A Picture is worth a 1000 words. But, carefully selected words speaks louder yet.

Explaining to couples that, in a wedding ceremony, there are four containers of energy. The first is the ketubah. Typically, as Jews, we think of a ketubah as containing religious and legal elements that relate to the commandments. There is another dimension to this tradition that can contain much life and connection between partners. I call the ketubah a “container of energy.” The more personal the ketubah is to the individual couple, the more of their energies it will contain.

Most couples do not include a commissioned, custom ketubah in their wedding budget. After all, creating a matchless artistic expression from the couple’s perspective can be very expensive. The time it takes an artist to truly resonate with each couple can command thousands of dollars and many hours of work. Hence the great demand for affordable stock ketubah prints.

Just last year I performed two weddings one week apart and both couples had the exact same ketubah. It was beautiful, and I understand the attraction. However, there was really no personalization that made the document “their own.” Yes, their names, parents’ names, date, and location of the wedding were included, but that was all. It is possible for online ketubah companies to make changes and alterations to the ketubahs they sell, but each change usually carries an additional charge. Depending on the couple’s budget, it may be cost-prohibitive to obtain a work of art and text that truly expresses who they are and the promises they make to each other.