From Miss to Mrs: Mazel Tov

After our loved ones sat down following the Sheva B'rachot, our Rabbi continue with our ceremony. (Again the majority of the text comes from Celebrating Interfaith Weddings or The New Jewish Wedding.)

Rabbi: Your friends and family, all of us here, rejoice in your happiness and we hope that this day marks only the first of many more blessings you will share in the days and years ahead. And now that you have spoken the words and performed the rites that unite your lives, I do hereby, in accordance with your beliefs and the laws of the state of Louisiana, declare your marriage to be valid and binding, and I now declare you, ____ and Shoshanah, husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.

May G-d bless you and keep you.
May G-d's presence shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May G-d look upon you with favor and grant you peace.
There are many explanations for why we perform the breaking of the glass at the end of a wedding. One explanation stems back to 70 BCE, to the destruction of the temple. The breaking of this glass, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac, reminds us that we live in a broken world, and even though we celebrate in joy today, there are still people whose lives are yet to be whole.
Another explanation which is the cheerier one is that the traditional breaking of the glass is a joyous ceremony. The fragility of the glass suggests the faility of human relationships. The glass is broken to protect this marriage with the implied prayer that "As this glass shatters, so may your marriage never break."

As the Boy smashes this glass with his foot, I encourage you all to all say "Congratulations" or "Mazel Tov."

What you can't quite see from these pictures is how thoroughly the boy smashes our glass. He didn't just settle for the single stomp to shatter it. Inside he continued to step on it making sure it was completely taken care of, and definitely got got us to all break out the laughter.

I knew what I wanted our processional music to be since even before the boy and I were engaged, but yet the only one who knew was the boy. For you to understand why I made this choice you have to know my mom was a huge Star Wars fan. She actually used to lie about how many times she paid to see the original in theaters because it was so high. She made sure to convert my brother and I, and we were the one who waned to dress up to go see Episode I when it was released (along with my MOH and her brothers). Basically it was no question for me that we'd end our ceremony with the throne room march. I thought it was be a fun way to end the ceremony, and for most people it was. But given that my mom physically wasn't there, it in a way, brought her spirit even more a part of that day.
Unfortunately, there was a mild snafu where the DJ was waiting for a cue from our rabbi. After an awkward pause our rabbi said, "Now the boy and Shoshanah are going to share a few moments together," as the music kicked in. Which then meant our DJ stopped the song and had to get it to play again, hence the reason we all look a little confused in the photo above.
But as we started walking the music finally chimed it, and realization from the Star Wars fans hit. If you actually look in the photo below, I love how my MOH and bridesmaid seem to giggling together about our choice.
As we made our way indoors for our yichud, our rabbi invited all our guests indoors as well to join the reception.
What song did you, or would you, choose as your recessional? Does it hold any special meaning?

All photos in this post courtesy of Sabree Hill Photography.
Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands
From Miss to Mrs: A Night on the Town
From Miss to Mrs: The Hangover
From Miss to Mrs: Rehearsing in the Heat
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Supper
From Miss to Mrs: Gifting the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Night
From Miss to Mrs: Oh What a Beautiful Morning
From Miss to Mrs: Getting Prettified
From Miss to Mrs: Prepping the Plantation
From Miss to Mrs: Turtle Time
From Miss to Mrs: The Photographer Has Arrived
From Miss to Mrs: Becoming the Bride
From Miss to Mrs: Dress Details
From Miss to Mrs: Ou Est le Groom?
From Miss to Mrs: A Bridge-y First Look
From Miss to Mrs: Couple Time
From Miss to Mrs: Just the Two of Us
From Miss to Mrs: Grouping the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: Ain't No Party Like a Bridal Party
From Miss to Mrs: Fun with Family
From Miss to Mrs: Making it Official
From Miss to Mrs: The Bedeken
From Miss to Mrs: The Final Minutes
From Miss to Mrs: Programming Break
From Miss to Mrs: The Processional
From Miss to Mrs: Walking the Walk
From Miss to Mrs: Circle to Ceremony
From Miss to Mrs: Remembrance to Kiddush
From Miss to Mrs: The Exchanges
From Miss to Mrs: Lucky Number Seven