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Cool alternative versions of Hava Nagila, the Hora and other Jewish Wedding music

09/07/2013 by Karen

jewish-wedding-dancing
Image taken from Mishie & Misha’s spectacular Amalfi Coast Jewish wedding

How about a twist on the traditional versions of Hava Nagila or the Hora? These mp3’s will add that different element to your Jewish wedding music and make sure that yours goes down as the coolest Jewish wedding in town. If you know any other great alternative versions of Jewish wedding music that’ll get everyone dancing like this (see 40 seconds in!) please add the links or names of the songs and artists in the comments section.

HAVANA NAGILA BY HIP HOP HOODIOS
Listen
A cuban version of Hava Nagila
Hip Hop Hoodios Havana Nagila

HAVA NAGILA BY MESHUGA BEACH PARTY
Listen
Hava Nagila with a surfing beach party twist
Meshuga Beach Party Hava Nagila

HASSIDISH BY SOLOMON & SOCALLED
Listen
SOLOMON AND SOCALLED

SADAGORA HOT TUB BY AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND
Listen
AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND


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Shiri & Yariv | Intimate ‘Surprise’ Jewish Wedding at Taboon, New York City

08/07/2013 by Karen

customised clothes pegs wedding
This has to be one of the most original and ‘true-to-themselves’ weddings I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing about. It’s a very small affair with the bride and groom, Shiri and Yariv, inviting just 20 of their closest family members out for brunch and then surprising them with a chuppah! And if that wasn’t exciting enough, the ceremony took place on a bustling New York street corner! How incredibly atmospheric must that have been? The chuppah itself is very special but more about that later.

Shiri and Yariv met in New York City several years ago. When they met, Shiri was living in London but spending most of her time in the US on business. She was single and didn’t have much of a social life so used JDate as a platform to meet interesting people. That’s how they met. He took her out for dinner at one of his favorite haunts, a restaurant called Taboon, and the rest is history.
NYC_Wedding_DIY_Frame
VENUE & THE IDEA FOR A ‘SURPRISE WEDDING’!
Shiri the bride: Our ‘surprise’ wedding took place at Taboon, the restaurant Yariv took me to on our first date. It’s a beautiful yet unassuming Mediterranean restaurant in a neighbourhood of NYC called Hell’s Kitchen. Their menu is full of delicious twists on Israeli dishes and carefully chosen Mediterranean wines. I don’t have to tell you the magical memories the site of a couple’s first date has — I remember that night as if it was yesterday.

Yariv and I return once a year on the date of the night we first met, and that year, halfway through my Haloumi salad (and a few glasses of Chenin Blanc), the idea of having an intimate surprise wedding at Taboon took over my imagination. We had been together for 3 years and really wanted to start a family, but not before sealing the deal under a chuppah. Our families were going to be in town that following Thanksgiving, a few months away… the idea took on a mind of its own!

Thankfully Yariv liked the idea as much as I did. He’s a very modest, low-key guy and the thought of not having a big hoopla wedding sat very well with him. We booked Taboon and very slowly started calling our close family members inviting them for “brunch”.

REVEALING THE SECRET
Uncovering the purpose of our get-together was one of the most exciting moments of our lives. We’d been keeping a secret for what felt like an eternity and our guests had absolutely no idea. Some thought we might announce our engagement at the “brunch” (that’s right, we weren’t even officially engaged) but nothing more.

Once the appetisers were cleared, Yariv & I stood up to toast the occasion. When Yariv announced that we would like to invite everyone to be part of our chuppah just before dessert, the energy of the room became electric. Everyone cheered, our mothers had tears in their eyes and the guests’ excitement was something indescribable.
Surprise Jewish Wedding New York 2 Surprise Jewish Wedding New York 1
CEREMONY
The Rabbi who wed us is a superstar. He’s a young Chabad Rabbi of a small (yet growing!) congregation in our neighbourhood. When we came to him asking whether he would marry us in a non-kosher restaurant he looked perplexed. We assured him no meat would be served, he took a minute to think about it and said “how about the nearest street corner?” A surprise wedding on a bustling New York street corner? We loved it!
Surprise Jewish Wedding New York 8
And so did our guests. They stepped outside on a windy but dry day, the men wearing napkins on their heads because someone forgot to buy kippot (!). Four of our male guests held the chuppah poles, the backdrop was the usual hustle & bustle of the city, taxis and buses honking as they whizzed by, a FedEx guy even stopped to watch the show… you get the picture. I will always remember every detail.

