Tuesday, January 29, 2013

From Miss to Mrs: Making it Official

Until now, the majority of my recap posts have been on the photos. And while they are pretty and fun to look at they aren't really the point of the day. Finally, here is where we get into the real meat of the wedding day, when we gathered in the dinning room to sign marriage license and ketubah.

I did write this post before the wedding, about the history of ketubot and ones we were considering ordering from Ketubah.com. For a brief explanation, a ketubah is the Jewish wedding contract, and historical what Jews used to legally become married within their religion.
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I had the boy sign first since the groom was listed first on the actual marriage license. Unfortunately the bride signs first on the ketubah, and that's where the boy signed. I remember feeling proud of myself that I didn't completely freak out about it. And now every time I look at our ketubah (it's hanging in our bedroom), I can't help but smile a little.
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Thankfully he managed to sign the wedding license correctly, since that was the one that was legally binding.
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The I proceeded to sign as the "groom." I'm pretty sure that's what all the smiles on our bridal party in the background are about.
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I have no idea what the boy is saying as I signed our license, but at least my grandmother found it amusing.
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Then we had our two witness sign, the best man (above) and my MOH (below). Traditionally the witness signing the ketubah are supposed to be Jewish men, not related to the bridal couple. But since the boy isn't Jewish, and since our rabbi didn't say a word about it, we didn't give it a second through. And in general, it's really only really orthodox couples that stick to those rules.
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As our rabbi started to sign my dad asked her if we were officially married. "No," she said, "Although in the Jewish religion it was official as soon as he put a ring on her finger."
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Once she finished signing she continued, "But now, it's official." To which the boy responded, "Now I guess that means we can go home, right?" Here I am below, attempting to keep the boy in his seat. After all, I'm pretty sure if we left that minute we'd have a lot of upset guests to deal with.
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This is probably the main reason why most couples wait until after the ceremony to sign their license. Although by signing it first, we made sure we didn't forget to do it. And traditionally the ketubah is signed either before or during the ceremony.

If you're already married, when do you sign your marriage license? And what type of mistakes have you made when signing something, similar to the one made by the "bride"?

All photos in this post courtesy of Sabree Hill Photography.

Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands
From Miss to Mrs: A Night on the Town
From Miss to Mrs: The Hangover
From Miss to Mrs: Rehearsing in the Heat
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Supper
From Miss to Mrs: Gifting the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Single Night
From Miss to Mrs: Oh What a Beautiful Morning
From Miss to Mrs: Getting Prettified
From Miss to Mrs: Prepping the Plantation
From Miss to Mrs: Turtle Time
From Miss to Mrs: The Photographer Has Arrived
From Miss to Mrs: Becoming the Bride
From Miss to Mrs: Dress Details
From Miss to Mrs: Ou Est le Groom?
From Miss to Mrs: A Bridge-y First Look
From Miss to Mrs: Couple Time
From Miss to Mrs: Just the Two of Us
From Miss to Mrs: Grouping the Girls
From Miss to Mrs: Ain't No Party Like a Bridal Party
From Miss to Mrs: Fun with Family

7 comments:

  1. Your ketubah looks so pretty!! Love the signing mix-up!! Something to make it even more special! At my sister's wedding the rabbi called the witnesses up and they weren't there...all the chuppah holders pulled out their phones and called them. Best line of the wedding is my about to be brother-in-law getting one of them on the phone and saying, "i'm at my wedding trying to sign the ketubah, where are you!?"

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  2. haha that he signed as the bride! since my brother allowed women to sign his ketubbah I asked him if I could sign it, but he said it still couldn't be someone related to him. weird to follow only half the rule...our witnesses were both of Dave's sisters' father in laws. We signed our regular marriage certificate after the ceremony (and tried not to forget!) and my moh and my brother signed that one!

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  3. Your ketubah is gorgeous! I think that's such a cool custom.

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  4. Wonderful pictures. I signed the ketubah for friends sixteen years ago, and it was a wonderful moment for me. Loved being part of their wedding in such a special way.

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  5. Our minister has couples sign the marriage license at the rehearsal, then he signs it the day of the wedding and mails it in. That way it doesn't get lost in all the fuss of the big day. So we may have been legally married the day before our wedding?

    I think ketubahs are so beautiful!

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  6. I love that this moment got documented! Some people don't photograph this. Can you believe that?!!

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