Your Wedding Vows
There are many ways you can make your vows and promises to each other in your wedding ceremony. Every couple is different and so having the choice is great. You don’t want to feel overly nervous before or during your ceremony, nor do you want to feel short-changed.
Having a choice, means that you can make your vows in the way you feel most comfortable with. A celebrant will offer you a range of options:
“Repeat after me” vows allow you to have wonderful personal promises to each other. They are shared and agreed and you repeat them after the celebrant. Wedding guests hear each vow 4 times so they need to be quite short but they make a real impact. After meeting and working with a couple I will always suggest some vows and promises to them that I think match their values and relationship. They can then be used as is or tweaked. Ultimately it is the couple’s choice.
Romantic US-style declarations involve each partner individually saying to each other how their partner makes them feel. It is just like in the movies. The vows and promises are unique, secret and are often deeply touching and can also be very funny. If my couples choose this option, I still give them guidance in advance and I will help ensure the two sets of words are balanced. I will give extra help with one partner (often the groom lol) if they need it. I then turn the words into lovely booklets which I give to each partner at the appropriate time in the ceremony.
A hybrid option exists for those couples that have one partner wanting “repeat after me” and the other wanting the “US-style declarations”. Marriage is all about compromise, so the hybrid option is perfect. It combines a bit of both and are very popular.
Minimalist “I will” vows are for those couples who are very shy and don’t want to say more than just two words in their wedding ceremony. The celebrant will ask them a range of questions which are still personal and meaningful to the couple and their relationship but at the end of the set of questions, they only simply have to reply: “I will”.
The wedding vows are at the centre of the wedding ceremony. It is around these that everything else happens and so it is important to get them right for you. Feel free to get in touch to find out more.