Consult your officiant: You must get approval from your rabbi for the text you choose.
Anita Diamant, who wrote not only the popular historical fiction The Red Tent but also the New Jewish Wedding, which is practically required reading for brides and grooms. In this book, she provides a new version of the ketubah text that shares equal responsibilities and love between partners.
New Ketubah Text Option
On the _____ day of the week, the _____ day of _____ five thousand seven hundred _____ since the creation of the world as we reckon time here in ______.
The bride _____ daughter of _____ and _____ promised the groom, son of _____ and _____. You are my husband according to the tradition of Moses and Israel. I shall cherish you and honor you as is customary among the daughters of Israel who have cherished and honored their husbands in faithfulness and in integrity.
The groom _____ son of _____ and _____ promised the bride, daughter of _____ and _____. You are my wife according to the tradition of Moses and Israel. I shall cherish you and honor you as is customary among the sons of Israel who have cherished and honored their wives in faithfulness and in integrity.
The groom and bride have also promised each other to strive throughout their lives together to achieve an openness which will enable them to share their thoughts, their feelings, and their experiences.
To be sensitive at all times to each others’ needs, to attain mutual intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual fulfillment. To work for the perpetuation of Judaism and of the Jewish people in their home, in their family life, and in their communal endeavors.
This marriage has been authorized also by the civil authorities of _____.
It is valid and binding.
Witness _______________ Witness __________________
Bride _________________ Groom ___________________
Rabbi ___________________
From The New Jewish Wedding, by Anita Diamant (New York: Scribner, 2001).