A Mondrian and Chagall Inspired Ketubah for Katie and Lauren

Meet Katie and Lauren. 

These beautiful brides contacted me about a modern art inspired ketubah for their Maine wedding. The first step in coming up with ideas for a custom, hand painted ketubah is to get to know the couple.

Lauren and Katie describe themselves as "indoor people" who love books, museums, and the ballet. Ladies after my own heart! Despite being indoorsy, they love mountains an and skiing and sent me some beautiful photos from their adventures. They also love aquariums, modern art, and their very cute cats! 

Some couples already know what they want for their custom ketubah down to the composition and color scheme when they get in touch, and others have no idea where to start. Both options work great for me! I have been doing this for a long time and really enjoy the process of helping a couple come up with the best way to tell their unique story in a custom hand-painted ketubah.

Here is the list of ketubah ideas I wrote down after Lauren, Katie and I brainstormed on a Zoom call:

Art Style:

• bright colors
• gold leaf
• maybe paper cut
• Abstract Expressionists
• Chagall, Kandinsky
• Monet 
• Heavily Modern
• More Kandinsky than Klimt in terms of colors/patterns
• Like idea of putting figurative elements into an abstract composition
• Mondrian geometric trees with bright colors

Content:

• Love Tree series
• Flying Lovers
• Tree of life
• Maybe Mondrian style tree with Chagall’s flying lovers
• Mountains/Ski trip?
• Brooklyn Bridge

As always with a custom ketubah, we don't necessarily use all the ideas we brainstorm. So I narrowed it down to a few elements: Chagall's flying lovers (but a version with two brides), a tree of life inspired by Mondrian's modern trees, and either the Brooklyn Bridge or a mountain landscape. 

Here are the sketches I presented to the brides:

Sketch A 

 Sketch B 

Katie and Lauren preferred sketch A, so away we went!

Painting my own interpretations inspired by artists I admire is always a really rewarding process. Chagall and Mondrian are two of my favorites, so this was really a joy to create! 

Katie and Lauren loved their ketubah and I couldn't wait to see pictures from the big day!

Unfortunately, Lauren and Katie's wedding day took an unexpected turn.  

Remember that pesky and virus that stopped the world in 2020? Sadly, it's still around! I should know, I just recovered from my third bout with it and it was not even a little bit of fun. You guessed it, these beautiful brides were both diagnosed with Covid the night before their wedding day. 

But that didn't stop them from signing their ketubah in a meaningful and colorful outdoor celebration. 

Guests had traveled from near and far for Katie and Lauren's wedding, so the party had to go on, albeit without them. The brides did find creative ways to participate, such as Facetiming into the festivities and even hanging out in the parking lot where guests could come out and congratulate them. Way to make the best of a frustrating situation. 

Mazel Tov Katie and Lauren! Thank you for choosing me as your partner to create this meaningful and vibrant ketubah. I am wishing you a lifetime of happiness, and of always knowing how to take a lemon and turn it into lemonade -- or maybe even a lemon & basil martini! L'chaim!