Entertainment
Happily Ever After
Jewish Style
Author offers ideas for planning the ideal wedding,
graced with the cultural and spiritual richness ofJudaism.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
R
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1/31
2003
66
The Celebration And Beyond
Beyond the basics — aufrufs, chuppahs, ketubot —
Brownstein explains many less familiar practices,
ita Milos Brownstein
such as yichud, which allows the bride and groom to
has been married for almost 24 years,
spend a short time alone after the ceremony and
but she still gets starry-eyed when she
before the reception.
thinks about weddings.
She makes suggestions about how the room
Brownstein's outlook brightens her second book,
should be arranged and what celebratory foods
Jewish Weddings: A Beautiful Guide to Creating the
should be served.
Wedding of Your Dreams (Simon & Schuster; $30), a
As with other wedding books, Brownsteih offers
how-to filled with history, ideas, personalities and
timetables for planning, processional protocol,
colorful pictures of ceremonies, receptions, Judaica,
music options and menus. She contacted wedding
foods, favors and table accessories.
photographers to get leads on the celebrations, from
"I wanted to combine a lot of spirituality with the Chasidic to Reform, she describes.
nuts and bolts of planning a wedding, and I decided
"The customs and rituals are part of the unbroken
to make it all positive," says Brownstein, a graphic
chain of tradition that is the Jewish people,"
designer who used photographic images to distin-
Brownstein says.
guish her nuptial tome from similar publications.
"They are a legacy from all who came before to be
"There are always problems when people get mar-
enjoyed and treasured and now entrusted to couples
ried, but my book is not about solving them."
- as they take their place in the 3,300-year-old chain
The idea for Brownstein's book came from the
of Jewish history."
publisher, who wanted a follow-
A Michigan link in that chain
up to her successful Jewish
comes across with the wedding of
Holiday Style, which brought the
Robyn Finkelstein and Jared
Connecticut-based author to
Fischer. Finkelstein was a student
Michigan for a synagogue speak-
at the University of Michigan
ing engagement after its 1999
when she met Fischer, then a stu-
release.
dent at the University of Miami.
Brownstein approached her
The two, introduced by mutual
second project by thinking
friends, were from New York and
about what would be interesting
married at a private club in mid-
for a couple to know. She
town Manhattan.
researched earlier books and
The couple's choice of foods,
interviewed rabbis for informa-
place settings, attendants' gifts
tion about history and tradi-
and decorations — even a hallway
tions.
decorated with votives — are dis-
With the past as context, she
cussed and pictured in the book.
uses photos to both look back
"I worked closely with the
and capture the trends of today. Large, symbolic
brides, and many sent me videos of their weddings,"
rings worn ages ago are as relevant a topic — and
says Brownstein, a graphic designer for a Jewish
the subject for pictures — as the bride who brought
agency who has worked for House Beautiful Good
her dog to the cocktail hour at the reception.
Housekeeping and many other publications.
"I felt that young couples should know about the
"I felt like I was there, and that was very helpful."
various customs so they can have choices about
In another reach back to tradition, Brownstein
what they want to incorporate into their own wed-
reviews the idea of beshert and the conviction that
dings," Brownstein says.
couples find each other because their marriage was
"Since I've learned about these beautiful Jewish
preordained.
traditions, it makes me very sad that I didn't know
Among a number of beshert meetings, the author
about them and incorporate many into my own
describes the New York City bus encounter that led
wedding., Nobody told me, and there wasn't very
to her nuptials. She also describes speed dating, a
much information."
contemporary event where singles pair off in couples
for rotating introductions that last eight minutes.