Writing your own wedding vows lends even more intimacy to the wedding party and the ceremony. Keeping your hand written vows forever and being able to share them with your children and grand children is a wonderful family tradition. These are the words you will say to each other that are meant to be remembered for a lifetime, but most couples spend so much time planning the reception and thinking of the guests that they completely miss the importance of the wedding vow. You want to remember these words forever before you remember what you served at the buffet.
But not all of us are poets or articulate when writing. To get you started on your own, personal wedding vows, here is a list of questions designed to jog your memory and help you along:
When and where did you first meet?
What was the state of your life before the two of you met?
At what point did you realize you were in love? Describe the feeling.
What inspires you about your loved one?
What life goals and dreams do you share?
What have you learned from each other?
What qualities make your love unique? What qualities will keep it strong?
How has your view of the world changed since you fell in love?
What do you most look forward to about life with this person?
What are some special moments in your relationship? Use them all, even the sad times as well as the happy, moving, or profound.
What happened the day you asked her to marry you? How did you feel?
It is very romantic to read these vows from the handwritten paper you first used, but after the ceremony you may wish to choose to have them done in calligraphy and framed in your home, that way you will always be reminded of this day, through the good times and the bad.
Start writing well before the wedding; take your time and rewrite as much as necessary.
You could even hire a professional writer to help you with the phrasing, or there are free templates and workbooks available online. You may want to share what you’ve written with your best man or your maid of honor and see what they think before you go any further, or you may want to keep the entire project a secret until the special moment arrives. Either way, remember, this is more important than where the flowers go, so take as much time deciding what you will say to each other as you did in picking out the color scheme and the food. You will have pictures to remember the wedding, you only have your heart to hear those vows spoken one time and one time only.