In October 2019, Nashid and I flew across the globe to celebrate his brother’s wedding in Israel. It was my first time back to visit his family after a couple of years, so I got to meet a new nephew and niece.
Our travel schedule was as long and crazy as it gets. Where do I even begin? We flew from Denver to New York. When we got to our first layover, it was pouring down rain and we had to exit the airport to get to the other terminal. There was a lot of construction going on. We got soaked! It was awful. We were about to be on a 9 hour flight and we were drenched from head to toe. I felt miserable. We headed to Moscow next. That’s where our bags got lost! When we landed in Israel, our bags didn’t show up on the baggage claim conveyer belt. We were exhausted and it was a lot to handle. It was especially stressful because Nashid’s brother’s wedding was the very next day and we didn’t know if our bags would make it in time…
Well, our luggage didn’t make it in time for the wedding! The bags didn’t get to us until a couple days after we arrived. We had to borrow everything from Nashid’s family. Luckily, his sister was already planning on doing my makeup and I could borrow a dress and shoes from her. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any contacts with me, but we were able to buy some from a local pharmacy. It was a whirlwind, but it all worked out and was a fun bonding experience.
Let’s talk wedding day. Nashid’s sister, mother and I went to get our hair done. His sister did our makeup and it was such a fun day. We got all dolled up and I absolutely loved it.
Oh my goodness! I LOVED the wedding experience. Their culture makes weddings even more of a special day than we do. They spend weeks celebrating every night with meals and family time. The day of the wedding, the grooms family goes to pick up the bride. We all drove down to her town and did a whole ceremony. It involved music from a live band with drums and singing. Family members speak blessings on the marriage. All the women are dancing and showering the bride. The men spend time outside eating treats and drinking coffee. The oldest male member of the groom’s family asks the oldest male member of the bride’s family for their blessing on the marriage. It’s a whole formal tradition. I seriously felt like the bride was a princess. They do such a good job putting focus on her for her big day. It was sooo cool to experience a different culture and to understand Nashid and his family more. It’s hard to explain, but I’ll include some pictures to try to show how special it was.
After that, we caravanned to the church where the actual ceremony happens. It was a Catholic wedding in a beautiful small cathedral. We had a small “reception” outside the church with treats and blessings on the family. THEN we went to the actual reception where there were tables and tables set up in a private restaurant. They had music with dancing and so so much food. The food was amazing! The bride and groom would go around to different tables to dance with each guest and then take small breaks to sit and eat. It was interesting to see how they do things differently than we do. The dancing was such a fun part of the whole wedding. Overall, it was such an incredible day that I’ll always remember!
