Fun And Whimsical Ideas For Your Traditional Jewish Wedding

This styled shoot was initially inspired by Julianna and Diaa, one of my wonderful ketubah couples! Julianna is Filipina and Ashkenazi Jewish, and her husband Diaa is Palestinian. In the fall of 2016, they approached me to create a ketubah that would honor their multi-cultural interfaith wedding celebration. Upon hearing their story, I was so inspired I knew I had to create a styled shoot based on their love story. Luckily, they agreed to be our models as well as our muses. 

This inspiration shoot imagines a marriage celebration for a modern multi-cultural, interfaith couple like Julianna and Diaa. I partnered with Sarah French Events, a local wedding planner who loves multi-cultural, multi-faith events as much as I do to bring the styled shoot to life. It was important to us to use this shoot to highlight the joyful energy created when cultures meld. 

When planning the details for the shoot, we drew influence from the history and textures of the Jerusalem Mahane Yehuda Market, or “shuk”, which has been a meeting place for Arab, Israeli, and Spanish vendors (among many others from around the world) to sell their goods since the late 1800’s. For over 100 years the shuk has vibrated with the varied languages of locals and tourists, along with the scents of fresh produce and spices filling the air. 

Complimenting this is a rainbow of colors everywhere you look—from colorful tapestries and rugs lining the walls, to brass and copper vessels which gleam around every corner. We gave each of our talented vendors some information about the backgrounds of our couple and then let them interpret the design inspiration in their own way. The result was an incredibly fun and colorful shoot that showcases the amazingly talented vendors as well as the real love of this unique couple.