The Royal Wedding was five months ago already–whew time flies!– but no one can deny that it was among the top non-Jewish weddings of the year. At this morning’s team meeting, we found ourselves asking: Why didn’t we ask Kate and William if they wanted a Ketubah?

At This Is Not a Ketubah, we strive to create colorful, modern, and hip Ketubahs for every couple. Whether based on ‘Modern Masters’ or the inspiration that strikes us from daily life, from high fashion to a love of Scottish Terriers! Of course, if you’re getting married in Buckingham Palace, you probably already have a few original Lichtenstein and Mondrian Ketubahs hanging around your house. So, a Royal Ketubah would have to get pretty creative.

If there is one thing that Royal Weddings do extremely well, it’s hats. And for that, Team Ketubah gives a rousing ‘Hat Tip!’ to British culture and their faithful dedication to bizarre and over-the-top headgear. Yet there is something appealing about the use of centuries-old cultural traditional customs with a modern spin. Were British dignitaries and Lords in the 16th century wearing Italian-imported bonnets to Royal affairs? Probably not. But today’s modern Patrician Lady wants only the best for the big day of her Princess gal-pal, while keeping the idea of wearing only the best clothes to the most important wedding in all the land, just as her Lady mother did, and her patrician grandmother before her!

This same idea is what drives This Is Not a Ketubah to create the best of contemporary and traditional worlds for Jewish, interfaith, and same-sex couples alike! If you remember growing up with a Ketubah prominently in your parent’s dining room or are looking to connect or re-establish your Jewish roots by signing a document declaring your love and devotion, nothing creates a Jewish home like a gorgeous Ketubah prominently hanging on the wall.

From the ornately elaborate hats to simple and grand color, Team Ketubah has nothing but respect for this funky little British tradition (and who would have though Posh Spice would end up on our blog!), and we would have love to make a fantastically bold Royalty Hat Ketubah. It’s fun to dream!

We’d love to hear about your dream Ketubah, inspired by hats or otherwise!

Hat-tip to Maddie over at Broke Ass Bride for the great lead!

Jacob
Team Ketubah

Few things are more exciting than tracking a FedEx package across the country…especially when it is a specially made Ketubah! Every time we ship a Ketubah, all of Team Ketubah–almost compulsively–checks to see the status of our VIP (Very Important Parcel) on its journey to its new home.

This particular Ketubah was headed to Sacramento, California where the happy couple couldn’t wait to take it out of its box. Our fantastic printer only ships in flat-boxes, ensuring a crease and warp-free modern Ketubah directly to you door. The great folks at FedEx care for you package and whisk it across the country on Next Business Day shipping.

Seeing the green FedEx status-bar happily illuminated with a green DELIVERED button is super excited, both for Team Ketubah and the happy couple who look forward to signing it. We can’t think of a better start to a peaceful, restful Shabbat!

Shabbat Shalom!

Jacob & Team Ketubah

Congratulations! You’ve received your Ketubah mailer and inside found a very special surprise: Your Ketubah Minis, complete with your Personalized Text! Some of our couples get this special surprise inside with their Ketubah.

A few couples have asked what to do with their Ketubah Minis. Here’s some great ideas from Team Ketubah’s artists, and some couples themselves!

Your Ketubah Minis: Awesome Ideas!

• Choose one to test out your Signing Pen
• Carry them around in your Wallet!
• Give one to your mother-in-law. She’ll
• Put ’em on the fridge
• Add it to your wedding album or scrapbook
• Make it into a keychain (“the key to your heart”)
• Marvel at how freakin cute they are!!

The list goes on… and we’d love to hear what you did with your Ketubah Minis!

Team Ketubah

“OMG do you have to marry someone Jewish?!” If you have ever told anyone that you are Jewish, you might have gotten this reaction at least 65% of time. Sure Jewish celebrities and themes in movies and TV give people some more insight to Jewish customs and traditions, but this seems to be the most popular second only to “wait, so do you eat pork?!” And while they’re both valid questions, a quick peek at our Ketubah text options page might leave some people puzzled.

So it only makes sense to devot a blog from Team Ketubah to a quick discussion of what more than one sage commentator has dubbed the “Marry Jewish, Marry Shmewish” challenge of our generation. In particular, we also happened to stumble upon a great article from the great Jews over at Let My People Grow.

In his article, Seth Brown (incidentally, author of From God to Verse a hilarious translation of the Bible into ryming couplets—super exciting!), tries to debunk the myths that some of our grandparents might have about Jewish and Interfaith marriage.

This Is Not a Ketubah is ecstatic to make our life’s work the fulfillment of the Hiddur Mitzvah of making gorgeous traditional ideas into awesome, fun and colorful ketubot inspired by Modern Masters. But for us, the meaning of a Ketubah is an important bond between two people, regardless of their religious background.

