Through the Trees: A Chuppah

I met Josh over ten years ago and was acquainted with Josh's interest in Liba before they started dating. Knowing that Jewish rituals are important to Josh and knowing that Josh and Liba sought to create a wedding ceremony that reflected who they are as individuals and as a couple, I offered to make their chuppah.

After getting drenched by the California winter rain, we met for lunch in late December to talk about their ideas for their chuppah. As both of them love being outside, it didn't surprise me that their wedding would take place among the redwoods; they wanted their chuppah to represent looking at the sky through the trees, preferably with lots of blue and yellows.

I imagined the blue squares as the bits of sky apparent through leaves, and the yellows, whites, and greens as the trunks, branches, and leaves through which one would gaze. The background blue fabric (the triangles and border) has small butterflies -- the closest I could get to birds and other flying animals -- and gold flecks. One of the neat things about using a quilt as a chuppah is that if it is backed with a light material (light yellow flannel in this case), it looks like stained glass from underneath (the couple's view during the ceremony).