I love weddings. I love everything about them. It is no surprise that I am pretty obsessed with them. What I really love is the wedding ceremony. The time where bride and groom share their love with their closest friends and family, or with just each other. It is really a special and beautiful moment. Typically, bride and grooms exchange a few lovely words with each other. Some couples like to repeat the vows from the officiant, or some like to share their personal vows. What I love the most is the vows that are personally written by the couple. That is the best!
If you are a bride or groom who wants to write their own vows, we got some fabulous tips to help you out. We asked our amazing friend and officiant, Alan Katz of Great Officiants to provide us with the do’s and dont’s of writing wedding vows. He gives us some pretty amazing tips, which we think every bride and groom should consider when writing their wedding vows.
1. Do short repeated vows to lead into personalized words. This will give the you and the guests the lead in to know that it is “vow time”.
2. Don’t write promise vows, “I promise this and that” because no one keeps their vows and also everyone had heard it all before. It is time to be a bit creative and unique.
3. Instead of writing “Vows” write “Your” story. Like any good story, use a beginning, middle, and end. “when I first met you I felt this way”,”our life together has been this”, “our future is this”. This way, it is a story you know. It comes off more genuine. It shows the passion and emotion of you as a couple.
4. Make vows similar in length. Set a word or length together so it does not sound lopsided. Make it in first person.
5. Don’t handwrite it. Type it on the computer and print it on to a 4×6 index card so it doesn’t flap in the wind or make crinkle sounds. If you fold it up and stuff it down your top or inside pocket it will really look shabby. Give it to the Officiant prior to the start of the ceremony so they can hand it to you to read.
6. Best way to display your vows? You can print it onto a nice piece of paper and place it in a picture frame. When it it time for your vows the Officiant will hand you the frame and you can read it off the frame. Then place the frame on the cake table for your guests to see, and then you can hang it on your wall at home. This is an elegant way to do it and allows the vows to be seen and remembered for years to come.
7. Practice your vows a couple times before the ceremony to make sure it flows. When you finally read your feelings to your spouse, your emotions will tell the story. Your guests will get a bird’s eye insight into your love story and the feelings you share will set the tone for the rest of the wedding.
No matter how you decide to do your vows make them special to you.
