http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/fashion/weddings/27stein.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1325070010-PMt5K2Lt7AEh5Rbv/ZTPnw Talya Stein, Mo Elleithee
Published: May 27, 2007
Talya Margalit Stein and Mohamad Aly Elleithee are to be married today by Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Va.
The bride, 31, and bridegroom, 34, work in Washington for the presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; the bride is the finance chief of staff, and the bridegroom is the senior spokesman.
The bride is the daughter of Roberta K. Stein and Michael R. Stein, both of Skokie, Ill. Her father is a professor of mathematics at Northwestern University. Her mother is a publicist in Skokie.
The bridegroom is known as Mo. He is a founder of Hilltop Public Solutions, a political consulting and public affairs firm in Washington. He graduated from Georgetown and received a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University.
The bridegroom is the son of Noura and Aly Elleithee of Manassas, Va. His father is a financial consultant in Manassas.
http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/15498/ Catholic Gov. Kaine officiates wedding for Muslim, Jew couple Print E-mail
Thursday, 05 July 2007
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – During his successful run for the Executive Mansion, Gov. Tim Kaine effectively touted his religious faith — traditionally viewed as Republican territory — to explain his opposition to the death penalty. At a wedding at which he officiated for one of his campaign staffers last month, Kaine, who is Catholic, also displayed his knack for religious tolerance.
Mo Elleithee was Kaine’s communications director in the 2005 race against former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore. Mo is short for Mohamad. He was raised Muslim, a fact which presented some challenges when he and his future bride, Talya Stein, who is Jewish, began planning their wedding.
Performing wedding ceremonies is not part of the governor’s standard portfolio of executive powers.
Anyone in Virginia can apply for a one-day, $35 permit and perform a wedding. Kaine had to do the same.
"We wanted someone who would be able to navigate the different backgrounds and traditions and still make it very spiritual," Elleithee says.
Kaine interviewed Elleithee and Stein separately prior to the wedding and during the ceremony explained what he thought each meant to the other.
Elleithee says he was pleased with the governor’s homily: "It was a reflection on how two different people from different backgrounds could come together and draw on each other’s faith to create something new."
The wedding, which included 150 guests, was held at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria.
"We had a tower of cupcakes instead of a wedding cake — half chocolate, half vanilla — and homemade baklava," Elleithee says.
Elleithee and Stein work for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign.