Although it’s cold and dreary outside, I need to start brainstorming pretty, summer inspirations for our Chuppah. In case you aren’t familiar with the term, a Chuppah is a canopy that Jewish couples are traditionally married under. It is supposed to represent the new home the couple is creating together. The lack of walls in the structure is meant to symbolize the welcoming of everyone into the home as well as the tradition of Tzedakah, or charity.
My grandmother has already offered to let me use her mother’s (my great-grandmother’s) lace tablecloth for the top of the Chuppah. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out how to work out the details of the structure. It has to be big enough that at least myself, Mr Trail Mix and our rabbi can all stand underneath it.
I know I want to keep it organic-looking and natural. It’s possible we will either stick the poles straight into the ground, but if it rains, then we will have to have the ceremony inside and I can’t really stick poles into a wood floor, so I need to think of an alternative. Oftentimes, the groomsmen or other important guys physically hold the four poles up, but I think I’d rather not do that because… well, you can imagine all the possible scenarios where that could go terribly, terribly wrong.
I would like to use some fresh flowers to decorate the Chuppah as well but it will depend on our florist budget. I may add some hanging ribbons to the back, since I do love that look.
Here are a few photos I’ve managed to find of Chuppahs that I love…
Anyone have a suggestion for how to go about securing the structure, either indoors or outdoors? Has anyone else made their own Chuppah before?
Those are all really lovely. It seems like you could use pots like the third picture pretty easily.
I would go to Home Depot, but some large terra cotta or black pots and some gravel as well as some smaller, pretty stones or moss (depending on your look).
Cement the poles into the bottom of the pot, then add gravel on top once the cement dries, and finish it off with decorative stones, flowers, moss, etc. to cover the gravel.
Attach the lace cloth to the poles on the date of the wedding.
I am so in love with Mrs. Hot Cocoa’s chuppah! I agree, you could do something like that, with pots for stablization.
I was going to suggest exactly what Clover suggested.
Also, I LOVE the last one. Simple yet so impressive.
The “DIY Bride” book has instructions for making a chuppah – maybe see if your library has it if you want to go the DIY route?
As far as securing it – I think it was in some terracotta pots or galvanized buckets (gussied up of course!).
I used those same inspiration photos for our cuppah. We used an inexpensive white tablecloth and borrowed tall ironwood poles from our florist. She decorated the corners with bittersweet berries – she really hooked us up in that she whipped the whole thing together literally 30 minutes before the ceremony and only charged us for the berries. We had the groomsmen hold the chuppa, but it was confusing for me because I had no idea how the chuppa would get down the aisle and then back up (I’m not Jewish – my husband is – so I had no idea how this worked). My advice would be to think about that detail if you decide not to go the free-standing route. And these “organic” or “rustic” chuppas are great – guests raved about how beautiful it was (we had an indoor ceremony at dusk with candlelight), and the Rabbi (who was from out of town) took lots of pictures to show his congregants at home what a “New York City” chuppa looks like. LOL.
I think the chuppah is one of the most beautiful wedding ceremony traditions ever and always wanted one even though I am not Jewish (my mom converted and I told her I wish she didn’t just so I could have one)
I love the natural look – branches going up with some flowers are my favorite
You could look into metal (often brass) flag stands – the kind that look like a flattened Hershey kiss with a hole in the point. If you’re comfortable asking, local Girl Scout or Boy Scout council offices or elementary schools might be able to loan you some.
I love the picture with the flower pots blooming up the poles. I’ve never seen that in person but it looks like it would be great indoors or out.
pot or bucket or whatever with pvc pipe in it and cement. then you get a donut of flowers to cover the yucky parts and voila- insta stand. i made them for my flower branch hings and my fi says after the wedding we can use them as tikki torch stands when we camp! pm me for more details!
i think klingonbride and vistagirl have some great ideas. your inspiration photos are beautiful!
you have great ideas! I am also trying to figure out what we are going to do for a Chuppah for our inside wedding. I was thinking of using potted soil like in the picture above. Check out the DIY on this side of the bride who built her own Chuppah. YOu can send her a private message too. I did and she was very nice and responded to my questions very quickly. She also supplied me with a lot of great information adn broke things down well. Good luck and keep us posted on what you do. I will also post mine when i decide as well. Good luck to you.
Mazel tov!
My fiance & I are building our own Chuppah. So…we thought of using the pots but it’s too heavy and to hard for set up purposes. We then went to Home Depot and decided to build this elaborate frame. Basically a very tall sofa table. Again, this became too heavy and not the look we wanted. My fiance’s family (not Jewish) gave us this great idea to use old wedding photos of our great grandparents, grandparents & parents, scan them into our computer and print out onto iron tranfers. Then iron this onto our fabric. We LOVED this idea because my grandfathers tallis’s are too tiny & in pieces to use. We also thought this was a wonderful way to honour our relatives & incorporate their long lasting marriages into our wedding. All that being said, the fabric is super light weight, iron on photos are black & white so we didn’t want these heavy structures. We got 8 foot drapery wooden drapery poles & will put rivets thru the fabric to attach. We are asking some of our fav people to be our Chuppah holders and stand with us, to honour us & them for our 1/2 hour ceremony. They are so thrilled to be a part of our wedding & we think this will work wonderfully.
I obsessed over our chuppah! I highly recommend the potted route, since after the ceremony, you can disassemble the structure, remove the covering, and use the four decorated poles as decor at the ceremony. (We used ours to flank the four corners of the dance floors.) Also, even though our florist attached ribbon to the four corners of bubbe’s tablecloth and tied them to the top of the poles, if I had to do it again, I’d have her connect the front poles to the back with wire and drape — not tie — the tablecloth over the chuppah. That way, there’s no stitch marks, however minor, on the tablecloth. One other consideration is to make sure your florist has a rain plan. Our structure could have had a white tarp over the tablecloth (the tablecloth would just have hung lower on the poles, under the tarp). I would have been really stressed if weather would have ruined bubbe’s masterpieces!
So this may sound weird, but one of the things I love best about going to Jewish weddings (besides the horah) is seeing what the chuppah will look like – I’ve seen so many beautiful varieties, I’m kinda bummed that I don’t really have an excuse to have one 
.
I love the look of your inspiration Chuppahs! Did you look at Gummi Bear’s? I think it was her who used big planters to secure her Chuppah. It was gorgeous, and easy to set up.
These Chuppas are gorgeous. It’s something I’ve always loved about Jewish weddings… and in Fiddler on the Roof when they talk about getting married under a canopy. Just a beautiful tradition. I can’t wait to see what you go with!
I made my own chuppah, and it was really easy. Admittedly we had chuppah bearers, and that was great in its own right and far simpler for making the chuppah. We bought ~3 inch diameter dowels from Home Depot, had them cut to about 7.5 feet tall (we’re 5’7″ and 5’1″), stained them a darker brown (which I’d never done before, but it wasn’t hard), and used normal screws and an electric screwdriver to attach the fabric at the top. I’d post a pic but I don’t know how.
Mrs. Trail Mix, New York Age and Occupation: 26, PE Teacher Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, MBA Student Engagement Date: March 2009 Wedding Date: June 2010 Venue: Tannery Pond at the Darrow School About Me: I'm a country girl who somehow found herself living in the Big Apple and loving every minute of it. I'm planning a rustic, country-chic wedding in my hometown in upstate New York and it's going to be a Party with a capital P. White wine, flea markets and running keep me happy and my friends, family and fiance are my world. I'm a little bit crafty, a little bit crazy but mostly just crazy in love.
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