FAQs
Q: What is a ketubah?
A: A woman’s bill of rights that involves a monetary commitment of a husband to his wife. Historically speaking, the rabbis did not want a man to divorce his wife since women used to be dependent on men. You’re not allowed to live with your partner until there is a valid ketubah, and its main purpose is to give a woman a sense of protection. For some sects of Judaism that doesn't include Orthodox, the ketubah has less importance now yet is nevertheless is still important.
Q: What is the time frame for creating a ketubah?
A: Anywhere from a few weeks to a few months depending on the customizations and time it takes for the rabbi to finalize the text. If it is custom it could take longer.
Q: Does framing come with the ketubah?
A: No it does not. You would need to get it framed yourself. However you can purchase a plexiglass frame for an extra $150 if the piece you are interested in is not part of the plexiglass lace collection.
Q: My wedding is less than a month away and I need one as soon as possible. Do you do rush orders? If so, what are your rates?
A: Yes! You would have to reach out to me to find out more information on my availability and rush fee depending on your situation.
Q: How is a ketubah displayed at a chuppah? Does it rest on an easel or does it have to have a board or something placed behind it in order for it to sit on an easel?
A: If you are getting married in a hotel or venue, the venue may have a display easel for you. However, if you are having a backyard wedding, it helps to have one. You can order one from amazon for about $20 - $30 or you can find out if your designated photographer has one.
Q: What is your Return Policy?
A:
-If a deposit has been made and I have already started on work, you will not get your deposit back.
-If you purchased a ketubah in full yet changed your mind about the design, I can change it with no fee if I haven't started working on the design yet. I will charge a partial fee if I have already started depending on how much work/ material cost.
-Once you and your rabbi have fully signed off to print the digital proof of the artwork and I have already printed and finalized the design, all transactions are final especially since I would not be able to resell the artwork. The only exception is if I have made an error on my part with the printing or some other type of miscellaneous error.
-If the text needs to be changed after the printing- finalizing has been done, you are responsible to pay for the changes or ketubah redo.
-Artwork with non-personalized text could be exchanged or refunded within a week. Once the item has arrived, the credit or refund will be issued.
Q: How do customizations work? Do you do any custom work on any preexisting designs?
A: Yes. I create both custom designs from scratch (unique to you and your partner) and I also add customizations and tweaks to preexisting designs. For example, I have had clients ask me to add monograms to preexisting designs, color accents to certain areas, or even delete certain design elements within the ketubah to make it more refined.
Q: How do I know what text to choose?
A: It depends on your rabbi or wedding officiant. Some rabbis who are Orthodox want a certain text, and on the other extreme end there are reform officiants who allow couples to pick their own texts.
Q: What is a personalization form?
A: A personalization form asks for your wedding officiant or rabbi’s contact information, wedding date, English, any Hebrew or middle names of you and your partner, names of both you and your partner’s parents, etc. Orthodox and conservative texts may require additional information.
While some couples, especially those who are requesting a rush order prefer to have their personalized information left out and to be filled on the day of their ketubah signing or wedding ceremony, having the text personalization details integrated and printed on the text guarantees a well-integrated design with a unified font for the text.
Q: Is there an extra charge to make a special request for the ketubah text such as changing the fonts, tweaking the text, adding names or a quote on top of the text, including both Hebrew and English, changing the text box shape from a circle to square or vice versa, or similar requests?
No there is no charge for that. If you have any special requests for the text, I am happy to discuss that with you at no charge and send you a digital proof of the text. I am trained in typography and would love to help make your text unique and special.
Q: How well do you know about the usage and application of the Orthodox Aramaic text?
A: Unless you or your rabbi have provided me with the exact wording to use, my husband is fluent in Aramaic.
While we do the best we can to make any corrections for the text before we send it to you and your rabbi to look over, it is you and your rabbi’s responsibility to make sure the text is correct before printing. For example some clients prefer to have another rabbi look at their text.
Q: What form of payments do you take?
A: Paypal, credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), cash, Venmo, check and Zelle.
A: Do you take international orders?
Q: Yes. There is an additional shipping cost for all international orders and it must be ordered as early as possible. If you are interested in a shipping quote, please contact me with your wedding date.
Q: How is the artwork going to be expedited through Shipping and handling?
A: Each artwork is wrapped in a plastic slip, weatherproof and placed securely in the box so that it doesn’t endure any dents.
Q: When should I anticipate the arrival of my order once it is placed?
A: It depends on the shipping method used. For custom design ketubot, orders must be placed at least 8 weeks in advance before the occasion.
