The selection of your wedding date will, to some extent, reflect your personal priorities. You will also need to take into account schedules and prior commitments of the clergy, as well as your close family and special friends.

Please remember that the traditions of many Jewish communities may place some limitations on the choice of a wedding date. For most Jewish communities, the following rules generally apply:

1. Weddings are not held on the Sabbath (Friday evening through Saturday evening), most Jewish holidays and the days in between the starting and ending days the longer 8-day festival holidays. This is for two reasons. The first is the view that one shouldn't mix -- and consequently dilute -- each joyous occasion.
   
   The second is that marriage is also considered a legal transaction, as well as a religious event, according to Jewish tradition. As such, legal transactions are not permitted on the Sabbath and Festivals.
   
   Weddings on Saturday afternoons are generally prohibited, as well, since this period is still considered part of the Sabbath. Many rabbis will not allow a wedding to occur any earlier on Saturday evening than two hours after sundown.
   
   
2. The minor holidays commemorating tragic events in Jewish history are also not considered appropriate times for a marriage celebration. These include the three weeks prior to the Fast of Tisha B'av (the 17th of Tammuz thru the 9 of Av), as well as all of the the minor Fast Days.



3. Note that Orthodox communities also prohibit weddings during the special S'fira period, which runs from the the end of Passover and to the beginning of the holiday of Shavuot.

Rabbi Sandberg is an ordained Progressive Jewish rabbi. While most other Jewish communities will not perform weddings on the Sabbath, Jewish holidays and most other religious observances, the Progressive Jewish community will allow for the possibility of weddings during these and other periods of the year.

Click Here for a description of each Jewish holiday.

Rabbi Sandberg has provided this easy-to-use converter to help you convert dates from the Civil to the Hebrew calendars and back.

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