Category — Featured Weddings

Kate Harrison and Barry Muchnik met on Kate’s first day at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. All of the incoming Master’s students go on a three week camping trip before school starts, and Barry happened to be the leader of Kate’s trip. Exactly two years later Barry proposed to Kate in a tower at Yale, overlooking the parking lot where they first met.

Since Kate’s background was in Environmental Law and Policy and Barry was a Ph.D. student in Environmental History, it was important for the couple to pick eco-friendly wedding options whenever possible. To decrease the carbon footprint of the event, the couple chose a location near the majority of their guests–Cat Rock (a historic castle) in Garrison, New York.  Their wedding planning experience inspired Kate to write The Green Bride Guide and to launch TheGreenBrideGuide.com.

The couple worked hard to use family heirlooms and items from their parents’ homes as part of the ceremony. Instead of a disposable aisle runner, they used a hall rug from Kate’s parents’ house.  “Disposable aisle runners are terrible. In addition to producing unnecessary waste, heels go through them when they are placed outside. This was a sturdy, beautiful and meaningful alternative,” Kate says.
[Read more →]

Sarah Lefton is a digital media producer, Executive Director and Producer of G-dcast –a cartoon series depicting the parsha of the week, and designer of the T-Shirt line Jewish Fashion Conspiracy. On her way home from a Shabbat dinner in March 2006, Sarah randomly decided to stop off at a friend’s house for dessert. That’s where she met Bill Selig, a stage director who was to become her husband. Bill proposed to Sarah on a sailboat in the Red Sea off of Eilat, in Israel and the couple wed in an egalitarian Jewish ceremony in February of 2008 at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco, California. This is Sarah’s wedding story in her own words:

I still can’t believe I met Bill, let alone married him! I went out every night to parties, classes, mixers, shul, and yeah, on JDates too. For all the care and thought and unbelievable extroversion and energy that I put into meeting my beshert, it still kind of drives me crazy that I met Bill by accident.

Pre-Wedding
Our wedding date fell during President’s Day weekend. Thursday before the wedding, we went to services with our parents at the Mission Minyan, where the shaliach tzibbur honored us by singing Shabbat melodies to the tune of wedding songs.

Saturday morning was our auf ruf. Bill and I were up early, hurriedly practicing our aliyot for the Torah service. Shul was packed! We couldn’t believe how many people came to celebrate with us, which only upped the ante for our leyning! It was so fun to get pelted with candy by friends, family, coworkers and fellow congregants. At the huge catered lunch afterward, our friends from the Minyan surprised us with a giant sheet-cake that read “Marriage: Someone’s gotta do it!” (San Francisco is notoriously a great place to be single!)

As soon as Shabbat ended that night, we had a rehearsal at our venue. We used the opportunity to teach some niguns to our family who were unfamiliar with the mystical wordless songs, and the energy was very beautiful. Then we had a festive rehearsal dinner complete with a musical number from our college friends and a toast from my aunt Marcy that made my cry. She gave me a watch on a necklace that her mother had always worn; it’s now my most precious piece of jewelry. [Read more →]

Our wedding, which took place on June 21st, ended up being the wedding of our dreams.  We could not be happier and feel so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. The wedding was a communal affair in every sense imaginable; it evolved with the help of and before the eyes of our guests.

Wedding portrait by my uncle Marv Chait
[Read more →]

Gabby Etrog Cohen and her husband Jeffrey were married in a reform Jewish wedding at Point O’Pines Camp in Brant Lake, NY in September 2007. This is Gabby’s wedding story in her own words:

We wanted to do something different for our wedding. We knew we wanted an outdoor wedding, and wanted to make a weekend out of the wedding too, not just one evening. Since we are very active and love the outdoors we thought a summer camp would be the perfect location. I went to a summer camp about 20 minutes away from Point O’Pines and used to play tennis there all the time. I also had a number of friends who were campers there, so I was already familiar with the camp.

Among the activities we had were water skiing, tennis, softball, basketball, tetherball, ping-pong and swimming. The fireworks were really the highlight of the wedding. Our guests didn’t expect it at all and it was a great surprise for them. The fireworks turned out to be much more extravagant than we even expected!

Planning a destination wedding is tough, no matter where it is. In addition, planning an outdoor wedding is always nerve-racking. You also want to think about your guests – would they enjoy this type of wedding? Are they adventurous? In the beginning, it seemed like it was going to be so relaxed and easy – but planning a camp wedding is a lot of work since it is much more than just one night. You have to think about the activities during the day, the rooming situation, the breakfast, lunch and dinners. Organizing bunks and putting together the rooming list proved to be the most challenging part of our wedding planning.

Although it was a ton of work, our wedding was a blast. We were married two years ago and our friends still talk about how awesome our wedding was!

