Category Archives: Real Jewish Weddings

Kim and Adam’s beach town wedding was a mix of natural shades and crystals so as not to compete with the stunning views and decor of The Delray Beach Club.

The bride’s bouquet was a stunning mix of garden roses, roses, lisianthus with ivory, and pale pink ranunculus accents. The couple took the local tram to the Delray Beach Club, stopping along the way to take a few photos.

After setting up the Chuppah for the traditional Jewish Ceremony, the skies opened and it poured with rain. The white satin got soaking wet. The solution? A new Chuppah inside out of the club’s tablecloths!! The guests were seated on a mix of the lounge area’s sofas and chairs as they witnessed the ceremony.

The bride’s parents are avid travelers and had gifted the couple a handmade sculpture of a bride and groom to top the cake they came across in a gallery in Venice Italy. It looked perfect on the cake and was a real conversation piece!

The table numbers were tags over wine bottles on which each guest was asked to write a special note to the happy couple, so that as they opened the bottles in the years to come, the memories and best wishes of this special day came flooding back to them!

Beautiful details helped accomplish a stylized wedding that blended the venue’s beauty and the couple’s love!

Mazel tov, Kim and Adam!

Venue: The Delray Beach Club
Photographer: Albert for Jeff Kolodny Photography
Florist: J Morgan Flowers
Event Planner: Kiss the Planner

Venue: Delray Beach Club
Makeup and Hair: Ultimate Bridal Beauty
Band: Private Stock

Meredith and Dan had a really beautiful interfaith ceremony just outside of the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs. There was a ketubah signing, blessings in both Hebrew and English, as well as a unity candle. Their Rabbi and Pastor worked together so well, it seemed like they did this kind of wedding together all the time. Each part of the ceremony was well thought out and personal to the couple.

The focus was on photography for Meredith and Dan. Because they chose to do a First Look (which was an incredibly emotional moment), they were all finished with their photos after the ceremony and could go in and spend a little more time with their guests by going to their cocktail hour. Then, the reception started and the dance floor was packed all night! At the end of the night, they finished with an After Dark Session, coordinated by Scott Kretschmann Photography where he took their chuppah and showed it in a new “light.”

Mazel tov, Meredith and Dan!

Photographer: Scott Kretschmann Photography
Reception Venue: Gideon Putnam Hotel
Floral Designer: The Posie Peddler
Dress Store: Something Bleu Bridal
Cake Designer: Coccadotts Cake Shop
DJ: The Piano Man’s DJ Productions

********** GIVEAWAY GOING ON NOW THROUGH AUGUST 2nd!!! ***********

Don’t forget your chance to enter to win! Krystal of Stella & Dot is giving away a gift certificate to her store! Just check out all the goodies at Stella & Dot and report back by leaving a comment here and sharing what you would choose!

Entries will be accepted through Thursday, August 2nd at 11:59 p.m. PST. Winner is selected at random and announced on Facebook on August 3rd. Good luck!

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We met at a non-profit networking event a little over three years ago and started dating a few months after that. We got engaged on December 4th at 2:30 a.m., at home after a friend’s party. It was completely spontaneous.

It was important that we pay homage to my Jewish heritage and Simon’s Scottish heritage. When trying to incorporate both of our religions, we really lucked out and had an amazing minister and rabbi who walked us through the process. Simon and I spent hours going over what was important to us and finding the right vows, readings, and ceremony elements that would reflect us as a couple. Designing our ceremony was an amazing part of the planning process and I would recommend it to any bride. It made it that much more special and something that was just “ours.” It wasn’t an easy or short process, but our ceremony was definitely “us” and I can’t imagine it any other way.

I was inspired by quite a few incredible wedding blogs. I became a wedding blog addict! I subscribed to so many including The Wedding Yentas, of course. I also would get magazines and clip the pictures that I liked and put them in a wedding (eventually dubbed “The Wedding Box”). Finalizing the colors was the most difficult part (I changed colors at least 15 times) but we finally drew from the colors in Simon’s kilt (blue, purple, green).

My favorite memory of the wedding day was the Hora, and everyone immediately jumped on the dance floor. Being up on the chair with Simon was fantastic! I just remember being so incredibly happy and that’s when being married became a reality. The best part of all of it was that we didn’t tell his parents (who are not Jewish) about the tradition of lifting both the parents of the bride AND the parents of the groom in the chairs, so the look on his parents’ faces were priceless! They looked like they were having so much fun.

