You all went crazy over on Instagram for real bride Lauren’s handmade chuppah in last week’s real Jew-ish wedding, so today she has kindly taken to the pages of Smashing The Glass with an easy-to-follow DIY tutorial on how to make one yourself. Please give Lauren Beadle, the craft blogger, a warm welcome!
I like to hand make things. So as you can imagine, my Jew-ish wedding was awash with loads of hand made touches.
I always make big plans to create all manner of complicated items for an event, but inevitably I will pare it back and choose a more simple design or technique. I definitely did this with a couple of ideas I had for the wedding. About a month before the wedding I realised I didn’t quite have enough time to make 140 candles and opted for a more crowd-pleasing miniature bottle of a favourite alcoholic drink, with a hand-lettered tag.
One element that I did actually plan well was our chuppah… I wanted it to it be personal, effective and simple to construct.
There are many ideas and opinions about the origins and meaning of ‘The Chuppah’ (some of which can be found here) but for me a chuppah is a physical representation of a bride and groom’s first home together, one that is supported and surrounded by family and friends from two different families and I feel that it should be something that is built together by the bride and groom as a symbol of that first home.
The chuppah that we created for our wedding was designed to represent this and to be constructed easily the night before the wedding or even on the day. If we can do it, then anyone can! We were incredibly lucky to be able to get into our wedding venue and set up the night before.
I had originally planned the chuppah structure to be set up on the day by the groom and/ or the groomsmen alone, so it needed to be relatively simple (I am a teeny weeny bit of a control freak when it comes to making things). In fact many of the construction ideas came from my husband, going slightly against the grain for me. We really wanted this to be something we built together and use our different skill set to do it.
To make the chuppah you don’t really need any major technical skills. You do need some proficiency with an iron… hopefully you have that skill under your belt!
It would be useful if you were able to use a sewing machine, but if you don’t mind a more rustic look, then you could easily get away with some raw edges on your canopy. In fact any part of this ‘how-to’ can be adapted to suit your own skills or style.
What you’ll need
For The Canopy:
- A selection of images for the underside of your canopy
- Inkjet printer
- 2 meters of a close weave lightweight fabric in a colour of your choice (cotton or a lining fabric) – I got all my fabric from Dunelm
- 2 meters of linen in a contrasting colour (or matching if you prefer) only required if you want to sew a backing to the canopy
- Iron-on heat transfer paper for light fabrics — I used about 35 A4 sheets, but this would be dependant on the size and number of images you want to use — I used these from Crafty Computer Paper
- Iron and ironing board
- Pins and threads in matching or contrasting colours depending on preference
- Fabric and Paper Scissors/ Pinking shears (if required)
As I was given a rare, all-access pass to a world-famous institution and the epitome of the lap of luxury (special thanks to Charlotte Faith, the amazing PR manager at The Savoy who arranged this incredible experience), I had a lot of questions — and was, in turn, provided with a plethora of answers, so it’s worth perhaps brewing a cup of tea or coffee before you sit down to read this post as there is so much fabulousness to take in.
Accompanying me were award-winning wedding photographer, 
A suite with a river view and a second-to-none butler service
This service came in extremely handy when, in all the excitement of getting glammed up for a night at The Savoy’s exceptional restaurants and bars, I actually forgot my pyjamas. It was only getting to bed, past midnight, that I realised.
To further illustrate my point: Sean was once asked to provide fresh-from-the-teat goat’s milk to fill a guest’s bath and sent a taxi all the way to Wales to collect it. How’s that for above and beyond?
