posted by Arielle Angel on May 14, 2012
Maya and I are both in bridesmaid mode– Maya’s sister is getting married (!), as is my best friend since the age of four (four!). That means that over the next few months, you can expect a few reports on things we’re doing/picking up along the way. Turns out being a bridesmaid is hard work!
Let’s talk bridal shower invitations. I wanted to make them by hand, but I didn’t know how difficult/expensive/crazy it might be. I’m here to tell you, it was neither difficult, nor expensive. In fact, in most cases, it’s cheaper than buying online or at the store. Of course, it’s more effort, but needless to say it looks WAY WAY WAY better.
This was the original handmade invitation, which I sent to the bride:
This was the reproduction, which went out to the shower attendees:
Here’s the way I did it:
I looked up established envelope sizes, and chose the size I thought would be most appropriate (I chose A2, about 5.5″ x 4.25″). I knew we were going to have a Sunday brunch/summer hat theme, so I Googled some source material, and got the text of the invitation perfect on scrap paper.
It was surprisingly easy to create the design, especially because there is such a limited amount of space and so much information to put in it. I did a draft in pencil, inked it with Micron pens, and used watered-down acrylic paint for color.
Even if you’re not an artist, my advice is just to go for it. Embrace the imperfections in your handwriting and your layout. It may not be perfect, but that’s what makes it special!
The printing was a cinch. I took the original invitation plus the insert I made for the registry information to The Source, a print and copy center in the East Village (they printed my Haggadahs a couple years ago, and I had a great experience with them– if you’re in New York, you should know they are AWESOME). Printing was easy, as there was actually no printing involved. No scanning either. We simply made color copies on card stock. We were able to set it up so that we could print four invitations to a 8.5″ x 11″ page (another benefit to using the A2 size) and nine inserts to a page, which cut down on the price. All in all, I thought the color copies looked pretty good, and with only minor adjustments: we darkened it a bit on the copier’s settings, so that the invites wouldn’t look washed out.
Here’s perhaps the only hard part: I had to do the cutting manually. Most printers will charge you per cut, and they won’t get it exact. Luckily, most FedEx Office locations keep their paper cutter out front. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit of a pain cutting each invite, but with a good paper-cutter it’s entirely doable. I had 30 invites and inserts to cut, and it probably only took me 20 minutes.
Final bill for 30 invites? Envelopes – approx $14; Printing – approx $18; Postage – approx $13.50. Total = $45.50. More importantly, the bride loves them!
posted by Arielle Angel on April 26, 2012
Have you heard yet about Mazel Moments? We’re big fans. The mazelmoments™ website helps you plan any Jewish inspired event including a Jewish wedding, bar & bat mitzvah, bris milah, or kosher corporate event. Their extensive directories include venues, temples, rabbis, kosher caterers & restaurants, florists & chuppahs, judaica & ketubah artists, photographers & videographers, music & entertainment vendors, event planners, mohels and more within the Tri-State Area. Today, the mastermind behind it all, Cigall Goldman, shares her tips on finding a rabbi.
Congratulations! You’ve found the person you want to spend the rest of your life with! The hard part is over. At least it should be!
Whether you’re planning a Jewish, interfaith and/or gay wedding, finding a wedding rabbi is an important decision. Nowadays so much of the wedding planning process focuses on the reception – the music, food, flowers, wedding cake, and so on. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Celebrating has always been important in the Jewish culture. But the wedding ceremony should be the most meaningful part of the day. So take the time to find a rabbi that will perform a ceremony that fits your style as a couple, and will bring to life your relationship and love for each other.
If you belong to a temple or went to a synagogue-affiliated Hebrew school as a child, you may have a rabbi in mind who can perform your ceremony. We still urge you to go through the following steps to ensure he or she is a perfect fit.
Photo by Cantor Kerry Ben-David
Step 1: Picture Your Ideal Wedding Ceremony
Discuss your wedding ceremony with your fiancé. Not the budget. Not the guest list. Focus on the ceremony. Try to visualize yourselves walking down the aisle surrounded by your loved ones and making one of life’s greatest commitments to each other. Is the ceremony lighthearted or serious? Traditional or highly personalized?