Exceptions may apply depending on the type of artwork and time frame involved. If the occasion in less than 8 weeks away, just shoot me a message either to my email – melodydrachel@gmail.com, or through my contact page with your parameters I will get back to you as promptly as possible.
Q: What goes into the printing process?
A: The acid-free, museum quality art papers are meant to withstand aging and fading.
Our eco-friendly services use 100% recycled paper for the printing and shipping supplies.
The textured surface of the fine art paper leaves the artwork with the fine art quality of a traditional print.
Q: How are the texts expedited?
A: All texts are printed with inkjet printing. Please note that the texts are not written with hand calligraphy unless you are interested in having me collaborate with a calligrapher which I have done before. I have a few calligraphers that I have worked with before or you can get me in touch with your calligrapher.
How accurate are the colors on the screen?
A: It depends from monitor to monitor, as the colors will slightly differ. I do my best to display the colors as accurately as possible, but there is only so much that I can do on my end. For a small fee I could ship you a mini digital proof of the Ketubah.
Q: What type of pen do you recommend me to use if I do not decide to go with the personalization option?
A: A ballpoint or archival ink pen is most suitable for the Ketubah signing and filling of the blanks. For example, those thin Sharpie pens work really well, especially on the luster petallic paper for the inner text box. Here is the link for a single micron pen:
Q: What are things to look out for before finalizing my purchase for a Ketubah?
A: Prior to placing your order, make sure that your selected text and personalized information has been double-checked by your rabbi.
Q: Is it customary to buy ketubahs as gifts for others?
A: Yes, clients typically have a parent, aunt/ uncle or sibling pay partially for the ketubah as a gift. The relative will connect me to their soon to be bride or groom to talk about the design.
Q: What is the time frame for creating a ketubah?
A: Anywhere from a few weeks to a few months depending on the customizations and time it takes for the rabbi to finalize the text.
Q: What frame/s do you recommend?
A: It depends on the ketubah. Overall we encourage traditional frames if the piece is not part of the plexiglass lace collection.
Non plexiglass frames that are recommended are white wood, antique silver, champagne, light and beige wood. We recommend taking the ketubah to a local framer or a local Michels, Joann’s or Blick to see how it looks against the various frame samples.
Q: Is a UV protection or the frame necessary?
A: It is not a necessity. However, if your home happens to have a lot of sunlight that filters through or you want the artwork to be safe from any type of sun exposure, be mindful of keeping all of your artwork away from the sun.
Q: As a Sephardi, my rabbi said that my mom has to hold onto my ketubah. What is the point in having a ketubah created then if I cannot hang it up in my home?
A: The reason why is because in the olden days Sephardim used to do it in case the couple would God forbid get into a quarrel and rip the ketubah from the wall. Nowadays modern couples hang it up in their bedrooms or want to have a nice ketubah for the aesthetics of the photo. If your rabbi allows I can print you an extra text to be signed on the day of the wedding, that way you can hang up the ketubah art in your home.
Q: I have a wedding date but I don’t have a rabbi yet! What do I do?
A: Depending on which city and state you live in, I have a large database of rabbis from a wide spectrum of levels of observance and minhagim (custom) that I have been working with. If you are living in Los Angeles or New York, I can most likely help you find your perfect rabbi! However, if you are in another city/state check in with me and I will search through my database to see if there are any rabbis or officiants who I have worked with in the past and set you up.
Q: My rabbi is stringent with the textbox shape and requires a perfect square text box. Do I have to pick a design that goes with the text box shape?
A: Not necessarily. I have used round ketubah designs with square-shaped text boxes, or even the tree of life with a square text and it looks just as great.
Q: Why buy from Ketubahs by Melody?
A: We are a mom-and-pop business started from a woman ownded business. 10-20% of my sales go to various organizations such as community such as Oorah, Yad Ezra (supports feeding children in Israel who live under the poverty line, Efrat C.R.I.B. Committee of the Rescue of Israel’s babies, and Kollel’s in Los Angeles.
Q: What is the difference between the ketubahs at a Judaica shop versus yours?
A: The ketubahs at a Judaica shop are mass-produced versus our ketubahs where you get to collaborate directly with the artist
If you are local, we can meet in person so we can guide you through the ordering process. Many times clients have come to us with a specific design in mind only to further narrow down and in most cases finalize the ketubah selection after a meeting in person.
Q: Do you do any other type of freelance custom projects that are non-ketubah related?
A: Absolutely. Keep in mind I do create anniversary ketubahs, home blessing artworks, and other various graphics related work. Please send me an email with a project request info and I will send you a quote- melodydrachel@gmail.com.
*Pricing notice:
Our prices across the website have increased and will continue to increase in the months to follow due to price changes and industry wide development across multiple vendors.