Jewish Weddings - Sharon and Rob Starr

 

Wedding Date: 3rd June 2001 Venue: Avisford Park, Arundel, West Sussex, England written by Sharon Starr
	"Before I start telling you about my wedding, I wanted to first let you know that it really was the best day of my life. I know that might sound corny, but it is absolutely true. The whole day was everything we wanted it to be and if we could repeat the day we would grab the chance with both hands.
	We were very fortunate in that both Rob and myself are Jewish, which made the whole process so much easier for us. Saying that, just because we are both Jewish didn't mean that we both knew what having a Jewish wedding involved.
	Whilst both sets of parents actively encouraged us to have a proper Jewish wedding, they fully understood that as we are not religious people we wanted to make it more about us than just about the actual religious passage. Luckily for us, being Jewish means that as long as you are married by a rabbi under the chuppa, you can get married anywhere. This meant that the venue we chose to get married could also be used to hold the reception at. As with most Jewish family's, our guest list grew to treble figures and as such we had to find a venue that could accommodate us. Having looked at many different venue types we eventually chose the Avisford Park Hotel in Arundel. The ceremony actually seemed to go really quickly and the Rabbi made it really personal for us, which made it even more special. He had brought along his own chuppa, which our florist decorated with a breathtaking floral arrangement, making the marquee smell and look fantastic! We kept the actual ceremony formal, although our guests all commented how informal it seemed. To keep some of the traditions, I walked around Rob seven times, we drank lots of wine and Rob smashed the glass to a cheer of "Mazletov".
	As hoped, the weather was fantastic, which meant that after the ceremony all our guests were able to wander the grounds whilst the photos were being taken. To make the time more enjoyable, we had a live klezmer band playing. The time flew and before we knew it, we were walking into the main ballroom. The feeling that all these people were here just to see us was so nice and for them to be clapping us really made the eyes well up.
	We had a goat's cheese stack to start with, then an individual salmon and vegetable encrout with potatoes and extra veg, then we ended with the most exquisite yoghurt brulee. I am talking somewhat blind however, because Rob and I spent the whole meal walking around and talking to everyone. One big talking point was our "favours" for the ladies. I didn't want the traditional sugared almonds or chocolates, so instead Rob, being a writer, wrote an individual 3-verse poem for all of the women there. He had personalised each one, with some being very funny, some very sweet and a number almost rude! Needless to say the fact that he wrote over 100 individual poems kept our guests very amused.
	After the meal our Rabbi completed matters with the usual prayers and then it was time for the speeches, all of which were really good and not too long! There was a lot of history to get through, which meant a lot of laughs, a few tears and some very embarrassing moments. All were caught on video for our future entertainment!
	We had a fantastic band from London who sang all night, changed costumes about four times and wowed us with everything from the 1940's right through to the 2000s.
	At one point they played Hava Nagela, which saw Rob and I lifted up on chairs and swung around the room.
	In the morning, after a very sleepy night (really we did just fall straight to sleep), we all met up in the restaurant for breakfast, which made the start of our first day together as Mr and Mrs Starr one filled with family and friends. We had a most fantastic wedding day, so a big thanks to everyone who came along and enjoyed it with us."

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