I'm told the
service was in Aramaic. I can assure you I didn't understand a word of
what they swore to.
Part of the
ceremony was the bride and groom sharing a glass of wine. The groom
then crushes the glass under his heel. I didn't see anybody sweeping,
so after the ceremony was over I looked on the stage, and this is what
I saw. Apparently he put the glass in this drawstring bag before
destroying it.
It wasn't long
after that we were encouraged to go inside. Just inside the door was a
table with pictures of previous weddings that were part of the chain
leading to this one, and a guest book. In the spot by my name where a
thought goes I wrote "good luck".
The dancing started soon after that...
The food was
excellent. In addition to the salad we had a vegetarian main course
featuring fresh asparagus, tiny pearl shaped pasta, and a very yummy
pastry with some sort of mushroom filling. The wait staff kept our
glasses full of very yummy wine. People were seated with
their natural affinity groups. I sat with friends I've known since my
high tech days.
After the food
the first dance was for the bride and groom. This was followed by a lot
of nice dancing.
The first desert
episode was the bride and groom giving her parents a 35th wedding
anniversary cake. The actual date was a day or two off, but this was a
good time to celebrate it. They had been preparing for this day on that
day.
The cake cutting
seems to be the most widely shared wedding tradition I know of.
After the bride
and groom danced with their parents, we all danced a lot more. The DJ
favored bright sunny songs from the '60s and '70s, with just a few that
were more current. They worked well to get people moving.
Late in the
afternoon there was another mysterious ceremony, this one mostly for
the dozen or so people shown here. I think this one was in Hebrew. They
handed out sheets with the words on it, along with translations and
transliterations so the rest of us could follow the action. It seemed
mostly to be begging a merciful God for this and that, things that
everybody would want like good food and a good home.
This was
followed by more dancing, talking, and finally a graceful sharing of
farewells.