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Unusual wedding cake and wedding dessert ideas

04/07/2013 by Karen

wedding-cake-ideas
When you’re deciding what wedding cake or dessert to have, think about making it reflect who you both are as a couple and let it symbolise your story or embrace the theme or essence of your wedding. Ditch the three-tiered extravaganza and go for something unique and unusual that represents you both.

I did without a wedding cake altogether and instead had a huge surprise birthday cake made for the Irish catholic friend that miraculously set Jeremy and I, a Jewish couple, up. It had a photo of her edibly printed as Yente the matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof and it went down a storm! You can see pictures of the cake, and her reaction, here.

Here are some other alternative and unusual wedding dessert ideas to get your creative juices flowing.


1. A novelty cake featuring something you love. Natasha & Jez absolutely love cow print and went for a lifesize cow cake!

cow wedding cake
image: Susan Stripling

2. Do you and your partner love playing a particular board game? How about a Monopoly cake, a backgammon cake, or a Scrabble cake where you can really have fun with the tiles and words!

wedding_scrabble_cake
iimage: weddingwindow.com / pinkcakebox.com / projectwedding.com

 

3. If you have a wedding logo or monogram, have cupcakes displayed in your monogram design or have it iced onto a cake.

wedding_monogram_cake wedding_logo_cake
image: p-a-r-t-y-planning.tumblr.com
image: rockmywedding.co.uk / Ed Peers

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How about this for an unwanted wedding guest?

04/07/2013 by Karen

Wedding_T_Rex
[image: Quinn Miller]

Getting married can be a scary prospect, but this bride has a bl**dy good reason to be alarmed.. she is being chased by a threatening Tyrannosaurus Rex.

With the help of Photoshop and a fun couple and wedding party the photographer, Quinn Miller, created the image and posted it on his Facebook page on Monday under the heading ‘Things got real crazy at the Lowder wedding last night.’

The picture has now gone viral and is being labelled as the ‘best wedding photo ever.’

Mr Miller does not know what the newlyweds reaction will be – they are currently away on their honeymoon…

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Kiruna & Gareth | Wedstock Festival Theme Jewish Wedding at Holton Lee, Poole

02/07/2013 by Karen

festival-wedding
This is such an awesome wedding on so many levels. First of all, Kiruna’s amazing couture wedding dress is made almost entirely from paper! (mostly with the pages of an old copy of Alice in Wonderland together with that of an erotic novel). Secondly with an actress and a comedian marrying each other the relaxed feeling and originality that shine through this ‘wedstock’ wedding is just fabulous.

Kiruna Stamell, originally from Australia, and Gareth’s paths had crossed a couple of times over the years but as is so often the case, the timing wasn’t right. When a mutual friend re-introduced them in 2011, everything felt like it was meant to be and Gareth proposed to Kiruna after just 4 months.

They meticulously organised a weekend Wedstock wedding that took place in September 2012 complete with a fish ‘n’ chips van, camping, tipis, chill-out tents, a fabulous cake competition, and lots of crafty and DIY details all made by the very talented Kiruna herself!
Festival Wedding Holton Lee Festival Wedding Holton Lee
Kiruna, the Bride: We wanted a relaxed, bohemian party and Holton Lee, our chosen venue, delivered our festival dreams and then some! Our wedding lasted an entire weekend with guests camping onsite with us. Holton Lee is actually a not-for-profit charity so you’ve got these beautiful camping fields and wonderful facilities but also disability-friendly buildings right next door which was essential as we were hosting several disabled guests who needed accessibility.

THE VENUE + THEME

I wanted a pretty picnic lovely camping theme inspired by my experiences at English music festivals but with more of a civilised touch. I was amazed at how much discrimination I came across when I first started looking for a disability-friendly venue but Honeybells who supplied our romantic and chill-out tents came to the rescue with the suggestion of the beautiful Holton Lee and it ticked all our boxes.

We both wanted a ‘picnic festival’ even ‘Woodstock’ feel. We wanted to create a social / non-wedding / relaxing afternoon during daylight on the Saturday and then we would have this shift as the Sabbath went out at sunset on Saturday evening and it turned into the wedding element of the weekend.

The venue was a godsend and it was wonderful to know that the money we spent was going into their not for profit ethos.

Festival Wedding Holton Lee Festival Wedding Holton Lee
DIY CREATIVITY

Paper was a massive part of my theme which is why most of my wedding dress was made from paper.

I love the nostalgic element of brown paper packaging and string and as well as collecting lots of it I asked my local cafe to save the coca cola bottles to be my vases on the table and saved loads of money by making all the flowers myself out of paper.

The brown paper was the starting point and I then started collecting recycled scraps of paper in different colours to make festival bunting, and other artefacts in the months leading up to the wedding. The table centres were newspaper-covered K’s and G’s that I also made.

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