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Home > guest post

Mazel Pup! Involving Your Dog in Your Jewish Wedding

18/05/2022 by Karen Cinnamon Leave a Comment

Jewish-wedding-Red-Gate-Farm-Savannah-GA-USA

Jacqui and James‘ Jewish wedding with dogs | Photo by Sarah Diller

This is a guest post by Rabbi Robyn Frisch, Director of the Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship for 18Doors and founder of the Mazel Pups Facebook Group. Rabbi Robyn loves dogs just as much as she loves Jewish (and Jew-is) weddings – and having officiated at many over the past 20+ years, she’s seen it all and is channeling her wisdom into some great tips about involving your furry best friend in your big day.


“Will there be a ring bearer?” I asked the wedding couple, after they informed me that the bride’s four-year-old niece was going to be the flower girl. This was 22 years ago. I was a newly ordained rabbi, and it was one of the first weddings I officiated. The couple was planning a small, intimate ceremony in the groom’s parents’ back yard.

Rachel-and-Aaron-Five-Crowns-in-Corona-Del-Mar-CA

Rachel and Aaron‘s dog-friendly Jewish wedding | Photo by Hello Blue Photo

They told me that yes, there would be a ring bearer: their Yorkshire Terrier. He’d walk down the aisle by himself with plastic rings tied onto a bow around his collar. The best man would be holding the couple’s actual wedding rings. “How bizarre!” I thought to myself. In the handful of weddings that I’d officiated, a couple of them had ring bearers – but they were HUMAN ring bearers – all little boys under the age of five. As I imagined a dog – even a cute, well-trained little Yorkie – in the ceremony, a list of all of the things that could possibly go wrong ran through my head.

Jacqui and James‘ Jewish wedding with dogs | Photo by Sarah Diller

But the couple insisted that their dog be the ringbearer, and so he was. And I’m happy to report that the dog did a great job. He walked down the aisle on his own – stopping briefly once or twice to sniff the grass and look at the guests – and when he met the groom at the Chuppah (wedding canopy) he was rewarded with a scratch behind his ears and a Milk Bone treat subtly removed from the groom’s pocket.

Wendy-and-Nagesh-Bel-Air-Bay-Club

Wendy and Nagesh‘s Jewish wedding – with their dog | Photo by Laurie Bailey 

For many years after that wedding, I didn’t see or hear much about dogs being part of weddings. But in recent years, many couples I’ve married have dogs who aren’t just incredibly important parts of their lives, but who’ve also played roles in proposals; engagement and wedding photos; and wedding ceremonies.

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Sara and Greg‘s Jewish wedding, with pup Bruce | Photo by Hilary Katzen 

PROPOSALS

For some couples I’ve worked with, the dog’s involvement starts with their engagement. For example, Sydney and Andrew already had rescued their dog Jasper together, and Sydney felt that Jasper was ready for a sibling. Her hints to Andrew weren’t so subtle: Sydney started sending Andrew pictures of other dogs they could rescue. She had no idea that Andrew was already in the process of looking for another dog to add to their family – and that he was planning for that dog to be a central part of his proposal.

Samantha and Scott‘s Jewish wedding, with furry friends on the guest list | Photo by Starfish Studios 

One day, Andrew came home holding roses – and a dog! Sydney was so excited about their new dog Pippa that it took her awhile to notice that Pippa was wearing a tag that said “Will you marry me?” Ultimately, Sydney did see the tag, and ended up that day with both a new dog in the family and the love of her life as her fiance.

Rachel-and-Aaron-Five-Crowns-in-Corona-Del-Mar-CA

Rachel and Aaron‘s dog-friendly Jewish wedding | Photo by Hello Blue Photo

ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS

Many couples choose to have their dogs in their engagement photos. While they’ll of course take plenty of photos with just the two of them, they’ll also have a bunch of photos with their dog, or dogs. Just like engagement photos in general, sometimes the photos with the dogs are taken at the couple’s home, sometimes they’re taken at a photographer’s studio, and sometimes they’re taken outside. Often the photos with the dogs are taken first, and then someone who the dogs are comfortable with – a relative, groomer, walker, or someone else the dog knows well – takes the dog so the couple and photographer can be alone to take the rest of the photos.

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Top Mother-of-the-Bride Shopping Tips from Designer Joyce Young

26/09/2019 by Karen Cinnamon

This is a guest post by Joyce Young of Joyce Young Design Studios. Photo by Janelle Brooke Photography from Julia and ChiChi’s wedding. 

