Chuppahs Help

Depending on where you are, your florist may have one that you can rent. Otherwise, when I was looking, the shipped ones actually seemed the best bet. Just keep in mind that those are usually hand-held (I.e., not self-standing), so you'll need four people who can hold each of the poles for you during the ceremony.

I'd talk to your florist. And yes, traditionally they are hand held, but since I do primarily interfaith ceremonies, I rarely see them held.

I've never seen one hand-held, as Celia says - and that includes a ceremony in Jerusalem! You will have so much going on, I'd rent one and be done. $300 out of how many thousands for the wedding is a solid bargain to not deal with it - that's less than some brides pay for alterations on their dress

The cheapest would be a handheld for sure, and easiest! But for me it would be too many people up there. We lucked out and found a chuppah on craigslist for $80. It was exactly what we were gonna diy exept we didn't have to do the work and it was cheaper that making out selves. This chuppah is made with PVC pipe and cement cinder blocks as stands. The pipes and stands are covered with white fabric. Chuppah can be very expensive to rent or buy. Let me know if you want me to help you find a tutorial, im pretty sure if you google "diy chuppah" the PVC pipe version comes up.

Handheld would be the cheapest. We are doing an interfaith ceremony with a Priest and a Rabbi. The Rabbi actually has a handheld one we can use. If he didn't, I was either going to rent on from a site like what you mentioned or was going to ask the florist.

The cheapest and easiest chuppah is hand-held. You can just get four poles, an eyehook to attach to the top of each pole, a piece of fabric (tallit? tablecloth? or just a fabric you like), and enough ribbon to pin or sew to the canopy at each corner and then tie onto the eyehooks.

If you use hand-held make sure the poles are long enough so they can be rested on the ground. At my son's wedding, the parents had to hold the poles up throughout the ceremony. That was both tiring for us, and an issue inasmuch as people had trouble holding them still, so the chuppah tended to sag in the middle and end up not being far enough above people's heads.

Alternatively, you could use a free-standing chuppah. We simply didn't have enough people at our wedding to make a hand-held one practical, without ending up with more people up front than in the audience. I used DIY for our free-standing chuppah. Here are the instructions; a picture is below:

http://sites.google.com/site/2dbride/ceremony/chuppah

I actually ended up making it for less than $200, and reselling it for $200. Of course, the labor involved made it something other than "free."

One more thought: If you prefer to avoid DIY, party rental stores often have free-standing chuppot for less than florists do. For example, I found this one, which appears to be free-standing, for rent for $150 in Cockeysville:

http://www.partyplusrentals.com/view_item_baltimore_rentals_columbia_timonium_towson_baltimore_county_md.php?id=854

Oh, and definitely check Craigslist. Right now, there is one for sale in Rockville for $250.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/for/5240392518.html

That would be less expensive than the rental rate you quoted. And since you would be buying instead of renting, you could get back some of the money by reselling after the wedding.

And that's assuming you wanted to buy it right away. If you keep an eye on Craigslist, you may find less expensive ones coming up later.

Just remember that a chuppah must have 4 poles, open sides, and a covered top. I'm not sure an archway would fulfill the 4 poles part so I think renting from your florist or what the other ladies have suggested is best.

Thank you all so much! I will definitely look at Craigslist and do some more research on the DIY attempts.