When choosing Jewish wedding dates, you may often be unsure of where and when exactly a wedding can and can not take place. A Jewish wedding can be held anywhere. While obviously there are more "holy" locations for a wedding (a synagogue or shul), there are no hard and fast rules as to location. There are a few rules which most Rabbis will follow when planning a Jewish wedding and choosing a Jewish wedding date.
Jewish weddings may not be conducted on the Sabbath (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday), other holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover Shavuot, and Sukkot). Jewish weddings may also not be held the three weeks between the seventeenth of Tamuz and the ninth of Av, which generally fall in July and/or August and commemorate the destruction of the Temple.
During a period of mourning of a member of the immediate family (parent, child, sibling or spouse), wedding dates should be postponed for at least thirty days following the burial.
Some Jewish communities and denominations hold that there be no valid weddings from Passover until after Shavuot. In the secular year 2011, that period between Pesach and Shavuot is between April 21st, and June 15th.
During this time, traditional Jews observe a tradition of accounting that time between Pesach and Shavuot, called counting the Omer.
The Omer and is a reflective and sad time in the Jewish calendar.As many people refrain from parties involving music and dancing during this period, it is not considered to be a good time to hold a wedding. However, this is more of an Orthodox tradition.
Obviously, when determining wedding dates, different congregations and communities observe various patterns.
Jewish Wedding Dates - Another Aspect
Another factor that determines Jewish wedding dates, is the principle of niddah. Niddah is the state of impurity that Jewish law holds a woman while she is menstruating.
Jewish law says that a woman is in niddah until seven days after her menstral bleeding ends. On the seventh day, she goes to immerse herself in the ritual water of the mikvah.
While a woman is Niddah, even throughout her marriage, she and her husband are forbidden to have sexual relations while she is menstruating each month, until seven days after her bleeding stops and she visits the mikvah.
Since it is a commandment for the newlywed husband and wife to consummate the marriage on their wedding night, It is important that Jewish wedding dates be planned so that the bride is not Niddah on her wedding night.
Granted, primarily only Orthodox and Conservative movement Jews realistically follow this Jewish wedding custom; nonetheless, it is an important principle in Jewish marital life as well as in planning Jewish wedding dates.
Above all, speak with the Rabbi who is going to officiate as s/he is the final authority in all religious matters of planning your Jewish wedding date.