Photo Credits: Carlos Varela

Jessica and Jordan Coleman were recently married at Camp Echo in the New York Catskills. The couple met while both were attending a camp conference, so camp holds a special meaning for them. When they met Jordan was working for his family’s camp, and Jessica was working at another camp. This is their wedding story in Jessica’s own words:

Our wedding weekend lasted from Friday night rehearsal dinner to a Saturday night wedding, and Sunday FunDay. We provided information to our guests on area other activities and sites that we thought they might find interesting. It was Fall, so we included apple and pumpkin picking, hiking trails at a nearby state park, and horseback trail rides.

While we did offer accommodations at camp, we did not recommend them — it was cold at night, and most adults aren’t really happy sleeping on a twin-sized camp mattress. One of the best things we did was to provide a charter bus between the local hotels and the camp. That way, we didn’t have to worry about where guests would park at the facility (which would have mostly been on grass or a good walk away from the ceremony and reception site), and guests didn’t have to worry about who would be the designated driver.

The ceremony took place on a stage in a tent on the basketball courts! The courts are on top of a slight hill, so we had a really nice view of the lake and surrounding trees behind us. We had a green runner underneath, so it felt more outdoorsy, and we were obviously in a tent (in case of rain– complete with flaps that could be rolled down in gusty winds).

The reception was in Olympic Hall, the equivalent of most camp’s rec halls. It’s called Olympic Hall because it hosts the plaques of all the teams throughout the camp’s history. This was a great location with a lot of character. Plus, there was already a stage, so there was an obvious location for the band, with plenty of room for the tables and dance floor.

On Sunday, we had a continental breakfast, a morning softball game, tours of camp, paddleboats and canoes to take out on the lake, and trails to hike, jog, and bike. Some people also chose to swim, though it was very cold, so we didn’t actually recommend it! The finale was a late BBQ lunch. Most people were happy to just spend time together in a casual environment. We especially loved that we planned for the casual day on Sunday. It gave us time to relax and enjoy being with our guests, rather than always being “on” as we were during the wedding itself.

Eden Daly and her husband Bram were married at Club Getaway in Kent, CT this past fall. This is Eden’s wedding story in her own words:

We had a lot of out of town family and friends with kids, so we thought having a destination wedding not too far from our home would be the perfect idea. We wanted our guests to enjoy themselves to the fullest without having to worry about driving, and my husband and I wanted to be able to spend time with all of our guests. We did not want to have to walk around each table the night of the wedding taking to guests and miss out on all of the festivities of the evening. This allowed us to enjoy our wedding as much as the guests.

I grew up going to summer camp and loved the idea of everyone gathering to canoe, play tennis, fly on the trapeze, and then sleep in cabins at night. We had a wine tasting and a cooking class for the non-active/athletic guests, activities for kids, and babysitters on hand. Everyone could lounge lakeside and visit with each other or simply relax and read a book. After our wedding reception, we also had a bonfire where we roasted s’mores and watched the stars.

The major challenge was convincing older relatives that they would be comfortable staying on site in the cabins (couples might want to get a golf cart to transport guests from one site to the other) and also convincing my mother that it was okay to take a non-traditional wedding route. All in all, my mother couldn’t have been happier. She has received so many compliments about our wedding, and she enjoyed herself so thoroughly that she was literally “over the moon.”

My advice is to make sure you have a great event planner at the camp who you are working with – someone who knows what the camp does best. The staff was amazing. We felt like they had magic fingers. One minute the tent was a place for a lunch barbecue and the next minute it was an elegant tent for our wedding celebration. Work with local vendors too – we really had some terrific vendors that helped to make the wedding a beautiful event.

If I had done anything differently, it would have been to add an extra day to the wedding weekend- we started on Friday night and ended on Sunday but all of our guests wished they had even more time to enjoy spending time together and take advantage of all the wonderful activities the camp had to offer.

Photo Credits: Beth Keiser

You may recognize Mayim Bialik for her lead role in the early-1990s NBC television sitcom Blossom, and her many other acting roles since.  After starring in Blossom she earned a BS from UCLA in 2000 in Neuroscience and in Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, also from UCLA, where she was also an active student leader at UCLA Hillel.  Bialik is currently a board member, co-founder, and chair of Jewish Free Loan Association’s Genesis branch, and is an avid student of all things Jewish. She studies Torah on a weekly basis with a study mentor through Partners in Torah, and continues to act in television and film.

In 2003, Bialik married a fellow graduate student who she met in calculus class at UCLA. She and her husband Mike now reside in California where they live with their two young sons. This is Mayim Bialik’s wedding story in her own words:

Mike and I had a short engagement. We had dated for four years so we were ready!  We got engaged Dec 2, 2002 and married August 31, 2003.

