Mazal Tov!

The big event during our stay in Israel was my cousin's daughter's wedding! My cousin? That's Dorit, Roni's sister, the proud mother on the left. And her daughter is the beautiful bride, Irit, standing under the chuppa, a canopy with four poles under which the marriage ceremony is conducted. Irit's veil has just been lifted, and the very excited groom is about to break the wedding glass!

I don't have a lot of pictures of the event (can't wait for Irit to send me some of the professionally taken pics!), so you have to trust me when I say that Israeli weddings are simply outstanding. 200 guests are average, and the ceremony and celebration usually take place outdoors under the most gorgeous night sky, in some beautiful, paradise-like garden.

Lia and my Dad watching the marriage ceremony.

And these pictures were taken right at the beginning, during the reception. The funny thing is that you only see us, but there are actually a ton of people buzzing around us, family members eager to hug us and the photographer taking pics of every one being in a frenzy. The kids have no idea where they are and why they are not in bed! Lia was holding on to me, Ben was clinging to his gramps. Only five minutes later I no longer had a clue where Lia was. She was part of the celebrating lot and was reported to shake her booty on the dance floor. Dancing under those twinkling stars...

Who? What? Where?


And here's us with my lovely little Auntie, my mother's sister! The bride's grandmother, Savta Cheda. I'll blog more about her later! Of course, the Israel blog series is going ...


... to be continued.