I particularly liked its clarity and organization. While other books bombard you with random Hebrew and Yiddish terms (sometimes translating them into English and leaving out the original language), this book takes time to explain them. It distinguishes which Jewish wedding practices are law and which are custom. It talks about both Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions and makes it fairly clear which traditions are specific to one ethnicity and which are more universal. It addresses a number of mainstream American wedding practices (such as rehearsal dinners) that are NOT typically a part of Jewish weddings. And it educates in a way that makes me feel like I have a grip on the information, rather than throwing out pieces of information that make me go "Huh? What's up with that?"

There is a reason rabbis recommend this book. If you have any interest in learning about Jewish weddings, especially if you want to incorporate Yiddishkeit into your own wedding, this is the book to get.

As I said in the title, I read it once and since I kept telling my fiance little tidbits that I didn't know or things that were interesting, he asked to borrow the book. After his first reading he said that he wanted to review certain sections, highlight them and then pass this book onto his mother!

I really found Diamant's book to be greatly inspiring and full of explainations on what parts are necessary in a jewish ceremony and what parts are customs and why. She really appeals to a large audience because she does not assume you have to be orthodox to understand or take part in anything she discusses. This book has also inspired me to have a Friday night "Sabbath" dinner with close family before our wedding and integrate some rituals I didn't know about previously, like both mothers breaking a plate. (Read the book to find out what it means!)

And since I am having a long engagement, I am going to have to refresh my memory soon because when I read it I just remember saying out loud "Oh, that is so cool! I want that to happen during my ceremony too!"

BUY THIS BOOK! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!