Wedding Vows

Wedding vows are promises made by the bride and groom to each other during a wedding ceremony. Research other people's wedding vows for inspiration. Hop on the web, ask friends and family, talk to your chaplain, look in wedding magazines and your favorite books, songs and poetry . Find ideas and language you like and work from there.

When you have made the decision to write your own wedding vows you should start writing at least two months before the ceremony. This will give you time to rewrite and make modifications.

It is not a good idea to write your own wedding vows if one of the parties really doesn't want to. This is such an important part of the wedding that both the bride and groom should be willing to take part in the writing of the wedding vows.

Because the heart of the wedding ceremony is the exchange of vows, creating your own can be a wonderful opportunity to share aloud just why you have chosen your mate. This declaration of intent is specifically what the ritual is about anyway. To help you begin to formulate your ideas about what you will eventually write as your wedding vow, use the following tips. They will guide you to the most beautiful, loving words designed for your wedding day:

* You don't have to completely rewrite the traditional vows; you can simply replace certain words, phrases, or sentences to fit your thoughts.

* Ask the officiator about ideas he may have, guidance he might offer, or what's acceptable in a vow.

* The library offers many books on how to write personalized wedding vows. Read as many as you can so that you get a good feeling about how to write yours.

* Collect phrases that you like.

* Attend weddings and make notes about the words you liked in others' vows.