On June 15, I married my husband in what some may call the most memorable wedding of their lives. There was no A-list performer or top chef serving our guests. In fact, it was an intimate wedding of 25 people. What I couldn’t have planned for throughout the months leading up to our Israeli-American wedding is that we would choose to get married despite the Iran-Israel war starting two days before.
Most brides spend the final few days before their wedding getting beauty treatments and welcoming guests from out of town. For me, the final 72 hours leading up to our wedding were quite different.
My family, who had just flown in from Boca Raton, met my fiancé’s family for a lovely dinner outside of Tel Aviv. I then went out with my close friends for “one last hurrah,” which ended around 2 a.m. Less than an hour later, Israel declared a state of emergency. At 3 a.m. on June 13, emergency alert messages were sent out to everyone, telling us to stay close to shelters. I was on the phone with my fiancé after the alert when he explained the brevity of the situation–Israel just attacked Iran’s nuclear sites, and our wedding would inevitably be canceled.
My scheduled champagne manicure turned into my friend painting my nails, welcome drinks became panic grocery shopping, and the night before celebrations included my whole family and best friend, who flew in from Florida just for the occasion, huddled in the Airbnb safe room hearing boom after boom of missiles targeting Tel Aviv multiple times throughout the night. The stark contrast between the night of June 12, celebrating with friends, and the panic that ensued mere hours later is something I’ll never forget.
Many couples would choose to postpone their wedding. Another day with better skies or, in our case, no chance of rockets falling. But after living in Israel for more than 12 years, and especially since Oct. 7, 2023, I’ve learned that what you believe is promised for tomorrow is never certain.
This was, unfortunately, not my first rodeo. I moved from Boca Raton to Tel Aviv in 2012 and have lived through three major wars. As someone who has spent my entire career in startups, pivots and out-of-the-box thinking are part of my daily responsibilities. When I came out of the shock of the situation on the afternoon of June 13, I turned to my fiancé and family and said matter-of-factly, “we’re still getting married on Sunday.” Whether it’s on the beach or in my parents’ Airbnb, they did not fly all this way to experience the volcanic eruption of a war and go home without witnessing my wedding day.
While I’m someone who knows what she wants, I also like to think of myself as somewhat Israeli by now. The saying “Am Yisrael Chai” means “The people of Israel live.” But it doesn’t just mean that they are alive, it also means that they celebrate and truly live life to the fullest because the world can change in a split second, as it did for me and the rest of the country. From Friday afternoon until Saturday evening, we put as much in place as we could; our rabbi loved the idea of an intimate ceremony showcasing our resilience, our photographer was ready to photograph us wherever we wanted, and with a makeup artist change at 3 a.m. the day of the wedding, we had all of the pieces in place.
Just after 6 p.m., and two hours after the day’s first significant missile attack targeting most of the country, my husband, Asaf, and I tied the knot. Our friend’s parents offered their home overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, where we had the most unrehearsed and impromptu Chuppah some may have ever seen. By pure chance, I had planned to send a Zoom link to my friends abroad to join us for our original wedding. Thankfully, we were able to have Israelis join as well so that 100 of our friends and family from around the world were there to witness our love and bring some light into a dark and scary period. Following the ceremony, we took photos, ate a light dinner, and, as if on cue, missiles came our way. My now husband and I, along with all of our guests, headed to the safe room for our first siren together as newlyweds, where we were able to enjoy our first bites of wedding cake.
My husband and I chose to move forward and get married because we were all together at that very moment. In Judaism, many believe that once a wedding date is selected, it is for a specific reason, and postponing is not encouraged. With my parents and friends already in the country, we agreed that there is no better time than the present, even amidst a war, to celebrate love and bring light into what may seem like a dark and uncertain world.
Since getting married, a ceasefire has been established and the country has returned to normalcy. What that normalcy looks like while an ongoing war with Hamas continues and 50 hostages are still captive in Gaza is something that only the Israeli people can attest to. While I mourn what should have been on our special day, I also mourn the many lives of those we have lost during the 12-day war and since Oct. 7, 2023. While the saying “love conquers all” can be quite cliche, I do know that the world needs a lot more love, and I’m grateful we were able to provide that during a time when we need it the most.
Brooke Weinbaum is from Boca Raton, Florida, and moved to Israel in 2012. She is currently the VP of Product for Copyleaks, an AI detection platform. She lives outside of Tel Aviv and enjoys walks on the Tel Aviv boardwalk, trying the local food scene, and sharing her love of Israeli culture.