Somebody's Getting Maaaaaaried!!!!

Somebody get the flowers, somebody get a ring.
Somebody get the preacher and the choir to sing.
Somebody get an organ to play.
'Cause somebody's getting married today!
......Because you share a love so Biiiiig, I now pronounce you Frog and Piiiiiig!!!

Hmmmm, can you guess that my weekend was full of wedding stuff?Not mine though, I am NOT ready yet for getting married. But I am perfectly happy to be super excited about others... This weekend it was Anley's wedding and Marin's engagement party.

Saturday I went to Anley's wedding. Anley was one of my close friends from PT school. And I got to go to her wedding! YAY! And I got to see Madhavi and Po! YAY! And the wedding was BEAUTIFUL, and Anley was a RADIANT Bride. She just looked so amazing and happy and well, just radiant! And I was SO HAPPY for her to be married, she just deserves all the happiness in the world, and it was a truly wonderful day to share with her. I was pretty giddy the whole day in my excitement and joy.

The wedding was an interesting cultural experience. For a multitude of reasons. Anley's family is from India, so there were many Indian cultural aspects that were really interesting and wonderful to see. My favorite, though it may seem superficial, was the dress. At most weddings you go to you see men in suits, and women in formal (usually black) dresses. At this wedding there were still men in suits, but there were also men in traditional Indian garb, and almost all of the women were wearing Sari's and other Indian formal dress. And it was SO COLORFUL! And SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Anley had her white dress for the ceremony, but halfway through the reception she changed into a BEAUTIFUL Sari, and she just looked more radiant than ever.

It was such a wonderful occasion, over 700 people were there. Which I couldn't fathom. It was so huge. I couldn't even begin to think how far I would have to stretch to think of even HALF that many people that I would invite to my wedding.

The other cultural shocking thing to me was the style of the wedding, not because of Indian tradition, but because of Christian tradition. And I'm a little embarrassed to say so, that it was shocking, and amazing, and kinda out of my comfort zone. Because I am a very spiritual person, and while I have my issues with keeping up with my day to day practice, mostly I have great faith in Judaism, and cherish it greatly in my life. Anley, and Jube, her new husband, and family, have similar faith, if not moreso, in Christianity. And that's wonderful. I may not agree with some of the beliefs, as I have my own, but always I respect and honor someone's faith, as I believe that faith can be a very individual and personal thing and no one has the right to infringe on someone's faith. I guess I just had a bit of culture shock at this wedding. There was a lot of prayer and blessings, and praises to Jesus, and readings from scripture, along with the stories, and praises, and toasts to the bride and groom.

Plus, while I always knew that Anley was very religious and very involved with her church and her faith, she never talked about it at length with me, and she never was one to speak of Christianity and her faith and belief and practice on a regular basis at school... During all those long hours we spent together every day for 3 years, she didn't mention many of these specifics ever. So to see this side of her, and to hear from her family members, and community members of how she is a pillar of faith, and how she has so much belief and faith, and that she is envied by her community as a Christian role model, it was very new for me. I knew this about Anley, but I had never seen it. And I guess often you think of things, and know they are there, but it's still somewhat amazing for you to actually see them. And while this by far is not a bad think to know and see about my friend, it was again, just a new experience.

There was no dancing at the wedding, not because there wasn't joy, but I am assuming because of the conservative faithfulness of Anley and her family and their devotion to their religion. That to me is kinda odd. It seemed weird to go to a wedding and not do a Hora, let alone no dancing the entire wedding. It was just a really nice dinner with stories and presentations and prayer for the bride and groom. And it was beautiful and nice, I guess I just had a culture shock and while I had a wonderful and fun time, some of the foreignness of the religious practice was somewhat uncomfortable for me to be surrounded with for a whole day.

So while I had an amazing, fun, beautiful time, and while I was and am overjoyed for Anley and her marriage, and I wish her all the mazel and happiness there is in the world for the rest of forever, there was a lot of new stuff, and learning for me which well, I guess was a bit overwhelming.

SO if Saturday was a wedding, Today was an engagement party. YAY! For my Cousin Marin, YAY!! So I got to see all my family from my Dad's side, and we celebrated Marin and Daryl's engagement.WHOO HOO!!!! :)

We went to this restaurant in Rockland, and it was a bit crowded with so many people in a small room, but it was fun to see family and friends, some of whom I haven't seen in awhile. And we talked, and were happy and merry and celebratory in anticipation of a wedding, where I guarantee, there WILL be a Hora. :)

On a side note, Hora's are fun. I like Hora's, and Israeli dancing, and all the craziness, and breathlessness, and funness that goes into a Hora. There was a HUGE long Hora at Adam and Laurie's wedding, it was fun, even though I had a stomachache. (DARN IBS!!!) When I get married, I want the Hora to last at LEAST an hour... and then start up again later on in the reception. To me a Hora just brings out the happiness and spirit and is so celebratory, EVERYONE dances the Hora. Those who dance, those who don't dance, young, old, everyone. Old ladies throw away their walkers and canes, men with aching joints jump out of their chairs, and its like Jewish medicine better than chicken soup. Everyone circles, and swirls, and its just fin and happy and awesome. I could write a whole BLOG on the joys of the Hora. But, another time... This BLOG is long enough.

Anyways, so that rounds up my wedding weekend. I've been singing the wedding song from The Muppets Take Manhattan all weekend. Somebody, Somebody, Somebody, Soooomebodyyyy....
Somebody's Getting Marieeeeeeeeed, Todaaaaaaaay!!!!