Jewish Wedding at the Carnegie

March 8, 2022

And the celebrations continue! Emily and Tyler hosted their full scale Jewish wedding at the Carnegie Museums in Oakland after they held their original ceremony last year with their close family! Their original date is extra special to them, read more about why below! Congrats you two!

What helped you make the decision to hold a small celebration on your original date and host a Jewish wedding at the Carnegie Museum later?

My grandparents! Our original date (by chance) was Nov 21st, the same wedding anniversary as my grandparents, 64 years later. We were all so excited to share the special date and I wanted them to be there, but with all the Covid concerns I knew having a very small ceremony was what I needed to do to ensure the safety of our family. The weekend comes, and surprise surprise, it was pouring rain. Since we were going to be outside for safety, it just wasn’t possible in the rain. We scrambled around– made sure the Rabbi, Dray, and Zoom guy were all available the NEXT day, Nov 22nd and luckily everyone was. SO, Nov 22nd it was! After all of the cancelled plans, rescheduling venue and vendors, we still couldn’t pull it off the original date. BUT I feel SO lucky that our immediate family was there (grandparents included)!! The intimate group made it so special, that we even decided to read our own vows out loud which we weren’t going to do for the larger wedding. I am so glad we decided to do that and having this small ceremony was one of the best decisions we made. Now, on to our full scale wedding next October! (see below)

Advice to share with brides planning during uncertain times?

Be flexible. Pretty much nothing went as planned for us and at the end of the day, it was perfect. I first hand know how hard it is to not have things go the way you want, but after pivoting to this smaller ceremony, changing the date the day before, and moving the location 5 minutes before the wedding due to golfers– it ALL works out!!!

How did you and your spouse meet?

Tyler and I went to college together at Penn State. We became really close friends through greek life and spent all 4 years “just friends”. Fast forward to after graduation, we both moved to NYC and believe it or not, Tyler roomed with me and a college friend for a few months! It was during that time that we realized we wanted to date– and I’m so glad we took that chance! The rest is history.

Proposal Details! How did it happen?

June 22,2019 – Tyler’s family has a lake house in Sparta, NJ. During the summer, we try and go up on the weekends to take a break from Brooklyn and enjoy the sunshine, boat, and family. This weekend was like any other, or so I thought! That morning, Tyler said lets go for a morning boat ride. We hopped in the boat, put on some music and hung out. About 20 minutes into the ride, I was tapped on the shoulder and when I turned around he was on one knee! After the proposal we heard some cheering out on the lake, I turned around and saw Tyler’s dad camped out on a friends boat, hiding under a towel and taking pictures of the entire thing!! Little did I know, the biggest surprise didn’t happen yet.. We headed back to the house to celebrate with his family and as we were pulling up to the dock, I see all of our friends and my family in the backyard!! I was SHOCKED!! My family came up from Pittsburgh for the surprise, and all our friends came up from NYC. It was such a fun day that I will always cherish 🙂