The Creative Jewish Wedding Book: A Hands-On Guide to New & Old Traditions, Ceremonies & Celebrations [Paperback]

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer (Author), Sue Levi Elwell (Preface), Kerry M. Olitzky (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2009

Wedding planning can be a stressful experience. Keeping track of all the details--deciding who to invite, choosing a caterer, arranging the reception--can sometimes lead to a couple forgetting about the bigger picture and the significance of this day in their lives: A joyous occasion that should reflect not only your personality, but your values, as well.

The Creative Jewish Wedding Book brings your complete wedding planning into focus. Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer helps you express your individuality and spirituality on your wedding day. Whether your plans are traditional or alternative, whether you are planning your first or second marriage, she provides the tools you need to look at and think about ritual and tradition in new and innovative ways, including:

• Insights and reflections from a broad range of couples who have created their own distinctive weddings
• Practical hands-on techniques and ideas for creating many of the ritual objects connected to a Jewish wedding from designing your own ketubah, to making paper for invitations, to fashioning the chuppah
• How to express your spiritual life and values through your ceremony
• An up-to-date guide to wedding resources in the Jewish world

Inspiring and useful, The Creative Jewish Wedding Book can help you reclaim your wedding day from the whirlwind of details and bring out the honesty and integrity you desire in your wedding experience.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This guide to Jewish weddings will be best appreciated by those who are new to Judaism, those who wish to adapt tradition to personalize their Jewish wedding or those who want to incorporate elements of the Jewish tradition into an unconventional or interfaith wedding ceremony. Kaplan-Mayer writes accessibly and engagingly, leading readers through Jewish customs such as the ketubah, the marriage contract that she encourages them to modify according to their own backgrounds and needs, and the chuppah, the wedding canopy that she helps them envision and create. She tackles food, music, family dynamics and ritual objects ("something oldish, something newish, something borrowed, something Jewish"). Kaplan-Mayer pays special attention to the needs of interfaith and same-sex couples, with practical suggestions for diminishing possible tensions and helping family members and guests feel at ease.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 261 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing; 2 edition (February 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580233988
• ISBN-13: 978-1580233989
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creatively Carrying Through Intention, June 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Creative Jewish Wedding Book: A Guide to Making the Wedding of Your Dreams a Reality (Paperback)

Reading through this book is like getting advice from a clever, witty, creative and deeply spiritual friend. There are wonderful examples of how different couples have created meaningful rituals for their weddings, giving the readers starting points to create their own deeply personal simchot. There is an amazing sense of openness and inclusiveness throughout. "The Creative Jewish Wedding Book" will be a standard engagement gift for my Jewish friends.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ENDLESSLY HELPFUL, April 4, 2005

By 

Julie Goldman (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Creative Jewish Wedding Book: A Guide to Making the Wedding of Your Dreams a Reality (Paperback)

The Creative Jewish Wedding book has been a life saver. My partner and I had read every book, magazine, web site there is. As a Lesbian couple we were searching and searching for texts that included us in a way that was just inclusive and not so abrupt and exclusive or not included as an afterthought. Gabrielle makes all kinds of Judaism included and honored and makes the reader feel like whatever their beliefs it's all good. As a gay couple we can't express our appreciation enough of our inclusion and her way of writing that is so easy and pleasing to read. Gabrielle also introduced us to new ways of expressing words of god that put us at ease and honored our belief system. Her writing is compassionate and open, she offers excellent resources and information, and the book offers new insights and has been a delight to learn from and read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Planning a wedding? You need this!, June 28, 2008

By 

Readlove (New York) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Creative Jewish Wedding Book: A Guide to Making the Wedding of Your Dreams a Reality (Paperback)

While helping my daughter plan her wedding this book was invaluable. Gives you many options of what's "supposed to take place" at a Jewish wedding, and also creative alternatives. Very helpful and a quick read. Use some of it or all of it!