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 What
you need to know about Jewish weddings
by NINA LIGHT
If the only thing you
and your beloved know for sure about your wedding is you want
to get married, Helen Latner's "The
Everything Jewish Wedding Book" may help get you started.
This easy-to-read
guide covers it all, from introducing a couple's parents to
one another to booking a reception site, incorporating Jewish
traditions into an interfaith ceremony and dealing with
damaged gifts.
The book even provides
guidelines for unexpected circumstances, such as telling
invited guests a wedding has been called off and proceeding
with the ceremony if a relative has died.
The book is organized
into 17 chapters. Shaded columns in the book's margins include
snippets of information on everything from why the groom
breaks the glass at the end of the ceremony to where to find
Jewish musicians.
Also provided are a
glossary of Jewish wedding terms, a calendar and to-do list
and forms for submitting engagement announcements to
newspapers. To simplify planning the various aspects of a
Jewish wedding, couples will also find checklists for the
kiddush, the prewedding rehearsal dinner and the aufruf,
when grooms and sometimes couples are called to the Torah on
the Shabbat preceding the wedding.
If the book has one
failing, it is that the guidelines are too exhaustive. Couples
who weren't sure where to begin planning their wedding may
find their heads spinning after considering 288 pages of
suggestions and instructions.
Smart couples will not
take the guidelines too seriously. They'll follow a piece of
advice here and there, then trust their own instincts.
"The
Everything Jewish Wedding Book" by Helen Latner (288
pages, Adams Media Corp., $12).
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