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On their wedding day the bride and groom are royalty
The Ceremony
The Chuppah
The ceremony itself takes place under a wedding canopy called a
chuppah. The chuppah represents the shelter and
boundaries of the new home that we will build together. To help make
everyone a part of our wedding, our chuppah was intentionally
left unfinished so our guests can be more connected a part of the
ceremony and not be just spectators. Before you take your seat, feel
free to add some flowers or a note for the bride and groom. After the
ceremony, Paige (in true Martha Stewart fashion) will assemble the
notes together to remember this day with.
Circling
After reaching the Chuppah, Paige walks around David seven times.
This tradition symbolizes the forming of protective walls around our
new union, to create a private world that only Paige and David share.
Why seven times? There happen to be a lot of sevens in Judaism - the
seven marriage blessings for example, which come later in the
ceremony.
Sheva Brachot
The seven marriage blessings (see circling).
They are (in a pretty loose rock-n-roll translation):
- Blessing over Wine
- Thanking G-d for creating the universe
- Thanking G-d for creating all of humanity
- Thanking G-d for creating individual souls
- A prayer for children for Paige and David
- A prayer expressing the hope that Paige and David will be as happy as
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
- Thanking G-d for the joy of the bride and bridegroom
The Breaking of The Glass
Probably the most famous image of the Jewish wedding is the breaking
of the glass. This symbolizes many things to many different people.
In typical fashion, if you ask two Jews what this means, you will get
three different answers. Paige and David feel that just like the
glass that can never be reassembled, our marriage is a break with the
past and the start of a new beginning for us as a married couple.
(Paige also likes to say it's the last time a groom gets to put his
foot down.)
Yichud (Union)
After the ceremony, Paige and David are escorted to a private room
where they share thir first minutes together as husband and wife. I'm
sure some of you have jumped to a few conclusions here. Shame on
you. This is legit. Really.
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