A florist's planning guide to the permitted and restricted dates — so you can set a date and book your vendors with confidence.
Traditional Jewish weddings are not held on Shabbat (Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall), during most of the Counting of the Omer (spring), during the Three Weeks (midsummer), or on major holidays. This guide lays out which periods are restricted and which are open in 2026 and 2027, so you can choose a date — and book your florist and vendors — with confidence. Practice varies between Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform communities, so confirm your specific dates with your rabbi.
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Jewish tradition sets aside certain times when weddings are not held. Some are weekly (Shabbat), some are seasonal periods of semi-mourning (the Omer and the Three Weeks), and some are festivals on which the joy of a wedding is not mixed with the joy of the holiday. Understanding these upfront saves couples from falling in love with a date that turns out to be unavailable.
How strictly these are observed depends on the community. Orthodox and many Conservative couples follow them closely; Reform practice is often more flexible, particularly around the Omer. This guide describes the traditional restrictions — always confirm with your own rabbi.
No traditional wedding is held on Shabbat, which runs from sunset Friday to nightfall Saturday. This is why so many Jewish weddings take place on Saturday night — after Shabbat ends with Havdalah — or on Sundays and weeknights.
A Saturday-night (motzei Shabbat) wedding has real timing consequences: because vendors observing Shabbat cannot set up until it ends, and because the start time shifts with the season's sunset, the schedule is later in summer and earlier in winter. We plan floral setup windows around this — see our Saturday-night timeline guidance.
The Counting of the Omer is the 49-day period between Passover and Shavuot. Much of it is observed as a time of semi-mourning during which weddings are traditionally not held. There are exceptions — Lag BaOmer (the 33rd day) is a well-known permitted day, and some communities permit weddings during parts of the period — but the customs differ between Ashkenazi and Sephardic practice.
If you're drawn to a spring wedding, this is the single most important period to check against your rabbi's guidance before committing to a date or a venue deposit.
The Three Weeks — from the fast of the 17th of Tammuz to Tisha B'Av in midsummer — is a period of mourning during which weddings are not held. This falls in July or August depending on the year.
Weddings are also not held on the major festivals — Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot — nor typically on their intermediate days (Chol HaMoed) or on fast days. The strongest wedding seasons therefore tend to be late summer through fall (after the Three Weeks) and winter through early spring (outside the Omer).
Because the Jewish calendar is lunar and shifts against the civil calendar each year, the exact restricted dates move from year to year — a date that is open in 2026 may fall on a restricted day in 2027. The principles below hold for both years, but always confirm your specific date against a Jewish calendar or with your rabbi before committing to it.
As a general guide for both years: avoid every Saturday until nightfall, the spring Omer period (except permitted days such as Lag BaOmer), the midsummer Three Weeks, and all major festivals and fast days. The open windows are broadest in the fall and in winter through early spring.
Your date shapes more than availability. A Saturday-night wedding compresses the floral setup window, since setup can only begin once Shabbat ends. A peak-season fall date books out early, so florists and venues need to be reserved further ahead. Seasonal flower availability also shifts by month, which affects the palette and cost.
We factor all of this into planning — once your date is set, we build the floral timeline around it.
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