Ari's Wedding

Well it's taken me longer than I thought, but here are finally some pictures from my friend Ari and his new wife Jodi's wedding in Scottsdale, AZ. Hopefully they begin to portray the excitement that surrounded this event. I'm going to have to post this in a few installements, as I started working up a list of images to post, the number grew and grew.

Now I'm not going to say that these are my most technically sound or creative images, but they are the most culturally informative pictures that I've ever taken. It was like a wild ride, I was just trying to hold on and snap a few pictures along the way. I was trying my best to listen to what was happening, as the english translations came along, as well as take some pictures. Talk about a balancing act! I wish I could go back! The other problem (as a photographer) I had was that I wasn't sure just how involved I was allowed to get because this was such a formal Jewish wedding. We met other people at the wedding that told us that they were Jewish themselves, and had never been to an event this formal, or religeiously strict. So it sounds like it was a learning experience for more than just the handful of Christians in the room. Again, a HUGE thank you to Ari and Jodi for inviting us and letting us share in their day!

Here's a link to a guide to a Jewish wedding for a better understanding

Here the men are prior to the wedding ceremony, eating and drinking. There was a lot of singing going on during this part of the ceremony. I couldn't tell you what was going on in the woman's room, no men allowed.

Here is the ceremonious breaking of the plate by the mother's of the bride and groom.Now this is where things really picked up, all the guys that were in the room processed Ari to the woman's ballroom where Ari saw Jodi for the first time in a week, and placed the veil over her face. There was a LOT of singing and dancing from here on out.

The women were also dancing and singing for Jodi when we got there, and that continued once the men left

This is the only picture I was able to grab from the wedding ceremony itself, lighting wasn't very conducive to nice pictures (huge spotlight pointing up from underneath everybody), and I wasn't going to find out the hard way how everybody felt about me using my big flash.

The next pictures I post will be of the celebration after the wedding ceremony, a LOT of dancing pictures. Until then, take care.