Mazel Tov

This weekend Jess, my wife, and I were invited to a wedding of a former co-worker of hers. It was being held down town at the Hilton; already a higher class of wedding than our own. Gas prices being what they are we opted to take the light rail in. I would only recommend taking the light rail when dressed in formal attire for a wedding to professional light rail riders only, and always use the buddy system.
We were on the train all of 5 seconds before Jess gets her first compliment form a woman whose face showed many more years than her eyes had seen. "You look beautiful!" she blurted causing all on the train to turn and stare. She was missing a front tooth and so a slight whistle escaped making the situation even more difficult to ignore. Jess, a modest woman, was thoroughly embarrassed. Toothless or not the lady was correct in her observation, Jess did look amazing.
Shortly after boarding the train it was revealed that the people getting married were Jewish. I should note that I wasn't excited about going to this wedding. To me weddings are great if you know, or are related and close to one of the persons getting married. If that is the case you are usually a part of the wedding and as such are not attending a wedding, you are participating. Okay back to the story. I began to dread it even more. I have heard stories of how long and dragged out a Jewish wedding ceremony can be.
While the ceremony was a bit long (my wife did not think so, but a man's idea of too long, and a woman's can differ greatly.) it was an incredible experience I'm glad to say I enjoyed. I suppose it would be best to say that the ceremony wasn't long as much as it could have been twice as short. The reason for this being the Rabi had to say everything twice; first in Hebrew and then in English. The Rabi was very good about explaining everything that was going on and why. To the point that I began feeling like I was watching a special on the discovery channel.
The ceremony ended with a broken glass and everybody yelling "Mazel Tov!" which is way cooler than the movies make it look. The bread and butter of the Jewish wedding I learned though is the reception. I've never seen so many old people dancing; some of those men were going Patrick Swayze on their ladies too...unbelievable! I almost felt like they knew the ceremony was long and so to make it worth while they go nuts at the reception. Needless to say it was the best wedding I have attended. So if you are Jewish and getting married soon, hit me up, I'm looking to learn more. Also it doesn't hurt if you have an open bar.