Keeping the Faith

Mr. Ly and I come from two different religious backgrounds and are trying to incorporate elements of our faith into our wedding in a more secular sense.  It is clear though, that one faith is dominating the wedding.

We are going to sign a Ketubah before the ceremony.  It will be an interfaith Ketubah, with both the Hebrew and English text reflecting our personal beliefs.   Mr. Ly will have to take a Hebrew name, which he is more ok with than I thought he would be.  We'd like something modern and classic, and something that feels like us as it will be our first piece of artwork that we have as husband and wife.

Love this look, from Ketubah Graphia located in Brooklyn. 

 We will be having our ceremony under a Chuppah, lead by a rabbi**, and concluding with us stepping on the glass.  There will be one reading from the bible, "Love is patient, love is kind" (1 Corinthians 13:4- 8a) read by his uncle, which has been done at all of his siblings weddings.  I am glad we can keep that tradition. 

Chuppah by Beautiful Blooms, image via Cescaphe

This is our rabbi, marrying my sister and brother-in-law (at their interfaith wedding)  / Sister's Personal Photo 

Breaking the glass, photo by Dave and Charlotte

During the reception we will dance the Hora and be lifted in chairs as we're encircled by the love of all our friends and family.

The Hora, photo by Jean Marks Wedding

So, as you can see, my religion is be predominately featured at our interfaith wedding. There's not a whole lot of "inter" going on.  

**My parents were very clear that if we wanted a priest as well as a rabbi, it was fine with them, but we would be responsible for paying for him.   Mr. Ly said it wasn't that important to him and rather spend our money on something that was important to us as a couple, so we dropped being married by both a priest and rabbi pretty early on. 

Mr. Ly really doesn't seem to mind, and hasn't really mentioned what he would like to include from his Irish Catholic heritage into our wedding.  I have mentioned maybe a unity candle and he didn't like that idea. I'm at a loss, I don't really know what a Catholic wedding entails - besides a full mass. 

Are there any Irish wedding traditions or Christian traditions that we can incorporate?