one year anniversary

Exactly one year ago I put on this dress (with the help of my girlfriends):

Then I met Ben in the rotunda of the St. Julien Hotel and Spa:

Then we went to our Bidekin:

taking the rabbi's talit to symbolize choosing my husband

Where we signed these documents:

And stood under this chuppah:

Where we drank wine:

Where supported by our Rabbi and our friends:

And supported by our families:

Put on our wedding bands:

Then we kissed:

the "OMG, we're married!" kiss (with our beautiful ketubah in the background)

And we realized how blessed we are (and kissed some more):

Partied a little:

Lit some bananas foster on fire:

And had lots of fun at a bar:

And ended the night hanging out alone here:

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the ketubah is framed and on the wall!!!

We took it to Michael’s to get framed the day after Thanksgiving (thank you 60% off coupon!) and picked it up this past Sunday evening. This morning, we hung it on the wall, over the bed (with two 40 lb. hooks. As soon as I’m done with laundry and the bed is remade, I’ll take a photo (please remind me if I don’t).

Wow. We’re real, grown up-like, married people! Hard to imagine, since I’m wearing monkey socks from the Old Navy kid’s section today….

framed ketubah

Want a reminder of our ketubah text? Conservative with Lieberman and English | Gallery Judaica

UPDATE: February 2011, we got nervous about a heavy glass frame hanging over the bed (also, we wanted to be able to show it off without a parade through the bedroom) and moved it to the dining room area of the apartment. I think we look at it more often now because it’s not overhead but right where we can see it at the table. Yey, pretty and meaningful things getting looked at everyday!

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this one vs. that one

Four Seasons Ketubah by Enya Keshet

I really can’t decide which one I like more! They’re both paper cuts and they both have printed (not calligraphic) text, but they’re so different. The first one is cool because it’s laser cut parchment over hand dyed silk, made in Israel, and the tree going through the four seasons is just so cool. But I just found it online today and there aren’t a whole lot of options when it comes to picking the text, plus the poetry in the border is all in Hebrew. With the second one, I like the Toronto Reform text, that poetry in the border is in English also, and the fact that we saw it in person while looking for a ketubah and wedding invitations at Kolbo, in Brookline, MA.

Gefen Papercut- Autumn by Ruth Stern Warzecha

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oooh, pretty ketubahs!

Autumn Tree II, Eve Rosin

Nature's Radiance, Claire Carter. This one also comes as a chuppah!

we can upload our own photo/art!

Two Trees - Promise, Claire Carter

Two Trees - Serenity, Claire Carter

Summer, Micah Parker

Tree of Life - Delight, Claire Carter

are you seeing a theme here? Trees? אני לדודי ודודי לי = Ani ledodi vedodi li? Blues and greens? Not a lot of red? For some reason too much red/orange just bothers us. I like wearing red, but Ben doesn’t. Whatever, cool tones and neutrals it is.

PS- I’m not sure what Ben means when he says they’re “cute.” Does he like them, not care to look right now, or think they’re too feminine?

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ketubahs can be beautiful, or hideous

I’m bored. That’s because I STILL DON’T HAVE A JOB. To keep myself busy today I’m looking at ketubot, Jewish wedding contracts. They can have the traditional Aramaic text or a Secular Humanist text, or anything in between. I’m pretty sure that we’re going to have some variation of the Conservative text, with the Lieberman Clause, but that’s about all I know.

Theoretically, I’ve left it up to Ben to pick one out. Hahaha, so far that’s translated into me sifting through hundreds of designs and sending him emails with a few dozen contenders. I definitely have my favorites, but I didn’t pick out anything to forward to him that I would hate to see on our wall for the rest of my life. Some of them are really awful and quite trendy looking. Pixilated shabbos scenes? Really? I think not ketubah designers! I veto you!

The text is what really boggles my mind. My rules that I gave Ben for picking out the text: there must be an English TRANSLATION (not just a correlating text), and the Lieberman Clause must be included. I don’t want to be stuck, unable to obtain a get (divorce) if anything should ever happen (Gd forbid).

Here they are, some non-ugly ketubot (imho). And yes, I like tree themed ones and greens, blues and purples.

PS- I fixed the http upload error I was getting earlier. Apparently where files were being uploaded to changed itself somehow. Boo for that, but thanks to an anonymous comment found by googling, the problem is all fixed!

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