Mazel Tov!: The Complete Book of Jewish Weddings [Hardcover]

Lea Bayers Rapp (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...finding one's roots, marrying in kind, understanding the marriage customs of 'the other half' of an interfaith union..." -- The South Amboy-Sayreville Times

"...this hip, fabulously comprehensive book is an excellent resource..." -- The Jewish State = February 14, 2003

"...upbeat,down-to-earth, indispensable...includes solid advice, fun quizzes, stories of real life brides and grooms, and 'insider interviews'..." -- Home Reporter and Sunset News- March 7, 2003

"From Old World to high-tech, it covers just about everything a couple needs to know..." -- New Jersey Jewish News - April 29, 2003

"Rapp provides a wealth of practical advice. Checklists, timetables and suggestions for keeping costs in line are all included." -- Jewish Woman International - Spring Issue 2003

From the Author

*Winner of the National Federation of Press Women's 2003 First Place Book Award for its category.

*Winner of the New Jersey Press Women's 2002-2003 First Place Book Award for its category.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: Citadel (July 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806523336
• ISBN-13: 978-0806523330
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,246,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mazel Tov: The Complete Book of Jewish Weddings, August 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mazel Tov!: The Complete Book of Jewish Weddings (Hardcover)

Mazel Tov! The Complete Book of Jewish Weddings by Lea Bayers Rapp has proven
to be everything I hoped for and more! This book is not only
super-informative, but it's fun to read, and interactive, too. It gave my
fiance and me so many great ideas and practical advice on not only actually
making the wedding, but gathering the money to do so, offered us tips on how
to save money, decide and find a rabbi, etc. I learned some solid facts on
selecting my wedding gown, the groom's and attendants clothing, music,
flowers, you name it. I was having a problem with my bridal party but no
more. (How did the author know and solve my exact problems here?) But in
addition to being a wedding planning guide book there are etiquette tips,
quizzes (some of them so funny our sides ached from laughing). There's also
some really interesting historical facts and customs. For example, I never
knew that a Jewish couple actually marry themselves!
My fiance and I have learned a lot about introducing technology into our
announcements and the wedding, and also on the other hand, about many ancient
customs. We decided to incorporate several into our wedding--and it should
make it really interesting.
Since my fiance is reform and I am conservative, we were happy to find that
various streams of Judaism and cultures are included, as are interfaith
marriages (a few of my friends could use that part of the book).
And best of all, there is great inside advice from experts, including a
famous make-up artist that does TV stars. If I had to find something that
could be improved, it could be that it could use some photographs. In all, I
highly recommend this book. Instead of providing information on a particular
aspect of weddings only, this sure does cover it all!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saved our wedding, September 22, 2002

By 

"witeagle" (Piscataway, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mazel Tov!: The Complete Book of Jewish Weddings (Hardcover)

This book really helped save our wedding. We were running around like crazy trying to get everything done, however, once we read the book we had a much better understanding of how to plan our wedding. We calmed down, picked up and finished planning based on ideas from the book. It felt like 100 tons was lifted from us as we easily finished our wedding plans and had the time of our life doing it.

Since we had a Jewish wedding, this book is much more helpful and better written then the other two books we were using which included information that didn't really give us any jewish traditional ideas while planning.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some practical help, but look elsewhere for tradition, May 30, 2005

By 

Anne T. Gilman (Schenectady, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mazel Tov!: The Complete Book of Jewish Weddings (Hardcover)

No doubt some of the discussion of planning finances and choosing helpers could be helpful, and helpful to any bride-to-be of any religion.

But please get the Diamant book and/or Lamm's "The Jewish Way in Love & Marriage" if you want to know about meanings behind Jewish wedding traditions. For example, in LBR's suggested wedding music playlist, "Here comes the Bride" is listed, with "Traditional" as the composer, as an option for announcing the bride and groom. This is a Wagner composition, and some rabbis will decline to perform a wedding with music by that extreme hater!

No doubt I run in very different social circles than the author, but all that means is different books for different folks. Don't take this book as the final guide to Yiddish or Hebrew terms, but if the other reviews sound like what you need, go for it.