The Engagement Party
Three months prior to our wedding, we held a vort (legal engagement party) at our UCLA Hillel.  It was a Sephardic themed party, including an Indian Jewish sugar sealing ceremony (in which the parents of the bride place sugar on the tongue of the bride for good luck), and a signing of the tena’im (legal engagement contract). Both our tena’im and ketubah were Victorian replicas that I found in a vintage jewish wedding book. I basically had them photocopied, blanked out the middle, and had a skilled artist write our text and insert it. She printed them out on nice paper, and voila!

In Preparation
Prior to the wedding, I had studied with an Orthodox kallah teacher, to learn everything there was to know, and decide later what I wanted to take on.  Surprisingly, I got a lot out of it and I ended up taking on pretty much all of the customs and traditions.  During our engagement period, we were not touching at all (we had not been shomer negiah prior) and that was actually neat. We also had an aliyah at our Hillel before the week of separation.  We were under a tallis, so it was like a chuppah warm-up!  We did not see each other, speak, text, or email seven days prior to the wedding, and we didn’t live together until after our wedding night.  The night before our wedding I went to mikvah and Mike went to the ocean.

During the period of time that we were not seeing each other, I also had a henna ceremony (again, I love Indian Jewish traditions) performed by a Persian girlfriend. Mike and his best friends came, and I was hidden in a room as they painted his hands.  The photographer took some great photos of me in my Yemenite headpiece, with my hands and feet painted.

Pre-Chuppah
We had a tisch for Mike,  and I greeted people all hysterical at my bedecken. (I fasted and prayed all day, so I was pretty emotional!) My mom knit a white blanket for my “throne,”  which was really special. We had an Egalitarian signing of the ketubah – Mike signed first and then it was brought to me to sign.  The Rabbi then took it back to Mike and the men danced him to me through the gardens. It was really emotional when Mike and I saw each other for the first time after our week of separation.

The Ceremony
Our wedding was held at at Descanso Public Gardens in Pasadena, California.  Our ceremony was in an opening in the forest part of the gardens near a natural fountain. The chuppah was constructed from a tallis that I got Mike from Israel complete with p’til t’cheylet which are the biblically referenced blue-dyed fringes made of ink extracted from snails from the Dead Sea.

Mike’s childhood best friends and his brother held the chuppah. We had a Victorian themed wedding–they wore Edwardian suits, and Mike wore a top hat. My cousin and childhood best friend were my ladies, and they wore black lace dresses of their own choosing.  I got my Victorian and European lace dress at a vintage clothing store in Santa Monica called Paris 1900.  It wasn’t originally a wedding dress, but a party dress that reached my ankle.  My veil, which was waist length, cost more than the dress, and  was made of Irish lace.  I am very much into DIY and therefore had no florist.  I made all the bouquets and boutonnières out of vintage flowers and velvet ribbon, and made my own corsage the same way, with a hankie of my Grandma’s. We also used my Grandpa’s tallis to wrap around us. I wanted to incorporate some special family heirlooms into our wedding because I’m super sentimental.

The band was comprised of four musician friends who played two of my favorite Klezmatics songs for the processional. Our parents carried candles down the aisle, and we did all the traditional stuff—I circled Mike seven times. Mike placed a ring on my finger under the chuppah, and I gave him a ring and recited the harei line as well. Our family and friends recited the sheva brachot (seven blessings). We wrote no vows– the rabbi knew us for years, and he conducted a great service.

After the ceremony we had yichud inside my family’s camping tent, which the groomsmen had covered in ethnic fabrics.

The Reception
Since Mike had proposed to me in the Japanese Gardens, we decided to hold our reception at the Japanese Teahouse. Although the Gardens provided their own caterer, we had to bring in our own because we wanted our affair to be kosher. We basically had to pay for two caterers!

The reception was held by a koi pond. There were no seating arrangements.  We had a buffet with Asian style food, and no wedding cake. Instead we had a tiered chocolate babka and vodka shots (an Eastern European custom).

For the table centerpieces, we had fish-bowl style vases filled with water and plain rocks, which was very symbolic since my name is Mayim, meaning “water” in Hebrew and Mike’s last name is Stone. Another special touch was the silhouette artist that we hired to do portraits of our guests.

Our wedding was small and modest, but a true expression of our covenant!

Photo Credits: Beth Beljon

Mazel Tov to Michelle Rosen and David Zornitsky who who were married in a rather un-traditional Jewish wedding at Dylan’s Candy Bar.  The couple’s wedding was  featured in the the New York Times Sunday Styles section over the weekend. I don’t know about you, but just can’t get enough of the eye candy (no pun intended!) from their wedding.

According to the NY Times:

Michelle Rosen and David Zornitsky were escorted by their three boys, Alex and Elliott Zornitsky and Ian Rosen, down an aisle lined with lollipop trees at Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York. The bride wore a borrowed dress made of candy wrappers that was designed for “Project Runway.” Rabbi Douglas Sagal then led them in their vows beneath a wedding canopy of giant Whirly Pops and candy-colored balloons.

Wishing Michelle and David a very sweet life together!

Source & Photo Credits: The New York Times