Now Levine makes what he calls the "chuppah bed" for other couples.

"I think we've gotten so far away from things that are handcrafted and well-designed," Levine said. "There's such an emphasis on mass production. People are looking for something unique and meaningful, such as an heirloom they can pass down generation to generation."

When a couple orders one of Levine's chuppah beds, he makes four poles much like he made his own, by layering scraps of wood such as walnut, cherry, maple and teak. He then sends the poles to the couple, and the couple uses them to hold up the chuppah canvas during the marriage ceremony. After the ceremony, the couple sends them back to Levine's Austin, Texas, studio. The four poles are then used to make a handcrafted four-poster bed.

Even though the beds are based on a similar design, each one is different because of the various types of leftover wood gathered from the floors of his studio, said Levine, who has a master's degree in fine arts from Parsons School of Design in New York City. "Part of the charm is that the pieces are usually scraps of wood that have been reclaimed or recycled."

Couples also can custom order the beds based on a certain color palette or style, as long as they keep in mind that he leans toward a clean, contemporary look. The poles, for example, can be made of solid wood and turned on a lathe to give them a certain shape, he said.

Levine has been making the beds for about a year and hopes, as times goes on, couples of other religious faiths become interested in the pieces, which are based on a beautiful tradition that can go beyond the Jewish ceremony -- the idea of marrying under a sacred canopy.

More information about Levine and his chuppah beds can be found on his Web site, www.henrylevine.com.