interfaith wedding- Chuppah- to have or not to have?

I haven't been to an interfaith wedding, but as a Christian (and hobby historian) I feel like it's 100% totally okay, and awesome, to have the Chuppah In the early years of Christianity, there wasn't a separation between Christians and Jews; everyone was Jewish and just disagreed on a few key points. So I think it's completely acceptable not only to honor his family's traditions, but your own faith's history, maybe even like a reunification of two peoples from the same faith family

I don't really see any problems from an inter-faith or Christian standpoint-- do you have any specific concerns about it?

Logistically, its more to do, more expense, etc. You will also need to check with your minister to make sure he is okay/comfortable explaining the chuppah (at every Jewish wedding I've been to, the Rabbi has explained the chuppah, and I think it would be especially necessary in your situation).

We didn't do one. (DH's family is Jewish, mine is Christian, we're neither). It wasn't important to him, and it would have been just one more thing to worry about. He did step on the glass though, and we combined some other traditions. If it's not a tradition that means something to either of you, I would suggest not doing it. You might also want to look at overall length of the ceremony and how everything will fit together.

If it's something important to you and he's cool with it, then go with it!

We're also interfaith (sort of--both atheists, but from different backgrounds), with me Jewish and him not. Our ceremony is indoors in a very small and intimate space, so we need a pretty small chuppah. We're working on the dimensions now, but we're trying to build a non-bulky freestanding chuppah. It's just too annoying to ask 4 more people to stand up with us in such a small space, and we can't afford to rent a small free-standing one from a florist.

If you'd like, I can send you the design when we're done! My future father-in-law is very experienced with designing and building, so he's helping us, but once the design is figured out, it should be easy for other people to build as well.

We're interfaith (I'm Jewish, FH is agnostic). Having a chupah is extremely important to me, for symbolic reasons. FH doesn't mind it, because so many non-Jewish weddings are incorporating arches, which look similar. Just watch out on rental prices. Luckily, our florist is including ours, and it's a steal. A friend of mine built hers and saved a lot of cash. Good luck!

Aronna -

I am Jew-ish (I'm an atheist, but my families heritage is important to me) FH is Native American and an Atheist.

We are having a gay, Jewish, Native American wedding, and yes, we are standing under a chuppah. If you want it, have it.

Go for it! I've had them at some beach weddings -- some free-standing and some held by people at the 4 corners. Could you use 4 members of your wedding party to hold it and not involve 4 extra people?

Barbara: I've already spoken with the minister on many points and he has little to no rules on what he does, it's pretty much what we want.

logistics are a big concern for the entire wedding, which is one reason why I was thinking a simple one with people holding it. I can speak to the church to see if we can leave the Chuppah at the church until the next day or something. the group coming in after us may even like to use it. Something to consider, doesn't hurt to ask.

Even in a Jewish wedding, it's a tradition rather than a Jewish legal requirement. So, like any other tradition, it's a question of whether it is meaningful to you.

We are an interfaith couple, and had a Jewish wedding. Our chuppah was probably the first portable popup chuppah in history! LOL

My husband and I are interfaith (he is Christian, I am Jewish) and we had one at our wedding because it was important to me (and I feel it's just a really nice way to delineate the altar and make it feel like a special, sacred, pretty space). Figuring out how to build it was a challenge-- we didn't have attendants and didn't want to saddle anyone with holding it, so we figured out how to build a free-standing chuppah. We didn't want something with flower pots or cake pans with concrete (!), we wanted it to be nicer, so it took us a lot of research and some trial and error to figure it out, but in the end it turned out beautiful. The LAST thing you want to worry about on your wedding day is whether your chuppah is going to stand up and look nice! We saved about $400 over the cost of renting, and it is actually really easy to make and assembly/breakdown takes 15 mins or less with 2 people. Our website will be launching in March, so if you need a shortcut to a good structure with draping that you can decorate any way you like (ours was just ribbons and 3 floral arrangements), feel free to check out our site,

www.diychuppah.com. Whatever you decide to do, have fun with it if you can (translation: don't wait until the last minute to figure this out-- you will have more important things to do as your big day approaches!). Luckily, we got this figured out well ahead of time, so the frustration was not a factor by the time our wedding day rolled around. Your wedding day should be exactly the way you want it to be, so if you want a chuppah, go for it! We did and were very happy with ours.

Finally, someone else who is Jewish!!!!

Chuppahs are very important in the Jewish religion, especially to the grandparents, especially if they lived through a lot of repression. It symbolizes a home the 2 of you will build together, 4 posts for the walls, the canopy for the roof and open sides for the welcoming atmosphere. The blessings by the rabbi are as important in the jewish tradition. In the jewish law, before you marry - the two of you have to sign a katubah which is a marriage contract about all the things HE has to do for YOU

As far as the picture is concerned... you don't need anyone to hold the chuppah in place. Also, you don't have to have a traditional one either. The one i'll have will be made out of 2 intersecting arches of flowers with some decor. I wish i had a picture but it doesn't even look like one.

We are having one as well, (I'm Jewish FH is atheist, raised Lutheran). I love the symbolism of them, and if you want one, I say go for it! All they are is a cloth and four poles, so if you want to make one that you can easily set up and take down, it is very feasible.