Halachot and Customs
Yahrzeit and Wedding on the Same Evening
Question
With Hashem's help, on the evening of my father’s memorial observance I have been invited to a wedding. The question is whether, after the memorial observance, it is permissible to go to the wedding. It is important to note that this is not the first year.
Answer
Hello and blessings,
This is how it is written in Yalkut Yosef:
According to the strict letter of the law, it is permitted to participate in a wedding celebration or a sheva berachot meal on the night of the date of death, which is not like the law of the twelfth month. The Ashkenazim are stringent about this, and they are likewise stringent not to listen to musical instruments every year on the date of death, and they follow all the laws of mourning of the twelfth month on that day. It is good that Sephardim should also be stringent in this where possible, and refrain from participating in a wedding celebration on the night of the yahrzeit. But if the bride and groom would be upset that their relative [or father] could not participate in their joy, after the wedding day was set for the day of the death of his father or mother, it is permitted to go there on the night of the yahrzeit. It is likewise permitted to participate in a brit milah meal and a pidyon haben on the anniversary date.
With blessings,
Binyamin Shmueli
