celebrate
a guide to simchahs
Even though the various cities the bride and groom and their families lived in did
not include Pittsburgh, the decision to be married at the Westmoreland Country Club in
Export, Penn., was an easy one. It was chosen so Shosh's grandmother, Naomi Glosser
Cohen, who lived in the area and had been gravely ill, would be able to attend. "I'm so
thankful that she lived long enough to make it to the wedding," said Shosh. Her grand-
mother died less than two months later.
Tim Cohen joked that even though he and Helene were born and raised in
Pittsburgh, Shosh and Marc had a destination wedding. Only 18 of the more than 200
guests live there now.
The young couple planned their wedding with one basic, all-encompassing rule: "We
wanted to be as environmentally conscious as possible," said Shosh, a graduate of
Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills, North Farmington High School and the University
of Michigan.
Guests were invited to the festivities via e-mail. "We used digital invitations that
I designed and online RSVPs to cut down on paper waste," Shosh said. The two-
tone, embossed, formal e-vites were accompanied by an online response form. The
shoshandmarc.com Web site tracked replies and included other information, like hotel
suggestions and the weekend itinerary.
It also noted a few statistics on paper waste, like the World Commission on
Environment and Development's facts that 40 percent of the solid mass in our landfills
is paper and 700 pounds of paper is consumed by the average American each year.
With the same conviction, wedding programs were printed on recycled paper. The
place cards were paper embedded with wildflower seeds that could be planted.
Shosh and Marc, both 29, were married under a chuppah of natural wood poles
embellished with satin ribbons displaying recycled family mementos. "It was made by
my mom from handkerchiefs from the matriarchs of both Marc's and my families."
A few days before the wedding, Shosh and her mom assembled the table center-
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Shosh and Marc were married at the site of Shosh's parents' 1978 wedding.
pieces. "We made them together from different sized candles and glass bowls of large,
deep red, sweet Bing cherries that guests could eat," Helene said. Centerpieces also
included potted orchids that could be taken home by the guests.
A meatless dinner of roasted vegetables, salads, pasta and fish was served from
over-sized grills, where guests could watch the cooking process. "We had a lot of
veggie options," said Shosh, a non-fish-eating vegetarian. "When possible, we used
produce from local farms."
Unserved food was donated to the Westmoreland County Food Bank Camp.
Guests were given colorful, reusable tote bags with the names of the bride and
groom and the wedding date stitched on the front.
The bride donated her wedding dress to Brides Against Breast Cancer — a fundrais-
ing effort of the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. It was included in a sale
to help grant wishes for metastatic breast cancer patients.
Marc said, "Something that we both wanted was for our wedding to represent who
we are, and one the aspects of our life that is very important to us is being environ-
mentally conscious. It was such a great experience to think through all the different
possibilities that we could incorporate into our special day." 1-
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celebrate!
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March 2010
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