If there’s one thing we’ve learned about synagogue weddings over the years, it is that they are going to be wild, and require, in the words of Liam Neeson, a special set of skills.
After the ceremony, the dance to the yichud might require making good pictures of people several inches away — all while running backward in what is more or less a mosh pit. The horahs will require timing, careful focus on rapidly-gyrating guests, and ever-mindfulness of stray elbows and stiletto heels (yes, Ryan has come out of horahs literally bloody). But through it all, it will be exhilarating.
Sometimes at weddings, women ready to dance will bring ballet flats, or the couple will provide them. We knew this wedding would be brimming with energy when we saw a number of the women changing into heavy-duty sneakers, like they were preparing for a basketball tournament. And man, did they need them.
But among all this, the couple, their love, and the wedding at the Park Ave Synagogue itself were beautiful and joyful. We have been so glad not just to document this wedding, but to know Julianna and Reuben and stay in contact since the wedding, watching as their incredible love and joy infuses their new life.
