Did you go traditional or write your own? If I remember correctly, the Husband wanted us to write our own. And even though I’m a writer by trade, I really wanted to do traditional vows. So we did both.
For some reason I felt this great weight about wanting to say the words that couples have said for generations.
The “to have and to hold from this day forward” just struck a place in my heart. The promises of for better or worse, richer or poorer and in sickness and health just seemed important for me—with my fickle past—to utter out loud before God and the world to hear. And especially “forsaking all others” – as I’d not been so good at that in my earlier years. The sentiment of I’m sticking with this one, no matter what, was a crucial aspect of the ceremony for me. I wanted to know it. I wanted him to know it.
In our self-written vows, I made lots of other promises – to trust his leadership of our family, to forgive quickly and ask for forgiveness often and most of all to trust our relationship and my concerns in this life to the Lord first and foremost.
Mmmm…it was really good for me to go back and read our vows today. I meant what I said then, and I still mean it today. I don’t always get all of those things right. But I’m here and I’m not goin’ anywhere.
So, how did you do your wedding vows?
Photo credit: © Surkov_vladimir | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
We did both vows as well, though our minister, a dear friend, rewrote the traditional ones a little bit to be based around one if the dearest verses to me, ruth 1:16-17.
For the ones we wrote, they were promises to each other, some silly, some sweet, some serious…all wonderfully special.
thanks for reminding me of our vows with this post!
Aw…I love the book of Ruth and especially those verses. Beautiful for wedding vows! Love that you incorporated silly and sweet as well.
My husband wanted us to write them which seemed like a lot of pressure, but I did it. So so so glad we wrote our own. I even framed them with some wedding pics and have them in our home as a reminder of our promises!
HI Kristen, I love the idea of framing your wedding vows with pictures. Found this on Pinterest a few months ago…but of course I haven’t done anything to make it happen: http://pinterest.com/pin/194499277626704135/ Thanks so much for stopping by.
Love that you used both the traditional and your own together. Our minister had a written set that we used. It was close to the traditional, but with a few differences. I need to go back and see them on our wedding video; it’s been a while since I’ve looked at exactly what we said!
By the way, I nominated your blog for a Liebster Blog award. You can read all about it at my blog here: http://toomanyjarsinmykitchen.com/2012/04/25/double-the-fun-liebster-blog-award/
Hi Mindy! I had to go back and find the ones we wrote in order to do this post! We had a sweet conversation about it this morning. We love our vows!
Thanks so much for nominating my blog! What a great idea! Now I need to go find my 5 to nominate.
It’s crazy how quickly you can forget what you actually said in your vows! Especially after almost 12 years…
You’re welcome! I thought it was fun and it helped me branch out and find some new smaller blogs to read.