Factors to Consider when Choosing a Rabbi:
Denomination – Are you and/or your families Reform, Conservative Traditional, Conservative Egalitarian, Modern Orthodox, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, another denomination, or unaffiliated.
Style – Do you want a humorous rabbi, or do you prefer more serious wedding ceremonies? Do you want a rabbi that will provide explanations for your guests to understand all of the traditions and customs that you will be preforming?
Personalization – Jewish weddings involve many rituals, many of which can be modified or personalized to represent a couple’s beliefs. From signing the ketubah to breaking the glass under the chuppah, it’s important to find a rabbi that will work with you to make the rituals personal, should you be interested in doing so.
Premarital Counseling – Most rabbis will meet with the couple a number of times before the wedding. This helps to establish a relationship and make the ceremony more personal. But some rabbis will also go beyond the ceremony and discuss the marriage. These rabbis provide a form of premarital counseling: a platform in which you can discuss life goals and potential challenges with your fiancé that you may have never discussed before (children, money, moving, illness, etc). Find out the number of times your rabbi plans to meet with you, what you will be discussing, and if he or she provides tools or resources that will help strengthen your marriage.
Step 2: Research Rabbis
Mazelmoments.com makes it easy and fun to find the perfect rabbi, cantor, wedding officiant and other Jewish clergy (including those willing to perform interfaith ceremonies). You can read about their background and training, and read reviews from other brides or families. Finding a rabbi to perform an interfaith or same sex wedding ceremony is just the click of a button. If the rabbi is a congregational rabbi, we urge you to attend Shabbat services at their synagogue to get a sense of how they lead the services. That’s one of the best ways to know if you jive with a rabbi’s style.
For more help planning your Jewish event, visit mazelmoments.com.
posted by Arielle Angel on April 23, 2012
Recently, we profiled one of our favorite wedding bands, The Prenups, but we know that one New York wedding band can’t be everywhere at once. And anyway, don’t Jewish and multi-ethnic weddings have special concerns? That’s why this week, we’ve got Marta Segal Block, the mastermind behind GigMasters.com, a one-stop-shop for all your event entertainment needs, to drop a little knowledge. Remember, at Jewish weddings, there is a commandment to entertain the bride and groom at their wedding. This means that in addition to a band or DJ, clowns, magicians, dancers, fire breathers– they’re all fair game! Take it away, Marta.
The Entertainment: They may be in the background, but they can make or break a party!
Unlike non-Jewish weddings, a Jewish wedding reception is considered part of the wedding itself. There’s actually a commandment that you should celebrate and have fun after a wedding!
A traditional, religious Jewish wedding starts before the ceremony with a Tish. During the Tish the groom attempts to teach a bible passage, while his friends drink and try to distract him. Many modern couples are turning the Tish in to a co-ed event. This is a great time to bring in some entertainment. Clowns, magicians, or singers can all add a festive and modern feel to this tradition.
The Tish is followed by the unveiling of the bride (Beddekin) and the signing of the Ketubah. It’s perfectly appropriate to have a harp or other soft music in the background during this smaller, more intimate ceremony.
If you’re not having a Tish, you can still make the most of your entertainment options. Most Jewish weddings happen on a Sunday, which may open up a variety of options financially since performers will be more likely to agree to shorter performance times or even special deals on a day when they aren’t likely to get other bookings.
This can be a real boon to interfaith couples, as it leaves extra money for a special dance or musical performance that honors one of the partners’ cultures, in addition to their band or DJ. Jewish families are often full family affairs and hiring a magician or clown to entertain the children is a great way to keep the day civilized.
When it comes to hiring a band or DJ, most bands and DJs are familiar with the Hora. If you simply wish to nod to Jewish tradition adding this dance to your normal playlist will be fun and exciting for all guests. But, if you’re having a completely Jewish wedding we recommend asking the DJ or bandleader about his or experience with Jewish weddings. The rhythm of a Jewish wedding reception is slightly different than that of a Christian wedding and having some experience is helpful. If you fall in love with a band that hasn’t worked a Jewish wedding before, consider a wedding planner or day-of coordinator with Jewish wedding experience.
