Date: 2/22/22 (while the couple picked the date because it was, in Jane’s words, “cool and easy to remember,” when she realized that there were 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, that added extra significance to the date)
Dogs participating: Max 2.0 and Harley
Location: Temple Israel in West Palm Beach
Written by: Jane
Dogs have been a part of my entire life. I couldn’t live without one. And since I was diagnosed with PTSD after being a shooting victim, my constant companion has been a service dog who helps prevent me from having flashbacks from sudden, unexpected loud sounds. My first service dog was Max, a magnificent 85 lb. golden retriever. My current service dog is Max2.0, an adorable 10 lb. chihuahua, who could NEVER be confused with an 85 lb. golden retriever, but was so named to prevent confusion for his veterinarians and groomers, and since he’s a child of the Computer Age.
Harley is my husband Michael Landau’s 13-year-old pomeranian, also a service dog, whom he raised from puppyhood. Being our constant companions, both dogs have been [usually] welcomed but always accepted at some of the finest establishments: Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Palm Beach Yacht Club, The Breakers Steakhouse, Temple Israel in West Palm Beach (where we held our wedding ceremony), Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, American Airlines flights, various restaurants and stores, and many other venues up and down the east coast.
So when Michael and I set our post-pandemic wedding date, we of course included our fur babies in the event, and I ordered and altered formalwear for them to wear. Their smart, matching black pinstriped jackets, trimmed with white rickrack, came with red bow ties and pocket squares, which I replaced with pink to match their dad’s. Michael and I both incorporated pink into our wedding clothing, accessories, and decorations in memory of his first wife and my sister, both of whom we sadly lost to breast cancer. Harley and Max2.0 were an integral part of our ceremony and the following reception at Leila Mediterranean restaurant in West Palm Beach, and they both behaved like perfect gentlemen. They skipped the champagne toast, but indulged in the vanilla bean-iced wedding cake, being the traditional pups that they are.
