“Every wedding ceremony is a personal, unique reflection of the couple, so I like to get to know them,” says Rabbi Renee Feller. “We create the ceremony together, in a way, based on who you are and who your guests are. It’s very personalized. I also enjoy including favorite readings, and I have a whole book of different poems, which I often have family members read.
“For instance, for the wine ceremony, I might suggest you share your first cup of wine with your parents, or honor both sides when it’s appropriate in the ceremony.”
Rabbi Feller has done every kind of wedding, Sikh, Hindu, Intercultural, Afro-American, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish.
“One important thing during a ceremony is that your guests feel they are included,” she says. “A poem everybody can relate to, young or old, is called ‘Hands of the Bride and Groom,’ with just nine short verses.
“The whole idea is to create a ceremony specifically for the two of you. I have no rules as far as ceremonies are concerned. You both simply have to be comfortable with what’s in the ceremony.”
Rabbi Feller often sanctifies the ceremony with the Seven Wedding Blessings. “They celebrate God, creation, man and woman, peace and harmony, and the joy of the bride and groom,” she explains. “The seven blessings have different interpretations. I use a modern one, however, I’m perfectly fine if you want to make them more your own, by changing and personalizing them.”
She recites one that she said over one couple, as they modified it.
“Blessed is the unity and order we experience as a man and a woman joined to live their lives together.
“Blessed is the realization that each separate moment and every distinct object points to and shares in the unity of creation.
“May joy resound throughout the world, as the homeless are given homes, persecution and oppression cease, and all people learn to live in peace with each other and in harmony with their environment.
“May we call forth an abundance of love to envelope this couple. May we be for each other lovers and friends, and may our love partake of the same innocence, purity, and sense of discovery that we imagine the first couple to have experienced.”
Rabbi Renee Feller
212.799.2012
800.284.6843
www.rabbireneefeller.com