Mazel tov, Stacia and Simon!

Venue: Dupont Circle Hotel
Photography: Sweet Tea Photography
Day of Planner: Perfect Detail Event Planning
Florist: Edge Floral Event Designers
Make-up: Real Doll Makeup
CupCakes: Curbside Cupcakes
Wedding Gown: Brides Against Breast Cancer
DJ & Photobooth: Bialek’s Music

********** GIVEAWAY GOING ON NOW THROUGH AUGUST 2nd!!! ***********

Don’t forget your chance to enter to win! Krystal of Stella & Dot is giving away a gift certificate to her store! Just check out all the goodies at Stella & Dot and report back by leaving a comment here and sharing what you would choose!

Entries will be accepted through Thursday, August 2nd at 11:59 p.m. PST. Winner is selected at random and announced on Facebook on August 3rd. Good luck!

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Sean is a native Colorado boy who is a lawyer and a pilot, and is extroverted, witty, and energetic. Jaynee is a California girl and works as an interior designer. She is a sophisticated traditionalist, with a calm disposition yet opinionated tongue. They met at Sean’s Zeta Beta Tau Fall Formal while they were both attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. Despite being with another date (not to worry, just a friend), Jaynee was immediately drawn to Sean’s big smile and easy going personality. Jaynee was too nervous to go up and talk to him, though, so she just admired him from afar. Sean, however, with his outgoing nature, approached Jaynee and started talking. The next day Sean politely asked for Jaynee’s phone number and soon after they went on their first date.

Fast forward six years, Sean and Jaynee headed to Vail for a ski weekend, but their first stop was a snow hike with their goldendoodle, Jet. Sean had planned to propose at the top of the mountain; however, barely one third of the way up the mountain, Sean could no longer wait and proposed. Jaynee was shocked, cried, and, of course, said “Yes!”

After seven years together, they tied the knot in Jaynee’s hometown on a beautiful summer evening. The wedding day was full of meaningful sentiments and traditional Jewish customs. The couple drank their ceremonial wine from the silver Kiddush Cup from Sean’s Bar Mitzvah and the Chuppah was draped with a family Tallit. Friends and family traveled across the country to share the special day with Jaynee and Sean and it could not have been more perfect.

Mazel tov, Jaynee and Sean!

Venue, Caterer, & Cake: Four Seasons Hotel, Westlake Village
Photographer: Mi Belle Photography
Coordinator: Peggy Shevlin
Florist: All About Flowers
Videographer: Skyline Videography
Jeweler: Jay Feder Jewelers
Ceremony & Reception Music: West Coast Music
Dance Floor: A Rental Connection
Lighting: Swank Audio Visuals
Dress & Veil Boutique: R-Mine Bridal
Shoes: Kate Spade
Makeup Artist / Hair Stylist – Yamaguchi, Four Seasons Hotel, Westlake Village
Officiant: Rabbi Richard Spiegel, Temple Etz Chaim
Yarmulkes: A1 Skullcap Co.
Ketubah: Enya Keshet, Gallery Judaica

Josh and Rachel’s story gives hope to young Jewish singles as they met through the blindest of blind dates. After a roundabout chain that featured jumbled messages and inverted phone numbers (they were introduced by Rachel’s friend’s friend who has a sister that is friends with Josh’s sister – say that three times fast!), the couple had their first date in November of 2010. They say that their relationship always felt right, so when Josh proposed at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge a year later, friends and family were quick to celebrate with them.

Choosing a wedding date seemed daunting at first; the couple realized that their engagement would either be incredibly short or longer than they would’ve liked. Always up for a challenge, they picked a date in March, a short four months later. Their highest priority for the wedding day was to combine old traditions and new customs. The couple chose to use a talit and kiddush cup under the chuppah that belonged to each of Rachel’s grandfathers, but opted out of a first slow dance. The venue and catering choices came easily to them, but they both felt strongly that it was the band who would keep their guests on the dance floor and the photographer who would capture the day’s special moments.

Looking back, Josh and Rachel maintain that a short engagement is “definitely the way to go,” but now that the wedding is behind them, they’re slowing down and enjoying the simple pleasures of married life.

Mazel tov, Rachel and Josh!

Ceremony & Reception Venue: Greentree Country Club
Photographer: Stephanie Reinish Photography
Florist: Flowers by Sutton
Band: Ike Walkover
Caterers: Genadeen Caterer
Makeup Artist: Jody Formica

Photos submitted via Two Bright Lights!