Every couple we work with, from followers of Chabad to interfaith marriages and same-sex couples receives the same dedication and determination to create a gorgeous Ketubah inspired by the passions and aesthetics of each couple, without regard to religious belief but instead by listening to one’s heart.

No matter who you love, Team Ketubah can’t wait to offer a fantastic document for your wedding day and for your life….and in a small way, fulfill a mitzvah of creating happiness for all!

Jacob
Team Ketubah

We’re in favor of all sorts of hands signing our Ketubot—regardless of who you’ve fallen in love with! In fact, if you’ve been on our site lately, you’ll see the friendly chat box on every page which happily welcomes couples of any background to work with us on their dream Ketubah!

The Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur season—then days later Sukkot and now tonight Simchat Torah—is great in the Jewish blog world because of so much great ideas and posts from Rabbis all over the world. From posts about personal reflection and finding personal meaning to new interpretations on ancient Bible stories, the season of renewal doesn’t end just because services are out and you’ve broken the fast.

We happened to come across Rabbi Leah R. Berkowitz’s blog, This Is What a Rabbi Looks Like. The picture at the top of the site is one that we absolutely love!

First, her hands are marked with delicately beautiful henna on one hand and beautiful modern designed rings on the other. Mixing the traditional with the modern has always been our approach to making Ketubot, so this alone would be enough to get us excited. But to top it off, she is filing in the information on the Ketubah itself!

Though we can’t lay claim to this particular Ketubah (we’d bet the picture was taken even before our Collective came together!), we love the idea of mixing our ancient traditions with modern designs. From those inspired by modern masters the likes Chagall or Rothkoto a cool, funky, colorful Ketubah , we don’t se anything wrong with mixing old and new!

Of course the text itself is what makes art into a Ketubah. Couples looking for a gay and interfaith ketubah or Orthodox and Conservative texts, we’re happy to oblidge!

So, will you and your fiancé be getting some Henna before your wedding?!

Jacob
Team Ketubah

About a month ago, fall officially started (Sept. 23 for those of you who loyally follow the equinox!), which means the end of so many things beach: sun, sand, boardwalk, and fish fresh from the boat! Of course autumn has all sorts of perks: change leaves and cool crisp days. My sister couldn’t live without her sweater!

For the rest of us, the end of summer is more than just time to pack away the flip flops—it’s the end of wedding season! Especially for young couples who have the perfect beach wedding or maybe even got engaged on a sandy shore surrounded by sun family, and friends.

There are lots of us who working in the exciting field of being creative, excited, and drop-everything-for-our-clients, including the Elizabeth over at Lowe House Creative. When I saw this gorgeous photo which captures everything about the close of summer, I couldn’t resist. There are more than a few members of our collective who refuse to stop wearing flip-flops, even when their toes are freezing off! We just don’t want summer to end… can you blame us?

Yet whether we want them to or not, when summertime memories fade to the cooler days of Fall, we at Team Ketubah understand wanting to hold on to summer forever! And when the wedding is over, there isn’t too much left behind in a wake of party destruction. Cue the This Is Not a Ketubah Scene! Our beautiful Commissioned Ketubot can capture your favorite beach scene, and even your silhouettes!

From creating exciting modern Ketubahs designs inspired by modern masters or working 100% with couples on a unique ketubah, our team of Jewish artists work together to make sure everything is perfect, from the text to the perfect brilliantly bold colors which will hang in your family home for decades to come! And with our awesome material options, the design will never fade!

Jacob
Team Ketubah

Some people get all the luck—they find a great girl who loves comic books! Some people love comic books, and I’m glad to count myself as one of them. Whether you consider yourself a full-fledged nerd or just want to hang on to some childhood nostalgia, a Pop Art or Comic-Book Ketubah could be just what you’re looking for. Or something you would want to commission!

Sure we’ve done the modern masters like Picasso and Chagall—and we love their traditional themes and classic feeling with an artsy modern touch. Yet it seems like everyday Team Ketubah keeps running into more and more indicators that we should go beyond our standard Pop-Art icons like Lichtenstein and Wharhol Ketubah to create a comic-book Ketubah!

Over the last week, we’ve found two great pictures that make us want to drop everything and have a super-hero inspired wedding! First, there is this incredible Pop-Art Ketubah captured by the great people at Jackson Photography. We love the glass-breaking theme. Super creative!

Then, it seems like the internet-cum-ketubah-gods were trying to tell us something. The uber-creative Maddie at Broke Ass Bride showed us everything a lucky girl needs to have an awesomely inspired Super Hero, pop-art inspired wedding. These speech bubble head bands are just too cool to pass up. They keep your hair back and let the world know what you’re thinking!

That said, Team Ketubah couldn’t get enough of these great ideas, and not only are we geeking out, but we’re doing it with a smile! My High School English teacher always said that Comic Books, or their more formal name “Graphic Novels” are the next frontier of great literature, and we’re happy to oblige by helping transform this classic into an art form!

