This article appeared in the Nov. 13, 2003 Jewish Advocate.

For a good time, call Walter Perlman

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

Long ago, one could expect rounds of good wishes, prayers and blessings, hora dancing and a decent meal at bar/bat mitzvot and weddings. Now, guests literally don’t know what to expect. From caricature artists to Nomar Garciaparra and Austin Powers impersonators, video games to glamour-and-other photo shots, live bands playing every type of music, tables of sushi and make-your-own sundaes, and other unconventional surprises and delights, traditional simchas have turned into wild affairs indeed, guaranteed to never be forgotten.

For planners, however, making the right choices, and finding the right ways to combine them, can be bewildering, to say the least. This Sunday, Walter Perlman can help. At the Wedding and Bar Mitzvah Expo, at the Waltham Westin Hotel from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., over 58 vendors from many different specialties will demonstrate their offerings.

“This show will have some of the regulars, as well as some new types of vendors such as a chocolate waterfall,” said Perlman, whose vendors will include balloon decorators, caterers, cake decorators, cruise ship agents, disc jockeys, florists, hotel and function facility representatives, invitation crafters, musicians, traditional and novelty photographers, table linen experts, virtual reality purveyors, videographers, and more. At $5 per person and with children under 18 free, it’s worth it for the entertainment value alone. But for those with an important occasion looming, it’s a great opportunity to view every aspect of a successful and memorable affair under one roof, in one afternoon.

Perlman, a Marlboro resident and Lexington native who was Bar Mitzvahed at Temple Isaiah (“my own Bar Mitzvah was very simple. I just had a photographer, good food, family and friends. That was all”), always enjoyed photography. “I started out photographing Bar Mitzvahs in 1991,” he recalled. He began to more creatively capture Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, and family portraits on a part-time basis. “I love to photograph Bar and Bat Mitzvahs because the kids are so much fun to work with,” he said, adding, “I can do all types of fun and creative shots with them.”

Within the last year, Perlman has been working full time in photography. “I have photographed Bar and Bat Mitzvahs in such unusual places as Fenway Park, the Children's Discovery Museum, the Fuller Museum of Art, and the Computer Museum,” he said. “I’ve also photographed many types of weddings and done numerous family and pet portraits, including champion dogs.”

In the process, Perlman had networked with disc jockeys, hotel catering managers, party planners caterers, and others; he also participated in many bar mitzvah party shows at synagogues. When a 1998 show he participated in was not renewed for the following year, he decided to run his own. “I called over 250 vendors to get 36 vendors my first year,” he recalled. Perlman ran shows at the Sheraton Needham in 1999 and 2000. When Temple Reyim board members saw his show, they invited him to run one there, so the next two, in Nov. 2001 and Feb. 2003, were at the Newton synagogue.

Though the events are a lot of fun for attendees, they entail a lot of hard work to produce. “I sell the booth space, design the show directory and the ads in the directory, design the ads, and put the whole thing together,” says Perlman, who has drawn an incredibly wide variety of vendors, from New York and Rhode Island as well as Massachusetts, all promoting their distinct brand of enjoyment. “Some of them have been disc jockeys, videographers, photographers, hotels, cruise ships, a go-kart race track, a virtual reality company, invitation and balloon people, caterers, cake decorators, candy people, a custom puzzle designer, centerpiece designers, party planners, bands, musicians, sign-in board designers and florists,” he said.

Perlman and his wife, Joan, who is President and a Hebrew school teacher at Temple Emanuel in Marlboro, have two daughters; Ruth, 10, and Samantha, 8.

Walter Perlman’s Wedding and Bar Mitzvah Expo show will take place on Sunday, Nov. 16, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Waltham Westin Hotel, Exit 27A off Rte. 128, 70 Third Ave. Waltham. For more information, please call 508-460-6656, e-mail Walter@gis.net, or visit www.barmitzvahphoto.com.