Guide to Writing Your Vows

Why not exchange unique wedding vows. More and more couples are getting creative with this precious moment in their ceremonies, when they commit in front of family, friends, and officiant to a lifelong marriage. If you're going the self-expressive route, these tips will help you write powerful, beautiful, and personalized wedding vows that just may make your audience cry.

First, discuss what marriage means to both of you. Talk about what you want to give to and take from your relationship, what you expect from a lifetime partner, and how you envision yourselves growing older together. Make sure you probe into difficult matters like why your parents' marriages bit the dust or what constitutes betrayal in your minds. Opening your eyes to each other's beliefs and expectations will deepen your marriage's significance and fortify your union.

You may imagine yourselves nontraditional, unconventional hipsters, but remember that traditional vows have endured for a reason. Get your hands on the standard vows for your religion(s) or faith(s) ask your officiant for assistance then see what strikes a chord.

Try reading poetry, love stories, and religious and spiritual texts or even by watching romantic movies. Jot down words and phrases that capture your feelings, and use them as a launch pad . There's no such thing as plagiarism when it comes to affairs of the heart.

The best self-composed vows are highly personal, with a few vivid, heartfelt details. Make a dinner date with your honey and talk about your own private love story. When was the first time you used the word love? What are your most tender memories of one another? Has your sweetie helped you through a crisis? What challenges do you envision in your future? Incorporate some of these recollections in your vows.

As with all writing, you must eventually put pen to paper. Gather all the threads you've collected memories, quotes, passages, reflections and get to work. Words that should enter your mind and appear in your vows include respect, cherish, love, support, commit, pledge, and promise. Personalized vows can be funny and warm, but they should still be serious about the marriage commitment. Decide if you each want to write your own vows. Most couples rehearse their vows together before the big day, but you could keep them a surprise as long as your officiant and a trusted loved one have given you the thumbs up. Alternatively, you two can write a shared vow that you will both speak.

However, don't make your vows so personal that only you and your sweetie will understand their meaning. Make sure the emotions and experiences you touch upon are identifiable and universal, you've invited guests to witness your bond. You can be personal yet not lose the guests.

Your wedding vows are the most important element of your ceremony, but that doesn't mean they should be long-winded. Your chosen words should pack a punch and should reflect your clarity of vision, sincerity of emotion, and certainty of will.

Once you've written and edited your vows, it's imperative that you review them with your chosen officiant. Your officiant may raise faith-based objections to some statements, or may suggest interesting thoughts or quotes that you can consider adding to your text.

Exchanging vows is like public speaking, these words are meant for an audience. Practice speaking your vows out loud, alone or with a trusted friend. Now is the time to pay attention to structure: Long sentences are fine on paper, but short sentences are best in speech, so make necessary edits.

When it comes to vows, memorization sometimes doesn't work. You are going to be nervous and emotional so you may want to read them off a printed copy or repeat after your officiant. The last thing you want to be worried about is forgetting your vows.

Here are some websites that have different vows and quote suggestions: maybe this will get your creative juices flowing.

Get Romantic.com

Elect Press.com

Bible.org