Breaking a Glass, Or Breaking Tradition?

After Lori Leibovich, a staff writer at Teen People, searched bridal magazines in vain for “one thought-provoking article, one provocative essay that poked fun at the 70 billion dollar wedding industry, “she started the webzine Indie bride,” for women who have never for a second believed in Prince Charming.” The offerings include a “Get Real” section, which critiques bridal magazines (“we read them so you don’t have to”), a chat area called “Kvetch,” and “Trousseau,” where brides can unload their used finery. www.indiebride.com.

A group of 27 rabbis, under the auspices of the ultra-Orthodox organization Agudath Israel, will soon issue guidelines limiting the number of guests and the expenditures at weddings, which even caterers agree have gotten out of hand, reporter Debra Nussbaum Cohen wrote last December in The New York Jewish Week. Cohen quoted Agudah lay leader Shia Markowitz, who said that even the cheapest wedding in the ultra-Orthodox community costs $35,000. Cohen quoted Markowitz as saying that at one wedding, where the bridegroom was a kohen, the caterer carved up a watermelon to resemble hands extended in the priestly blessing.