We’re so excited to share some top mother-of-the-bride (or groom) shopping tips from Joyce Young, a renowned UK-based designer at the very top of the game. If you think your mum could use a little encouragement to get her shopping mojo on, send her right here to take in Joyce’s wise words!

Photo courtesy of Joyce Young

The Engagement

Congratulations! Your darling son or daughter has announced that he/she is to get married to their soul mate.  This is a joyous time, with all the excitement to come of planning a wedding.

Most mothers like to be involved but depending on the couple your involvement can vary considerably. It can and should be a time of quality bonding as you plan and discuss all the aspects of the wedding, but it can also be a frustrating time with a lot of biting the tongue to avoid conflict!

Photo by The Love Hunters from Georgia and Joel’s wedding

Couples are now getting married older and tend to know their own minds and may not ask the opinions of parents. Sometimes this can be hurtful. When my own daughter got married I quickly learned that when she sought my opinion is was only OK when I happened to agree with hers. I learned to become very tactful! 

We have been in business for 26 years dressing mothers of the bride and brides and we hear so many stories some very funny and others quite sad and we know it’s hard to please all of the people all of the time!

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Why LUZ’s Urban Photography Style Might Be Right for You

04/04/2019 by Smashing The Glass


This is a guest post by the team at international wedding photographers LUZ. 

Nowadays, there’s more diversity of style within the wedding industry than ever before: the event’s design, the wedding dress and groom suit’s styles, and of course the wedding photography style.

More often than not, when asked to imagine and describe wedding photography, people will refer to romantic photoshoot at sunset, or in a magical Norwegian forest.

But there is an up and coming alternative wedding photography style, one that appeals to couples who value an urban lifestyle — we’re talking about urban wedding photography.

What is urban photography?

While the focus of a photoshoot in a natural environment is the romance, the tenderness, and the fantasy of fairytales, urban wedding photography is all about using the day to day environment – the city – from a completely different perspective.

Different colors and textures of walls, light and shadow, movement, composition – these are all tools that we use to create an interesting (and beautiful) photoshoot. There are also different personal elements that can be integrated into the photoshoot: a specific color that excites you, the place you first met, or even just an amazing structure with architecture that takes your breath away and makes you want to look at it forever.

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Why York Place Studios’ Street Photography Style Might Be Perfect for Your Wedding

13/12/2018 by Smashing The Glass

This is a guest post by Dom & Liam Shaw of York Place Studios 

It’s Time To Stop Saying Cheese

As kids we’re all taught that when someone has a camera we should stop what we’re doing and smile sweetly into the lens. It’s an approach that’s really helpful for group shots but outside of that more formal setting having photographs of people sharing the same fixed smile tells us nothing about who they were or what was really happening.

We all have albums full of friends and family pulling that same pose through the landmark trips and occasions of our lives and we love them: they remind us of happy times and the places we’ve been and show the ways that we and the world around us have changed over time. The thing is though that a photograph has the potential to be so much more powerful than that.

For us a wedding isn’t really about tradition, elaborate settings or decoration (although all those things are wonderful additions!), it’s about sharing something very special with all the people you know and love from all the different phases of your lives so far. In fact it’s probably the only time all of these people will be in the same room at the same time, brought together from all walks of life by one common denominator: their affection for you.

So when we look at a photograph we don’t just want to see practiced smiles and unnatural poses, we want to see the gestures, expressions, private jokes and little personality quirks that remind you who all of these people really were, the dynamic of your relationship with them and what they meant to you.

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Mirror Mirror London: Celebrating 29 Years of Beautiful Brides

27/09/2018 by Smashing The Glass


This is a guest post by Maria Yiannikaris, co-founder of Mirror Mirror London 

It’s a family affair!

Jane, my business partner, and I look at each other and smile, not actually believing so much time has passed since we first hatched the idea of starting a bridal design company. We had both trained at The London College of Fashion, but our paths didn’t cross until some years later.

Being raised by a very talented mother in the clothing industry it seemed only natural for me to go into clothing design. My parents were originally disappointed as they would have preferred I became a lawyer!

I had worked as a commercial designer (technical pattern cutting and turning a flat design into a beautiful 3-dimensional form is still one of my favourite things) both in high street fashion and luxury evening wear when I took a sabbatical to raise my young family.

I was still working on private commissions from home when I made my first wedding gown, a beautiful labour of love for my younger sister. Working with beautiful evening wear fabrics had left me with the idea that if I was to stay in design I only wanted to work with the most beautiful and the very best quality fabrics.

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