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Rachel and David had a beautiful Jewish Orthodox wedding in New Rochelle.

The Tisch (Hebrew for table) is the first large ceremony of the day. The bride and groom each have a separate Tisch where they sit at a table with family and friends and sing, pray, sign various official forms, and make a siyum, a celebration of completion.

After the Tisch, the bride is led into a room where she sits on a chair surrounded by loved ones and waits for the groom to enter for the celebration of the Bedeken.

Bedeken, which translates as “veiling,” is when the groom puts the veil over his bride before the ceremony. The custom is based upon a Biblical story in which Jacob, intending to marry Rachel, accidentally marries her older sister Leah, who wore a veil.

This moment is also really special because it is the first time the bride and groom see each other. Rachel shares, “David and I didn’t see each other for the week before the wedding so all the excitement leading up to the wedding culminated in this one moment where I sat surrounded by my mother, mother-in-law, sisters and grandmothers, and David was brought in by my father, his father and our grandfathers. All our friends surrounded us singing traditional Jewish wedding songs. It was an incredibly emotional moment.”

Rachel and David both agreed their favorite part of the day was the Chuppah. Although it was raining, it made for a very memorable wedding ceremony.

David shares, “We had originally counted on the weather being clear and sunny, and so were obviously disappointed when it started raining. The circumstance was made funnier by my mom and Rachel’s grandmothers, who did a brief rendition of Singing in the Rain before proceeding to walk down. But we worked to capitalize on the inclement weather (since it would have taken over an hour to move the ceremony inside). All of our friends and family not only made the best of the situation, but really made it into something unique and fun and beautiful. We never would have counted on our friends applauding Rachel as she walked down the aisle in a white dress and poncho, or dancing with us while providing shelter with a cabana umbrella. We couldn’t have been happier.”

David continues, “The love, support and humor of our friends and family was what really made the ceremony beautiful, no matter the weather.”

The evening was full of joyful and exuberant dancing!