Should Your Ketubah Match Your Wedding?

Short answer: it can, but it definitely doesn’t have to.

I often get asked whether a ketubah should match the aesthetic of the wedding—the flowers, colors, venue, invitations, or that very carefully cultivated Pinterest board.

And if you want it to, absolutely. A ketubah can carry the flowers from your tablescape, the landscape where you’re getting married, the architecture of your venue, or the colors and visual language of the wedding itself. It’s a beautiful way to preserve something of that day.

But I usually encourage couples to think a little further ahead too.

The wedding itself is fleeting; the ketubah is one of the few pieces of the ceremony designed to remain with you. So rather than asking only what matches our wedding?, I might also ask: What inspires us? What represents something about our love? What do we want to live with in our home—and what might actually move us toward love for years to come?

Choose Something That Inspires You

A ketubah can be designed around your home, your taste, your culture, something meaningful to your relationship—or simply a piece of art you find beautiful. It can draw from the visual language of a particular place, culture or period in time.

I’ve created ketubahs adapted from historic Indian ketubahs, designs inspired by Moroccan carved woodwork and architecture, and others that draw from older Jewish manuscript and decorative traditions. Other couples go in a completely different direction: pressed flowers, watercolor landscapes, line drawings, collage, birds and botanicals, contemporary minimalist design or something entirely custom.

I make ketubahs in a wide range of styles: modern and minimalist ketubahs, simple line drawings, contemporary elegant designs, botanical and floral ketubahs, pressed flowers, watercolor paintings, ornate historically inspired designs, birds and landscapes, collage, calligraphy-focused pieces, and entirely custom artwork.

Sometimes couples come with a very specific vision. Other times they come with a feeling, a place, a photograph, a textile, a piece of art or a vague Pinterest board, and we figure out what the ketubah wants to become from there.

Sometimes the Letters Are the Art

A ketubah doesn’t need an elaborate illustration to feel special.

The Hebrew or Aramaic text can itself become the visual composition. As a soferet and calligrapher, this is one of my favorite parts of the work.

My ketubahs can be hand-scribed, letter by letter, or created using my own custom calligraphic lettering drawing from Ashkenazi and Sephardi scribal traditions. On a very simple or minimalist ketubah, the rhythm and shape of the letters can take center stage.

There is something particularly intimate about a marriage document being made by hand: your names and commitments carefully formed, letter by letter.

Beauty Is Part of the Ritual

The Renaissance Jewish philosopher Judah Abrabanel described beauty as something that delights the mind and “moves it to love.” I think about that often when I make ketubahs.

A ketubah contains commitments about how we intend to build a life together. Making those commitments beautiful isn’t only about decoration. Beauty can help elevate the text, draw our attention back to it and make the object something we continue to notice.

So yes, send me your Pinterest board. Send me your wedding flowers, invitation suite, venue and color palette.

But also send me the painting you can’t stop thinking about, a textile from your family, the landscape you love, the weird little bird you both have an obsession with, or a photo of your living room.

Your ketubah can match your wedding. But it can also become something more personal: a visual heirloom, a statement piece, a sacred object made specifically for the two of you.

I sometimes think of a ketubah almost like a mezuzah or a miniature Torah that belongs specifically to your relationship—sacred letters and commitments made physical, but this time with your names, your love, your life etched into it.

The hope is that you make something beautiful enough to keep looking at, and meaningful enough to keep bringing you back to love.

Browse my ketubah designs, or get in touch about creating something entirely custom.

More from the Ketubah Journal

Why Does a Ketubah Have Art? · Ketubah Title Ideas: Hebrew Verses & Blessings · The History of the Ketubah