Friday, February 1, 2013

From Miss to Mrs: The Bedeken

The Bedeken, or veiling, is a tradition that stems from the biblical story of Jacob, Rachael, and Leah. In case you're not one to remember religious stories, Isaac worked for Rachael's father for several years, and based on their agreement he and Rachael were finally able to marry. Except after the ceremony he lifted his bride's veil to find that he instead had married her older sister, Leah. Although there is still a happy ending, since he was able to marry his chosen bride, Rachael, after several more years of labor.
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Since then Jewish weddings have traditionally had a bedeken, where the groom places the veil over his bride to ensure that the one walking down the aisle is the one he wants to marry. Hence the reason the groom seeing the bride before the wedding isn't bad luck with Jewish weddings. After all, he's supposed to see his bride first to make sure he's marrying the right person.
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While I think most grooms would easily notice the wrong brides going down the aisle, it is a fun tradition to carry out. And while I knew I wanted to do one, I don't think most Jewish brides have them unless they are quite religious.
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At first the boy threw my blusher over my face, but after I gave him a hard time he attempted to lower my veil more gracefully, which is what you see in the second photo above. From here I was officially veiled, and we were finally ready to get married!
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What traditional aspects did you choose to include into your wedding day? And has anyone heard of a bedeken before?

All photos in this post courtesy of Sabree Hill Photography.

Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands
From Miss to Mrs: A Night on the Town
From Miss to Mrs: The Hangover
From Miss to Mrs: Rehearsing in the Heat
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Supper
From Miss to Mrs: Gifting the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Night
From Miss to Mrs: Oh What a Beautiful Morning
From Miss to Mrs: Getting Prettified
From Miss to Mrs: Prepping the Plantation
From Miss to Mrs: Turtle Time
From Miss to Mrs: The Photographer Has Arrived
From Miss to Mrs: Becoming the Bride
From Miss to Mrs: Dress Details
From Miss to Mrs: Ou Est le Groom?
From Miss to Mrs: A Bridge-y First Look
From Miss to Mrs: Couple Time
From Miss to Mrs: Just the Two of Us
From Miss to Mrs: Grouping the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: Ain't No Party Like a Bridal Party
From Miss to Mrs: Fun with Family
From Miss to Mrs: Making it Official

5 comments:

  1. yup we did it! lol. my brother did it backwards - he took the veil off instead of putting it on. and then his wife put his kippah on him. I thought that was kind of hilarious.

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  2. I just loe this ceremony. So special to watch him putting the vail on you!

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  3. I had a veil, but I forgot to actually cover my face with it (since my husby's grandmother fainted before the ceremony started). Zach and I actually walked each other down the aisle because my dad passed away when I was 16, and I didn't really feel like anyone could take his place. I figured if we were going to walk through life together side-by-side, we might as walk into marriage together. It also got rid of the whole "giving away the bride" thing that irks me on a feminist level. Long story short, we saw each other before the wedding, too!

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