A Romantic, Summer Wedding At Al Hamayim in Caesarea, Israel

Shani Ruderman and Omri Casspi officially met several years ago in Israel, after knowing of each other through acquaintances beforehand. When their mutual friends set them up on a date, Shani’s initial reaction was that Omri was a smart, handsome guy and quite mature for his age.

“I saw him as someone I could have a family with,” she describes. “The first time we went on a date, we met at a bar in Tel Aviv and he was fascinating to me. I knew of him, but I didn’t know much about his career. I hadn’t followed him, so it was nice to actually meet him as a regular person before knowing anything about his basketball career.”

Omri and Shani saw each other every day for the next week, right before the NBA season started. Two weeks later, Shani flew out to the US to spend a few weeks with her new boyfriend. After returning home for a month, she packed up her belongings and moved to the US permanently to be with Omri.

When Omri proposed, the couple was visiting friends in Jerusalem. “We went over to their house for Shabbat dinner at their beautiful home by the Western Wall with a 360-degree view of Jerusalem – a very spiritual experience,” Shani recalls. “Just before dinner began, Omri asked me to come outside to the rooftop patio. The roof had a dinner set for two. As we began eating, Omri said he couldn’t wait any longer, and he went down on one knee and proposed.”

With a year to plan the wedding, the couple had plenty of time for the wedding planning process. Leading up to the big day, Shani met with their planner, Tal Sherf, along with her and Omri’s mothers in Israel. They chose a color theme of creams, pinks, and whites for the wedding ceremony, while the party theme was vibrant and fun. Although the bride and groom originally wanted to get married in Jerusalem, they decided on a quieter setting in the city of Caesarea.

There were 200 people in attendance at the wedding ceremony, and another 500 invited to the wedding reception. Keeping with Jewish tradition, the bride and groom didn’t see each other for several days before the wedding. “I was so excited to see Omri and to see his face when he saw me in my wedding dress,” says the bride. 

“When we saw each other for the first time in many days, we were all smiles. It was more exhilarating than emotional. I was full of adrenaline that day and it all went by so fast. I wasn’t nervous at all – just excited to see and marry my best friend.”