Hello!
So....my fiance is Jewish, and I'm...well, I'm not. I'm baptised Roman Catholic, but it's a long story. Suffice it to say, I am spiritual.
However, in discussing Jewish weddings with the mother-in-law, she mentioned the Ketubah ceremony. Now, I agreed to a Jewish wedding. My family doesn't subscribe to a specific religion, and so I don't really have a tradition or an idea of how I would like the ceremony to go. I fully accept the fact that I entered into this blindly (agreeing to a Jewish ceremony before I knew what a Jewish ceremony was).
However--
I don't feel comfortable with the idea of the Ketubah ceremony being performed right before the wedding ceremony. I am a little bit traditional, and I don't think that he should see me after the rehearsal dinner and before I make the entrance at the end of the aisle. I didn't think this would be a problem, because I wasn't aware of this ceremony.
His family isn't terribly orthodox, and they were all gung-ho about working together to create something uniquely ours (for example, his cousin married a Buddhist and they did a lovely chuppah with a tea ceremony following, and it all was gorgeous and worked). When I simply asked if I could maybe move this to after the rehearsal, so the photos would still be nice and it would still happen before the ceremony, they looked at me like I had personally insulted them. His mother and his grandmother are very sweet, and I know they didn't try to be so incredibly shocked and upset at my question (since it is normal for people to ask questions about something with which they are unfamiliar), but I still felt very....uncomfortable. They told me that a Jewish ceremony was "more beautiful and interesting than a traditional christian ceremony" and "everything I should ever want"...
I don't want them to come off as intolerant, though what they said certainly did. People get very protective of their customs and beliefs. It came off as very confrontational, and in that moment, I felt like my wedding just slipped out of my hands. I was told that we would be able to work out something unique and special, but there was no option. I know that the Ketubah is very important and crucial to the ceremony, and that it is very beautiful. I am very excited to have one, I am just uncomfortable with the timing.
Has anyone else known anyone that ran into this? Or does anyone know of ways this can be reorganized?
The fiance is very sweet. He told me that I shouldn't be worried; they wouldn't overwhelm the wedding. He told me that it would all work out, and that there is no problem with doing this at the rehearsal dinner. The problem is--
He doesn't seem to realize how very serious his mother was. He's never discussed this with his parents, nor has he attended many traditional jewish weddings (like I said, both of his cousins' were).