (for your own family at least). I think the most important thing is that you make your wedding day about both of you and do what you want to do as a couple, not just as a bride or as a groom. It’s one of the very first steps on your new long journey of doing everything together. So make wedding planning a fun process that you can share with each other. If you do, I promise your wedding day will be one of the best days of the groom’s life as well as the bride’s.

Pingback: A Groom With A View: Directing A Wedding | The Wedding Yentas™ | A Guide for the Jewish Bride!™

Revisiting: Hot Weather, Cool Wedding

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Alison in Inside Scoop

It’s no secret that this is the season for rising temps throughout the U.S. So in case a heat wave decides to swallow up your neck of the woods in a fiery blaze of high temperatures just in time for your wedding day, allow The Wedding Yentas to quench your thirst for knowledge of cool ideas.

If you’re having an outdoor ceremony, cocktail hour, or reception, your guests will need some relief from the heat. While your wedding coordinator holds the key to power on your special day, she can’t do much about the weather. However, you and your wedding planning team can help your guests stay comfortable as they try to wipe sweat mustaches off their faces in case of impromptu photos.

Leave Chinese fans on each seat so that a breeze — even if it’s a hot breeze — can help move the air on their bodies. You can usually find them in cute colors and styles to match your wedding and can also serve as nice favors. Oriental Trading Company carries all different kinds in bulk. We also like Good Orient‘s selection of light wooden fans. Both styles work well for spreading a little air around.

fans-for-guests

Help your guests hydrate themselves with canisters of water, lemonades, iced teas, or juices. Not only does a beverage table to the entrance of your ceremony site make the area appear inviting and hospitable, but will also keep everyone standing and alert instead of passed out from heat stroke! Ushers can help pass out beverages to guests as they are seated in the ceremony area.

lemonade-and-water-bar

Take it a step further and also have water bottles at each seat. Some guests may pass on the beverage canisters, but once they’re sitting and you’re midway through the seven circles, someone will no doubt start getting thirsty and kick themselves for not getting a drink when they could. Therefore, have mini water bottles ready for such instances tucked under each chair to stay in the shade. What a happy little discovery that will be when thirsty Uncle Murray notices his treasure of H20.

If you anticipate that your wedding will be on a toasty day — July weddings, well, everywhere tend to be that way — you may want to let your guests know that part or all of your wedding day will be outside so that they’ll know how to dress. This information can be relayed on your wedding website if you choose to make one. (And you should because The Wedding Yentas has partnered with mywedding.com to offer you free wedding websites!) Also, you can remind friends and family you speak to before the wedding that they should dress lightly.

If your ceremony is in an open space, make sure to ask your venue or rental company about overhead, free-standing umbrellas to cover the area with shade. Your guests will be sitting for 20 or so minutes and will roast under the sun if they don’t have any shade. A little bit of coverage can make such a big difference in the high temperatures, so for the sake of their comfort, coordinating umbrella rentals is a good idea.

wedding-ceremony-umbrellas

And don’t forget that you need to drink a lot of water on your wedding day!! You are running around, busier than you can imagine, and full of excitement. Make sure you get enough liquids because the last think you need is to accessorize your wedding dress with some IV bags in the emergency room. We don’t need to sound like your Jewish mother, but eat! Drink water! And don’t overdo it with the alcohol, as it won’t help you in the least on a hot day.

keeping-hydrated-on-your-wedding-day

But what if it’s spicy hot on your honeymoon? Oh, well then, by all means, keep turnin’ up the heat!

Pleasing Your Wedding Guests

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Alison in Inside Scoop, Planning

You want your wedding to be the event of the century, right? Your guests should regroup at the following Friday’s Shabbat oneg in the temple’s banquet hall and gush about what an affair the ___stein and ___berg wedding was, yes? Your mother’s mahjong group will hardly get to the game at hand because they’re so busy yenta-ing about the celebration of her daughter’s big day, isn’t that so? Well, all this can come true with a few things to think about when it comes to making the wedding of your dreams for you and avoiding all nightmares for your guests.

The Nosh:
No doubt, if it’s a Jewish wedding, there will be food. And there won’t be a shortage of it either. But your wedding meal is not the time to be showing off your exotic palate with coconut-crusted, chili-lime sweetbreads or pan seared rabbit sausage in a balsamic reduction. Sure, you may impress people with your adventurous taste buds all 364 other days of the year, but for one meal, give your guests something they expect: a tasty dish that’s in the realm of chicken, fish, pasta, or beef. People have been attending weddings for eons and there’s a level of expectation of what the food will be like. Make sure your caterer is excellent, of course, but it’s also not a time to be experimenting with animal parts or foreign sauces. If you want to spice up your menu with some fancy-shmancy delicacies, include them as hors d’ oeuvres in the cocktail hour so that guests have the option to wait for more predictable food come dinner time.

The Singles:
Be clear and specific about your single guests. Don’t leave it up to your friend to stir up the awkward conversation about bringing her boy du jour to your wedding. There should be no surprises when she gets her invitation in the mail. Either the envelope includes her beau or she comes solo. The vagueness only stresses out your single guests, makes them resent you behind your back, or cooks up a negative feeling toward your wedding day. Be upfront and honest from the get-go. It might be equally difficult for you to address prior to sending out the invitation, but at least it will save both of you some hurt feelings later on.

