Before your wedding, you should start thinking about building your tolerance to a few sips of wine. Your wedding day is not the time to find out if you’re a lightweight, but the least you can do is drink up in style. Yes, even your Kiddush cup can match your personalities or wedding day look.
But first, a little explanation: Remember, your officiant may decide to move the ceremony along with his or her own style, but typically, the bride and groom share two cups of wine under the chuppah. The first instance of wine is during the betrothal blessing. After the officiant recites the prayers, the bride and groom drink from the cup.
As always, a little symbolism helps to carry the meaning. In this case, the wine symbolizes the beginning of life, which in this case, refers to pure grape juice. But the grape juice continues to grow through the stages of fermentation, and emerges as a pure and delightful divine blessing: a sweet, sweet wine.
The next cup of wine is for the Seven Blessings or Sheva Brochot. These seven blessings connect the bride and groom to each other, uniting their souls as one. The Seven Blessings promote the hope and destiny of the couple’s happiness, their delight in spirituality and each other, and that the Temple will be restored in Jerusalem.
Again, the bride and groom drink from the cup. Soon after, closing remarks and a good, old stomp on the glass conclude the ceremony.
The use of wine in the chuppah ceremony confirms the continuing importance of wine in the Jewish faith, the Kiddush, the sanctification of wine, and Kiddushin, the sanctification of people in love to each other.
On a day full of love, why not love the Kiddush cup? Here are some cups we love that you can also purchase for your own wedding day!
