Amid the latest round of Palestinian attacks from Gaza, Maor Kardi and Mor Peretz’s reception at the Silver wedding hall in Ashkelon was accompanied by the occasional early warning rocket siren, and still, the party went on as planned.

“We won’t let any Grad rocket or Code Red (early warning siren) dampen the most important event of our lives,” the couple said with a smile, moments before they walked down the aisle.

In the adjacent hall, another couple was getting married—Saar Uzan and Hagit Abutbul from Ashkelon. They, too, were determined to celebrate without changing their plans. The groom’s mother said defiantly, “If my son were to cancel or postpone the wedding it would certainly not have been because of the tense situation or the rocket threat—it would have been because of his painful shyness. He is a modest boy who would probably rather get married at the rabbinical courthouse, with his immediate family and only a handful of friends.”

Peretz said that amid all the excitement and wedding preparations she didn’t have time to think about the dangers. “We thought of everything—just not the Grad rockets. Now we’ll have a story to tell the next generation,” she said.