Sharon & Miles

Sharon has been one of my closest friends since childhood which began during elementary school in LA. Sharon moved to NY while we were in middle school, yet our friendship has continued to grow and strengthen, despite long distance.  We have shared all of life’s important adventures and milestones together, and as soon as I met Miles, I knew he was the perfect match for Sharon.  I think when they got engaged, I was just as happy as they were!  And even more excited when they asked me to design their Ketubah.    

Sharon and Miles met early in college, studying at Johns Hopkins University, and became instant friends.  Post graduation, Sharon moved to New York City, and Miles moved an hour away to Scarsdale.  Yet, he conveniently took the train to the city every day to take MCAT classes, and of course, to spend more time with Sharon.   While it took her some time to catch on, once she did, their relationship grew from a close friendship to a great love and special bond as a couple.

Maya Myers Photography

The Ketubah: 

Sharon and Miles got married in Port Jervis, NY at Cedar Lakes Estate.  For their wedding weekend, they renamed the venue to Camp Shmiles! Camp Shmiles was a stunning mountainous campsite with a gorgeous lake.  They wanted their Ketubah to embody the beauty of Camp Shmiles, showcasing the landscape of their ceremony site, with forest trees and mountains in the distance.

It was a beautiful site and wedding for such a beautiful couple inside and out.  I am thankful they chose me to create their Ketubah and to be one of their witnesses, signing this everlasting marriage document.

Ali & Dylan

My cousin Ali met Dylan in high school, as he was actually her older brother’s close friend.  Dylan always thought of Ali as Brian’s little sister, until they ran into each other years later at a bar in LA.  Ali took the first step, reaching out to Dylan on facebook after their run-in, and the rest is history.      

Maya Myers Photography

THE KETUBAH:

Ali and Dylan wanted a simple, elegant Ketubah design, with flowers bordering the text.  Dylan’s special nickname for Ali is owl, so as a surprise, Ali’s mom, Margie, requested that I add in two Owl love birds.  I knew how much Ali and Dylan would love the owls, and had so much fun being in on the surprise.  They even decided not to open their Ketubah until their wedding day at the Ketubah signing ceremony.  I will always remember the expressions of shock, love and joy on their faces when they saw the finished piece and noticed their love Owls snuggled up on one of the green leaves.

Chloe & Mike

Chloe and Mike are a perfect match! Their close family friend thought so too, and while hesitant at first, they agreed to be set up on a blind date in New York City. Right away they hit it off, and 3 years later, they got married at Belmond El Encanto in Santa Barbara, California.

Raya Carlisle Photography

THE KETUBAH:

While Chloe and I are both Los Angeles natives, we didn’t meet until studying together at Michigan’s art school.  We were sorority sisters, art school cubicle buddies, and travel partners. It was so much fun designing Chloe and Mike’s Ketubah and incorporating the beauty of their wedding site into their final design.  I felt extra honored to be such an integral part in the celebration, as a bridesmaid and Ketubah signer.  

I designed Chloe and Mike’s Ketubah based off images they sent me of their ceremony site and the color scheme of their wedding.  They wanted a circular Ketubah that showcased the brick pillars and lily pond of their Santa Barbara wedding venue.  Their wedding colors were blue and grey.  Thus, their Ketubah features the lily pond below their text, with the brick pillars extending from the pond and curving to form the foundation of the circular image.  The Ketubah is tied together with blue and grey arches.

Karin & Hart

A little about my own wedding and how to incorporate art to make a personal brand

WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE MET: 

I was born and raised as a city girl in Los Angeles, California in a very large Jewish family.  Hart, my groom was raised in Kentucky, where family and culture revolves around horses, bourbon and southern hospitality. Somehow fate brought us together through young professional programming at the Jewish Federation in Birmingham, Alabama.  The Southern Belle in me was quickly discovered, and Hart and I bonded over our shared values of family and tradition and a mutual love for country music and Judaism.

Amelia Strauss Photography / Maya Myers Photography

OUR WEDDING:

Our wedding day was filled with Jewish, southern, and family traditions.

