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Chuppah Help for a non-jewish bride!

apaige307apaige307 member
First Anniversary First Comment
in Jewish Weddings

Hello....I am not Jewish but my fiance is, and he really wants a chuppah, so I need some help!  My florist actually has one that I can rent for $950.  That includes rental, the fabric, putting it up and taking it down and floral arrangements to decorate it.  The chuppah is really pretty, and I want it to go with the overall feel of the wedding, so having her do the flowers and just take care of it seems like a really good idea (considering I know nothing else!)  Is this really expensive though?  My finace's temple has one we can borrow for free, but we would have to find fabric, be in charge of assemble etc. and still pay someone for flowers (which I would assume is the most costly thing)

I need help!!!  Any thoughts?

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Re: Chuppah Help for a non-jewish bride!

  • Danaz1Danaz1 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I don't know how much we paid our florist for ours but i am glad we didn't have to assemble it.  They did everything for us and we didn't have to worry.  I think that is a pretty good price.  
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  • RachiemooRachiemoo member
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    edited December 2011
    I think we paid around $750 for ours, yours sounds like it is on the higher end, but it is not unheard of to pay aorund $1,000.00 in certain markets.  Maybe you can get it for cheaper if you say you don't want flowers?
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  • Jeni35Jeni35 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi. Our temple has a chuppah for us to use and we can decorate it if we want. The chuppah itself is free and not sure yet if we have to set it up; but not a big deal. If it in your budget to hire the florist, go for it. If not, have family or friends help you with this earlier. I will post more as I find out more myself.
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  • dmplz02dmplz02
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    to rent my chuppah plus the cost of minimal flowers and set up/ take down fees is around $750 as well. perhaps it is the cost of flowers that is raising the price? if your chuppah includes a lot of flowers for the extra $200, than it seems reasonable.

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  • slbriz34slbriz34
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Find out if you can help someone at the shul (or friends who might have done this before) to put it up for you.  If you decide to rent or buy fabric, it would still be a lot less.  And you can buy bulk flowers, make some nice (and even fake) diy flowers, or which isn't unheard of, you can go with a very simple and plain chuppah - just the fabric - and you can always have an arrangement on either side of it to give it some color.

    Also consider just getting a nice tallit and having friends/family be holders - a heck of a lot cheaper than using a florist. If I were you, I'd shop around.  I can certainly get a chuppah here, with set-up and all, for a lot less than you are paying, but in NYC putting up chuppahs is pretty second nature.  It all depends on your budget and desire.  GL.
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  • 2dBride2dBride member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I actually made a chuppah for under $200, including the decorations. A picture of us under it is my avatar, and details on how I made it are in my bio.

    In this area, the cost for renting a chuppah (if you cannot get one for free from a synagogue) runs about $450, plus the cost of decorations.  Thus, $950 would only be reasonable if the cost of the floral decorations would otherwise be around $500.
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  • alinaandjaredalinaandjared
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    In my area, $950 sounds extreme, as most, if not all, temples have their own and do the set up and break down of the basic components just as they would set up tables for Kiddush, etc. Our florist decorated with just fabric and we opted for no flowers and IMO it looked more beautiful that way. With the number of people we had under/around it, I can't imagine adding flowers.

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  • signingjuliesigningjulie member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    $950 sounds high to me but it also depends on how much things cost where you live.  My florist is charging in the $300-$350 range for assembling the chuppah and putting it up but we are getting a pretty minimal chuppah (very little if any flowers).
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