My Cousin's Medium-Sized Syrian Wedding

Last Thursday I presented the second half of my seminar about my sabbatical efforts.  I guess it went OK, but I'm glad it's over.  Also on Thursday the first full-sized Chick-Fil-A opened in Peoria.  I heard it was pretty busy.  Katie and I stopped there on Friday night and it was still busy.  I think part of the popularity, based on various conversations I overheard, was due to people eating at other Chick-Fil-A places (mostly in the south).  On Saturday, the family and I attended a wedding for my cousin up in Chicago.  It was been nearly 2 years since I have been there, and the first time Katie ever saw the city during the daytime (she was impressed by the big buildings). My cousin married into a Syrian family, so the wedding was a good opportunity to broaden my cultural horizons. I was reminded of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and Karen was reminded of "Bride and Prejudice." The half-hour ceremony was at St. Odisho Church (the denomination was the Assyrian Church of the East).  Much of the ceremony was not in English, we wound up near the back, and people stood the whole time, so I cannot offer extensive details, but I did notice there was very little iconography on the walls except lovely script over the altar, and at one point both the bride and groom wore crowns.  Afterward, in the receiving line, an older lady threw coins at the bride and groom (as opposed to the rice I had at my wedding).  The reception was an interesting fusion of Midwest and Syrian traditions.  There were two musical acts that alternated sets - one was a loud, talented rock band playing a variety of mostly 80's anthems.  The other was a trio (drummer, keyboardist, and singer) that sang Syrian songs. The Syrian songs were really long (like a very extended remix) - there was basically one or two songs per set.  Some saw the singer actually stop singing, take a quick call on his cell phone, and then resume singing during one song.  Dancing to these types of songs typically consisted of everybody joining hands and dancing sideways in a long snaking line (sideways bunny hop).  The people near the front of the line actually had some steps that they followed, but where I was toward the back it was basically a shuffle.   Our room was under the ballroom, so even after we retired for the evening we could still hear the music (and later on the vacuum cleaners).  We all enjoyed the wedding, and I got to see some people that I have not seen in a long time.