Chuppah-holders: your input, please!

Stationary chuppah! I could not imagine asking anyone to hold it for 15 minutes, or however long the ceremony would be..

Http://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/professional-wedding-pics-pic-heavy/ddc653f8b5e55644.html

Here is the link to her album. You can see them holding the chuppah in photos 7 and 8. Sorry for using your wedding as an example, Rebecca!!!

Thank you, Lauren! That's what I'm thinking, too. If not just for the discomfort, than also for the fact that these holders will not have color coordinated outfits and might look weird up there next to us.

In the photos it looks as tho the chuppah holders were the wedding party -- so colors did match.

Yeah, I'm really easy going and I feel awkward making people do things they may not be comfortable doing (physically) sooo.. I would skip that part.. stationary is where it's at!

We had a stationary chuppah. With only a dozen guests, we didn't want to have half of them standing up front!

However, whether it is a burden may depend a lot on the chuppah. Some synagogues, for example, have little slots in which to put the four feet of the chuppah. Thus, the chuppah holders just help carry the chuppah to the front, and stand by the poles, but are not holding the chuppah up the whole time. And even if people are holding up the chuppah, the weight of the chuppah can vary depending on what is used for the poles and fabric.

Thanks, ladies. We are not getting married in a synagogue, so this is where I'm having issues. I think we're going to make it ourselves, but if it were something lightweight and easy to hold (thus the chuppah-holders), it seems like it would be much easier to make and we wouldn't have to worry about how it was going to stand up. I know it seems like we have lots of time, too, but we're not coming back stateside until June and that only leaves us two months to get materials and put it together, so I wanted to get a good idea of what we're going to be doing now.

L Turtle, same here.. We're jewish, both born and raised, but are not getting married in a synagogue.. We are actually going to skip the Chuppah, and just keep the breaking the glass tradition?

My Tante had her brother & the groomsmen hold it up. unfortunately i don't have any pictures :-(

That's an option, too, Lauren! FH isn't Jewish, but doesn't much care what elements I incorporate into the ceremony. We're being married by my aunt who is a rabbi, afterall.

No pictures?? How you taunt me with your Tante's wedding.

If you want a free-standing chuppah that is lightweight, you might want to check out this one on eBay.

Thanks, 2d!! I'll bookmark that right now.

I actually have a chuppah that stands on its own but my fiance and I asked four of our friends to "hold" it symbolically because we wanted them up there with us. The chuppah is big and heavy so it will be set up before the ceremony. Anyone have any advice on what point our friends should go stand by the chuppah? I'm a little worried this is going to be weird but it's more important to us to include our friends.

While I think it is an honir, no one in my side of the wedding is Jewish and I think they would feel uncomfortable as they are unfamiliar with the tradition.


Im going to ask the rabbi about using two square wedding arches with draped cloth to form the chuppah so it is easy to move but I don’t yet have the approval.