Writing Your Own Wedding Vows

Your wedding vows are the words that will forever remain in your partner's heart and memory. So you want to ensure that you express exactly what you are feeling and how much you love them. Most people have never written wedding vows before and they aren't quite sure how to communicate what they feel into words. Here are some helpful guidelines to ensure that the feelings in your heart are encompassed in your wedding vows:

Sit down with your fiancée and put some general expectations in place for your wedding vows - such as how long and how in-depth they should be.

Begin brainstorming. Think about your relationship and everything you've gone through together. Focus, perhaps, on a specific situation such as the moment when you realized that this was the person you were meant to be with.

If you use nicknames or lovable expressions with your fiancée (honey or sweetheart) you may want to incorporate these into your wedding vows.

If tradition is important to you, review some examples of conventional wedding vows. Most begin with "in the name of God, I (your name) take you (your fiancée's name) to be my lawfully wedded wife/husband." You may consider reciting your vows in a similar manner.

Avoid sad memories or stories about you and your partner fighting. Wedding vows are meant to express the joys of being together. Therefore you should focus on the positive.

Once you've jotted down your ideas, you'll want to express them in a smooth and flowing manner. You may want to start with past memories and work your way to the present instead of jumping randomly from topic to topic, as this will give the impression that you took little time to prepare your vows.

Incorporate common expressions of love such as "I love you" or "I can't live with out you".

Once you have completed your vows be sure to read them over 2 or 3 times to ensure that they convey exactly what you want your partner to know. You might want to have a friend, family member or your wedding officiant to read them to ensure that they are appropriate and meaningful.

It's important to personalize your wedding vows and make them unique to you and your fiancée. Wedding vows are meant to convey your feelings of love. They explain why you're choosing to spend the rest of your life with your partner. Regardless of what you write, your partner loves you and is going to cherish your wedding vows as long as they come from the heart.

Samantha Taylor spent several years working in the weddings industry as a wedding planner. When she isn't being a mom of two wonderful children, she works as a freelance writer for http://www.yourwedding101.com - a site that offers information about everything wedding related - from wedding ceremonies to wedding traditions and more.

In The News:

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Downtown Express
Eloping to Vegas? Why Not Lower Manhattan?
New York Times, United States - Jan 7, 2009
“With these new digs, there might just be a new world wedding capital.� The city clerk’s office issued 66600 marriage licenses in 2007 and performed about ...
Manhattan's new Marriage Bureau earns wows as a place to say your vows New York Daily News
NY hears wedding bells, aims to compete with Vegas The Associated Press
Wedding Bells Ring In NYC Marriage Bureau WNYC
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Sydney Morning Herald
‘Bride Wars’ is a failed marriage | 1 ½ stars
Kansas City Star, MO - 14 hours ago
And their mutual friends will have to decide which wedding to attend. All would be well if only one of them would cancel (or if they would agree to a double ...
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'Bride Wars' stars Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway are funny allies Los Angeles Times
'Bride Wars' A Marriage Of Mediocrity Tampa Tribune
Boston Globe - Washington Postall 787 news articles

Boston Globe
Movie review: Cliches nag 'Not Easily Broken'
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - 6 hours ago
The opening wedding scene in the new Bill Duke film, "Not Easily Broken" is so overwrought and cliched, it's akin to sitting down with a promising novel, ...
Not Easily Broken ( ** ) AHN
Movie Review: ‘Not Easily Broken’ is a romantic soap opera that ... Providence Journal
» Inspirational drama anything but 'Broken' Chicago Daily Herald
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Kansas City Starall 82 news articles

FOR FAMILIES: A guide for parents to Jan. 9 and earlier releases
Chicago Tribune, United States - 11 hours ago
By Roger Moore | Tribune Newspapers What it's about: Best friends become dueling brides when they both book the wedding they've always dreamed of in the ...

Wedding war: Las Vegas versus New York
KVBC, NV - 9 hours ago
The city has renovated it marriage bureau and even built a 24000-square-foot wedding complex with the hope of becoming the most popular wedding site. ...

Wearing white and eating cake, Brides magazine turns 75
The Canadian Press, NEW YORK - 21 hours ago
"The magazine is realistic about how people's lives are today, but still the focus is how to have a successful wedding and start a healthy marriage," says ...

New York Magazine
City to Make Your Shotgun Marriage Just That Much Nicer
New York Magazine,  USA - Jan 7, 2009
Photo: Getty Images Perhaps sensing the economic downturn (and having eventually watched the Sex and the City movie), the city spruced up its civil-wedding ...

"Not Easily Broken" a thinly disguised sermon
Reuters - 6 minutes ago
Wedding-day dreams have taken several unexpected turns when we catch up with Dave (Morris Chestnut) and Clarice (Taraji P. Henson). They live an extremely, ...

MLive.com
Bay County gets older, refrains from marriage, likes guns ...
MLive.com, MI - 19 hours ago
Luczak said economics could be partly to blame, as young couples struggling to get a foothold in life may be putting off the expense of a wedding.

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