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The last of the Sheva Brachot lists 7 girls:
Gila, Rina, Ditza, Chedva, Ahava, Achva, and Re'ut. Shalom is the only boy that was invited. Why couldn't they invite other boys. Don't any of these other girls need shidduchim? Why should they all have to fight over Shalom?
FYI - I don't know of anyone named "Sasson" other than Vidal, and there, it's his last name. "Simcha" can be either a boy or girl's name.
(I can't believe I'm the first to answer this way, but...)
This is in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, 4:1, "והחזיקו שבע נשים באיש אחד ביום ההוא".
While one might argue that "ביום ההוא", on that day, means not "on this day" (as in, not yet), the correct reading of the pasuk is that "on that day" is referring to the second half of the pasuk, לחמנו נאכל ושמלתנו נלבש - only on that day will people eat bread and wear clothing, because that is not done today.
May we merit to eat bread, wear clothing, and see the rest of the prophecy fulfilled, with plants turning into deer and fruit becoming geniuses! (ביום ההוא יהיה צמח יהוה לצבי ולכבוד ופרי הארץ לגאון)
Well you have Asher אשר, Sasson ששון which is a male name, Yehuda יהודה, so you have at least three more males.
Tosfos says that the young men would joust at wedding parties, and the Teshuvos HaBach writes that young men would toast the couple, then slam the glass against the wall.
So all the other boys were off doing wild and dangerous stuff. The only one who didn't, obviously, was Shalom. He liked peace, and knocking guys off horses or sending shards of glass through the room didn't sound so peaceful.
So he just stayed at his seat. Unfortunately, this left poor Shalom the only single guy at the table, with seven girls vying over him -- which wasn't very peaceful either. (But all the girls were happy -- each in their own way -- that Shalom wasn't in danger of being trampled by a horse or blinded by glass. Now some of Ahava's friends told her she shouldn't care as she was blind too, but she never believed them.)
Shalom's last name is "Bayit" which means either "house" or "family". So, the other 7 girls were all fighting over Shalom because each one wants Shalom Bayit!
Raius is , I think, a boy. However, if I recall the refernce correctly (and I may not), these are the names of the children that will be born to the choson and kallah. Thus, we are blessing them that their children will be married and bring them the nachas that they are bringing their parents.
Of course you can ask why we want them to have a family of 6 girls and 2 boys, especially since they will have to pay for six weddings.
Alternatively, Shalom married five wives and we are expressing the wish that they would all get along and be happy when he marries the sixth (raius).
Shalom was Fred's Hebrew name.
They are the 7 little girls sitting in the backseat that were hugging and kissing with him. They've grown a bit since then though.
Source as to the incident as reported back in 1959
Of course halachically their behaviour was very questionable but they've obviously done Teshuvah since then..
