While the prenup celebration gave Ms. Markovitz and Mr. Kay a sense of momentum leading to the wedding they were planning in Pearl River, N.Y., the coronavirus caused them to pump the brakes. In March, they decided on a smaller celebration with social distancing in Palm Beach. They got legally married on March 6 in a Broward County courtroom.
“The civil ceremony wasn’t the part that mattered to us,” Mr. Kay said. That would explain the elaborately planned religious wedding, with 60 guests led by Eli Zians, a rabbi at Boca Raton Synagogue, that took place June 15 at the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach.
Livestream video followed Ms. Markovitz, in a cap-sleeve lace dress from the Palm Beach boutique the White Magnolia, and Mr. Kay, in a black tuxedo with a white yarmulke, through a ceremony featuring a series of Orthodox prewedding traditions. The tish tradition involved Mr. Kay and witnesses signing the ketubah, or traditional marriage contract. The badekin followed with Mr. Kay placing a veil over Ms. Markovitz’s head, a reference to the biblical story of Jacob and Leah.
After those rituals, the couple, with their families and Rabbi Zians, met under an outdoor huppah adorned with cascading red, pink and white flowers. Guests, most wearing masks, sat on a sprawling green lawn. Ms. Markovitz first circled Mr. Tay seven times in a traditional show of dedication. Rabbi Zians then blessed them twice, once with wine, before Mr. Kay placed a ring on Ms. Markovitz’s finger and said, in Hebrew, “By this ring you are consecrated to me.” After those words, they were considered religiously married. But their time under the huppah wasn’t finished yet. After several more blessings, Mrs. Kay and Mr. Markovitz took turns at the microphone.
“Shanee is the daughter I never had,” Mrs. Kay said.
Mr. Markovitz, after praising his new son-in-law’s easygoing nature, offered him some advice. “I recommend you should always insist on having the last word in an argument with Shanee,” he said. Those words? “Yes, dear.” Minutes later, when Mr. Kay stomped on a glass, signaling the end of the ceremony, cheers of “Mazel Tov!” erupted amid the swaying palm trees.