Originally posted January 2, 2013
Neither Dave nor I are super religious, but we are happy with how we were raised and wanted to incorporate tradition and meaningful elements into our wedding ceremony.
One item I decided to pursue was “The Chuppah”. Based on the ehow description, the Chuppah is made of a rectangular [or square] piece of fabric, large enough to stretch over the couple. It can be made of any kind of cloth. It can be handmade or bought ready made. It can be decorated as desired by the couple and is often embroidered with Biblical verses concerning love and marriage, or with blessings and prayers taken from the wedding ceremony.
The Chuppah symbolizes the home that the couple will build together.
While Dave and I were already living in a home that we purchased together, the Chuppah symbolized the life that we planned and hoped to build together.
I wanted to have our vows embroidered on it. I wanted it to contain meaningful words and symbols that represent who we are as individuals and what we intended to be together. The colors, patterns, and fabric were selected so we can hang it in our home.
I didn’t know the first thing about sewing, but I do like numbers and could use Photoshop. I came up with the layout below to use as a guide when searching for symbols and words to represent our lives coming together.
Judaism is a religion that emphasizes the importance of life. Jews are encouraged to be good, ethical people and enjoy the time they are given on Earth. A common Jewish toast is “l’chaim!,” which means, “to life!.” It is said at celebrations in anticipation of all the good things to come.
Because it means “life,” the Chai is consequently a symbol that captures an important aspect of Judaism. According to the gematria, which is a mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value to Hebrew letters, the letters Het (ח) and Yud (י) add up to the number 18. The Het has a value of 8 and the yud has a value of 10. As a result, 18 is a popular number that represents good luck. At weddings, bar mitzvahs and other events Jews often give gifts of money in multiples of 18, symbolically giving the recipient the gift of “life” or luck.
Why is this important? The dimensions of the Chuppah I designed were to be 54″ x 54″. This is a multiple of 18. So there you go.
In my original design, there were 3″ flaps around a 1” border surrounding a large, centered square. Contained within that were 7″ squares. I love the number 7. Some say it’s God’s number. I’m not saying that per se, but there are 7 notes in a music scale, 7 wonders of the world, 7 days in a glorious week, 7 items or numbers are the typical capacity of what’s called the brain’s working memory (aka why it’s so easy to remember phone numbers), and the maximum number of games played in a playoff series in the NHL, MLB, and NBA is 7. These are just examples of how I see the number 7. You can wiki this magical number for symbolism that speaks to you.
Dave’s favorite number is 12 and 12/12 is also my birthday. Therefore, you see several 12″ squares evenly spaced around the outer edge of the Chuppah. Combined with the center, they also make up a hashtag symbol or number sign. This was relevant due to my love for numbers and social media. #Awesome.
After I designed the outline for this Chuppah, I did some research. What’s the typical size, what methods or techniques do people use when making Chuppahs, etc. I discovered a photo of one that I liked. To my surprise it was created by a woman in Newton – not more than 20 minutes from where I lived at the time. Of all 30 examples on this particular webpage – this was one of two from Massachusetts. I googled her name and found her work email address. I took a shot in the dark and contacted her. On the morning that I wrote this original blog post, I received a response. I went to her house, explained my idea, and she gave me some insight into her completed projects. #Amazing.
Then I started thinking – I have 9 months, maybe I can make this thing myself. So I found HipStitch (also in Newton) and signed up for a class the next week. #Unbelievable.
Putting all of my ideas and effort into the universe absolutely played a part in our final deliverable - however, I didn’t stitch, sew, or stuff our amazing Chuppah. Instead, my cousin’s Mother-in-Law in California took on the project and I could not be happier with the outcome. This thing is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and so meaningful to me!
The final product has our favorite colors, words from our vows, symbols for our individual identities and interests and symbols that bind us. The level of detail amazes me every time I look at this Chuppah - which is multiple times a day since it hangs in our bedroom.
It may have changed from the original design a bit - but I just LOVE the symbolism and personal touch!