Hi, I'm getting married very soon and FH are in the finalizing stages. FH is Jewish, but I am Catholic (Christian). We are having a chuppah, yarlmukes, the rabbi/reverend duo and the wine (plus a few other jewish customs present at our reception (hora, mezinke sp?).
One of the biggest things I am against is FH saying his vows in Hebrew. I don't understand it, nor does he, nor do a large percentage of our guests. I want FH to say his vows to me in pure unbroken english. Did any of you have an interfaith wedding in which only english was spoken? I feel really weird saying my vows while FH is alternating between 2 different languages. FH would rather do it in all english also as he is not religious and the exchanging of vows is a very personal time for me and him. Is an all-english interfaith ceremony ever done?
stephanielyse
Posted:
Member since
Re: Jewish/Christian interfaith brides
We are interfaith and having a Jewish wedding (I'm the Jew). You can ask your rabbi if you can do the vows in English only, or if not, Hebrew and English. Our ceremony will have hebrew for the belessings over the wine, the 7 blessings (read in English by friends & family, Hebrew by the rabbi) and the vows. And perhaps some other blessings that I've forgotten about. But everything that is said in Hebrew will be repeated in English. About half of our guests are Jewish, but of those people very few understand Hebrew (myself included), so it is very important that everything be translated so that everyone understands what's going on.
hocus
Posted:
Member since
Re: Jewish/Christian interfaith brides
I think it would be fine for your husband to say his voes in English -- since the Jewish ceremony doesn't really have elaborate 'voes' and it would be silly to transalate standard English voews into Hebrew.
The place where most people incorporate hebrew is in the seven blessings -- which you can read in both English and Hebrew or in only English.
LaurenluvsTJ
Posted:
Member since
Re: Jewish/Christian interfaith brides
We are interfaith and are not having any religion at all in our ceremony, so yes, the whole ceremony will be in English. IF neither you nor FH wants to do the vows in Hebrew then why are you debating it? Does his family have issues with it being in English?
MrsWmson2be
Posted:
Member since
Re: Jewish/Christian interfaith brides
Posted by LaurenluvsTJ
We are interfaith and are not having any religion at all in our ceremony, so yes, the whole ceremony will be in English. IF neither you nor FH wants to do the vows in Hebrew then why are you debating it? Does his family have issues with it being in English?
Yes, probably. They've had issues with everything religion, yet they seem to forget that FH and I are simple people and we want to marry one another because we love each other. I have no desire to hear my vows in broken english and FH (as far as I know) has no desire to say them in broken english. Also, FH is sort of on the shy side, and I know that for me, it's enough stress just to speak english in front of 200 people, let alone bringing a language he doesn't even understand into the mix.
Since we aren't both the same religion, (and besides that, neither of us is religious) I wanted to have a very simple ceremony with an exchange of vows, rings, and a 'you may now kiss the bride' phrase. The way I see it is, I'm at the altar taking FH to be my hubby. I deserve to have the vows said to me wholly in English before I say my 'I do'. The wedding is already jewish, and I don't see why me wanting to hear my vows in english is an unreasonable request. FH seems to agree with me, but also seems scared to tell his parents that this is how I/we want it. This has been a problem for a while now, and as the vows are a VERY personal aspect of the wedding for both Fh and I, I'm not sure at all why we can't do them the way WE want. I'm just at a loss.
muffy917
Posted:
Member since
Re: Jewish/Christian interfaith brides
I am having a Jewish/Catholic wedding and the Rabbi is having my FH say the vows in english first and then in hebrew. So everyone will be happy!
KandE917
Posted:
Member since
Re: Jewish/Christian interfaith brides
Do what you want. I am also interfaith - me Catholic, FH is Jewish. We are having a priest and a rabbi and the vows will be in English only! There might be one prayer or something in Hebrew but that is all. I don't want half my guests feeling left out or confused.
weddingbunny
Posted:
Member since
Re: Jewish/Christian interfaith brides
I'm doing my whole ceremony in English, with maybe a prayer or blessing in Hebrew, but nothing major, and if we do that, I'll have the translation in our program (which I'm going to have to make to explain the customs to those from the opposite faith).
The vows will without question be in English. It just doesn't make sense to me to have them in Hebrew, for us to make our promise to each other in words we don't understand, that aren't natural for us.
MrsWmson2be
Posted:
Member since
Re: Jewish/Christian interfaith brides
Posted by weddingbunny
I'm doing my whole ceremony in English, with maybe a prayer or blessing in Hebrew, but nothing major, and if we do that, I'll have the translation in our program (which I'm going to have to make to explain the customs to those from the opposite faith).
The vows will without question be in English. It just doesn't make sense to me to have them in Hebrew, for us to make our promise to each other in words we don't understand, that aren't natural for us.
Yup, that's my point on the matter.I think we should say something sacred like vows how we feel most comfortable. a Hebrew blessing is one thing, but when FH is looking at me speaking language he doesnt understand himself, it's definitely not 'natural' and that's not how I want to remember one of the most important and sacred times in my life.
