Today on the blog we’re introducing our 7th gorgeous bride from our crop of 2020 Real Jewish Brides! Please give a warm welcome to Erin, who will be marrying Josh on 1st November 2020 at Congregation Beth Israel, in Charlottesville, VA, USA.
THREE FACTS: (1) Erin and Josh are planning an outdoorsy fall wedding on a budget in Virginia’s Shenandoah mountains. (2) Erin recently completed her conversion to Judaism, and she and Josh are looking forward to filling their big day with Jewish traditions while keeping it enjoyable and understandable to friends and family from all backgrounds. (3) Erin is a member of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club!
How you met
Like any true millennials, Josh and I met on a dating app. Because we connected over the holidays, we talked for a few months while I was visiting family in Florida and when Josh was on Birthright in Israel.
We were able to ever go on our first date on January 16, 2018 — best cup of coffee I’ve ever had. We clicked almost instantly, and have been inseparable since.
We are both huge nerds about the things we love (Josh is a brilliant musician and photographer, I love language, crafts, and Harry Potter) and we are both big on communication.
Our dating story
Josh is a preschool teacher at the school attached to our synagogue, and I am a medical education coordinator.
While we were dating, a typical date night for us involved me painting or sketching while Josh recorded an album, watching Netflix, or driving to various areas around our town in order to take photos.
Our dates weren’t usually extravagant, but every moment that we got to hang out together was special. I knew that Josh and I would someday get married (we had been “proposing” to each other for months before our actual engagement.)
Our proposal
We had even talked about the ring — I’ve always wanted a sapphire stone (it’s my birthstone, and I liked that it’s a bit different than a diamond) and Josh wanted a gold band (to match the traditional plain golden band I’d be receiving at our wedding.)
I had an inkling that Josh would propose sometime around our “official” relationship anniversary (February 16) — especially since it also falls around Valentine’s Day.
However, I was not expecting him to propose on rainy, February 12, 2019, while we were just arriving at a shopping center in a nearby town, where I was planning to pick up his engagement watch (I didn’t think it was fair that I would just be receiving a gift and marker of our engagement — he deserved one too!)
We had just parked, and were finishing listening to a song when he fished the box out of his bag and proposed! I don’t remember exactly what he said, or exactly what I said, but I do remember the intense amounts of joy I felt. (Josh later told me that he had been planning a “big proposal”, but that this moment felt right, and that he couldn’t wait another second to be engaged to me — which is very Josh, sweet, intuitive, and loving.)
Wedding planning so far
We will be getting married on November 1, 2020 at Congregation Beth Israel, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Our wedding will be taking place in the fall, nestled in the Shenandoah mountains, so I’m looking forward to a very natural, outdoorsy (but magical) feeling wedding.
Josh and I have a small budget for the wedding, so we are very conscious of making everything meaningful and focusing on celebrating our love and union and all the people who come there to celebrate it with us!
Our wedding will simultaneously be “traditional” — we both love Jewish traditions — Josh was raised Jewish and I am recently Jewish — and “non-traditional” — we’re aiming to have a laid-back, fun, home-y reception.
I would love for our wedding ceremony to be filled with emotion, our wedding reception to look like a starry forest, and the whole day be a day with tons of laughter, love, and dancing!
Our menu
For food, we will be having paffles (puff pastry waffle sandwiches) made my the restaurant where Josh worked and I currently work on the weekends. Our menu will be vegetarian and non-dairy with tons of vegans options in hopes that everyone will feel comfortable eating!
(And since we are having the reception in a synagogue, it just makes keeping the kitchen kosher much easier. I’m also super-excited because we’re planning on having a mix of desserts, especially featuring my favorite local vegan doughnuts — Sugar Shack Donuts!
What Marriage Means To Us
Marrying Josh means marrying the person who makes me laugh when I’m sad, and also all of the time. Marriage means promising that come good times and bad times we will talk, hold each other, and try our best.
Marriage is a sacred (and legal) announcement of two people’s intentions to bind themselves together for the rest of their lives, building a home and life together.
Click here to read all Erin’ planning posts to date.
Erin & Josh’s Wedding Vendors booked so far:
Venue – Congregation Beth Israel
Photographer – Photography Champloo
Donuts – Sugar Shack Donuts
