Wedding Vows: To Write or Not to Write
If you’ve ever been to a wedding, or are planning your wedding, you may be familiar with the concept of vows. Or, at the very least, you know that they’re the words a couple says before the much anticipated “you may now kiss the bride!”
But, what really are vows? And what importance do they hold in a wedding ceremony?
For a brief background, the proclamation of vows at a wedding dates all the way back to 1549, a time in which the more ‘traditional’ vows you often hear a couple repeat, leading up to the “I do,” got their start.
For example… this probably sounds familiar to you:
“I *(insert name here)* take you *(insert name here)* to be my lawfully wedded (husband/wife)...to have and to hold…until death do us part” - or something along those lines.
While this specific set of phrases has evolved over the last 400 years or so to be what it is today, it is still very commonly used in more traditional settings.
Since we’re currently in the year 2022, although traditional vows are still regularly used in ceremonies, there are some couples that choose to go a slightly different route: writing and speaking vows that are a little more personalized.
You may be thinking, what exactly does that mean?
Well, if you decide to write your own vows, you can really do or say whatever you want - think of it as a love letter to your soon-to-be spouse.
In this ‘letter,’ you may recount various special memories you have with the other person, discuss the things that you love about them, talk about how much they mean to you, or make promises that you plan to uphold within your marriage. Of course, you can certainly do a combination of all of these things, or something completely different.
The biggest thing to remember is to have fun with it!
Sometimes, a couple may want to do a mix of both personal and traditional vows, rather than just picking one or the other.
In this case, you have many options as to how exactly it plays out.
For instance, during your ceremony, you could maybe start with your personal vows and then do the more traditional vows right after, or vice versa.
Something a lot of Fancy Fox Couples have decided to do is saying traditional vows at the ceremony and privately reading personalized vows during a first look/first touch.
Reading your vows when it’s just the two of you can not only create a really intimate moment between you both, but it can also make for some great photo/video content for you to look back on.
If you’re having trouble choosing what to do, let’s put it simply…
If you would prefer something short and sweet, but still meaningful, you may want to stick with traditional vows.
On the other hand, if you don’t mind spending a little extra time crafting up a heartfelt ‘letter’ to your loved one, then personal vows may work for you.
Or, if you’re like us and have a hard time picking between the two, you can always do both!
Just remember, no matter what choice of vows you and your partner end up going with, or how you decide to share them with each other on your big day…. they’ll be special and perfect for you.
At the end of the day, your love and promises made to each other is all that really matters!!
