THE ONLY RESOURCE YOU’LL NEED FOR FIGURING OUT WHO TO WRITE WEDDING VOWS
You’re here because you need to know how to write wedding vows. Well, congratulations, friend, because after reading this blog, you’ll be ready.
So you made the decision for you and your partner to write your own wedding vows, but now you’re stuck and need some help. It might seem like an overwhelming task, but writing your own wedding vows is so worth the effort. It’s a chance for you to tell your partner your version of your story, and they are great keepsakes to print out and frame so you can look back at them. Every little moment, every argument, every day and night that has passed by in your relationship has brought you to this very moment of writing your wedding vows. You are the keeper of what will be going into these vows, so don’t give up too fast. Everything you’ll be putting into your vows, you already know. You just need some guidance and encouragement. Once you are done reading this article, you are going to be ready to write your own wedding vows. We lay out tips for brainstorming, tips on on what to include and what not to include, how long your wedding vows should be, ideas for what to do with your vows once they are written (no, keeping them on your phone is not a good idea), and for those who are really stuck, there is a template you can use to make your own wedding vows. Let’s get started, we are going to teach you how to write wedding vows!
GENERAL TIPS
Do not wait to write your wedding vows the night before. You see it in movies, some people might even be up for the challenge and do it in real life, but trust us, do not do this. If you’re reading this article, you’re not someone who can write wedding vows the night before their wedding. Start the process now. If your wedding is a year and a half from now, that’s great, still start now. A great tip is to keep your phone or a notepad with you 24/7 and jot down ideas when they come to mind. There will be moments while spending time with your partner that will spark an idea for your vows, and you’ll want to have it written down to refer back to later once you’re reading to start writing them out. The more ideas you have, the easier it’ll be for you. Stay true to your personality. Your wedding vows don’t have to be any certain way, they don’t have to be funny, or romantic. Let your wedding vows be a reflection of who you are, and the relationship you’re in. For the funny stand up comedian, yea, his vows will probably be humor driven, but for someone who doesn’t have a funny bone in their body, it might be really hard for them to try to think of something funny to put in their vows, so don’t force it. Stick to who you are as a person, and think about what it is that you want to promise for your relationship, and to your partner.
WHAT TO INCLUDE AND WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR VOWS
Focus on what you want to promise to your partner. It can be anything. And remember, no two relationships are the same, so what you want to promise might never even cross the mind of someone else. If you do decide to add something funny to your vows, keep this in mind, do not say anything that could hurt your partner’s feelings. One thing that could help figure this out, when did the incident happen, is it too soon to talk about that specific situation? Maybe leave it out of your wedding vows if so.
Some ideas of things to include in your vows:
Do you two have a song that you both love and it reminds you of each other? You could read a song lyric from it.
Is there anything that the two of you do when it’s just the two of you? Any games, or gestures, or hand things? It’s hard to explain this but if you two have a thing, you’ll know it and will be able to talk about it.
Reciting your vows doesn’t have to be just reading from paper. Bring a print out of photos to show your partner.
HOW LONG SHOULD YOUR WEDDING VOWS BE
Keep it around 2-4 minutes. You want your partner to be able to remember each part of the vows you’ve written, and if they’re too long, your partner will miss the main points.
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR WEDDING VOWS AFTER YOU’VE WRITTEN THEM
Now that you have your wedding vows written, think about how you want to recite them during your ceremony. You have a few options.
Okay, here’s the thing about saying you’ll remember your vows on your wedding day. When you say you’re going to remember your vows, and not bring some kind of hard copy of them to your ceremony for back up, you’re taking the risk of skipping sections, or even worse completely forgetting everything you wrote. Don’t take all your hard work you’ve done so far and put it to chance. Okay, okay, so you say you won’t forget, but what if you do? What if you get so many butterflies and all these new emotions you’ve never felt before, and just completely forget what you were going to say. It is your wedding day afterall, there is a huge chance you won’t be able to remember everything you wrote down. Then you’re stuck standing there, with a perfectly amazing wedding vow that YOU wrote, not with you, and you can’t recite them because you can’t remember what you wrote. Wouldn’t that be terrible? That you have promises you want to make to your partner on your wedding day, but you can’t promise them because you messed up by saying you’d remember them? Leave it to the experts who have been to a handful of weddings, you do not want to try and remember your vows. We’ve seen it happen before, and it ends up bad every single time.
What about reading your vows straight off of your phone?
