If you got engaged, before you begin the wedding planning process, you'll probably want to let your friends and family know about your engagement. The quickest way to do that is to post your Simcha on OnlySimchas.com. Here's an article from the Jewish Press about this popular website.
Special: Simcha Factory: The Magic of OnlySimchas.com
February 23, 2006 The question is - how did we ever endure beforehand? Were we always on top of the most recent news in the community? Did it matter that we could go months before seeing photos of a new grandchild in Israel, or learning of a classmate’s engagement in Australia? Nowadays, even a three day yom tov can leave an enthusiast of the site feeling like he or she is out of the loop. It’s all part of the magic of OnlySimchas.com.
OnlySimchas.com is a photo sharing and browsing website for the international Jewish community. Often, it’s an overseas relative who will turn to the site to experience the joy of a new baby to the family. Sometimes, a new couple will return to their own photo gallery just to relive the special moments of their wedding day. But more often OnlySimchas.com has become a destination for Jewish people throughout the world searching for wholesome happy news.
How did the site begin? The legend, as retold by the site’s three founders begins with Dov Katz running a website development company in college. While attending Yossi Markovitz’s engagement party in February of 2000, he took photos with his brand new Sony Mavica and posted them on the web so Yossi’s sister in Israel could view them. Within a few days, other couples were asking Dov to add their images as well. Dr. Doron Katz, who is Dov’s brother-in-law, immediately knew this concept had huge potential in the early stages of the internet. Immediately, the three young entrepreneurs began developing the site’s technology and business operation.
The magic stems from many sources. Since all the content is user uploaded, the site is updated real-time with happenings from around the world. The staff monitors all pictures for suitability and refreshes the homepage at least once a day. The site offers listings of simcha vendors, advertisements for the latest products, and classified posting for real estate, jobs and local events.
Today, the site serves over 20 million pages per month, has over 40,000 posted Simchas, and caters to an international audience from Brooklyn to Bnai Brak, from Antwerp to Sao Paulo and everywhere in between. The trio has transformed a novel idea into a tremendous tool that draws recognition and accolade for its resources and ingenuity.
By now, everyone has a personal OnlySimchas story to tell. Last year, a newlywed couple was honeymooning in London when they accidentally left their wedding proofs in a taxi cab. The resourceful cabbie was able to identify them by “googling” the name of the photographer and celebrant on the internet. Sure enough, the results of the search led him to OnlySimchas.com. With the help of the founding team the proof were returned safely to their very grateful owners. Among their most well-known celebrants was Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary.
If you really want to stand under a Chuppah but just can't seem to get the opportunity, either because you aren't Jewish or because you still haven't found the right chuppmate, and say you find yourself in Berlin, Germany, stop by the Judische Museum there which hosts an interactive exhibit that's open on all four sides. You can stand under this installation, pictured above, one of the many exhibits of the Jewish Museum that catalog Jewish Life in Germany over the past 1000 years, and listen to Jewish wedding music. You might have to share the Chuppah, though, with another museum visitor. (You don't have to go home with him/her.)
The Museum's Glass Courtyard and Old Building, a view from the Museum Garden
