Miss Hummingbird, Toronto
Age and Occupation: 25, Publishing Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Videogame Designer/Cartoonist
Engagement Date: May 4, 2007
Wedding Date: June, 2008
Blogging Since: September 18, 2007
Venue: A garden wedding followed by a tented reception on Mr. Hummingbird's father's property.
About Me: I’m a pop culture loving, vintage obsessed foodie living in Canada’s biggest city with my fantastic fiancé and our lovable fluffy cat Bettie. I’m stoked to marry my best friend and to throw what I hope will be
the most fun and colourful party of our lives.
Chuppah, Chuppah, Chuppah, I Made You From Bamboo
April 22nd, 2008 @ 1:50 pm by Miss Hummingbird
And when you’re done and ready, I’ll get married under you!
(Picture courtesy of www.chuppah.com
Although I have a Bubbi, I am not Jewish. I was raised by an Irish Catholic mother in a completely non-religious setting, so I don’t have any religious tradition to really bring to the wedding ceremony table. However, when planning the wedding, I looked at various beautiful ceremony pictures and was drawn to one element specifically - the chuppah.
For those of you who have never seen one or heard the word before, the chuppah (sometimes spelled as huppah) is a canopy traditionally used in Jewish weddings. It is made of a cloth or sheet - sometimes a tallit or “prayer shawl” - which is stretched over four poles to form a little house like structure, symbolizing the home the couple will build together. Usually, this structure is placed under an open sky and is carried to the ceremony site by attendants who may or may not hold the poles during the ceremony.
While there is further religious meaning to the chuppah in the Jewish faith, I was touched by the essential sweetness of the symbolism and sentiment behind it and wanted to incorporate something similar into our day.
So with Mr. Hum and his brother being expert craftsmen, they’ve begun working out plans to build our own little chuppah type structure out of bamboo, while a lovely clothing designer friend of ours, Ashley, has offered to help us screen-print some nice fabric that we can use as the canopy drape.
By doing things this way, while the structure can be broken down after the wedding is over, we can take the fabric home with us to keep as a keepsake, hang as a wallhanging or maybe even someday in the far distant future, turn into a blanket for our first child.
It’s probably a little bit unconventional of us to borrow this idea, but since weddings are all about uniting and sharing as one, we figured it would be a nice way to tip our hats to that.
What about you ladies? Are you doing anything unconventional when it comes to your wedding ceremony? What kind of ceremony ideas have you borrowed?
(Ceremony picture also courtesy of www.chuppah.com
4 Responses to “Chuppah, Chuppah, Chuppah, I Made You From Bamboo”
I have also always loved chuppahs, but never considered it at my own wedding for some reason. I love the idea of making it into something else after the wedding!
I borrowed from traditional Jewish vows when we were writing our vows and we danced the hora even though neither one of us is remotely Jewish. It was quite hilarious to see some of our guests, many of whom had never attended a wedding with alcohol, let alone seen the hava nagila, watch as we were tossed up in chairs. So much fun!
I also strongly considered having a chuppah, although we’re not Jewish. I just like the way they look! If we had gone with an outdoor ceremony site, I definitely would have done it.
We’re going to be “borrowing” Catholic vows and maybe a few blessings/readings. My family is Catholic, but we’re having a non-traditional wedding. I know my mom will recognize the nod to her religion and appreciate it.
Did you know that Hindus use a very similar structure for weddings? It’s called a mandap and it’s also supposed to be used outdoors (so that all of the elements can be witness to your marriage).