No matter how much experience your planner or band has, make sure that both you and your vendors are clear about any rules of modesty or kashrut that you, your rabbi, synagogue, venue, or family have. There are many levels of observance and what seems obvious to one person may be a new concept to someone else.
Looking for more wedding advice? Check out GigMasters’s Wedding Blog.
posted by Arielle Angel on April 20, 2012
Chairs by Giliah Litwack, Ketuv’s premiere same-sex ketubah
Have you seen our blog post on Mazel Moments? If not, we just wanted to let you know: Ketuv is serious about marriage equality. From our post:
“From now on, every time another state passes marriage equality, Ketuv will offer 5% off on all of our ketubot for a whole week. All you have to do is type in Equality and the two-letter state abbreviation of the state that just passed the bill. For example, in the week after our home state of New York passed marriage equality, you would have entered EqualityNY, and we would have given you 5% off of your fabulous new ketubah. Can’t wait to celebrate with you!”
Take a look at our post on Mazel Moments (and check out the rest of the site, too– totally awesome and comprehensive for Jewish lifecycle events!) for more of how Ketuv can help same-sex coulpes find the ketubah that is right for them. Remember that Ketuv fills in your ketubah text for free, which means we will work with you directly to make sure your text represents you the way you want to be represented.
posted by Arielle Angel on April 4, 2012
Hi all,
I made you this. An illustrated handmade Haggadah for 2012 which explores themes of social justice: oppression and liberation, resistance and hope. This Haggadah is decidedly Jewish, but is entirely appropriate for an interfaith seder. This Haggadah borrows, steals and plagiarizes from many other Haggadot, and is also made from original material, ranging from the traditional to the super-lefty-touchy-feely (possible keywords: feminist seder, environmentalist seder, vegetarian seder, etc.). It also features my illustrated 12 steps, a selection of which you can view below. Click below to download the PDF.
Arielle
HERE: haggadah2012
Yachatz: Breaking the Middle Matzah
Maggid: Telling the Passover Story
Korech: Eating the Matzah and Maror Together
Happy Passover everyone!
posted by Arielle Angel on March 16, 2012
Custom Map ketubah by Rachelle Tolwin
We know that commissioning a custom ketubah can be intimidating. That’s why we recently shared our tips with Jewish wedding experts, The Wedding Yentas. We had so much info on the topic that the post comes in two parts, Part I and Part II.
If you’re considering a custom work, definitely follow the links to the post as a whole, but either way, here are some excerpts that will give you a sense of the process.
Figure out what your ketubah is about: Talk to your partner about what aspects of your relationship you would like your ketubah to highlight. They should be the things that you feel are truly special about your relationship. You may want to think about the stories that are important to you as a couple: how you met, the moment you “knew,” a trip you took together. Your ketubah can depict, say, the park bench where he proposed, or a map of all the New York City apartments you both lived in before you met one another.
Start thinking about color: This could be as basic as wanting the ketubah to echo your wedding colors, or the colors of your home, or it could be more symbolic.
Figure out what you like: There is no special formula to finding the right artist, and you don’t have to know about art to have an experience with it. Look around. When you like something, listen to yourself. Collect images of the artwork you and your partner like, and look at all the images together to see if there is a pattern emerging.
Communicate: Let your artist in on the details of the conversation you had with your partner, and share your little folder of inspiration images, taking him/her through your vision for your ketubah. In one case, a couple even sent me a crude version of what they wanted, which they sketched out themselves in crayon!
The client’s sketch to the artist’s rendering
As we told The Wedding Yentas, this may sound like a lot of work, but we believe that you and your partner can figure out the basics of what you’re interested in over the span of a dedicated afternoon. It might also be fun, an opportunity to literally “visualize” your relationship. Don’t forget that your artist will also bring something to the table. You don’t have to have everything figured out in order to start the conversation!
Again, for the full post, including more information about ketubah text on a custom work, as well as the details of the agreement between artist and client, please visit The Wedding Yentas, and Ketuv’s posts, Part I and Part II!