Sharing on here for anyone who is interested/in need of prayer! 

3 months ago I was here getting ready for my wedding. Imaleh, where does the time go?!

✅ Kallah Mikveh

You are doing henna? Are you Moroccan?

Not Moroccan. My partner is half Yemeni so it will be closer to a Yemeni henna. But most Jewish Israelis celebrate a henna prior to their weddings - Ashki Jews too. It has just become part of the Israeli Jewish wedding tradition at this point.

If you’re in Tel Aviv and you hear sobbing…it’s me. About to have the most insane, wonderful week of my life and I just can’t believe it.

Toda, Hashem. Toda.

I overheard one of our interns talking (to another intern) about how her friends are all getting married and how she’s bitter about it and she’s sick of hearing about weddings and going to weddings and how babies will follow and she’s dreading that…

She’s 25.

Her feelings are valid. Even if I’d never experienced them, they’re valid. But I have experienced them. I know those feelings so well.

There’s a couple of people in my life (BH just a couple) that don’t want to hear about my wedding plans. They don’t want to see photos. They don’t want to talk about my dress or the venue or the flowers. They haven’t said these things, I can just tell. So I don’t share much. Really, I don’t share at all lately. But it bothers me sometimes because these same people know the hard work it took to get here. They know the pain and the heartbreak and the stress and the patience. Some love stories are fairytales — mine wasn’t. It was a lot of growing up and spending time apart and forgiveness. I wake up everyday still in disbelief that I get to marry my best friend in a few months; why am I minimizing my happiness for the comfort of others? We have put in so much work to be where we are and I’m so proud of us and I’m so glad we can finally share the love we have for one another with the people that mean the most to us. I just really wish that people realized that it’s not always an easy road. For those couples where it is — great! They deserve all the celebrations too. But maybe next time you’re bitter about a wedding or a friend’s engagement (aside from needing to learn to find joy in the joy of others) you consider that you’re not the only one who has ever had to wait for love. You’re not the only one who has ever felt alone and lonely. Why are we not wanting the things for our friends that we want for ourselves? Why are we not recognizing that love isn’t perfect; why aren’t we allowing these imperfect love stories to make us believe that love absolutely will happen for us but that we need to look at it realistically? Why aren’t we championing the hard work others have put in to make a relationship work? And you’re apart of that imperfect love story! You played a role in their success and the wedding you’re bitter about is between two people who care about you enough to want you on this journey with them. Don’t push them away because when your love story finally happens, there won’t be anyone to walk that path with you. And weddings aren’t any fun without guests.

My stomach is *barely* out in the Save the Date card we sent out. As in it’s like a millimeter strip of skin. No navel. Just skin. And my partner’s grandmother is…displeased.

My partner’s response?

“Don’t come.”

🥴🥴🥴

Okay so I can’t sleep but I just came up with the best idea for our wedding and now I’m super excited (which doesn’t help with the not sleeping part) but…

We’ve been looking at ways to share some of our history for people that are like I know we come from a world where people typically get engaged after like four dates but this marriage after 1 year of “dating” still seems quick to us because we don’t know everything that happened in the 15 year prior. We’ve also been discussing how we want tables to look (I genuinely was not a little girl that ever thought about what her wedding would look like and I kind of don’t care about some of this but it’s necessary) and it occurred to me…photo albums! We have traveled so many different places together over the years and most people in our lives had absolutely no idea. So many memories we can share! And each table’s album would be from a different trip we’ve taken. Or a handful because there have been a lot and our guest list still isn’t finalized (y’all this is exhausting).

I may think this idea is stupid in the morning. But at 2am I kind of love it? 😏

I can’t stop crying. Is this normal? 🥹

Okay so no one probably cares but it’s my blog and I can kvell if I want to and ahhhhh we are getting engagement photos done today and typically my partner and I make fun of people that do these photo shoots but aahhhhhhh it’s so much fun and the photos look so good and my heart is fullllll 🥰🥰🥰

[My partner] tried on a tan suit and I called him Barack Obama and if you don’t understand that reference/joke, we’re probably not compatible as friends because I crack myself up.

Trying to plan a pre-wedding get together of some sort and I’m trying to schedule it for when my American friends are in town and it just hit me that it’d be the first time my secular Israeli friends meet/hang out with my frum American friends. It’s like my two worlds colliding.

Finally. At 32.

Oof.

It’s my [Israeli] bachelorette party tomorrow and I am sooooooo excited!!!!!

🥳🥳🥳🥳

🎶 עוד ישמע בהרי יהודה ובחוצות ירושלים קול ששון וקול שמחה קול חתן וקול כלה 🎶

בשעה טובה ובמזל טוב, נשמה טובה שכמותך! מי ייתן ותבנו בית נאמן בישראל ❤️❤️❤️

מתעלפת מהתרגשותתתתת!! אין לי מילים! תודה מותק!!!

🥰🥰🥰

Went to the most beautiful chatunah tonight. TYH!

🧿🪬💙