​On September 27th, Father Alfonse Nazzaro and I co-officiated Gracie and Blake’s wedding ceremony at the Dallas Arboretum, in the Alex Camp House in Dallas, Texas. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

If you ask Gracie and Blake when they first met, you’ll get two different answers, maybe a third if they keep thinking about it. Gracie says it was sometime in high school, since they grew up in the same neighborhood and had mutual friends. Blake isn’t so sure. We may never know for certain.

What we do know is that when they really got to know each other through the Silver Spurs Association in college, something clicked, even if at first only in the sense of friendship. Gracie says, “We had crossed paths before, but this was the first time we spent regular time together, initially just as friends.” Blake says, “Honestly, I always just thought of her as a friend… partly because she was out of my league.” (Blake, that’s called insight. Keep it.)

Gracie’s childhood revolved around her Catholic upbringing, Catholic school from kindergarten through high school, church every Sunday, Catholic camp in the summer. She says she’s “thankful for the values and structure it gave me.” At the same time, her first job at the Purple Cow diner opened her up to people “from all sorts of backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs” and “sparked a real interest in learning about different perspectives.”

Blake grew up steeped in Jewish tradition, Sunday school at Shearith Israel through his bar mitzvah, Jewish summer camp every summer. He says, “Growing up, I recognized early on the community that comes with religion, and that is where it had the biggest impact on me.”

From the outside, they might seem to have come from very different worlds. But when they started spending more time together, they realized how much they shared, especially, as Gracie puts it, “our outlook on life and shared interests.” 

Their first date was pure Austin: “Jazz at South Congress Hotel, pizza at Homeslice, and music at the Continental Club.” Their second was a Gary Clark Jr. concert, which launched a shared love of live music that continues to this day.

Blake says, “I simply didn’t know what true love was until I met Gracie… She’s never met a stranger, is always down for whatever crazy plans I come up with, and has everything you want in a wife.”

Gracie says, “Blake brings out the best in me, lights up every room, and shares my values… Even though we come from different places, our love has always brought us together and always will.”

What we can learn from them is this: You don’t have to have the same background to have the same vision for life. Curiosity about the world and about each other isn’t just a good way to grow up, it’s the best way to grow together. And sometimes the person you think of as “just a friend” turns out to be the person who makes your world bigger, your adventures richer, and your life immeasurably fuller.

Interfaith Wedding Rabbi is excited to share that our home base is now Beaverton, Oregon 🌲💍

While we’re proudly serving couples across Oregon, we continue to officiate anywhere in the United States and abroad.

Same inclusive, heartfelt ceremonies — now with a Pacific Northwest address ❤️
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Love is love. Wherever you are.

​On September 21st, I officiated Madelyn and Connor’s wedding ceremony at the Milestone Mansion in Krum, Texas. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

You never know where you’re going to meet the love of your life. Some couples meet in college. Some meet through mutual friends. Some meet on dating apps. Connor and Madelyn met at Texas Roadhouse orientation. 

Now, I have officiated weddings where people met at the gym, at a dog park, even in a long TSA line at DFW Airport, but this is my first Roadhouse romance. And I’ve got to say, if you can find lasting love in the middle of employee paperwork and safety training videos, you can handle just about anything life throws at you.

Connor walked in, spotted “a very pretty girl” sitting at the bar for orientation, and decided to sit next to her. “I figured I’d spark a conversation,” he says, “and with so much charisma, made a joke about her height.” Madelyn did not find it charming. In fact, they stopped talking for a month.

But love is persistent. Halloween rolled around, Connor saw Madelyn dressed as a clown, and something in him said, “Wow, she’s so pretty, I need to talk to her again.” They talked, exchanged numbers, went on two dates, and Connor already knew: “God was giving me signs that this is the one… I still can’t get over the fact that I have the most beautiful girl in love with me.”

Madelyn admits she wasn’t interested at first, deciding Connor was “just really bad at flirting.” But as she got to know him, she discovered, “I feel like we only make each other better, and I can’t wait to marry him.” She says she never thought she “needed” someone in her life, but Connor changed that: “Once I started dating Connor, it was like all of that changed… In my mind, I couldn’t wait another second. I want to start a family with him.”

Now, here’s what makes their story even richer: Connor grew up Jewish, deeply connected to his tradition, bar mitzvah, confirmation, summer camp, still praying every morning, even if synagogue politics kept him away from services. Madelyn grew up in a small-town Christian family, surrounded by prayer over meals, churchgoing grandparents, and huge holiday gatherings.

Their story reminds us of something both faiths teach, whether it’s in the pages of Torah or the words of the Gospels: Love is not about sameness. It’s about commitment. It’s about choosing each other daily.

Madelyn and Connor’s different backgrounds aren’t hurdles to overcome; they’re sources of strength. They give them two sets of stories, two spiritual toolkits, and two ways of seeing the world. That doesn’t divide them, it makes their shared life richer. A great marriage isn’t about finding your mirror image; it’s about finding someone whose differences challenge you, deepen you, and make your love more expansive than it could ever be alone.

So Connor and Madelyn, keep holding onto the way you describe each other now, Connor, that she’s “the most beautiful girl in love with me,” and Madelyn, that you “only make each other better.” If you keep choosing each other with that same gratitude and joy, you’ll keep hearing quiet reminders, sometimes in signs, sometimes in surprises, that you were meant to walk this road together.