write my own wedding vows

How I did it: Sat down with husband to be and chatted about what we liked about each other, what we liked about our relationship, what values we think are important and what we want for our relationship in the future. We got a blank piece of paper and jotted down our ideas.

We looked up the declarations we needed to legally say in order to be married then started writing from there. It was helpful to make a list of any important words that came to mind, as well as useful synonyms.

With each draft, we read the vows out loud so we could listen to whether they sounded right when spoken and finally came to a version we both liked.

(By the way, it didn't take three full days to complete but it was helpful to allow for some thinking time as well as some 'doing' time.)

Lessons & tips: If this goal is important to you, set aside some time when you can minimise imterruptions so that you can give it your full attention. It can be useful to have a look at examples of other people's vows but have a go at writing your own from scratch at first so that you aren't overly influenced by what you've read.

Be sure to check with the person conducting your wedding service whether there are any specific requirements (e.g., we are having a civil wedding ceremony in England, where the law prevents us from making any religious references).

Resources: Just doing searches for examples of wedding vows on the internet. We also received details of the wedding ceremony (including typical vows) from the registrar service who are conducting our ceremony. There is plenty of free information out there so no need to pay for advice on this one.

Aug 30, 03:43PM PDT | 0 comments