Renewing your wedding vows

Things to think about when you’re making your wedding vows to each other ‐‐ again

Renewing your vows is becoming more popular. Although the various churches do offer vow renewal ceremonies, couples often take this opportunity to have a more flexible ceremony and include many personal aspects of their life together.

If you’re considering writing your own vows for a renewal ceremony, there are three aspects you might like to include. The first is your life together since you first made your vows to each other. What were the highlights? Buying your first home, travelling round the world, the birth of your children? How did your partner make those experiences even more important for you? How do you specifically remember your partner at these times? What were the low points and how did you overcome them together? What did you learn about your spouse during this time?

Then look at your original vows. Do you think they have reflected your married life fairly since you made them? Which of them have you both truly kept? Which of them are you still working at?

Finally, consider your future together. What are your hopes and dreams? How does this differ from the future you envisaged when you first made your vows? What are you going to do differently from now on, and what are you going to keep the same?

You might like to start by saying: ‘We stand here today before family and friends as we have stood here before. In front of them I again take. . .’

Or ‘Ten years from the day on which we were first joined together, my faith in this marriage is stronger than ever. The years we have spent together have given me the joy with which I promise again to be your husband/wife.’