Family Traditions

We did include some of the traditions from our wedding into the civil. Indian weddings are about a week worth of pre events leading to the wedding. We didn't have all the pre events or Indian priest present for the prayers. My family didn't think it was needed as we were two grooms. The wedding itself had 2 parts of the traditions which were Haars (garlands) placed on each other by the first to be the head of the house. It doesn't have that meaning as much as whom puts the Haar on who first. The parents blessing is by bowing to their feet as they place their hands on our heads for good luck by both sides of the parents after the whole ceremony is done.

I love these traditions they are beautiful. Carmel your wedding sounds like it was an amazing day and I am SO looking forward to hear about your day Hank! It's been such a long time coming but not much longer!

View quoted message No... no one could think of any others 😆. Oh wait... Bagpipes!!! My husband's cousin is in a world champion military pipe band and he piped us out and piped during our sparkler celebration outside. He tried to learn the Horah on the bagpipes but it sounded horrible haha. He dressed in full Scottish attire as well. My mom also made kippahs for the groomsmen, nephews, dad's, and our sisters' husbands out of his family tartan. Thankfully it's a nice one that worked with our colour scheme!

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NICE! I really like the sound of that veiling ritual. Any other Scottish elements that were incorporated into the Jewish traditions?

I absolutely love weddings with different traditions from the "norm"!! Thanks for sharing! I'm Jewish so we picked the traditions that actually meant something to us, that weren't archaic and we liked the symbolism. We stood under the chuppah, symbolic of the home we will continue to build together. The chuppah has no walls; the marriage begins with just a roof, and we build the walls with love and friendship, based on a foundation of respect and trust. The chuppah is open on all sides so that family and friends will always feel welcome. Traditionally the entire immediate family stands under it with us but we just had our parents there, off to the side of it though.
We did a modern version of the bedeken (veiling) where my husband placed the blusher over my face when he mer me at the top of the aisle. The veil emphasizes that the groom is not solely interested in the bride's physical beauty, which fades with time; but rather in her inner beauty which she will never lose. When the groom veils his bride, he is saying, "I will love, cherish and respect not only the 'you' which is visible to me, but also those elements of your personality that are hidden from me."
Our moms did the blessing over the wine, where we drank from the same cup (held by our new inlaw), or actually a quaich from my husband's Scottish heritage. The wine represents the life that we will share from that day on and in Judaism, wine is a symbol of joy & celebration - bring on the wine!Our fathers recited the Seven blessings in Hebrew and in English (we did a modern version of the English). In our exchanging or the rings we included the saying in Hebrew, "I am my beloved and my beloved is mine". And obviously we had the most recognizable custom of a Jewish celebration, at the conclusion of the ceremony; the breaking of the glass. The interpretation we emphasized is that love, like glass, is very fragile and must be protected because, once broken, it is hard to put back together again. If you're still reading 😆, some other Jewish wedding traditions we love and included was both of our parents walking up the aisle, separating half way, waiting for whichever one of us to meet half way, and walking the rest of the way arm in arm. Our parents also sat with us at the head table. We also took some time alone during the cocktail hour (not the full time as is done traditionally... it's meant to be the first time husband and wife are "together" 😉😆). Unfortunately we didn't get to dance the Horah because of covid but we are so happy with how all of our customs and traditions turned out 💜.