Nontraditional Jewish Wedding at a Private Home in San Francisco

Oh my, this couple. Alina and Jason are a FORCE. They love people, family, and each other with so much passion and warmth. In every single meeting there were tight embraces, and if we were in there home for meetings, we were offered every snack and drink under the sun.

One time we met them at home, and Jason was making challah for neighbors. This guy had an industrial mixer and a Costco-sized bag of flour, it was insane! I’ll never forget him kneading and braiding up to his flour-dusted elbows, talking wedding shop.

I was sent home that day with not one but two challah with rainbow sprinkles. One to keep, and one to share, as is tradition. That bread became a metaphor of our working relationships--generous and gracious, and a whole lot of love and appreciation for what we do.

The challenges:

Jason’s home was a real home—gorgeous and open format, multi-levels… if we were going to transform this, we’d have to really roll our sleeves up!
Turning the basement gym into the dance floor and gussying up the permanent, very heavy chin-up bars with floral
Finding slim enough chairs to position in the backyard for the ceremony (there was a working chicken coop!)
Finding the right caterer to create food stations throughout the home
Converting the garage into a temporary catering kitchen
Ensure there was a natural flow between all the floors (3!)
Coordinating valet parking for guests in a busy San Francisco neighborhood
Making sure every guest receive the bouncy balls that would be thrown into the air, post-ceremony
Setting up an open-air photo booth in the backyard
Installing parquet flooring (that’s industry speak for wooden squares) on the gym floor to make way for a dance floor and the deejay

Did we meet these challenges? Most definitely!

It was a dream working with them!