Photography: Galleryhip
Writing your own wedding vows is the perfect way to personalize your wedding and to express exactly how you feel about your spouse-to-be. You might want to keep your vows short and sweet, but they should be able to tell your spouse-to-be ─ and your guests who are witnessing your union ─ about what makes your relationship special and what you will hold sacred for the rest of your life.
Let us walk you through the two parts of your wedding vows: the reasons and the promises.
1. Start your vows with the reasons why you're standing at the altar with your partner.
Talk about the things that make him special and about how he has won your heart. Focus on highlighting his best qualities, mention the memorable moments in your relationship, the milestones that signifies your relationship, including the hardships that you have overcome to finally be standing there that day, professing your love to each other.
Take the time to reflect on your relationship before writing down a list of reasons why you think you are meant to spend the rest of your lives with each other. Write your thoughts about your loved ones in a journal. Underline the most significant moments and reasons that make your relationship uniquely yours. Discuss these with your future spouse, to make sure that you are both on the same page about the reasons why you're doing this.
2. Write down the promises you want to make to your future spouse.
Despite your personalities and the memories that you share, you will make promises to love each other forever, followed by a list of other promises. In most traditional vows, people promise to be there for their loved ones in sickness and in health, through the good times and the bad, to support and comfort them no matter what. Find a way to personalize these points, since that is the very essence of marriage. Don't be carried away to make promises you cannot keep, or risky promises that might not be relevant years from now, no matter how lovely it may sounds.
You might think that you need to fill your vows with pretty words that make everyone overwhelmed with emotions. But remember that your vow will be the rock on which you build your marriage. Be yourself. Don't be tempted to fall into clichés. Don't lean on the words of others, but focus on what makes your relationship unique. Another pro-tip: while you need to remember to be yourself, don't forget your audience. You can still share the best of who you are and what your relationship means without confusing or boring your audience.
