NYC Trip - Day 5: Wedding

After we were all ready, we got all the families together and went into the church's library to do the Ketubah Signing.  This is a Jewish wedding contract.  The lady Rabbi came and officiated the signing and the ceremony.

After they signed the contract, they then read a poem thing before we all headed down to have the ceremony. 

Our families all took their place in the pews while my parents, Kimball, and I took our places with the bridal party.

We all lined up and then went out as our time came like we had practiced the night before.

We all did super good and no body fell.  The Rabbi then started the ceremony.  She told lots of stories and then spoke some Hebrew and then talked about the Chuppah and all the different things that it represents.

They also exchanged rings, shared their personal vows to each other, and then all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen shared parts of the Jewish Wedding Blessing.  Sam then broke a glass wrapped in a cloth napkin and then they were officially married with a kiss.  

We all then walked out after the bride, and groom and the ceremony was over.  We went down to wear we all got ready and grabbed our stuff so that we could load the busses that were going to take us to their reception center.

Once the busses were loaded, we left to go to the reception center in the park.  I think our driver got lost because we drove around in circle for a little bit and by the time we got to the venue a bunch of other people were already there.  It was worked out fine; it was fun pretty funny.

Once we got to the venue, by walking through the park, we found our seats and then enjoyed some appetizers and drinks.  We admired the table decorations and all the pictures that they had printed and put on the tables.

We just hung out until Teagan and Sam came and were ready to do pictures with the family.  It was my job to get everyone out there quickly and be ready to take pictures.  We were quick and efficient.  Then it was Sam's families turn, they did not listen as well and were a little slow.  Then it was the bridal party's turn.  We were quick and got all the pictures done.  

Then it was time for Teagan and Sam to come in the venue and do their special sword fight/dance.  It was super cool and lots of fun to watch.  They did a great job and had practiced that for three months.  It went perfectly.

After they brought the food out and we went up by tables to get our dinner.  It was Mediterranean food, and it was fun to try new things.  We had three different dips to go with pita bread and then we had some yummy meats, salads, and other stuff I don't remember.  It was pretty good and fun to try.

Sam wrote a script for the "Worst Man" and "Worst Lady" to follow where they tried to ruin the wedding, but it didn't work.  They were super good actors and way fun to watch.  They came out a couple times and different points during the reception.  

After they "shrunk" the cake, Teagan and Sam ate some of it and then the caterers brought out dessert for everyone else.  It was cookies, and a couple different mouse desserts.  

Then they had more people give speeches/toasts.  Mainly parents and the maid of honor and the best man.  They all did really well, and it was sweet and funny to listen to.  My parents did good to stick with how much they love Teagan and how happy they are with Sam joining our family.

We then did the traditional Jewish dance around the room.  Teagan said the chairs weren't strong enough to lift them up, so they didn't do that.  Then us gals had fun dancing on the dance floor.  The others had to leave since their flights were super early the next morning, so Wendy and I dance the night away ourselves.  Tony and Benje were good to let us have our fun.  After we had enough, Wendy got us all an Uber, and we waited inside the park for it to come.  Someone told us that cars don't come inside the park, and we had to walk to the street.  We felt kind of dumb, but we did walk to the main street and found our Uber.  He took us back to the hotel.  It was a super fun reception, and we are so happy for Teagan and Sam.