 Maya Myers Photography

OUR LOGO:

Our logo was featured throughout our wedding, from the save the date to the invitation, menus, program, signage on the day of the wedding, hotel welcome bag, welcome letters, wedding cake and USB escort cards filled with our favorite country music songs.

This logo was a monogram with the letter ‘C’ for Cole (our new married name) with a silhouette of us inside the enlarged patterned letter.  On some items we used the original drawing and some we used a stamp that was created from the drawing.  I chose to design a monogram for our logo since they play a big role in southern culture.  The use of the same art image throughout the wedding helped to integrate all the separate pieces of our wedding into one cohesive unit.  

OUR WEDDING INVITATION:

Our wedding invitation featured the scene of our wedding: A bride and groom standing under a Chuppah (wedding canopy) with yellow roses and blue hydrangeas set on the backdrop of a white picket fence and large tree.

Made in collaboration with Jessica Creter of Tulaloo Stationary Studio  / Maya Myers Photography

OUR KETUBAH:

I painted our Ketubah with a similar scene of the tree of life, our Chuppah and a honeycomb hanging from one of the branches, because Hart calls me honeybee.

Michelle & Scott

Michelle, my second older sister, married Scott just three short months after Linda and Sean’s wedding.  Not only did I have the honor of painting their Ketubah, but I also had so much fun designing their wedding invitation too!

Michelle and Scott met as Freshmen studying at the University of Pennsylvania. Their relationship began as best friends and grew from there.  They dated through many life transitions, from graduating college to first jobs in New York to moving across the country to Los Angeles.  After 6 years together, Scott surprised Michelle at our family’s home in Encino by proposing under an intimate and romantic gazebo in the backyard.  Both families were standing by waiting for Michelle to say yes and for the celebrations to begin.

THE INVITATION: 

Michelle and Scott wanted their wedding invitation to be unique and meaningful to them.  They asked me to recreate their proposal scene of the backyard gazebo.  As you can see above, I drew an ink line drawing that was delicately painted with a watercolor wash of Scott on one knee in the gazebo asking Michelle to be his wife.  I worked together with Jessica Creter from Tulaloo Stationery Studio to help package the drawing into the final wedding invitation suite.

Made in collaboration with Jessica Creter of Tulalloo Stationary Studio / Maya Myers Photography

THE KETUBAH: 

Anyone that knows Michelle knows just how much she loves hearts.  So, of course, Michelle and Scott had to surround their marriage document with the heart-shaped symbol of love.  They wanted a tree of life that once began as separate roots but then merged together to form one beautiful tree.  Their Ketubah symbolizes their once individual paths that then intertwined to create a greater whole.  Michelle and Scott also wrote their own Ketubah text, promising their commitment to one another.  Their love tree is rich with pomegranates to symbolize the 613 mitzvot (commandments) from the Torah and the righteousness of their marriage to one another.   

Linda & Sean

THE KETUBAH: 

Linda and Sean’s Ketubah was my first!  Linda, my oldest sister, honored me with this meaningful request - to help her and Sean create and design a Ketubah that was personal to them.  They wanted to include images with special significance, and a work of art that they would enjoy seeing in their home every day.

Linda and Sean met while working at Wolfgang Puck catering.  They are both foodies, and their wedding reflected their deep passion for food with a farm to table atmosphere. Every aspect of their wedding was well thought out to reflect their personalities, interests, and relationship, including their Ketubah.

 Maya Myers Photography

Linda and Sean wrote the text of their Ketubah together and had their close friend from Israel translate it into Hebrew.  While Sean is not Jewish, together Linda and Sean were able to create their own connection to their Ketubah, revitalized the old tradition to fit them as a modern day interfaith couple.  Linda and Sean asked for a tree of life design, for the word Ahava (Love in Hebrew) to be written into the roots of the tree, and to include a hummingbird to remember our Zeide (grandfather), a Holocaust survivor who had passed away years ago.  They also asked to include pomegranates in the tree, commonly seen in Jewish art as a symbol of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) from the Torah.  Because of their abundance of seeds, pomegranates are considered a symbol of righteousness and fruitfulness.