3.20.2008

The wedding recap

Omg, this weekend and D's wedding were amazing!

The weekend started off Friday night with the Aufruf. I was supposed to work from home Friday so I could get ready. Then I was supposed to leave at noon to work from home. Then I ended up leaving at 2:30, stopping for hoisery and even more shoes at Macy*s, and arriving home around 3. But that's typical Friday nutiness, so it was cool.

An Aufruf (for those of you with little google-fu) is like a mini Bar Mitzvah weekend. The groom is called up to the Torah on the Shabbat before his wedding, so all the relatives and the closest friends spend shabbat together. Like a mini Bar Mitzvah, right? Oh, and some of the bride's male relatives are usually invited. D's future FIL, future BIL, and a couple of cousins also came. They stayed at the hotel in town.

Friday night davening (=prayer services) and dinner were in a local Jewish-Iranian-American restaurant (enough hyphens for you? ;). It's one of my favorite restaurants, probably b/c they make the BEST rice. Ever.

There were probably 50 people at dinner, many friends of my aunt, uncle and cousin that I haven't seen in ages... We all live in the same town, and D and I to all of the same schools so I know all his friends. It was really nice to see them again and hear how they're doing.

I've never seen this at another aufruf, but at some point over the weekend each of the nine (nine!) groomsmen gave a speech about my cousin, about their friendship and past escapades. Hilarious speeches. D's got some great friends, and they all had really nice thigs to say and stories to share. They were mostly PG-13 speeches, although the guys who spoke Friday night had some, um, hilarious visual aids.

Dinner went pretty late - til 11? I was exhausted from lack of sleep during the week. Lucky the walk home was quick, it was raining.

Saturday morning davening is not my favorite thing. I like to sleep! But I made it to shul at around 10:30, 5 minutes before Dan's aliyah (=n. calling up to the Torah). I was this || close to beaning my uncle with the candy bag but I missed and hit some random guy who was dancing with them around the bimah (=n. place you read the Torah from). That's what you get for entering the danger zone. (At our shul, most of the women's section is a balcony overlooking the men's section; I've seen helmets)

Lunch was cool, a couple more speeches but the parents were invited (methinks on purpose) so they were a bit tamer. I left right after lunch ended to prepare for Seudat Shlishit, which we hosted. It turned surprisingly warm so Mom decided it was time to open the storm windows - the true sign that Spring has arrived :-) I did the windows which she made the salads, and good thing because my cousins, their extended family, and a family-friend-family that also has a long walk home from shul came right over to our house - so no shabbos nap :-(

It was nice to have a smaller group and really be able to visit with my family before the crazy wedding the next day. That's the beauty of the aufruf, quiet moments together before the madness of Sunday.

Mom put together a great spread, including some yummy, if store-bought, cupcakes. And we had yummy leftovers all week :-)

******

The wedding was gorgeous, very well done, and enormous. I'll spare you the crazy blow-by-blow, but here's some photos.

My dress:


My shoes (finally!):

Sorry, it's not a great photo.

The chupah:


We took 1.5 gigabytes of photos between me and my dad. Lol, what can I say? I wasn't allowed to bring my knitting.

8 comments:

mercy said...

LOL I love how at the end you wrote "I wasn't allowed to bring my knitting."

Michele said...

I really enjoyed reading all about the wedding weekend. It's so interesting to hear about other cultures/religions. Thanks for sharing :) and can't wait to see more picures!

I love the shoes darlin' :)

Kim B said...

I've never attended a Jewish wedding so it was really fun to read this entry! It sounds like a big affair! And I think your shoes worked out great!!

staci said...

Sounds like tons of fun, you should be tired!!! Great shoes ;)

Jacque said...

Great choice of dress....the lace on the hem is so lovely!

I assume you cut off your head/face for a reason?!?!? : )

Jennifer said...

Cute dress, and I LOVE the chuppah. Does it belong to the couple or the temple?

I like when people take lots of pictures at weddings - sometimes the professional photographer doesn't get everything (or doesn't get a good shot).

DaisyGirl said...

Your dress looks awesome! How come your face is cut off?
You really wouldn't have had time to knit!
Donna

Janet said...

I will laugh about the helmets all day. Great photos, love the shoes. You should make a movie, or at least write a book -your insights into Jewish culture are always hilarious!