Jerusalem's wedding belles strut their stuff

All spring and summer long, they drift about on Jerusalem's public lawns like some sort of supersized dandelion fluff. Brides pose for photos in the bright sunshine, trailing their full white skirts, laced tightly into corseted bodices that showcase breathtaking curves. The brides' smiling faces, troweled with makeup, usually are unreadable. Their partners, clad in shiny suits of white or black, obligingly dart in tandem among the greenery near the Montefiore windmill as the cameras click.

These pairs are a seasonal apparition, part of Jerusalem's timeless mating rituals, and they inevitably draw smiles from passers-by.

At the supermarket yesterday, Izzy did a double-take when a bride and groom glided through the grubby parking lot, wove their way through the shopping carts, and entered the double doors. A photographer squatted in front of them, snapping away. It did not seem that these were glam models posing for an offbeat advert for the grocery store, Superdeals. They were enraptured with one another even though other shoppers gawked and grinned. Unusually for Jerusalem, other customers wheeled their carts aside and let the romantic couple pass. Surely this was not what the willowy blonde Ashkenazi had in mind when her bridegroom asked her to walk down the aisle! Israelity bites.