PLANNING YOUR DREAM JEWISH WEDDING CAN BE OVERWHELMING
First and foremost, find a wonderful Cantor or Rabbi who can meet you where you are on your journey. Make sure they are ordained from an accredited Jewish Seminary. This is the first step in ensuring that they are qualified to provide you with the guidance, relationship counseling, and Jewish traditional knowledge to help you plan your wedding, and your life together as a married couple. Set up an introductory meeting, have a list of questions prepared, and ask away.
I always recommend my couples read the following books to give them the foundational knowledge needed to prepare for their special day. We talk through a lot of the concepts in these books during our sessions, but it is invaluable to have these texts to refer back to better understand the Jewish rites and accompanying ritual items needed for your wedding.
These Photos Link directly to Amazon for ease, and if you click you’ll be linked though my storefront for a bonus.
TOP 3 MUST READS
New Jewish Wedding, Revised edition, by Anita Diamant
The Definitive, Completely Up-to-Date Guide to Planning a Jewish Wedding since its original publication in 1986, The New Jewish Wedding has become required reading, assigned to engaged couples by Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist Cantors and Rabbis alike. In this new revision, Anita Diamant, offers step-by-step guidance to planning the ceremony and the party that follows -- from hiring a Cantor or Rabbi and wording the invitation to organizing a processional and hiring a caterer.
The Jewish Wedding Now, Kindle Edition, by Anita Diamant
Same book, newly revised and updated, the definitive guide to planning a Jewish wedding, written by bestselling novelist Anita Diamant. This complete, easy-to-use guide explains everything you need to know to plan your own Jewish wedding in today’s ever-changing world.
Beyond Breaking the Glass: A Spiritual Guide to Your Jewish Wedding, By Rabbi Nancy H Wiener, D.Min
Written by my teacher Rabbi Nancy H. Weiner, D.Min, this volume delves into the emotional and spiritual elements of a Jewish wedding. Beyond Breaking the Glass is the book for today's couples helping you plan a deeper, more meaningful wedding celebration. Included are multiple options of traditional, contemporary, and creative rituals and prayers for couples of all approaches, orientations, and identities. Beyond Breaking the Glass is a rich source of practical information for planning a Jewish wedding, including a variety of ceremonies, checklists, a planning timeline, and references. This beautiful guidebook will help all couples create a wedding that will resonate with Jewish tradition while offering the very best of contemporary innovations.
*ADDITIONALLY FOR MY INTERFAITH COUPLES I ALWAYS RECOMMEND:
Making a Successful Jewish Interfaith Marriage: The Jewish Outreach Institute Guide to Opportunities, Challenges and Resources, By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky with Joan Peterson Littman
Straightforward and nonjudgmental advice for dating couples, partners, husbands and wives, in-laws, counselors and others. Interfaith relationships are commonplace; the challenges that go along with them are not. From a Jewish perspective, this book guides interfaith couples at any stage of their relationship—from dating and engagement, to the wedding and marriage.
And if you’re anything like me and don’t want the bulk of physical books, here’s a link for a
