«leftbraned

Just winding down from a fabulous weekend.

(Feel free to jump straight to the photos of Mike & Nimi’s wedding.)

Extravaganza Event #1: Karaoke Bachelor/ette Party

Mike’s rendition of “Welcome to the Jungle” was accurate to the syllable; his artistic decision to stay true to both the spirit and the letter of the song both impressed and freaked everyone out (in equal parts). :) Mike, you’ve got some set of pipes in you. Who knew?

And who knew that Nimi’s voice was beautiful too? We always saw that Mike & Nimi were a great, super-compatible couple; but I learned on Thursday that on top of it all, they’re even vocally compatible.

(Having the party at Tinga Tinga Karaoke (162 Madison Ave.) was a great call; props to Dave.)

Extravaganza Event #2: Garba

Good indian food, good company and dancing with sticks–what more could one want?

After a quick lesson in how to dance the Raas (a traditional Gujarati wedding “line” dance, in which the participants hit each others’ Dandia, or decorated sticks), we took the floor with the other dancers. In this chronicler’s humble opinion, he did a good job (for once) not looking like a fool. His wife? Well, let’s just remember how awesome she is at everything else. (And I hope the people who she almost clubbed on the head realize that.)

Everyone had a blast–and as a bonus, there were no dandia injuries.

Extravaganza Event #3: Wedding Day

Here’s where the “extravaganza” part comes in. What a venue! What a ceremony! What a party! What a band! What a spread! What a mensch!

After a truly unique ceremony by the co-officiants (a Hindu priest and a pony-tailed rabbi), the real party started. There was fabulous food as far as the eye could see. There was band as far as the ear could hear. Both were awesome.

We got to meet and talk with some of Mike & Nimi’s other friends, all of whom were fantastic.

And best of all, we got to see our two friends joyfully enter into what is most certainly a union that’s meant to be.

Extravaganza Epilogue

After the festivities, we met some friends for dinner and a movie.

Dinner was in Montclair, at a Turkish place called Lalezar. Tough call, since Thai Chef (one of our favorite restaurants) was literally just down the block.

Dinner was good, movie was very good, friends were great.

(We saw an Israeli movie called Walk on Water (Lalachet Al Ma’im). Recommended.)

Now, our friends are getting married this coming weekend, so naturally, they were interested in the details of Mike & Nimi’s Wedding Extravaganza. The funny thing is, after describing the ceremony to them, we all realized that our friends’ rabbi is going to be the same rabbi we had just seen marry Mike & Nimi.

Not the first coincidence we’ve shared with these two wonderful people; and, I hope, not the last.