Today's wedding theme is "traditional", but as I was getting ready, a question popped in my head: traditional to whom? There's a lot of cultures and religions in the world, and they all have their own definition of what a traditional wedding is. For me and my faith, a traditional wedding means a synagogue, a rabbi, and a lot of booze.
The traditional Jewish wedding has lots of important pieces in the ceremony, but the reception, that just calls for great food and good alcohol.
My polyvore today is a short journey through the traditional Jewish wedding. The top left corner is our bride - lovely, isn't she folks? As this is a religious ceremony taking place in her family's synagogue, she's wearing a modest gown that covers her arms and, since she's fashionable, most of her shoulders.
The first part of the ceremony is the greeting of guests. The groom is in one room, the bride in another, and they sit in chairs and this is very much like a king in his court kind of deal. Folks come forward, greet the groom, or bride, give them their well wishes, and go to the other room to see the other side of the couple.
After this, the bride and groom sign the marriage contract, or ketubah. This details
everything in the marriage, how much money the man will promise to make, how many kids they'll have, how often they'll have "relations", and if there is a separation, how much the bride gets. Pretty sweet. After this is the badeken, the groom puts the veil on the bride. This signifies his vow to clothe and protect her (the bottom left corner photo).
Next the groom goes down the aisle with his parents, then the bride comes down the aisle with her partents. At the end of the aisle is a chuppah, or canopy (top, middle photo). When the bride reaches the chuppah, she circles the groom 7 times. This is to signify her as the one who is the heart of the home. The rings are the next part. I've shown 2 rings in my polyvore. The ornate ring with the red that comes to a point is a traditional wedding ring, and the band with the Hebrew is a more modern version. The rings generally say something like "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" - it's from the Torah. The end of the ceremony is noted by the breaking of the glass, and below the rings is a beautiful glass cup.
Immediately after the ceremony, the bride and groom go off in a room alone to - ok dirty minds, not that! They have their first meal together as man and wife, and I'm not talking "pass the whip cream" kind of meal!! This meal is called the yichud. For the modern bride, this gives her the opportunty to relax and get a bite before the reception starts (and most couples end up not getting a chance to eat at the reception).
The reception itself has no big guidelines. The most memorable thing is the chair dance - the bride and groom sit in a chair, respectively, and they are raised up by the men and basically paraded around to the music. The reception is a sit-down meal, lots of good food provided by the bride's parents, and great cake!
