Can I wear trainers to my sister’s wedding? - The Jewish Chronicle

Simcha season is back. And part of me is panicking.

There is a huge backlog of Jewish couples ready to finally celebrate their big day with their family and friends. According to the Office of the Chief Rabbi and the S&P Sephardi Community, there will be at least a 160 per cent surge in simchas this summer compared to last year.

And while I am so happy to celebrate these beautiful couples, I did not see this coming, so soon. I assumed more government U-turns, caveats, and restrictions. I was lulled into a false sense of anti-social security.

Some guests might be concerned about temperature checks, spacious seating and socially distanced Israeli dancing. But my concern is far more superficial. I am simply not ready for dressed-up events.

Not only do I have nothing to wear, my grooming regime has gone AWOL.

Over the pandemic, my hairdresser switched salons and my manicurist quit the city completely, leaving his south London flat for a big house in Birmingham for the same rent.

I have lived in leggings, trainers and baggy tops. I have exclusively shopped for loungewear online, based on the recommendations of Instagram influencers. Unless I can turn up to Park Lane in an overpriced tracksuit, I am stuck.

Time has moved a lot quicker than I have (for a long time). I did not spend the pandemic squatting for a post-lockdown transformation. Instead, I made friends with our local Deliveroo drivers. So I am too frightened to try on my pre-Covid dresses. Beyond that, I do not even want to.

What do people even wear to weddings these days? What do I wear to walk down the aisle to celebrate my sister’s wedding in less than a month? Do we wear ballgowns with trainers?

I’m far from the only one who was surprised that Freedom Day actually happened. So were some of the best simcha suppliers in the business. Orthodox florist Miri Moses says she agreed to work on eight weddings in one day, anticipating that numbers would be capped at 30 people.

When the weddings went ahead with up to 240 guests at each event, she moved past the initial panic. “I thought the weddings would be small, I was shocked,” she laughs. “I do not know how I did it, but I did.”

For a while, I suspect that is how it will be for so many – irrespective of whether the initial concerns are business, social or fashion-focused. I hope they are fleeting.

The urge to celebrate with the joie de vivre that defines our community must return, because no one can quite party – on a chair, in the air – as well as we do.

For that, I am so grateful and so excited to celebrate so many simchas to come.

Rabbi Joseph Dweck, senior rabbi for the S&P, summarised the position perfectly. He told me: “Living life in lockdown for so long has held us back from so much and in Jewish law nothing should stand in the way of a wedding. It is a great cause for celebration and a signal to all of us to re-engage in daily life with all our energies.”

So, we shall.

And for those that cannot quite yet make the parties in person, there will always be a chuppah to watch over Zoom.

Either way, I need to get a move on and take myself to a dress shop before the designers switch out the summer collection for Autumn/Winter. One thing is certain, I cannot turn up to my sister’s wedding in a black, red or gold glitter gown designed for Christmas parties.

I am sure that won’t be acceptable – no  matter what dress codes have changed over Covid.

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