Nimisha and Sol‘s Hindu-Jewish Wedding | Photo by Roshni Photography
Welcome back to “5 of Our Favorites,” our blog series where we celebrate the beauty and diversity of Jewish weddings from around the world. In this second installment, we’re excited to share 5 of our favorite multicultural Jewish weddings.
Jewish weddings are rich with tradition, but they’re also a canvas for blending cultures, customs, and celebrations. These multicultural weddings beautifully merge Jewish traditions with the unique cultural backgrounds of the couples, creating vibrant, personalized experiences that reflect their diverse heritages.
We hope these five weddings inspire you to think outside the box and create a celebration that truly represents you and your partner’s journey.
Diana and Jonathan‘s Korean Jewish Wedding | Photo by Shai Ashkenazi
Diana and Jonathan’s Korean Jewish Wedding at Villa Nona, Caesarea, Israel
Diana and Jonathan planned a wedding that perfectly fused Jonathan’s Jewish Israeli identity with Diana’s Korean American background – in addition to being impeccably stylish.
Diana and Jonathan‘s Korean Jewish Wedding | Photo by Shai Ashkenazi
Diana and Jonathan live in Seattle and opted to get married in Israel, where Jonathan’s family is. At first, Diana thought she could handle international wedding planning just fine on her own, but eventually she realized between the language barrier, time difference, and cultural differences she could use some help. Enter the couple’s fabulous wedding planner, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Yael Kfir Frumkes. After a friend introduced Diana and Jonathan to her, they knew they needed her on their team.
Diana and Jonathan‘s Korean Jewish Wedding | Photo by Shai Ashkenazi
This vision included not only a sophisticated neutral palette inspired by venue Villa Nona’s romantic Mediterranean vibes, but also a mix of Jewish and Korean traditions. Diana and Jonathan planned a unique chuppah ceremony tailored to fit their style, and followed it up with a traditional Korean Pyebaek ceremony.
Nimisha and Sol‘s Hindu-Jewish Wedding | Photo by Roshni Photography
Nimisha and Sol’s Hindu-Jewish Wedding at Offley Place, Hitchin, UK
Nimisha and Sol’s Hindu-Jewish wedding is just beyond gorgeous! When the UK couple started wedding planning, their overarching theme was to craft a celebration that honored both of their traditions – Nimisha’s Hindu, while Sol is Jewish – equally.
Nimisha and Sol‘s Hindu-Jewish Wedding | Photo by Roshni Photography
The pair crafted a bespoke ceremony blending both Hindu and Jewish traditions, with a Hindu priest and a rabbi co-officiating. They married under a gorgeous rustic canopy, blending the Hindu mandap with the Jewish chuppah, and we can’t get enough of the forest vibes Nimisha and Sol created with their color scheme of ivory, white, and green and candle holders, foliage, and lanterns throughout.
Nimisha and Sol‘s Hindu-Jewish Wedding | Photo by Roshni Photography
We also love that this wedding featured a big family dance, Bollywood-style, which everyone practiced for months – sometimes on Zoom!
Karina and Garrett‘s Mexican Jew-ish Wedding | Photo by Pierce Weddings
Karina and Garrett’s Mexican Jew-ish Wedding at Casa de la Cuesta and Casa de la Noche in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Multicultural couple Karina and Garrett always knew they wanted their day to reflect their backgrounds, hers Mexican and his Jewish.
They decided to marry in the beyond-picturesque town of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, which just happens to be Karina’s grandmother’s hometown. Their color scheme was an homage to the town’s colorful streets — and once you take a look at the photos, you’ll see why.
Karina and Garrett‘s Mexican Jew-ish Wedding | Photo by Pierce Weddings
They had not one but two super unique venues: for the ceremony, Casa de la Cuesta, a gorgeous B&B well-known for its traditional Mexican mask museum; for the reception, Casa de la Noche, an old bordello turned into a B&B.
