A guide to writing the perfect Wedding Vows

A special way to personalize your wedding ceremony is to prepare your own wedding vows. Here are some tips for brides and grooms for writing their own wedding vows, with personal touches:

• Talk with your spouse to get some sort of expectation for: the tone, how long you expect the vows to be, whether you both will include the same promise, will your vows be super funny, or super emo, etc.

• Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare your wedding vows. It’s not a last-minute homework assignment – it’s an expression of your love, and should not be raced. Your husband or wife will certainly know if you just wing it.

• More than likely, this is the first time you are preparing wedding vows, so it’s normal to feel unequipped. Read online examples of wedding vows and get inspiration, but ensure that you don’t copy word for word. Don’t use words in your vows that you typically don’t use or have no idea how to pronounce. Just be you, your authentic self, as that’s who your spouse fell in love with.

• It’s a good idea to have your wedding vows prepared at least 1 month prior to the big day. This will give you an opportunity to review them, make necessary edits and practice reading them aloud, so you are well rehearsed and comfortable on the wedding day. Although you are reading your vows to your partner, your guests would like to hear them almost as intently.

• As much as you may want to include every single memory in your vows, well, don’t. Jot down some of the most memorable memories and include those, but remember, there is a time schedule for the event. Include romance, laughter, creativity, words of wisdom, shared good times and how you overcame bad times. Make them sincere and let them come straight from the heart. However, remember to not make them very long.

• It’s ok to copy a phrase or two that expresses how you feel about your significant other, but please don’t recite an entire song or a poem. I’ve heard this done and the entire audience was able to recite the “personal vows” with the groom. How embarrassing is that?

• Once you have prepared and edited your draft, ask a trusted family member or a friend to listen to you read it out loud and ask for their honest opinion.

• Once final draft has been composed, prepare a clean printed copy for the wedding day, and please don’t use a napkin from the bar! Remember to print two copies for the big day, one to keep on your person, and hand the other to your best man, or bridesmaid, just to keep a back-up copy.