It’s hard to believe that it’s the middle of August. The summer is FLYING by, Tisha B’av and the sad days before and after are gone and we’re very much in the ‘wedding mode’. There is SO much to be done before the wedding; and there are two things that are making this more complicated than a regular wedding.
1) The aufruf. We haven’t done a Shabbos simcha in the Lower East Side since Sara Rochel’s Sheva Brachos in ‘98, almost 10 years ago. We had a few aunts and uncles, and a few single cousins. My Shabbos Sheva Brachos was done in Brooklyn cuz it was just easier. But it is apporpriate to have Aharon’s aufruf in the good ol’ LES. However, b’h our families have grown and there is a nice little crowd coming in. Making an aufruf in the LES is complicated because of the fact that A) There is no eiruv. Makes a problem for carrying and for the three families with babies, myself included. B) there are stairs. I might use the shabbos elevator, but not everyone would and it’s not always on. C), Most of the apartments are somewhat small and it has been a little challenging figurnig out where to put everyone including a few families of 4+.
Then there is the regular planning of an aufruf, who will speak when, what to serve, what to put in the guest bags, where to have the Kiddush, etc. Mommy has been working so very hard to figure everything out and make everyone comfortable. And I’ve been helping as much as I can. There’s a lot of back and forth of who will be staying in which apartment and where it makes sense to eat. I think we are starting to finalize things, but things probably won’t be really final until Friday! Whatever, it’s been a lot of fun though slightly overwhelming ( I can only imagine how much work it is for Mommy).
2)The other complicated factor is that this wedding is ‘Out Of Town’. I have not been to an OOT wedding in years. I forgot what they are like. But for us, the family, there is a lot of extra planning going on. B”H, we got that great $1 fare on the greyhound bus. But there are LOADS of other plans to make in a city that up until a couple of months ago was a completely strange one to me. As the local family Internet / travel guru, obviously a lot of the planning is falling on me. I don’t mind as long as everything works out. So far I’ve saved the family a nice amount of money by researching which car rental is the cheapest and doesn’t charge a drop-off fee to return it elsewhere and doing my homewhere and reserving a nice 3 * hotel on Priceline for $70-75 instead of $110+. I’m also looking into minyanim, Kosher food and activities to do — in Niagara Falls. Amazingly, my mother’s sister Chanie lives a couple of blocks from where the bus drops us off in Downtown Toronto and she’s being so hospitable and taking care of driving us places and giving us breakfast. This should be LOTS of fun but also a bunch more work to finalize.
Besides for all that, I still need a suit or two for the aufruf / sheva brachos, need to finalize on a dress for Shaina baby, make some shtick for the wedding and arrive early on Friday to help Mommy out. Oh, and also like go to work every day, cook, clean and do laundry. And take care of my baby.
B’h for being busy with simchos! We’re so excited, just one week and two days left! (and one week till we board the bus. And three days till the aufruf)
  
. Shaina fell asleep and we finished up just as the police were telling everyone we had to leave. In fact, we were in the middle of bentching when the police car made its announcement and actually WAITED for us to finish!!
