Today on the blog we’re introducing our 3rd gorgeous bride from our crop of 2019 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Rebekkah, who will be marrying Jakob on 11th July 2019 at The Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada.
THREE FACTS: (1) Rebekkah and Jakob were introduced by mutual friends while Jakob, who is from Germany, was in Rebekkah’s hometown of Calgary on a specialized work visa. (2) They are getting married at a beautiful mountain resort in a national park in Alberta, Canada! (3) Rebekkah is a “very satisfied member” (her words) of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!
How We Met
Hello everyone, my name is Rebecca Singer. I am 26, I grew up on a farm in southern Alberta (western Canada). I am not your average Jewish bride, but despite my different lifestyle I am still just a Jewish girl with a crazy loving mom and a crazier family.
My fiancà© Jakob and I met August 2015 on wait for it… Tinder, well, half on Tinder. We were also set up by a mutual friend, but it wasn’t till we swiped each other right that I took him up on a date. Jakob is a master gun maker who at the time was living here in Calgary, Canada, on a work visa – he’s from Regensburg, Germany. I was then studying while working at a professional show jumping barn.
We spent our first date walking our dogs along a river, I really wasn’t sure how I felt about Jake other then that I liked him and that I LOVED his dog. I am obsessed with dogs so when this hottie rolled up with a very cute and incredibly well-trained Springer Spaniel I was impressed.
We had a nice time chatting and walking until, as if in a rom com, it started to downpour on us. I made a break for my car and opened the back door for my German Shepherd Zus to jump in, but his dog Pauly bounded in before my Zus had a chance to. Our date continued with us stuck talking in my car with two stinky wet dogs chilling in the back seat. That’s been our relationship ever since, me, him, and our dogs.
Before I met Jakob, I knew exactly the qualities I wanted the love of my life and future husband to have, and Jakob has every one of those things…. except that he is not Jewish. In the beginning I was medium hung up on the him being German thing. I think it’s because I’m the great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. It didn’t take my Jakob long to show me how wrong my preconceptions had been. He truly is the sweetest man’s man I have ever met.
The Proposal
The last few years of our relationship has been a blast of adventures, travel, and fighting through life’s ups and downs together. Our most recent adventure: my parents, brother, sister in-law, Jake, and I were invited to a family friend’s wedding in Israel, so the lot of us flew over for three weeks, then flew to Europe for another two weeks to visit Jakob’s family.
Jakob and my sister in-law Willow (who is also my bestie) hadn’t been to Israel before, so me being a completely unapologetic Zionist showed them all over Israel. Not to my surprise Jakob loved the Holy Land, which for me was the last thing I needed to confirm before I was ready to be with him forever. Not to mention the fact that he deserves a medal for surviving over a month-long vacation with my entire insane family!
It was May 15th, the day before we flew out of Tel-Aviv. Jakob and I took a walk on the beach, walking through knee deep water. I was staring off into the stunning coast line when he wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear, “Will you marry me?” I was stunned. Then he stepped out in front of me and got down on one knee and asked me again if I would marry him. I sobbed out a “hell yes” and dove into his arms – it’s impressive he didn’t drop the ring.
My super slick sister-in-law/bestie Willow booked me into Galia Lahav to “casually” try some wedding dresses on, just for fun of course, the next day (a few hours before our flight to Paris) and to all our surprise we fell in love with the very first dress I tried on. Then to our amazement Galia Lahav herself strolled in and decided the dress I loved needed a slight customization so after totally freaking out I bought the dress.
Booked Vendors So Far
I have already booked my photographer, Abbey Raine Photography. She is a very talented local photographer and dear family friend.
I got my dress as mentioned above at Galia Lahav.
I have my venue booked and they are also my caterers, The Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Kananaskis, AB.
I booked my local rabbi’s sister-in-law, who is a reform rabbi from the USA and is willing to marry me to my goyisha groom. Rabbi Ruz Gulko is a lovely rabbi who also married my cousin to her mensch also goyisha husband. (Side note: in my family marrying a goy is only sababa if the kids are raised Jewish; it’s like a family rule.)
My invitations have been made and printed, and I will send out our international guest invites this month. We got our invitations done from one of my bridesmaids’ father’s company, Emerson and Clarke Printing. Rich at Emerson Clarke is a gem of a man and put all my crazy ideas into one beautiful invite – and made it extremely affordable.
Issues Planning So Far
Some of my other Jewish bride sistas will probably get where I’m coming from on this one: my biggest issue with planning so far has been balancing having my dream wedding whilst not spending a fortune.
Don’t get me wrong, I bought a couture dress – I understand quality isn’t cheap. But there are certain things that I refuse to drop thousands of dollars on, like gift bags, centerpieces, signature cocktails etc. Now that brings me to trying to find a wedding cake that can feed 150 people for less then a grand. So not the most complicated issue, but I’m confident my frugality will prevail.
What Marriage Means To Us
We’re having a Jewish wedding, reform because my beloved isn’t Jewish; he is Bavarian with no religious affiliation. So, besides the German/English wedding program, and an insane amount of beer, I wouldn’t call it Jew-“ish”. I like to go full Jew, no “ish.” Our people have the best traditions.
What are our wedding goals? To have an authentic and love-filled wedding day with lots of dancing and laughing. We want to look at each other the next morning and have our cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing, and our feet hurt from dancing.
Click here to read all Rebekkah’s planning posts to date.
Rebekkah & Jakob’s Wedding Vendors booked so far:
Photography – Abbey Raine Photography
Wedding venue – The Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge
Dress – Galia Lahav
Invitations – Emerson and Clarke Printing
