Different Types of Wedding Vows

Washington Wedding Articles » Wedding Day Details

Vows take center stage when the ceremony begins. Like the wedding rings, vows are a sealing commitment between two people. They serve as the beginning of a lifelong relationship, and are promises made between each person that are of utmost importance. Vows may come in the form of traditional recitation, or they can be person, written by each person as a unique promise to the individual they are marrying.

Traditional
Most weddings, especially religious ones, may require the use of traditional vows. Once the traditional vows are recited, they may have the option of being followed by personal sentiments. If you wish to recite personal ones, be sure to ask the organization or relevant party if that will be acceptable. Most churches will say that it is.

Traditional vows are commonly known, and are the same for each individual. The most traditional ones are recited something like this:

“I, (speaker), take you (spouse), to be my (wife or husband), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward, until death do us part.”

If you want to recite ones different from the above, but do not wish to write them yourself, ask the minister or official about different variations available.

Personal
Personal vows are as they sound – personal. They a written by each individual and are a personal sentiments and promises from one person to the other. They can be either long or short, but most include the following elements:

? a reason for the commitment of marriage. For example, “I love you so much I will stay with your forever....”, etc.
? a promise made to other.
? Reasons why you love the other person
? A funny detail or something similar

When writing own, its important to make it from the heart. Something written by another person may not seem to fit, and trying to clinically analyze the reasons for the marriage will just seem odd. Avoid rattling on for a long amount of time, as the audience will become bored and it may ruin the rest of the wedding for them. Likewise, an extremely short one can usually only be pulled off in the rarest of circumstances.

Finally, once you have finished, go over them with the official who will be marrying you. This allows them to not only get a time estimate for pacing the ceremony, but will also give you the opportunity to ask any questions and receive advice.