Temple Shir Tikvah

Rabbi Rim was originally recommended to us as a rabbi in Massachusetts who was willing to perform weddings even if one of us was not Jewish. We checked out his site, and liked what we saw. He doesn't take himself too seriously. At the same time, he seemed quite thoughtful and intelligent.

When we contacted him, our initial favorable impressions were confirmed. He is very supportive of same-sex marriage, as his own stepdaughter was recently married to another woman. He is flexible on arrangements. For example, he allowed a ketubah that was personally designed for us, rather than standard (quite sexist!) wording. He proofread the ketubah to make sure it said what we wanted in Hebrew as well as English. He allowed us to have all of our guests sign the ketubah as witnesses. He permitted us to include the vows from the Church of England wedding ceremony (which is what NotFroofy thinks of as a traditional wedding, even though she is not religious), and to have an interpretation of each of the blessings that does not include references to God. And he was quite supportive on the idea of our building our own chuppah. When we were looking for a place to get ready before the ceremony, he offered his own office, and brought a full-length mirror from home. He's given us lots of good advice, while at the same time working to have the ceremony just the way we want it.

At the ceremony itself, he was warm and welcoming to all our guests. Even when we had some minor glitches (the pen disappearing when we went to sign the ketubah, NotFroofy's veil falling off, our having difficulties breaking the glass), he responded with warmth and good humor.