Glasgow-born Naomi met Jenn in Washington DC, connecting instantly. A transatlantic-sized long-distance relationship led to moving in together and eventually to their elegant and fusion wedding day.

Naomi said, “Jenn has been planning and re-planning her future wedding since she was young, whereas I had not thought about weddings until I met her. We tried to explore options together and make sure it was an event that was an expression of both of us, individually and together. The day turned out to be a sort of Jewish/ Scottish fusion. Jenn is a Jewish American and I’m non-religious and Scottish, so we had a Jewish ceremony with a bagpiper out front and danced the Hora and Scottish ceilidh dances. About half our guests were from the UK or Europe and the other half were from the US. I don’t know if there has ever been another Jewish/ Scottish queer wedding, but there certainly hasn’t been one like ours! We also really personalised everything and made many non-traditional choices.”

The couple had an egalitarian Jewish ceremony with no theme, as such, saying, “We just wanted it to be colourful, joyous, and meaningful. We didn’t narrow ourselves to specific colours, and we chose wildflowers and vintage elements to give ourselves the opportunity to get crafty and artistic. Traditionally, both partners are walked down the aisle by both parents. We created a T-shaped aisle and walked to the middle with our parents, then walked the rest of the way to the Chuppah, just the two of us. We had been meeting with our officiant, Cantor Segal, for about a year beforehand and had selected all the language that was used. Cantor Segal asked us to each write love letters to each other and send them to her. During the ceremony, she read parts of the letters, which she and her husband had written into a dialogue. Until that moment, we had no idea what the other had written. After the ceremony, we had a private moment called a Yichud where we read each other’s full letters.”

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