Sun, May 25 - Oren & Inbar Marriage

Wedding Day! Oren and Inbar get married today in a forest north of Tel Aviv.

Sarah and I head off to the Manta Ray restaurant where we are to meet Oren and a few friends for a champaign breakfast. I've met a few of them before but most are new. Oren's father, Shalom, also comes. 

Andy Miller calls during breakfast to wish Oren good luck with marriage. Oren asks Andy when he will be getting married? Andy was originally going to attend Oren's wedding but figured with impending layoffs at Xilinx and fear of being laid off at home, he had best high tail it to China where Michael Wu had promised him a wild time. :-)

After a good meal and great company, Assaf drags Oren, Sarah, Yosi and myself off to the local massage parlor. Oren claims that if you want something organized with class, then let Assaf do it. It certainly proves true in this instance. We each get full body massages lasting over an hour. The masseuse does an awesome job, especially with my legs still sore from cycling in the Nazareth area. I almost fall asleep at one point.

After leaving the massage parlor, Oren is carried along a pre-determined track, with other grooming sessions, photo sessions, wedding prep at the venue, etc. He's basically a married man from this point forward!

Sarah and I get some rest back at Oren's apartment before being chauffeured by Aya and Metal, friends of Inbar and Oren. Oren and Inbar have put a huge number of hours of planning into this wedding. There are close to 500 guests. Oren would have prefered fewer but the list kept growing. The challenge of who is to sit at which table is a demanding task and Oren creates a master spreadsheet showing everyone's location graphically. The catering company has never seen anything like this but it makes Oren's job much easier when arguing with them on the phone, "Look at coordinate D-17 on the map I made. You told me there would be 8 tables across the hall and the 8th table must go there. I don't care what you think, I've given you the list of who is coming, it's your problem to fit them in!"

The map is really something, color coded for: friends of Oren, friends of Inbar, friends and family on Oren's side, friends and family on Inbar's side. They receive tons of input on who is to sit with whom and perhaps more importantly, who is NOT to sit with whom. By design, they seat Sarah and I with others who speak English.

The venue is located in a forest 45 minutes drive north of Tel Aviv, inland from Caesarea. The crowd of guests slowly swells over the course of an hour or so, with guests eating hors d'oeuvres and drinking. I know perhaps 20 people. Folks are dressed in tuxes, blue jeans and everything in between. The atmosphere is positively festive. At one point people start gathering in a little side garden, where a small stage has been covered with a transparent cloth. I think this represents a synagogue, at any rate, its where Oren, Inbar, their parents and the rabbi are standing. 

The ceremony is short and sweet. I don't pretend to understand the significance of everything I see. The rabbi says some words to no-one in particular for a couple minutes, then says some words to Oren for a minute or so. Oren then takes a big glug of wine from a glass proffered by the rabbi. The glass is refilled, the rabbi says a few words to Inbar, who is on the opposite side of the stage from Oren and then Inbar's mother lifts Inbar's veil so that she can take a big glug of wine. The rabbi then talks a bit more, rings are brought out and Oren again gets to have some wine. They are married by this time and so Oren is able to lift Inbar's veil so that she too can have more wine. I think both of them have been abstaining from drinking to this point and it marks the point when they can both drink with reckless abandon. 

It is at this point that Oren drops his glass (empty) to the stage and grinds it to dust with his boot. This is the moment the audience has been waiting for and they all cheer. Inbar warned me in advance that Oren was a bit apprehensive about this part. Would glass stick in his shoe? Would it fail to break at the correct time? Would it still be full of wine? Apparently accidents during this phase of the ceremony are possible, and Oren does not like to be surprised by such things. The ceremony lasts perhaps 10 minutes, short and sweet, very to the point. Oren tells me afterward that both he and Inbar worked with the Rabbi to keep things as simple as possible. They succeeded in creating a beautiful ceremony that executes like clockwork. Now it's time to party!

We move to the dining hall where all the tables are numbered, with people being assigned to specific tables as I mention above. The dinner is fabulous. Duck, beef, chicken, lamb, vegetables, fruits, salads, hummus, breads, wines, juices - you name it, they have it!

Unbeknownst to Inbar and Oren, their close friends have banded together to create a video, showing both of them growing up, interviewing their close friends and family. It is touching and hilarious at the same time, especially as it is all in Hebrew with no subtitles. I can make up whatever words I want. The real fun of the evening follows when a DJ cranks up some great dancing music. Everyone is up on the dance floor having fun. I told Oren afterward that a wedding in America would be lucky to have 50% of the attendees up dancing. It is normal in Israel for 90% of the guests to be dancing. This is what they come for!

Seema from the next table grabs me and leads me to the dance floor, where I too have fun. At one point, someone brings me a T-shirt that I'm to wear. It has a bunch of Hebrew lettering on it but I put it on. Folks laugh when they read it. Eventually someone shares the joke with me. The writing says, "Looking for Relationship, Will Settle for Sex." Apparently there were several versions of this shirt distributed to the singles at the wedding. I keep the shirt, perhaps it will help me in the Bay Area?

The party lasts until the wee hours but I head back with Aya and Metal a bit before 1AM. Sarah is on a roll and she and Seema shut the place down. Actually they head off to other establishments that stay open much later. Not sure what time they finally finish partying. 

As far as I can tell, the weeks of preparation pay off handsomely. Everyone has a marvelous time, including Inbar and Oren. What a great way to kick off their lives together!