Persistence (and a bluff) pays off.
Paula Allison Kweskin, the daughter of Wendy Kramer Kweskin and Joel David Kweskin of Charlotte, N.C., was married Tuesday to Jonathan Weiss, a son of D'vorah Weiss and Rabbi Mordechai Weiss of West Hartford, Conn., at Sakoya, an event space in Jerusalem. Rabbi Levi Cooper, a brother-in-law of the groom, performed the ceremony, and the groom's father assisted.
The bride, 29, will be known professionally as Ms. Kweskin-Weiss. She is an associate film producer at the Clarion Fund, a nonprofit organization in New York that produces and distributes films about what it sees as radical Islam's effect on society. She works in Jerusalem. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which she also received a law degree.
Her parents work in Charlotte. Her father is an independent advertising, marketing and communications consultant and a professional caricature artist. Her mother is a senior client manager for Cigna Healthcare.
The groom, 28, is known as Yoni. He is an adviser in the Tel Aviv office of Grant Thornton, the London accounting firm. He focuses on mergers and acquisitions and due diligence. He graduated from Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel.
His mother is a kindergarten teacher and his father the principal at the Bess and Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy of Greater Hartford in Bloomfield, Conn.
The couple met in Jerusalem in January 2011 at a party of a mutual friend. Ms. Kweskin, who was born and raised in Charlotte, had moved there in August 2010, shortly after she graduated from law school. Mr. Weiss, who was raised in Margate, N.J., had moved there shortly after his high school graduation in 2003. He served in the Israeli Defense Forces for a year before attending the university. They met at a house party with other Americans.
"She was new," Mr. Weiss said. "She had this radiance about her."
"There was a spark, and he was very animated and charming," Ms. Kweskin said. "But I felt like, he's just another guy like I always meet. From New Jersey and working in finance."
Still, they enjoyed talking. They both loved Broadway musicals and made "soft" plans to see a show together someday. Mr. Weiss got Ms. Kweskin's number from a mutual friend and texted her a few days later asking if she would like to get together. She said no. And so it went for several months. He would ask her out, and she would decline. "I did think he was intriguing," Ms. Kweskin said. "I just wasn't in the frame of mind."
In August 2011, at a wedding of a mutual friend, they reconnected and had a wonderful time. Something felt different, but Ms. Kweskin still kept him in the friend category. Over the Jewish holidays, they saw each other quite a bit, and their friendship deepened. They talked every day.
"If he were at the party or social event or Shabbat meal, I was always a little bit happier," Ms. Kweskin said. "There was a light in the room, but I still didn't connect it to dating."
In November, Mr. Weiss lost patience. He suggested they start officially dating. Again, she said no. "I told her I thought she was making a huge mistake," Mr. Weiss said.
The next day, she called him. He did not pick up, but texted: "Sorry, on a date. Call you later."
"I was devastated," Ms. Kweskin said. She asked if they could meet for dinner the next night. He said yes.
To this day, Ms. Kweskin is embarrassed at the unromantic declaration that followed, but it was the best she could do. "Listen, Yoni, I don't want to date you, but I don't want you dating anyone else," she recalled saying over dinner.
Mr. Weiss laughed. He wasn't on a date the night before. He was bluffing.
MARGAUX LASKEY
24 Feb, 2013
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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/fashion/weddings/paula-kweskin-yoni-weiss-wedding.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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