Weddings should be a time to celebrate love, life and the commitment of two individuals to each other. Aside from the occasional “The Graduate”-level hijinks, they usually are.
However, weddings are also a time when people don’t often express everything they’re feeling. For example, the happy couple might be enjoying the party, but inwardly they’re also probably stressed, exhausted and hungry. Or family members might be excited to celebrate the marriage of their beloved relatives, but the drama of family politics are at play under the surface. You get the picture.
Recently, newlyweds Erica Rabner and David Gorvy got some of their family to say what they really thought of their wedding, sans filter. More specifically, the couple asked their Jewish grandmothers to provide commentary on their wedding video. Luckily for us, they filmed the whole thing.
What resulted was a nearly eight-minute video of pure, unfiltered Jewish grandma sass.
In the video, we first meet David’s granny, Annette, who offers commentary gems on a variety of subjects: Erica’s dress (“A little bit of boobs showing…”), the Jewish wedding ceremony (“This is quite religious, what you’re doing”).
Then we are introduced to Erica’s Baba Sarah, who responds “Eh” when asked if Erica’s dress was too revealing and adds, upon seeing Erica’s college friends in the video questioned, “And these girls are not married?”
Additionally, in classic Jewish grandma fashion, Erica’s Baba becomes much more focused on making sure the film crew has had enough to eat than on watching the wedding video.
According to Erica, David came up with the idea to make the video early in wedding planning when he learned that his 93-year-old granny would not be able to attend the ceremony. “He was bummed, but being the filmmaker/creative director that he is, he got creative and started thinking about ways to include her in the big day,” she explained.
We’re so glad he did! In a time when COVID has many couples thinking of ways to safely and joyously include vulnerable family members in their wedding celebrations, it’s so heartwarming to see Granny get a personalized experience of Erica and David’s wedding, and to see Baba relive it, in an authentically Jewish way.
As remarkable as the video is, these Jewish grandmas are also remarkable in their own right.
Annette has lived on three continents; she was born in South Africa, moved to London with her late husband Harold and then relocated to Atlanta 15 years ago. “Annette really is exactly the woman you see in the video,” Erica told Alma. “She loves the royal family (she used to have printed pictures of ‘Georgie’ taped all over her kitchen pantry door) and high tea, and she’s still as sharp-witted as she ever was.”
Sarah is a Holocaust survivor who was born in Poland and spent the war hiding in an underground bunker for over two years with her immediate family. In addition, Sarah is a talented chef, fashionista and world-class bridge player. “She earned her ‘Emerald Life Master’ status, played against the likes of Bill Gates (‘not good’) and Warren Buffett (‘he’s good’) and was even paid to play internationally,” Erica said.
Despite their familial bond and shared Jewish grandma status, Annette and Sarah have never actually met. “It’s actually a running joke in our families that if Granny and Baba ever met, they’d either be instant best friends or mortal enemies since they both have such strong personalities,” Erica said, adding, “The jury’s still out.”
David and Erica, mazel tov on your nuptials! And if your vibrant and hilarious Granny and Baba do ever met, please, please get that on camera too.
