Question in Preparation for My Sister's Wedding

[debka_notion]

 How does one go about finding/buying/making a chuppah?  I'm having a feeling that my sister and her fiance are not real likely to be interested in the tallis option.  I imagine that making one could also just involve some dowels with nails on top and a piece of fabric with loops, but if we did want to buy/rent one, how would we find such a thing?  If we were to make them one, does anyone have any tips? 

My parents sent me the question, and so I in turn am asking you...

Comments

[naomichana.livejournal.com]

We wanted a giant tallit with orange stripes, and since this was pre-disengagement, it was easier to make our own. :) We used a big piece of very light white fabric, a lot of several widths of orange and peach ribbon, whatever that tape stuff is you iron on plus a lot of blanket stitching on the edges, a couple lengths of fringe (more hand-stitching), and a friend's sewing machine to do large reinforced buttonholes on the corners. I think the total cost of materials was maybe $80, including the poles -- which were large wooden dowels, as others have said, but in this case topped with wooden knobs to which we attached the chuppah with more ribbons through those reinforced buttonholes (which also held tzitzit). Our chuppah poles have actually been borrowed several times now; the chuppah, with many imperfections I could detail, is living in a box in our closet until I can mercilessly guilt my children about using it. :)

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Ooh- I like the knob idea. Can one buy knobs to fit your dowels? I imagine we could even go with screwed in cabinet knobs or something, as a prettier topping than a nail or a hook...

My parents think that theirs was a big piece of lace, but I know they don't have it saved somewhere. On the other hand, the officiant at their wedding was a relative of a sort, we might ask him... (On the other hand, the wedding might not be large enough that we'd be inviting him, so maybe not. This is the problem with helping with the planning but having no clue about the guest list.)

[cynara-linnaea.livejournal.com]

Check hardware stores and some of the better-outfitted art stores for nice decorative knobs/cornices.

If you wind up using dowels and don't want people to have to hold them, see if you can scrounge up some flag stands to anchor the dowels.