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A Groundbreaking Same-Sex Orthodox Jewish Wedding with Tons of Personal Touches at Rochdale Town Hall, UK

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Jay and Michael, Rochdale Town Hall, Rochdale, UK

We have a really special Jewish wedding to share with you today! London couple Jay, who runs a scientific consultancy business, and Michael, a chartered accountant working in risk management, were the first same-sex couple to be married by an Orthodox rabbi in the UK, and we are here for it!

It’s so exciting to see the rise of same-sex Orthodox Jewish weddings, and we loved hearing about how Jay and Michael crafted their entirely bespoke halachic ceremony. When the pair were planning their wedding, they joined our Brides Club (yes, guys can join too!), and we’re so thrilled to hear how much they valued our own Karen Cinnamon’s advice throughout the process.  

Jay and Michael’s wedding was absolutely chock full of wonderful personal touches. For starters, inspired by their shared love of musical theatre, Jay and Michael commissioned a wedding booklet designed to replicate the Playbill programs distributed in Broadway theatres, featuring illustrations of the couple in their wedding attire, a “cast list,” and a five-act synopsis of their love story. Don’t miss it in the wonderful documentary-style photos by David Stubbs!

And we love that Jay and Michael chose a ten-piece band (accompanied by a chuppah singer) from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Twentysomethings for their entertainment. The couple loved working with the band, and they couldn’t get enough of the Israeli dancing set. Also, how awesome is it that their first dance was to Elvis’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis in Yiddish, sung by one of the pair’s best women, accompanied by the band?!

There are so many more wonderful details of this beautiful and meaningful day – read on for the full story in the grooms’ own words…

Jay and Michael, Rochdale Town Hall, Rochdale, UK Jay and Michael, Rochdale Town Hall, Rochdale, UK Jay and Michael, Rochdale Town Hall, Rochdale, UK Jay and Michael, Rochdale Town Hall, Rochdale, UK

How We Met

We met thanks to the “shadchan of the 21st century”, the dating app Hinge.

Our early romance was complicated by geography, as Jay was dividing his time between London, Vienna and Jerusalem. Our first date took place at Tuk Tuk in London, but despite the initial spark, the practical challenges made us doubt that the relationship would develop further. An unexpected encounter at Hendon Central tube station set the relationship back on track and we both took this as a sign not to give up.

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How to personalise your wedding #2: create some easy DIY memorable wedding stationery

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One of my favourite websites, when I’m wearing my design hat, is the printing site moo.com. They provide brilliant customisable printed products at really good prices. I used them for my ‘JK’ monogram stickers that I created for my wedding stationery and they can help you produce all sorts of creative personalised wedding ideas. Here are some lovely ideas that other creative brides and grooms have done:

SAVE THE DATE CARDS
Another fun idea are these ‘tying the knot’ save-the-date cards. The pictures of the bride and groom (Kerry and Terrell) at various ages are printed on Moo Minicards and then are tied to a home-printed card carrying the details, with a perfect knot.
SAVE THE DATE CARDS
[image: moo.com]

PLACEHOLDER CARDS
Kelly Harris personalised Moo’s minicards with the faces of her guests to make everyone feel special (they make great icebreakers too). Kelly laboriously sourced photos of her 300+ friends and family from Facebook and other means and then displayed the place holder cards in corks which she found in on eBay. Absolutely gorgeous!
PLACEHOLDER CARDS 1PLACEHOLDER CARDS
[image: moo.com]

GUEST WISHCARDS
Gary and Luzel made guest wishcards for their wedding using lots of their favourite photos printed on Minicards on one side, and a printed little “advice for the newlyweds” message on the reverse. Very cute and very memorable.
GUEST WISHCARDS
[image: i-do-it-yourself.com]

EXTRA WEDDING DETAILS BUNDLES
Chris Hannah designed some Business Cards in the same colour as his invitations to make a cute little package that included cards for things like Wedding Gift List, Dietary Requirements and wallet sized Travel Directions. He then bound them with hand-cut paper strips, held together with round stickers, customised with his wedding monogram.
EXTRA WEDDING DETAILS BUNDLES 2 EXTRA WEDDING DETAILS BUNDLES 1
[image: moo.com]

THANK YOU CARDS
Use a mix of your official shots on business cards, greeting cards or postcards for Thank you card, like Tania Chau did.
THANK YOU CARDS
[image: mikomiao’s flickr page]

Have a look at the Moo weddings website and also the Flickr Pool for more inspiration. You can find thank you cards and share-your-photos cards and lots more inspirations for affordable,creative wedding stationery ideas.