Weddingbee

Remember all those beautiful ketubot I blogged about last month? Well, one thing I’m learning day by day as part of the wedding planning process is that Mr. Petunia and I don’t always agree on what we like. I knew which ketubot I loved, but when I ordered the samples and had Mr. Petunia looked at them too, I quickly learned which ones he didn’t love - sigh. It took a bit of going back and forth and getting some new samples before we finally agreed on this simple and classic one and ordered it:

If you are looking for your own ketubah, there are many wonderful vendors out there. First keep in mind that many of your local Judaica stores sell them, so seeing some in person may be a good place to start. Online, there are also Ketubah.com, ShopKetubah.com, Ketubah Tree, and Modern Ketubah, among many others. We purchased ours from MP Artworks, which allowed us to purchase samples (the first one for $20 — contact them about additional ones), and who offered the option to personalize the ketubah and enter that personalization information online, even using Hebrew characters, and who will then provide us with a proof of the personalization (but I would think other vendors/websites may have these options as well - check around).

My favorite part of choosing the ketubah was picking out the text for it — there are many options! Here’s how ours will read (both in Hebrew and in English):

On the ___ day of the week, the ___ day of ___, in the year ___, corresponding to the ___ day of March, in the year 2008, a mutual covenant of marriage was entered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida between the groom, Mr. Petunia, and the bride, Miss Petunia.

The groom, Mr. Petunia, son of ___, said to the bride: “I consecrate you to me as my wife according to tradition. I shall treasure you, nourish you, and respect you as those who have devoted themselves to their wives with love and integrity throughout the generations.”

The bride, Miss Petunia, daughter of ___, said to the groom: “I consecrate you to me as my husband according to tradition. I shall treasure you, nourish you, and respect you as those who have devoted themselves to their husbands with love and integrity throughout the generations.”

And Mr. Petunia and Miss Petunia pledged together: “We promise to be ever accepting of one another while treasuring each other’s individuality; to comfort and support each other through life’s disappointments and sorrows; to revel and share in each other’s joys and accomplishments; to share our hopes and dreams; to strive for an intimacy that will allow us to accomplish this promise and permit us to become the persons we are yet to be. We vow to establish a home open to all of life’s potential; a home filled with respect for all people; a home based on love and understanding. May we live each day as the first, the last, the only day we will have with each other. All of this we take upon ourselves as valid and binding.”

Because it’s an interfaith marriage, I especially like the line about our having a “home filled with respect for all people.”

We’re asking my brother and his wife, who have now been married for 13 years themselves, to read the ketubah text as part of our marriage ceremony. In fact, the readings are some of the parts I am most looking forward to!

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