Excited to share Stefanie Syat’s wedding chuppah today as described by Miriam, blogger extraordinaire on the blog, Pre-Dame: A Beauty Guide for the Everyday Girl. Pre-Dame explores the beauty industry through the life of Stefanie Syat, Pre-Dame owner and professional makeup artist. Stefanie and Miriam answer beauty questions and provide solutions for blunders. Whether it’s through photos, videos, or in-depth explanations, Stefanie and Miriam teach you all you need to know to put your best face forward! And since Stefanie is now a recent bride, she has the wedding background to back up the bridal beauty analysis. Check out the Pre-Dame Facebook page for regular news and updates! Miriam narrates Stefanie’s vision for her chuppah in an excerpt from Pre-Dame below.
The hebrew word for “covering” is chuppah, and today we’re featuring the one-of-a-kind chuppah Stefanie and Jacob were married under. On its most basic level, a chuppah symbolizes the home the couple will build together. Different customs call for different protocol. Some couples don’t wear any kinds of knots or bows at the ceremony because at that moment they’re tying the ultimate knot and it’s said that there shouldn’t be anything else binding them. Others have a custom not to wear any jewelry beneath the chuppah so that they can truly and honestly assess the value they’ve found in each other. If you notice, the sides of Chupah are open and that symbolizes a commitment from the bride and groom to always have a home that’s open to guests.
It’s beautiful, all the thought and care that goes into this special day. I’ve learned that on the day of the wedding all of the blessings that the couple will merit in their lifetime sit on top of the chuppah during the ceremony. I mentioned this to Stefanie a little while back and sat down more recently to hear what the chuppah meant to her and Jacob.
“I think of the chuppah as the centerpiece to the whole ceremony,” Stefanie said, “It’s what houses us as we make our commitment to spend the rest of our lives together and transition from an engaged couple to a married couple.
I wanted the chuppah to represent our style, not only for the wedding day, but in life too. We love nature, hence the reason we got married in the middle of Vermont on a mountain top, and we love the grand feeling of being surrounded by trees and nature in general. When you’re on the top of a mountain, you feel humbled by all of the gorgeous surroundings and realize what life is all about. We live in NYC with the constant hustle and lack of nature so getting out of the city to relax and take in the fresh air is key in our happiness. To us, the chuppah represented our new “home” together. We told the florist to make it as “tree-focused as possible with little to no flowers,” and he did it beautifully!
The tallis represents past generations of those married under the Jewish law. That is a family tradition of mine that we wanted to continue. The photos represent all of our ancestors who lived lives that allowed us to be there on that special day. They helped shape our families and the people we are today and we look to them as witnesses to the new family that we will create together.”
I’ve also learned that on the day of the wedding a G-dly light shines from the faces of the couple. Kabbalah says that the family members of the couple that have passed away have a presence, too. For Stefanie and Jacob, the photos they included made sure of that.
Photographer: Jami Saunders
Florist & Chuppah: Jasper & Prudence Floral
