愛-Vey! We're Going to the Chuppah, and We're Gonna Get Married

I faintly remember that our ceremony was lovely, though I can't be certain, because as soon as I heard the first notes of Mr. HC's stirring processional music, I had an out-of-body, giddy-like-a-schoolgirl experience.

Somehow, I floated down the aisle and made it to the chuppah, where Mr. HC and I were to circle each other, per Jewish custom. For most couples, this is a solemn and beautiful moment, signifying the the reorientation of their lives around each other.

For us, of course, hilarity ensued.

The chuppah poles were really close together, so instead of gracefully circling one another, we performed what can only be described as an "I gotta go potty" dance around each other. I did the quickstep, my steps made less quick by a veil that attached itself to every branch on that chuppah (which I named Audrey, after the plant in "Little Shop of Horrors"). My soon-to-be husband, who didn't have to drag a silk train and my large caboose around with him, somewhat nimbly jumped around me. Imagine a drunken polka over hot coals, and you'll get the idea.

For our finale, we held hands and circled together, ring-around-the-rosy style. I don't know why there was so much laughter. Our moves were awesome.

Dance performance over, our wonderful rabbi began the ceremony, with words that were as touching as they were funny:

So there were seven circles. Seven circles only the two of you could make seven circles. Because there are seven layers to a person's soul, and the dimensions of each other's soul are revealed to each of you through the love that has deepened during the years that you have been walking toward this chuppah. Dimensions of the soul revealed in the music that Miss HC encouraged Mr. HC to write for this processional -- beautiful music that reflects longing, love, and gratitude for arriving at this moment in your journey. And I know that I speak for everyone when i say that this journey has taken a really long time. Sixteen years? Fifteen years? Who's counting?

Although we'd only met our rabbi a few months before the wedding, her words to us were so warm, and so perfectly captured our relationship; it was as if she'd known us as long as there was an "us." This sounds so cheesy, but her ceremony made us feel even that much more in love with each other.

As the sun set, we read from and signed our ketubah,

drank ceremonial wine out of a Chinese tea cup,

and exchanged rings.

Then came the sheva b'rachot, the traditional seven blessings. We asked fourteen of our closest family and friends to read the blessings in Hebrew and English. It was as though a chorus -- a whole community -- of the dearest people in our lives came together to bless our marriage.

Mr. HC then broke the glass, to shouts of "mazel tov" and "gung hay" (congratulations in Hebrew and Chinese).

We kissed,

fist-bumped, Obama style,

and, at long last, were blissfully and finally married! (Or at least I look blissful . . . Mr. HC looks like he's scared! Hee hee.)

I know that often the ceremony takes a backseat to the rest of the wedding. For us, though, the ceremony was the centerpiece of our celebration: it was an occasion for us to honor our cultures while at the same time combining them into something unique and truly "us," and it was an opportunity to involve and honor the friends and family who supported and sustained us. Writing our ketubah, translating the program into Chinese, thinking of the small touches, like using the Chinese tea cup for kiddush . . . it was a lot of work, but the smiling faces of all of our friends and family as we walked down the aisle as a newly married couple proved it was all worth it.

Photos by Leigh Miller Photography, Luna Photography, and Della Chen Photography.