As Karina and Garrett themselves say, their life together has always been honoring each other’s traditions in an authentic, personal way, and their wedding was no exception. The couple wrote their own trilingual (!) ketubah, in Hebrew, English, and Spanish; their stunning chuppah was an homage to Oaxacan embroidery and Frida Kahlo paintings; and they combined the Jewish seven blessings with some super cool Mexican wedding traditions.
Karina and Garrett‘s Mexican Jew-ish Wedding | Photo by Pierce Weddings
Possibly the coolest of these was the couple’s callejoneada, a procession through the streets including giant papier mache puppets in the pair’s likeness, Mariachis, and even tequila-carrying donkey (yes, you read that right!).
Ari and Angelo‘s Bedouin-Jewish Wedding | Photo by Yarin Taranos
Ari and Angelo’s Bedouin-Jewish Wedding at Bustan, Abu Ghosh, Israel
This very special wedding showcases Israel at its absolute best – its beauty, its diversity, its abundance of beautiful traditions, and, above all, the spirit of its people. Bride Ari is a Sephardic Jew who made aliyah from the US, while groom Angelo is Bedouin – and their wedding was all about blending their two cultures into a heartfelt (and stylish!) celebration of their love for each other, their friends and families, and Israel.
Ari and Angelo‘s Bedouin-Jewish Wedding | Photo by Yarin Taranos
The merging of these two cultures was beautiful, but it wasn’t easy. While it was important to them to have Jewish ceremony, they weren’t able to have a Rabbinute wedding, so they turned to the organization Havaya to find an officiant who helped them craft an utra-personal ceremony. As for aesthetics, in Ari’s words, the couple’s theme was “trying to find ways to include both of our cultures in a way that didn’t look like the Ottoman Empire threw up all over the place.”
To quote the couple, “Absolutely none of this would have been possible (including the general maintaining of our sanity) without our amazing wedding planner, Yana from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Craspedia Events. I think a lot of people say that about their wedding planner but they can’t possibly mean it as much as we do. It’s not easy being a mixed couple and all the drama that dredges up while wedding planning. Yana truly helped us navigate every step of the way and we are endlessly grateful to her and now she’s stuck with us forever.”
Ari and Angelo‘s Bedouin-Jewish Wedding | Photo by Yarin Taranos
This wedding was so full of ultra-personal touches it’s hard to know where to start – but one thing we adore is Ari and Angelo’s choice to stand under their chuppah wrapped in a shmakh (Bedouin keffiyeh), to represent the bringing together of their two cultures – and instead of the traditional red or black color scheme, they went for blue to represent Judaism and their love of Israel.
Laura and Daniel‘s Colombian-Israeli Jewish Wedding | Photo by Ben Kelmer
Laura and Daniel’s Colombian-Israeli Jewish Wedding at Bustan Abu Ghosh, Israel
We are absolutely in love with today’s gorgeous multicultural Jewish wedding – not to mention the awesome globetrotting love story of Laura and Daniel, whose relationship took them from Madrid to New York to Israel!
Laura and Daniel‘s Colombian-Israeli Jewish Wedding | Photo by Ben Kelmer
Celebrating the merging of their two backgrounds – Laura originally hails from Colombia, while Daniel is Israeli – was the theme for this very special day, and the couple carried it through in everything from their flowers to their music to their ultra-personal ceremony to their venue: they chose to make it official at Bustan Abu Ghosh, which is not only stunning but also happens to be run by a Muslim owner who loves Jewish weddings! In the couple’s words, “We thought it would be fitting to exchange our vows in a place where two different religions and cultures came together to create something magical, as this was precisely what happened with our relationship.” How special is that?!
Laura and Daniel‘s Colombian-Israeli Jewish Wedding | Photo by Ben Kelmer
Laura and Daniel chose Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ben Kelmer to document their big day – as an amateur photographer herself, Laura knew she wanted someone who could take natural, authentic photos capturing special moments in time. And no one does that better than Ben Kelmer!
So there you have it! If you’re planning a multicultural Jewish wedding of your own, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!