We’re just doing our part to put a modern spin on a traditional classic, from Reform to interfaith!

Jacob
Team Ketubah

Each year after the joy of Rosh Hashanah comes a time of quiet reflection. Team Ketubah wishes you a meaningful day of reflection and an easy fast.

Here is on of our favorite Israeli artists, Idan Raichel, singing his Yom Kippur tribute for 2011. You can check out other interesting and good-for-reflection High Holidays content at The Daily Rabbi, an online pluralistic magazine.

Gemar Hatima Tovah!

Team Ketubah

We recently had the pleasure of working with a couple who was looking to display their Ketubah at their wedding reception, and wanted to work with our artists to create the perfect work of art to compliment the style and color theme. We were excited to face this challenge, but it also made us realize: this Ketubah will be about far more than matching the reception, but matching the couple themselves! An awesome modern ketubah is more than skin deep.

Finding the color scheme for your wedding can be confusing and a maybe even a little frustrating—where do you start? How do you know what is too dark and what is too light? Will the tablecloth match the centerpieces match the carpet? Will a color come off as too harsh or cheesy? How can I look modern without giving the cold shoulder to tradition?

Every now and then we find a great resources for wedding planning that goes above and beyond the typical “Check out our vendor list!” (though we love them too!). For that, we thank wedding planner extraordinaire Preston Bailey for his incredible What’s Your Color Story wedding palate picker. This tool is everything we are all about: rich color, tasteful design, and personal meaning.

With an uber-easy to use design layout, the This Is Not a Ketubah team has fallen in love with this awesome tool, and we’re excited to share it with our couples here with our other design musings. As a modern art collective ourselves, we know the importance of well planned and well executed colorful works of art.

By calling on modern masters to create some awesome fun designs for all types of couples, we think sharing Preston’s color palate selector is great for any wedding type—Jewish or otherwise! We’d love to work with you a personalized custom Ketubah that matches your wedding in every way possible: color theme, and your own passions and interests.

In the mean time, have a meaningful Yom Kippur!

Jacob
Team Ketubah

Converse makes everyone feel like an All-Star. A Converse-inspired wedding? Count me in! Being part of the Jewish Wedding universe means lots of Shanah Tovah-ing this time of year, plus the added bonus of stumbling across some truly incredibly wedding pictures.

Check out this awesome wedding we found with awesome California-nerdy style—we love it! (There are more than a few members of our collective who call ourselves nerdy and artsy, so we reserve the right to use it without offense!).

This picture says so much about everything This Is Not a Ketubah is about—from the laid back Converse style to the incredible color of the Chuppah and the progressive ceremony—we couldn’t wait to share it. Thanks to Allyson at The Wedding Yentas for sharing this!

Ashleigh and AJ’s wedding reminds us that a modern Jewish wedding calls for a modern, cool, colorful Ketubah. Though we haven’t gotten a look at the Ketubah these two signed, we know that no matter their observance we would have loved to provide a gorgeous text to match the vibrant colors and bold style and funk these two have. From interfaith and progressive Ketubahs to traditional orthodox ketubah texts, we’re happy to include your family information right into the text!

And even though this couple was straight, we can imagine an equally thrilling and fun gay or lesbian wedding. Since we appreciate love in all its forms, we’re happy to offer a queer ketubah enclosed in drop-dead-gorgeous art.

The idea that Jewish weddings and their Ketubot need to be stuck in the 18th century isn’t what we’re all about. Instead, we strive to bring designs inspired by the best modern artists from the 20th century for your dream wedding in the 21st. The best ketubah ever? With the right couple, we want to make it happen!

Jacob
Team Ketubah

Our vision is to help every couple who is getting married to get a Ketubah.

A Ketubah — honoring your marriage vows by memorializing them in a just awesome way — is too important to come up with an excuse not to get a great one.

You never found a Ketubah you loved? We’ll solve that: not only are our Ketubot unique and great art to hang on your wall, but we can create a custom Ketubah based on your tastes and desires. So not having found an awesome Ketubah is not an excuse.

A Ketubah is too expensive? Don’t worry, we offer various price levels, including our recently-launched “contract with blanks” versions where you write in your names yourself. This saves us a lot of work so we can offer a very affordable Ketubah.

(If that’s still too expensive, contact us and we’ll work something out!)

No text you’ve found captures your relationship? Don’t worry — we’ll work with you to find the write text, or help you write your own vows to best capture your own relationship.

Too much work to make it happen? Don’t worry, we make the process simple and fun. We’ll even organize everything with your Rabbi – so you don’t need to think or worry about it!

Signing a symbolic contract to sanctify your commitment isn’t meaningful to you? In that case, a Ketubah isn’t for you and we can’t help you — and we will with you the best of luck and Mazel Tov anyway!

Morgan
Team Ketubah