Sign on the Dotted Line

When planning our wedding there were a few things I really wanted for the ceremony: a chuppah, a broken glass and a ketubah (the Jewish wedding contract).  I am Jewish and Mark is atheist and raised Catholic, and so planning a ceremony that reflected our individual backgrounds, and shared future was important.

The ketubah became a pet project for both of us.  If you google search "ketubah" you'll see endless varieties; Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Interfaith, Second Marriages, GLBT marriages.  And yet, none of these really clicked. Our wedding officiant, Cantor Debbi Ballard was very supportive of us creating our own ceremony that was unique and personal to us, and she encouraged us to apply that same consideration to our ketubah.  So, just like our invitations, the ketubah was written by us and designed by me.

We treated the text of our ketubah like our own vows, and agreed that the it's text would be the guide for our future.  I am really proud of what we wrote, promised and agreed to.

On Saturday, the twenty third day of January,

Two Thousand and Ten,

Mark

and

Carly

joined each other before family and friends

to enter into a mutual covenant of marriage,

and with love and compassion

each vowed the following commitments:

To Ourselves-

To continuously improve our minds, bodies and souls

To push ourselves to achieve goals

To do good in the world

To love life, arts, sciences

And above all to have a sense of humor.

To each other-

To be friends, Partners and Lovers

To be honest and build a relationship on trust

To be kind, to communicate

To be a source of strength and balance for one another

To grow together.

To Our Family-

To create a nourishing home for happy and Healthy children

And an open home to all.

Our commitment to the above seals this document

Our ketubah was written with a focus on each of us and us.  It was important to us for the document to guide our marriage and focus on the growth we would want to experience and embrace so that we could continue to grow together over the journey of our lives and our marriage.

We signed our ketubah, and had our best man and maid of honor (Mark's brother and my sister) serve as our witnesses.  In the Jewish faith the signing of the ketubah meant we were as good as married, so we sealed it with a kiss.