Dude, never underestimate your mother. Even if she's Catholic and you're trying to solve a Jewish problem. Sometimes she'll have the perspective you need.
Like today, I was completely stumped on how to get a chuppah for my wedding. We need some sort of canopy thing, big enough to fit 10 people and a small end table under. The rental companies out East don't really deal with that. One company said they did, but they seemed like flakes and never got back to me. And I'm not really sure they understood. They knew a lot about Indian weddings and canopies for Hindu weddings though.
I contacted the Chabad out East and was given a number of a lady. I called her and explained my situation and ask what they do. She said there was no place to rent chuppahs, and all the weddings that the Chabad have been associated with usually include home-made chuppahs with a tallit (prayer shawl).
The tallit chuppah is fine for a small chuppah that only two people can stand under. Of course, then you need to tie the corners to poles or sticks and have 4 people holding up the sticks the whole time. It wasn't exactly what we had planned.
She also suggested using archways, or drapping tulle between two rented archways. Not exactly the vibe I had envisioned.
I contemplated making my Dad construct something in the backyard. I'm sure we could do it. But then we'd need to transport it from my backyard to the wedding (120 minutes away on the highway). And my Dad is currently working 12 hours shirts in northern Alberta...he doesn't have much time for backyard construction projects.
But then my Mom totally had a great idea. She asked what the requirements were. I said the top needs to be fabric and it has four poles. She asked if it had to be a certain type of fabric, if canvas was ok. I said any fabric is fine, I hear a lot of people use giant bed sheets.
And then Mom said, "Why don't we buy a outdoor patio tent?"
Bam. They come is a neat and tidy shoulder bag. They take about an hour to set up. Outside they blow over pretty easy, but we'll be inside so it's fine. And they usually pop up in stores like crazy around April - May in time for Mother's Day. Given that the wedding is in June, that means they'll be available in stores just at the right time, and there'll be plenty of selection.
Some just have poles in the corners, but some have pretty faux-metal work designs. I told my fiance that if we get one like that, we could spruce it up with ribbon and what not.
And some even have fabric draping down the sides like an actual fancy chuppah.
So seriously, my Mom rocks. One more thing checked off the list, booyah.
