jewish weddings

any advice on maintaining proper balance during that whole chair dealie?

i hear a glass with no stem for the glass breaking bit is best

The last one I went to with the chair thing was rather frightening, actually.

Have strong in-laws (this advice not helpful if jewish bride has already been selected.)

Get some friends who have been to Jewish weddings before. They'll know what they're doing. The only failures I've seen have been from people who've never done it before, but have seen it on TV. With practice, though, it shouldn't be an issue at all.

u need a BEAR JEW

my fiancee's fantasy football team name is the Chicago Bear Jews~

heh! i was the best man at a wedding last month (his wife is Jewish) and we had to do this. i did my best to give my friends a heads up but the chair part caught us off guard nonetheless. i still have no idea who brought the damned things out. most of the guys around knew what they were supposed to do and we all grabbed something and lifted. some dude - i think it was the bride's uncle - had obviously done it before and gave us a "ready" and "lift" when it was time. so you should probably hope he'll be there because he was very helpful. and put your shoulder into it.

i should also mention my friend is 6'5" and well over 200lbs.
we had a slight imbalance as the guys on the other side we having trouble - i wound up reaching under and across to compensate. it went fine tho.
try not to get too drunk beforehand.

al ship is everywhere to lend a hand it seems xpost

The thing about most traditional Jewish wedding is that you have the chair out there already. The bride and groom have been fasting the entire day of the wedding, so they spend a lot of time sitting down in the beginning while they recuperate fluids and rest. (I thought I was gonna pass out from the dancing at my wedding.) So it makes sense to lift the chairs at some point (which is the real point -- since the men and women dance separately, generally with a mechitza separating them, you raise the chairs on each side and then the bride + groom "dance" with each other over the top of the mechitza).

scope out a good chair early on, wear some wide receiver gloves preferably gold like ocho cinco

and welcome to the tribe ;)

Definitely glass sans stem. You don't want glass wedged through the shoe during the wedding. I've heard so many horror stories about bleeds. Wrap a non-stem, fragile glass in a thick white napkin. It won't make a satisfying crack (more like a muffled noise), but you'll be able to dance with your wife.

they used a lightbulb at the previously mentioned wedding because it would "pop" better.

there was no pop.

the other jewish wedding i'd been to they used a proper glass and it sounded great.

I used a lightbulb, glasses are for wannabes.

*baffled*

uh oh hadn't considered the jewish element of our proper wedding next year... gonna have to check with the in-laws about this stuff

i think my sister's wedding was a lightbulb one. but they did build their chupa! it was kind of great to watch.

by great i mean hilarious

now, for your pleasure...my cousin's Bar Mitzvah, featuring the scene where my grandfather falls off the chair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeNSoV_L3Lc

my fiancee got her veil in the mail today. she ran around the house wearing it for awhile. the cat considers the veil a rival, i think.

she used to wear the cat?