If you’ve never been to a Jewish wedding before: welcome. You’re about to see some beautiful traditions, a whole lot of smiles, and (yes) some extremely enthusiastic dancing. Here’s a quick guide so you can relax and enjoy it.
You may catch a couple of pre-ceremony moments that are very “Jewish wedding energy”: • Tisch (Groom’s Party): Think of this as the Jewish wedding pre-game, singing, clapping, good vibes, and Justis getting hyped with friends and family. • Bedeken (Veiling): Justis is escorted, by the boys, to Jenna (with a lot of singing and happy chaos). They have not seen each other in a week so this is a very exciting part of the ceremony for both of them. The custom is that the groom takes the veil and covers the bride's face. He covers her physical beauty to remind himself that he is marrying her for her inner beauty, not just her outer beauty. Bedeken soundtrack: When the guys bring Justis in, you’ll hear “Od Yishama”. It’s basically the “something huge is happening!” anthem.
For the ceremony, we’ll have separate seating for men and women, with clearly separated sides. There’ll be an aisle down the middle, and ushers will make it super straightforward.
The ceremony happens under a chuppah (wedding canopy), which symbolizes the home we’re building together: open, welcoming, and full of warmth. You’ll see: • Circling: When Jenna arrives at the chuppah, she will walk around Justis seven times. When the Jewish people walked seven times around Jericho, 3000 years ago, the walls fell down. So too, we hope that all remaining emotional walls between Jenna and Justis will disappear under the chuppah. • Ring + a short Hebrew phrase: This is now the first part of the ceremony, which is the personal commitment between Justis and Jenna. As it is a personal commitment, it is done quietly. Two witnesses will verify that this takes place. • Ketubah: The marriage contract is now read aloud in Aramaic. In this document, Justis commits to Jenna that he will take care of all her needs. Jenna makes no commitments in the document. In Judaism, we trust women. We trust men also..... but we are dealing with commitment, so just to be sure, we want to see it on paper. • Sheva Brachot (Seven Blessings): This now represents the second part of the marriage, that it should contribute to the wider community. As a result, it must be done out loud and with a community present. Seven beautiful blessings are said for Jenna and Justis. We all express our desire for these blessings to become a reality by answering with the word 'amen', ("ah-men" not "ayy-men" for this one!) meaning that we agree. • Breaking the Glass: Perhaps the most well known of Jewish wedding customs, Justis will now break a glass with his foot. As soon as it breaks, everyone shouts “Mazel Tov!” (Congrats!) and that’s your cue to cheer too.
After the ceremony Justis and Jenna retire to the do "Yichud Room", to share their first moments of marriage together, before jumping into the party.
After the ceremony, we’ll move into dinner. Time to eat, catch up, and recharge… because the dancing comes with enthusiasm. At the start of the meal you will hear Hamotzi, a short blessing over bread that traditionally kicks off the meal. You don’t need to do anything special — just enjoy the moment (and then enjoy the challah).
Jewish weddings are joyful and high-energy! • We’ll kick things off with some traditional dancing, including the hora (the famous circle dance). • Dancing will be mostly mixed overall, but you may notice some separate dancing early on, which is part of the more traditional style of celebration. • Now its your time to shine. If you have any talent that you have never had the opportunity to display, now is the time to do so! At weddings, we Jews really let our hair down, so please go all out to show our newly married couple a good time.