DIY Wedding: Build Your Own Chuppah, Pt. 1.75

by Jimmy Hoffa on July 19, 2009

Weelll…I had hoped to be finished with our masterpiece, and have a complete and total package to show you this week.  But paint takes time to dry, and the nice days where you can play a game of golf are limited! (Mom had a 4 pm tee time) N

evertheless, we completed the final steps, and short of assembly, the masterpiece is complete.

You’ll remember last time, our ingredients were:

4 planters, each with 2” PVC poles cemented inside

4 1 ¼” pine dowels, stained with Red Barn (yuk yuk) stain

Well, in the meantime, Mom had gotten busy with the gardening. And by “busy” I mean “busy making these pots sing with floral decadence”. To wit:

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So we had but one mission: Make those silly orange planters look less like $7.99 from Home Despot, and more like a million bucks.  ON WITH THE SHOW.

Step 1: a muted metallic glaze

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Step 2: Sea sponges

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Step 3: Dapple the planters with the metallic glaze, giving them both a toned-down appearance and a bit of glitter.

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One by one, they’re all done!

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Now to the canopy.  My late grandmother, Peg Rossi, the most kickass lady I ever knew, gave this antique lace banquet cloth to my mother, which will be the canopy under which Steph and I will be married.   It’s a fitting aspect of our wedding, since the chuppah symbolizes the home we will build together…and nothing was more important to my grandmother than the home.

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We have to find a way to make the canopy hang properly without being pierced or cut; again, mom wins the invention prize with her foam ball idea:

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Wad a volume of foam into a ball around the top of the pole, securing it with a ziptie.  That becomes the anchor around which the canopy will be secured, using a cloth ribbon.

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We made sure that the ends would hang properly, and they do. (Don’t worry – that’s not how the drape will end up!)

Once the paint on the planters dry, and the flowers have finished taking root, our journey will be complete…my quest to build our wedding chuppah

will have been realized…and Mom becomes the indispensible gardener who makes it all blossom.

Steph’s grandfather’s Tallit will be the crowning piece of our multi-generational, multi-traditional chuppah.  Everyone who we love, everyone who we wish could be there…will be there. 

See you under the canopy, Fredders!

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Eric July 20, 2009 at 1:39 am

Wow, that’s really a great project, thanks for sharing it. Oh, and Mazel Tov!

Reply

Bob F July 21, 2009 at 5:22 pm

I love it. Such a beautiful new touch, with the banquet cloth and tallit. Sigh. Lovely.

Reply

Shaluli August 4, 2009 at 11:38 am

Hi again,
Just wanted to know if you have finished up your Chuppah? We finally poured the concrete with the pvc poles in the flower pots. That is as far as we’ve gotten so far. We did, however, paint the pvc poles brown first since we aren’t using wooden dowels. Looks pretty good so far.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for more photos on your blog. Can’t wait to see the final masterpiece!!!

Reply

Nate's Mom August 13, 2009 at 8:20 pm

Jason,
Have followed the work and planning you and your Mom have done to make your wedding special. Sounds like one beautiful Wedding. Steph is a luckey girl. Look forward to more pictures.

Reply

Nate's Mom August 13, 2009 at 8:21 pm

Jason,
Have followed the work and planning you and your Mom have done to make your wedding special. Sounds like one beautiful Wedding. Steph is a lucky girl. Look forward to more pictures.

Reply

Lynn October 7, 2009 at 11:59 am

Totally adorable blog entry.

Reply

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