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Real Jewish Brides: Erin on Her Wedding Day!

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Erin married Josh on 1st November 2020 in Charlottesville, VA, USA. Click here to read all Erin’ planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: (1) Erin and Josh planned 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!


When DIY-ing is more “doing-it-yourselves” than “doing-it-yourself”

As many brides are, I was working on a strict budget for my wedding, and I really couldn’t afford to pay fabulous artists and creators to make various aspects of my wedding day.

Luckily, Judaism has this notion called “hiddur mitzvah,” which can be interpreted as bringing beauty to ritual objects. I kind of took this notion and applied it to as many parts of my wedding as I could.

I have always loved vintage park posters, and since living so close to Shenandoah National Park means that Josh and I spend a lot of time hiking and driving through the gorgeous Blue Ridge mountains, I decided to try to incorporate their aesthetics into our save the dates. About a year into our relationship, Josh had gotten really into astrophotography, and wanted to start trying to take photos of the Milky Way, and he really took to it.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Jewish Brides: Erin on planning during Covid-19

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Erin will be marrying Josh on 1st November 2020 at Congregation Beth Israel, in Charlottesville, VA, USA. Click here to read all Erin’ planning posts to date.

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!

So, it’s been a while since I actually talked about my wedding. (Mostly thanks to COVID-19 and how it’s turned life upside down.)

In late February, my fiancé and I went to Boston (him for a work trip, me to visit one of my best friends/bridesmaids.)


My friend and I cheesing in the gift shop of the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston.

While we were in Boston, I took the chance to go to several bridal stores. One of the ones that was definitely on my list was BHLDN. I had a wonderful appointment there (probably aided by the fact that I had religiously stalked their website for months), and I ended up saying “yes” to the dress. Continue ReadingContinue Reading

Real Jewish Brides: Erin on looking beyond ourselves

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Erin will be marrying Josh on 1st November 2020 at Congregation Beth Israel, in Charlottesville, VA, USA. Click here to read all Erin’ planning posts to date.

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!


Sometimes as a bride, it can be really easy to become laser-focused on your wedding. Sure, you usually are still working, still maintain friendships and our relationships, but a bride (myself very much included.)

But right now, it seems like the world is conspiring to ask us to look beyond ourselves. Beyond our weddings.

There’s a pandemic that has all but stopped our cities. A pandemic that has left people away from their loved ones for months, without jobs, sick, and sometimes even dead.

In the United States, where I live, people are seizing the moment and protesting systemic racism and police brutality. Taking to the streets, even in the midst of a pandemic, because once again we feel like we have had enough.

So where does a wedding fit into all of this? Honestly, I think this is a question my fiancé and I are still fully sorting out.

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Real Jewish Brides: Erin’s Corona Edition

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Erin will be marrying Josh on 1st November 2020 at Congregation Beth Israel, in Charlottesville, VA, USA. Click here to read all Erin’ planning posts to date.

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!

Every day we’re getting new updates about the Coronavirus, and we’re learning how to adapt to each new change.

Being in the midst of wedding planning is a strange place to be. How do you plan for a wedding when you don’t know what life will be like in the next few weeks or months?

I’ve seen brides making tough decisions to postpone their weddings and try to pick new dates in the future. I’ve seen brides go through with their weddings, albeit much altered from what they planned on doing. Both of these decisions have shown me how strong and brave these people are, and at the end of the day, how love is what matters most.

Erin and Josh

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Real Jewish Brides: How Erin Proposed To Her Bridesmaids

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Erin will be marrying Josh on 1st November 2020 at Congregation Beth Israel, in Charlottesville, VA, USA. Click here to read all Erin’ planning posts to date.

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

They say when planning a wedding, you have to think about what your priorities are, both to just generally center what your day will be focused on, and where you will spend your money.

From the get-go, my fiance and I knew that we want everyone invited to our wedding – and especially those who we ask to actively participate in our day – to know how much we appreciate their presence.

That being said, I wanted to do something special to invite my friends and sister to by my bridesmaids. We all live all over the place, and I just wasn’t sure how much time we would get to spend together before the wedding weekend, so I wanted my invitations to help get everyone even more excited and have them feel appreciated.

Therefore, I decided to make an invite box for each bridesmaid with a few goodies and notes. I know this isn’t a completely unique idea, but I decided that I wanted to customize my invitation to the ~vibe~ of the wedding: a fall night in the mountains.

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