The Best Chanukah Gift: Karlin’s Wedding

Sarah Jacobson and Ben Karlin met at Temple Sinai pre-school when they were 18 months old and are able to provide photos as documentation, per Sarah.

Fast forward to “parallel play” where Ben went to The Weber School, and Sarah attended Pace Academy; the former went onto Middlebury College, the latter graduated from the University of Georgia. In January of 2020, at a friend’s birthday dinner, they reconnected. All this backdrop resulted in a wedding with 230 guests on Dec. 21, the last night of Chanukah.

Ben proposed in Chicago along the river in June of 2025. Sarah’s parents were in town visiting, and the couple was walking to meet them for dinner. Along the way, Ben completely surprised her by “popping the question.” Little did she know his parents were also in town; and the six of them went to dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago. Ben and Sarah previously lived in Chicago for three years.

Remote wedding planning from Illinois was efficient with the help of event guru, Terry Saxe. Sarah explained, “It was really a joint effort by the two of us. Ben had plenty of opinions, and I can be very indecisive, and then there was input from our parents.”

Ultimately, they chose the Atlanta History Center because of the dramatic ballroom with the huge windows looking over the gardens. They also relished the idea of having exhibits featuring the city open for guests to walk through during the cocktail hour.

Under the chuppah, Rabbi Joshua Heller of Congregation B’nai Torah, tied in the mitzvah of Chanukah and its similarities to a Jewish wedding. Ben recalled, “To get married is the perpetuation of the Jewish people which is at the core of Chanukah. We were excited about getting married during Chanukah and incorporating it into our weekend — candle lighting and a late-night snack of latkes and suganiyot, but the context that Rabbi Heller provided gave it even more depth and meaning.”

Sara gushed about the decor creativity of Jwilbur Smith, owner and creative director at EventScapes Atlanta, whom she described as “extraordinary.” She explained, “I was not a bride with a specific vision of what I had dreamed the day to be, and with very little direction from me, he somehow captured our style and created the most stunning and perfect room I could have ever imagined.”

He used predominately white florals with pale blue accents. Not coincidentally, Jwilbur did the florals at Sara’s parent’s wedding 33 years ago, as well as Ben and his siblings’ bar and bat mitzvahs. The cake was from Cecilia’s Cake Shop in Athens, Ga. — an ode to Sarah’s college days and her “favorite cake in the world” with both red velvet and caramel flavors. The band, Rupert’s Orchestra, charmed and rocked with the first dance to “You’re My Home” by Billy Joel.

The bride’s parents are Barbara Frank and Michael Jacobson. Ben’s are Ann and Michael Karlin. Ben has two living grandfathers: Jack Greene and Stan Karlin. Sarah works as physician assistant at Emory Hospital in surgical oncology. Ben is in commercial real estate for a company he started, Otter Creek Holdings.

For the honeymoon, the couple went to Thailand and Vietnam.

Sarah noted, “What I love most about Ben is how unapologetically himself he is! He can be very serious at times but has a huge goofy side to him that never fails to make me laugh, even if I am annoyed. He also loves to cook and spoils me by making me dinner almost every night!”

Ben reciprocated, “What I love most about Sarah is how compassionate and loyal she is! Whether it’s the way she loves her family and friends or cares for her patients, she’s always there for her people, and I’m grateful I get to be one of them.”