Wedding Day Events

We are excited to celebrate with all of you both before and after the ceremony. Here is a list of wedding events to look forward to. We hope you will take part in making our wedding the most joyous day of our lives.

Welcome Cocktail Receptions

A traditional Jewish wedding begins with separate simultaneous receptions by the groom and the bride for the wedding guests. This is a chance for us to greet you, and share our excitement and anticipation about the coming ceremony.

Pre-Bedeken Parade

The groom’s welcome reception concludes with the attendees mobilizing into a parade escorting the groom into the bride’s welcome reception for the bedeken. We invite you to join in with singing and dancing (or jumping and shouting) to set the mood for this exciting event.

Please see the videos below for examples of parades, and note that at our wedding, we specifically request guests of all genders to participate in all aspects.

Bedeken

Before the ceremony, the groom veils the bride, indicating that she is the woman he wants to marry and setting her apart from all others. After the veiling, the parents offer blessings to their children.

Ceremony

See below for more on the ceremony.

Reception and Dancing

The reception at a Jewish wedding is an important part of the marriage ritual. The bride and groom are treated as a king and queen, and the guests are there to honor, entertain, and celebrate with them.

Dancing is the primary way to celebrate with the new bride and groom, and it happens before and between courses of the meal. When the couple enters the reception, the guests are all gathered on the dance floor ready to welcome the couple and go right into simcha dancing.

Simcha dancing is done in concentric circles with the bride and groom in the center. The guests take turns going into the center to dance with them. Simcha means happiness, and simcha dancing is about excitement and enthusiasm more than grace or rhythm. Please join us on the dance floor, and share your enthusiasm with us!

See videos below for examples of simcha dancing.

Ceremony and Ritual

We understand that many of our guests will not be familiar with the elements of a Jewish wedding. If you are curious about what is going to happen under the chuppah, this section is for you!

Chuppah

The chuppah (or huppah) is the wedding canopy under which we will get married. It represents the home that we are committing to build together. The chuppah is open on all four sides, like the tent of Abraham, representing the openness and hospitality of our future home.

Ketubah

The ketubah is a Jewish legal document that defines the terms of the marriage. We and two witnesses will sign this document before the ceremony. We compiled our ketubah together following the text of the Brit Ahuvim, covenant of loved ones, citing biblical precedent of partnerships and covenants, before outlining the terms of our own marriage covenant.

Processional

We will be preceded by our immediate families down the aisle, and will be escorted by our parents. As part of the Jewish custom of treating the bride and groom as royalty, we ask that you rise for each of us as we walk down the aisle.

Circling

After the processional, we will circle each other 7 times. This represents the protection we will be providing each other, and the intertwining of our lives.

Grape Juice

Grape juice (or wine) represents joy and celebration in Judaism, and it is a standard part of most Jewish ceremonies and celebrations. Grape juice is also used at the start and end of Jewish holidays to mark the transition to and from non-holidays. Today we are using grape juice to mark our transition to becoming a married couple.

Ring Exchange

The ring exchange is the crux of the wedding ceremony. In order for us to become married, we will each give the other an item of value to the other in order to bind each other to the commitments made in our ketubah.

Sheva Brachot

The Sheva Brachot, literally "seven blessings", are the traditional expression of celebration at a Jewish wedding ceremony. They start with a blessing over the grape juice, and continue to thank God for creation, reproduction, and the joy we experience today.

Breaking of the Glass

The ceremony ends with us breaking a glass. We do this to remind ourselves that even at a time of greatest joy, there is still much broken in the world. After we break the glass, the guests should shout “Mazel Tov!” (congratulations).

Yichud

We will spend our first few moments as a married couple together in yichud, seclusion. During this time the guests are encouraged to have a drink and get ready to dance!