Music of the Night:
There’s no doubt you want your wedding reception to be the party of the year, but that doesn’t mean your music man has to blast the bass super loud the whole time. Make sure that when you’re interviewing your DJ or band you ask about music volumes and the appropriate times to play different genres of music. Typically, softer music should be played during cocktail hour, as the guests gather in the reception hall before your entrance, and salad and dinner time. Aunt Ruth and Uncle Irv already have a hard enough time hearing as it is — oy vey! — and you don’t want them to have to fight the music in order to have a conversation. Guests become frustrated when they can’t hear over the loud music, and the last thing you want is a room of kvetching Jews. The whole night should not be up on full volume, especially during the natural points of catching up and how-do-you-dos. When it comes to specific dance breaks, however, turn it up and rock out!

Don’t Get Lost:
If you’re getting married in a location or venue that’s hard to find, make sure you provide maps and signage. If the parking is far from the final destination, leave arrows and guides along the way. If your venue is off the beaten path in a rustic area, great, I’m sure it’s gorgeous, but most likely, GPS won’t be able to get your guests there (and that’s assuming that Aunt Ruth and Uncle Irv even know how to work the GPS machine thing-a-ma-bobber). So get crafty or outsource, but either way, you do not want your guests to get lost on the way to your wedding. Again, “kvetch” should not be the verb of the day.

Have Fun:
Happy couple equals happy guests. Your wedding day is not your time to flip out, have a bridezilla moment (that was for the planning), whine, or throw a tantrum. You’ve seen those TV shows. You mock those ridiculous girls. Don’t be one of them. If you’re having fun and truly enjoying every part of your day from getting ready to getting going, then so, too, will your guests. Imagine how awkward it would be for them to see the bride and groom angry or annoyed on what should be the happiest day of their lives. So stay positive, embrace every kind of situation, and plaster your smile on your face and your guests will continue to rave about your wedding day for years and mahjong tournaments to come.

Behind The Scenes of a Ketubah Artist

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Alison in Featured, Inside Scoop, Jewish Traditions

An artistic ketubah has a whole life of development and creation prior to its use on your wedding day. You’ve picked out the right one that’s easy on the eyes and meaningful to your marriage, but there was a whole lot of planning by the artist who made it prior to your purchase.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Rachel Deitsch of New World Wedding and touring her studio where all the magic happens. It was especially interesting for me on a personal level because Deitsch designed my wedding ketubah, which now hangs beautifully on my bedroom wall.

Deitsch, a Los Angeles based artist, has a background in illustration. While living in Israel for two years, she painted for pleasure and from there emerged a new style. She used opaque watercolor and print-making paper and liked the end result. Deitsch began designing ketubahs for friends and family. She gained popularity and now has a ketubah business that has taken off in many exciting directions.

“What I love about the ketubah business,” she says, “is that everything I make will have a home.”

Deitsch invited other local artists to New World Wedding to provide couples with a variety of ketubah prints. Guest artists like Tamara Jones and Jill Sykes provide their distinct art pieces and Deitsch reworks them for ketubah purposes. For example, with Sykes’s work, Deitsch receives the oil painting, converts it to a digital format, and adds the ketubah text.

Deitsch has also just recently debuted a line of ketubahs she calls 2nd Generation. She created this line for the couple that cannot pay the regular price of her full scale ketubahs, but would still like to purchase a piece from her line.

She takes elements from existing designs in order to meet the needs of people who want a beautiful ketubah, but don’t have the budget. Many of her whimsical, signature elements are included in 2nd Generation ketubahs, like swirly green trees, jeweled flower buds, and silhouettes of lovebirds, all paying homage to their original cheery and colorful palettes, but are reworked for a smaller print and minimal elaboration.

Deitsch has everything she needs in her extensive studio. Stocked counters, cutting-edge technology, all the watercolors she needs, and her pride and joy: the professional printer. “It allows me to indulge the perfectionist monster in me,” she says. The printing used to be outsourced, but it slowed down the process and caused more stress in the long run. Purchasing the printer and utilizing it in-house allows Deitsch to nit-pick and check each piece that goes out to clients.

“This guy right here gives me an endless sense of possibility.”

And endless possibility, indeed! Deitsch is constantly dreaming up new ideas like wedding invitations that can match a couple’s ketubah. And, first comes love, then comes marriage, and you definitely know what comes next. So does Deitsch. For the “baby carriage” stage of life, Deitsch is also in the midst of designing and expanding a children’s art line.

Deitsch has also partnered with yours truly, The Wedding Yentas! She designs free wedding website templates that are available for customization on mywedding.com. Wedding websites are great for keeping your guests up-to-date on all your wedding plans and festivities. You can include photos, a guestbook, registry information, and of course the details for the big day. They’re free, too! And if you really want a seamless design around your wedding-planning, you can also purchase invitations to match your free wedding website so that your guests can enjoy a theme. High 5 to mywedding.com and Rachel Deitsch for marrying a great concept and beautiful art.

Visit Deitsch’s site and Facebook page for more information about her different lines and to place orders. She provides fabulous customer service, answering questions you may have about ketubah texts and individual art pieces.