We’ll admit, we both did this. When we (Alex and Kelly) eloped, (read all about our elopement story here ) we planned our elopement in three days and there just simply wasn’t time to have our vows printed on stationary. Looking back, I’m surprised I didn’t even write them down on paper? Because there are so many things that could happen to your phone, or just happen cause that’s life, that could prevent you from accessing your vows that you have stored on your cell phone. You could forget your phone, drop it in water, forget to charge it, it could randomly stop working. You’re putting a lot of trust and faith into a technical device which is known to fail all the time. Don’t leave your beautifully written wedding vows on a phone and hope that you’ll be able to access them when it’s time for your ceremony. Not only is it a bad idea to trust your phone to keep your vows safely kept, they just don’t look great in photos. Cell phones are not something that’s timeless, and won’t keep your wedding pictures looking timeless either. When you look back at your wedding photos, you don’t want to see an apple iphone in the picture of you reading your wedding vows.
After you’ve written your vows, you’ll want to be able to bring them with you to the ceremony in an easy way. We suggest working with a professional for this. They will be able to guide you and give you ideas for what fits your situation the best. We love the idea of getting a personalized vow booklet made with blank pages, so you can write your vows in the booklet yourself. There are a ton of ways to do this! Below is a list of professionals who specialize in creating keepsakes for wedding vows.
Blue Sky Papers
Ox and Pine
That Bag Lady Creations
Paper Girl Creative
Our Vows
Poppy and Birch
For the Love of Stationery
TEMPLATE FOR WRITING YOUR WEDDING VOWS
Your partners name,
In the first section, talk about the time when you two first met. Here are some ideas to get you started.
-Is there a specific moment you remember?
-Mention the feeling you had when you first saw the other person.
-Is there a funny story about how you two met?
-Talk about what you two did during your first date.
-Do you remember what your partner wore on your first date?
-If you met on a dating app, how did you feel when you first got on the app?
Next, talk about how long you’ve two been together. If you haven’t been together for a long period, talk about this but mention the reasons why you’re deciding to get married after only being together for a short time. The old saying, “when you know, you know” could definitely be used here. If you’ve been together for a long time, mention how long and talk on all the ups and downs you two have been through. Maybe there have been career changes, moving states, new members of the family, anything significant that you two have been through, mention these in your vows and make it apparent that you’re grateful for it all.
Get personal. If you two have kids, talk about them and your family. Talk about what it’s been like raising little ones with your partner by your side. If you two plan on having more children, talk about that. If you two have fur babies, talk about them and talk about what you think of when you think of your partner and your fur babies.
Talk about your partner’s personality. What traits did you notice right away? What traits did you learn later on in your relationship. Telling a story that shows their personality is a great way to show your love for your partner. Also talk about your personality and how it ties into your relationship. An example could be if you’re the type of person to be really indecisive, and your partner is really great at helping you think through decisions.
Next, talk about what you’re going to promise to your partner. When you’re making your promises, think about what you would want your partner to be promising to you. Think back to conversations you two have had when talking about what you love about the other person. An example could be, if your partner is really good at listening to you, you could promise that you will never take that trait of theirs for granted. No marriage is perfect, and every marriage goes through hard times. In the traditional wedding vows it goes, “through better or worse”, take this line and spice it up a bit, make it your own. No marriage vow is complete without acknowledging that you’ll go through tough times.
Remember, there are no two couples that are the same. Let your imagination run wild when it comes to writing your vows. If you have an idea that’s never been done before, don’t be afraid to do it! These are all just suggestions on how to write wedding vows, but remember, you already have all the words and ideas in your brain. You are the only one who knows your relationship, and no two relationships are the same. Use this article as a guide, and let us know how your vows turned out. We would love to hear from you!
This guide is so helpful. Especially the template! I appreciate the promts to much—although I am not writing my vows for anytime soon, I am still able to think about my partner and craft this narrative in my mind. Thank you for the help!
Oh my! What a fantastic overview of writing your vows. I For one Would have just thought write what is on my mind a half hour before, and thats why this Wedding vow template is so AMAZIng. Great work with this blog!
Gosh, this is super helpful! I know so many clients are going to love having this info! I wish did when I was getting married!
This is such a brilliant idea for a resource! I’m sure so many couples will find this super helpful!
This is actually super handy…you’re the first I’ve seen to do a blog on this ages-old question! Super handy for all couples whether eloping or having a traditional wedding.
Literally genius! Thank you for sharing these. I want to send this to every single client we have this year!
This is such great advice! Something people might not think about often when planning a wedding, but it’s one of the most remembered and sacred parts, great work!