Love is in the air – Renewing Your Wedding Vows

Spring brings warmer weather, a sense of hope and optimism, and a revival and renewal of plants and animals. Flowers bloom, and baby birds, cows and sheep appear across the country. Spring is also the busiest time of the year for weddings and many people are enjoying attending weddings as a guest, member of the bridal party or the happy couple themselves. This sense of love and excitement may inspire happily married couples to renew their wedding vows.
TCN Celebrant and today's guest and regular blogger Melanie Lawson from Oberon, NSW talks about the renewing wedding vows.

Why renew your vows?

Whether you’ve been married for 5, 10 or 50 years, renewing your vows can be a time to reflect on your relationship and celebrate your marriage. You may also want to renew your vows to mark a major milestone in your relationship, such as overcoming illness or adversity; becoming parents or reuniting after relationship difficulties. This may be an intimate moment to share with your partner or a celebration involving friends and family.

What could a renewal of vows include?

When you renew your wedding vows you are free to include any wording you like. You can choose to repeat some of the same vows you made when you were married. The exception here is that you can’t use the legal wording, which can only be used on the day of your actual marriage. Your celebrant will also need to make it clear to everyone attending the ceremony that you are renewing your vows rather than actually getting married.
You may want to refresh your vows by reflecting on how your relationship has changed or grown since you married. Or you could focus on the years to come. You might decide to include new commitments or statements about how you feel now that you have shared some years together as a couple.
Other options are to include children, pets or others who are special to your relationship. Just like at a wedding, you could include readings, songs, poems or symbolic rituals. Sand or candle ceremonies work very well for vow renewals, and you can exchange old or new rings. If you are exchanging rings, think about having your guests ‘bless’ or ‘warm’ the rings by holding them while wishing you good thoughts. And finally, of course you can include that all important kiss to seal the deal!



Contact a celebrant for more ideas

The Celebrants Network Inc has a directory of skilled and experienced celebrants who can work with you to design an individualised and perfect ceremony to renew your wedding vows: TCN Celebrants