Friday, April 30, 2010

Make Your Own Ketubah


If you are thinking of ways to honor your Jewish heritage in your wedding ceremony, you want to consider a ketubah. The signing the ketubah, or marriage contract, during the ceremony is a lovely way to acknowledge your heritage, and serves as a meaningful unity ritual for the couple.

If you're the crafty sort, New Ketubah offers detailed instructions to make your own ketubah on the website. This detailed section offers information to get you started with a variety of articles from Hebrew lettering to framing your ketubah. There is even a DIY Ketubah Kit to download! You can't ask for more.

But, if you're not up for another project before your wedding, New Ketubah has gorgeous handcrafted ketubahs which can be ordered online. See the collection of their designs here.

The images here are samples of just two of the designs available.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Wedding Tips to Enjoy With Your Cup of Coffee

My favorite thing about Sunday morning is what my family calls, "Big Breakfast" which we enjoy while sharing the Sunday paper. While drinking my coffee and enjoying one of my husband's fantastic homemade scones, I happily discovered that today's Chicago Tribune featured a Wedding Survival Guide.

I paged through it and found some great tips for brides and grooms. An article definitely worth checking out is Wedding Clothes That Fit Your Bottom Line, offering several good tips such as:
  • Shop the bridesmaids dresses for your gown. They often have the same styles available in the wedding gown and bridesmaid dress categories.
  • Look into non-bridal shops for dresses. Places like J.Crew and Ann Taylor have dresses that make beautiful wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses - at lower prices.
  • For groomsmen, let them wear their own suits, in coordinating colors.
  • For bridesmaids, pick a color and let them pick out their own dresses. They'll save money - and have a dress they can wear again.
Another helpful article I came across was Ahh...the Smell of Freshly Saved Cash, which offered suggestions on saving money on wedding flowers. One of my favorite tips was to create simple centerpieces by using mason jars with bouquets of seasonal flowers. I can just picture a bunch of peonies for a summer wedding - it would be a lovely, fresh display. (That could also be because I just spent Friday afternoon digging up weeds and planting peonies!)

Be sure to check today's Trib for these helpful hints, as well as ideas on writing the perfect toast. That means you, Best Man!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

News-worthy Wedding!

Nick and Beth are now officially married. YAY!

CBS News covered Wish Upon a Wedding's first Chicago wedding......



Congratulations, Beth and Nick!
It was a joy and an honor to be a part of your day.

Friday, April 9, 2010

The eleven eleven WEDDING giveaway!


It's the
eleven eleven WEDDING giveaway!


You can enter to win a dream wedding worth $60,000, to be held on Nov. 11, 2010!
Eleven eleven - get it? Entries must be received by May 1st. The finalists will be posted at the website and visitors to the site will be able to cast votes.


To enter the contest, just click here.

One of the best parts? The ceremony will be created and officiated by my wonderful Celebrant colleague, Toni Hassett of Unforgettable Ceremonies. Yay!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

WIth This Ring....

When I'm working with couples on their wedding ceremony, I try to encourage them to be involved in the creation process.

One way to make your ceremony more personalized is to write your own ring vows or marriage vows. This can be a rich and rewarding experience, and allows people to really reflect on their relationship and their upcoming marriage.


Of course, not everyone is comfortable with writing the vows, especially when, ultimately, there will be witnesses!

So, another option is to get involved with selecting the words yourself. Review examples of vows and ring exchanges and see what appeals to you. You can change the wording to suit your tastes, or combine different vows. It's up to you!


Here are a few of my other favorites:

"With this ring, I thee wed, and with my body, I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods thee endow."


"This ring is a token of my faithfulness and love and a symbol that all I have I share with you. Let this ring symbolize our one life together. I accept this ring as a symbol of our one life together."


You should say words that have meaning to you and feel right. Be sure you look at different examples and pick the words that are YOU!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Take a Peep at This!

Peeps reign supreme around this time of year, so why not incorporate everyone's favorite marshmallow goodies into your wedding? In the cake, for example.

Some may call it tacky, while others call it tasty. You decide.

In honor of the Easter Bunny's annual visit, you may also want to check out artist David Ottogalli's site, Peepshow. You can see his Peep wedding, created in honor of a friend's marriage.

Enjoy it while nibbling on some marshmallow treats!

I prefer the classic yellow ones.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Processional Music That's..... YOU!

So, I guess I'm on a music theme here, but it seems I've been talking to a lot of couples about music lately. When the subject of processional and recessional songs comes up, I always advise them to just play what they like. The only caveat is that you should be sure to listen to the lyrics and make sure they won't be embarrassing on your wedding day. In other words, do you really want to realize (too late!) that you're walking out of your ceremony to a break-up song?

Many people already have plans for playing non-traditional tunes. One of my all-time favorites was this "classical" version of Guns 'n' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Vitamin String Quartet. It was chosen for the bride's processional and it was great! Guests who recognized the song loved it, and the others just thought it was a nice, energetic classical piece. Brilliant!