The rabbi's talks was kind, romantic and funny. It was a more or less traditional Jewish wedding. But there was enough English to keep all the gentiles abreast of what was going on. Many of the groom's friends had visited us during his time in Little Rock and remembered us (and our house) fondly.
There were drinks and hors d'oeuvres and drinks before the ceremony so any of the itchy adults were able to stay in their seats. The kids, on the other hand, were little balls of tuxedoed energy. One of them started to cry when her mother, the maid of honor, passed her on the way to the platform. An emergency "mom fix" took care of that for long enough to get my friends hitched.
They are both friends now. I think I fell in love with the bride the first time our neighbor brought her by. She is bright, gentle, kind and funny. So is he.
There was dinner after the ceremony. The only problem was that the photographer was continuously chased by the room manager to hurry. The same room that was used for the ceremony was for the dinner and post prandial celebrations. As hotel staff grabbed and stacked chairs, the photog herded the wedding party onto the platform, waited for the kids to stop doing summersaults and rolls on the floor, and snapped some pics. If my judgement is anything to go on, they were good ones.
After the dinner and toasts came the dancing. The bride danced with her father. The groom danced with his mother. Both couples were obviously talking about the past and future. It was quite touching. Then the wedding party was told to dance to a very bouncy tune. When that was done, the music immediately switched to a hora. The hora is a traditional dance and the recording was perfect, moving from the swaying beginning to the frenzied end. Bride and groom were elevated on chairs and were together only by the handkerchief they both held. But the guests soon tired of that, put the chairs down and them in the center of the three circles that had formed to dance. A couple of the men gave an excellent demonstration of the hora footwork as the music got faster and faster. Then all of us joined in for the end.
Most of us quit the room for the bar and a little rehydration, but the records kept playing. The organizers had put a table full of various types of candy out, along with little paper bags so we could take the stuff back to our tables. When I returned, an early Michael Jackson song was playing. I'm not much of a dancer.... no sense of time or rhythm. But I watched as the others danced enthusiastically. Alas, the DJ turned the music up much louder after that. I fled, but my ears are still ringing.
Poor Fran!!! She had some kind of belly bug and spent most of the day in bed between hurried trips to the bathroom. She was still sick this morning. We had to cancel a barbeque that my cousin had planned and left Chicago early. She's feeling better this evening. But her stomach (and mine) are still in the "iffy" stage.
No pictures for this post, just a description of the best wedding party I ever attended. THANKS MADELON.
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