The Interfaith Ketubah – My 5 pieces of advice

November 9, 2014

Interfaith ketubah

When I began planning my interfaith wedding in the fall of 2012, finding a ketubah was basically a given. I knew the tradition had deep cultural significance for my Jewish fiancé, and I was excited to participate. After all, signing a ketubah with my husband-to-be felt like a wonderful way for me to get closer to his faith, his culture, and his family. I was all in.

But once we began looking at ketubahs, I had a hard time seeing myself and my values reflected in the traditional ketubah texts and designs. It was from this disconnect that the first real discussions about the future of our interfaith family were born. On the surface, we were simply debating our preferences for our ketubah, but in fact we were laying the groundwork for our shared values and hopes for the future. And as it turned out, there was a lot more middle ground than we had anticipated.

Creating a ketubah together ended up being my favorite part of the wedding planning process. But it wasn’t without its challenges, which is why I would like to leave you with a few tips about the process.

Here are my five pieces of advice if you’re thinking about having an interfaith ketubah at your wedding:

1) Do it. I know that in terms of difficulty, creating an interfaith ketubah ranks somewhere between accommodating your vegan/paleo/gluten-free guest and finding a dress that your conservative Bubbie deems appropriate. But it is so worth the effort. The discussions that we had around our interfaith ketubah were some of the most infuriating, beautiful, deep and challenging conversations we had leading up to the wedding. And we came out of them a closer couple with a solid and communal understanding of the values we wanted in our marriage.

2) Don’t rush it. More than other ketubahs where your Rabbi will often ask that you choose between a couple of pre-approved texts, the interfaith ketubah is a more wily beast. I recommend starting the process 4-6 months before your wedding so that you’ll have plenty of time to find an artist you like, select or write your text, and have it produced.

3) Consider writing your own text. There are countless beautiful interfaith ketubah texts out there (here’s mine), and if you find one that speaks to you, congrats! But don’t pick a pre-written text just because it’s convenient. Many ketubah artists can have your custom text translated into Hebrew for you. Here’s a step-by-step guide for writing your own ketubah text if you’re considering this option!

4) Run your plans by your Rabbi / Officiant. If you’re having a Rabbi officiate your ceremony, be sure to discuss your ketubah plans with him or her. Many Rabbis will give you free reign to write what you please, but others will want to make sure you include a specific idea or phrase.

5) Pick your artwork carefully. If the text of your ketubah is the cake, then the artwork is the icing. Spend some time investigating different artists until you find one whose subject matter and style capture something special about your relationship. Most artists are also happy to create a custom piece of artwork just for you.

I do lots of custom designs, as do many other ketubah artists (The Painted Ketubah and Love by Leya are two of my favorites!)

Each morning when I wake up and each evening when I go to bed, I see our framed interfaith ketubah hanging in our bedroom. I pause to think about the day we signed it together, and the many happy days to come. And I know that every moment we spent on our ketubah was worth it.

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Free Printable Thank You Card – Chicago Wedding!

November 6, 2014

Free Printable Thank You Card Chicago

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Confession – when I was planning my wedding last year, I was a pretty cost-conscious bride. And a crafty one too. Folks, that is a dangerous combination. Despite the urgings of my very reasonable fiance and my dear friends who were concerned with my sanity, I took on far more DIY wedding projects than is remotely reasonable for one person. While I wouldn’t say I recommend the full-DIY approach to weddings (unless you’re some sort of Martha Stewart-esque genius with an extra couple hundred hours on your hands), I did stumble upon a couple of cost saving tips that are worth passing on.

Ready for my number one tip?

Print your own thank you cards online.

Between the showers, the dinners, and (of course) the gifts, you’re going to go through a ton of those puppies. And a beautiful Thank You card can easily set you back $2-$4 a pop. So instead of bulk ordering note cards from my favorite high-end paperie, I created a sweet digital design, and had 250 of them printed at Got Print for a whopping $67. Not bad right? Plus, we’ve got enough thank you cards to last us for a couple of years at least.

Since designing is pretty much my all-time favorite thing (with the exception of coffee and trips to the dog park, of course) I decided to whip up a free print-ready design, should you care to use it! It matches with my Chicago ketubah | wedding certificate | guestbook poster design.

I’ll continue to add more free printable Thank You card designs week-by-week, so give me a holler if there’s one you’re dying to have. You’ll find all the details at the bottom!

Free Printable Thank You Card

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Free Printable Thank You Card Details

  • This is a 4″x6″ print-ready design.  It’s intended to be the front and back of a single-pane note card, which I think has a much more contemporary look
  • DOWNLOAD FRONT | DOWNLOAD BACK
  • I usually do my online printing through GotPrint.net.  They have a new triple-layered paper that I love.  And Amazon or Paper Source are great places to get fun envelopes!
  • This is for personal use only. Please don’t resell my design 🙂
  • Let me know if you have any questions. I’d love to hear from you.
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Adriana-Saipe_Ink-with-Intent-Blog

Hello!

I'm Adriana Saipe, founder of Ink with Intent. I'm a full-time wedding illustrator who specializes in contemporary ketubahs and unique wedding certificates. Learn more.

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