3 Tips for Choosing your Ketubah Design
Your wedding is approaching: dress, venue, flowers and food are settled and now you’ve come down to picking your ketubah design. You think this should be simple compared to the other missions and then you begin to look artaround and you realize that there are literally thousands of choices and you are a complete novice in ketubah buying. As you and your partner peruse countless ketubah designs, you become more and more confused because you have literally never done this before.
Text, aside (which is a whole other megillah), how does one choose a ketubah design above all other ketubah designs? Having been faced with this myself, not long ago, and having a background in art: here are 3 tips that should help you make the right choice.
- Who Am I, Who is my Partner and Who are We?
So, this might sound a little bombastic, but it can simplify your search for your ketubah design and make it the most meaningful part of your getting-the-wedding-together process. Narrow down the field of ketubah designs before you even begin looking. Sit down and ask yourselves these questions and write down your answers. For many people this helps them stay on track and not be seduced momentarily by a ketubah design that does not truly represent who they are.
Do I want Modern, Traditional or a Contemporary Ketubah design?
whimsical or sophisticated: decorative or literal/symbolic: detailed or a streamlined ketubah design?
Do I want a colorful or a more subdued palette?
What media:Print or Paper Cut Ketubah? (Check out Danny Azoulay for amazing paper cut ketubah designs!)
These questions and their answer should shed light on the aesthetic direction of what you and your partner’s ketubah design should be. Of course, you may find that your final decision is far from what you originally envisioned for yourselves and that is fine; but this should give you a road map to navigate the vast field of ketubah design out there.
- Look at the Ketubah up Close (and personal)
Now, that you taken a look, look closer. Does the ketubah design represent me, my bride/groom-to-be and who we are together? Ask yourselves; “I like it, but is it us?”“Do the motifs, details or even a specific color touch something in my past, evoke a certain mood or emotion and is it meaningful to the couple and who we are, now?
- Now Step Back
And now step back, look again at the ketubah and think about the ketubah design from a bit of a distance with the parameter of time.
Can we love this ketubah tomorrow like we love it today? (Sounds familiar, right?)
Where can we hang this in our home?
And from this distance, we come back again to the old question:” Is this ketubah design us?” and “Will the ketubah,not only commemorate the day we made our commitment,but also remain a vital part of all the days and years to come”?
Good ketubah design is truly a visual metaphor for good marriages and deep commitment.
Now, Enjoy the quest and Mazel Tov!
