Something Unexpected
May 18th, 2007 @ 3:24 pm by Mrs. Lovebug
Before I knew anything else about my wedding, I knew I wanted to write my own vows. It’s not that I have a problem with the customary to-have and to-hold’s. It’s simply that I love to write, and if I’m too DIY-disabled to do my own invitations, I can at least redeem myself with that bit of creativity.
So far, I’ve yet to attempt the daunting task of sitting down to pen the pledges. But I have managed to find a few poems to go along with them as potential readings. This one in particular I think would make a fun, untraditional ceremonial sidebar. It’s not explicity about marriage, but that’s what I like about it: it’s unexpected. Still, the poem expresses everything I want my vows to: playfulness, affection, devotion, and cooperation. Plus, it has special meaning to me: I’ve trained Mr. Lovebug how to paint my toes. 
At Twenty-Three Weeks She Can No Longer See Anything South of Her Belly
I’m painting my wife’s toes
in Revlon Super Color Forty Nine.
I’ve no idea what I’m doing.
She asked me to get the bottle, Read more…
Wedding Vows
May 3rd, 2007 @ 7:37 pm by Mrs. Tomato
I don’t know how many of you out there are writing your own wedding vows, but I came across Elegant Vows today and perused their “Free Wedding Vows Collection.” I found some words in “Vow Three” particularly moving and beautiful….
When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. That is impossible. It is even a disservice to pretend it is possible. Yet that is what most of us demand. We have such little faith in the ebb and flow of life and of love and of relationships.
We leap forward at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb, for we are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanence, on duration, on continuity. But the only continuity possible in life, as in love, is in growth, in fluidity and in freedom, as dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in creating the same pattern.
The Most Important Promise We Will Ever Make
April 24th, 2007 @ 6:58 pm by Mrs. Emerald
137 days to go! I tend to be a plan-aheader, so I asked our officiant (the lovely Terry Brady) if he could hash out an outline of our ceremony. Summer is just around the corner, and I don’t want to be stressed out and swamped with a To-Do list up the wazoo. I love that he is so flexible and willing to personalize the ceremony to our liking 100 percent! So Terry was kind enough to email us a rough draft yesterday.
Wow.
It’s not perfect yet and it needs a bit of tweaking. But sitting there, reading through what he wrote… it nearly brought me to tears and I had to look away from my computer to compose myself. I guess it was the combination of his words, and also the realization that soon, we will be making the most important promise of our lives! We plan on writing our own vows… it just seems more personal that way. But Terry also included a simple set of vows just in case we opt not to, that got me all choked up. If for any reason we develop a case of writers block, or suddenly are tongue tied on our wedding day, I would be happy just to repeat these words that Terry wrote.
A Few Choices Made
March 23rd, 2007 @ 1:46 pm by Mrs. Kiwi
As requested by reader Kris, I’m going to post some of the readings we have chosen so far. Although I know quite a few of you aren’t religious, I’m hoping we can really just see something lovely in these words, and not be cruel or judgemental. As I have said many times before, I am also not very religious, which is why I’m taking the readings so seriously. I’m going to run down the list of them, where they are from, and all that. The readings were chosen from the booklet “Together for Life”, something the Father gave us to choose from. I’m not quite sure if I may choose from another source, but this is what I have so far.
For our opening prayer, we have chosen:
Father,
hear our prayers for Kiwi and Mr. Kiwi
who today are united in marriage
before your altar.
Give them your blessing,
and strengthen their love for each other.
We ask you this through our Lord…
I chose this one out of four choices we were given. It seemed more about us being together, than about anything else.
I Vow To Write…
February 14th, 2007 @ 7:25 pm by Mrs. Kiwi
…something good? I’ve brought up the personal vows thing with Mr. Kiwi. I said, “Honey, I want our ceremony to have something special, but I’d like that to be our vows.” Mr. Kiwi, playing Sword of Vermillion on PS2, patted my knee, gave me a grin and said, “I sure am glad you’re the writer in our family!”
When forced to elaborate on this, he said, “You’ll do such a good job writing our vows, babe.” So, I guess this means the vow-writing is on me. Ha. Obviously the vows are on me. Now, don’t think Mr. Kiwi is lazy, he certainly can be - about putting his socks in the hamper or washing out his pasta bowl- but when it comes to our relationship, he’s not.
Like I blogged about previously, he’s not a wordsmith, nor is he much of a reader. Quite differently, I read constantly and write whenever I can. So rather than writing vows that are from me to him or vice-versa, I think I will write a vow that we can both say and repeat back to each other. Does that make sense?
So far, my ideas are sappy and romantic, (that’s what happens when you create an ipod playlist of romantic songs!) with a touch of humor. I’m not sure where I want to take these - we’re a very silly couple… but during the wedding? I don’t know if I want that to be somewhere we try to joke it up.
Have you considered your vows? What kind of elements do you want in them?
Reader Buzz: Renewing Your Vows
February 6th, 2007 @ 4:45 pm by Reader Buzz
Mrs. Bee here.
Last night I watched the In Style Weddings Special, and Joely Fisher’s 10 year anniversary vow renewal was one of the featured weddings. Ever since getting married, I’ve wanted to renew our vows on our 5 year anniversary. Now that I’m actually in the wedding industry, I think that I could do it better the second time around. We’d do a lot of things differently, it’d be a lot less stressful, and it would really be about us. Mr. Bee and I have even discussed using the loft where we first got married.
I was chatting with Mrs. Butterfly when she was still a Miss, and back then said she didn’t know if she’d want to go through it all again. But now that all has been said and done, she said she’d most definitely like to do it again.
I know many of you are in the midst of crazy wedding planning right now, but do you think you’d want to renew your vows on your 5th, 10th, 25th anniversary?
I, Miss Kiwi…
January 28th, 2007 @ 12:21 am by Mrs. Kiwi
My love for words and lyrics have drawn me to want to write our own vows. A few things that go against that notion have been creating some niggling doubts in my mind.
Mr. Kiwi, while loving and romantic in nature, just isn’t poetic - he thinks it’s cheesy most of the time. I think that telling him that I’d like us to write our own vows would make him freak out a bit and think ahead to the pressure he’d feel. He’s a sporty man and being a coach he loves competition, but when it’s not athletic in nature he’s just lost. I wish I could help him be a little more confident in his words and speaking from the heart. I know he has it in him, because I’ve seen it in different things he’s done for me.
To me, writing our own vows would mean so much, coming from the heart and saying what the average vows can’t say. I want them to be something people remember later, and say, “Wow, that was so Miss Kiwi.” Or “Mr. and Mrs. Kiwi really do love each other.”
Ceremony Readings
January 27th, 2007 @ 2:50 pm by Mrs. Hibiscus
My fiance thinks I’m nuts. Whenever I hear wedding vows or recite wedding vows or readings, I cry…no, more like bawl like someone just died. Here are some non-religious cereomony readings that I like.
WHY MARRIAGE?
Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person, With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body… Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me, Who wont hold them against me, Who loves me when I’m unlikable, Who sees the small child in me, and Who looks for the divine potential of me… Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night With someone who thanks God for me, With someone I feel blessed to hold… Because marriage means opportunity To grow in love in friendship… Because marriage is a discipline To be added to a list of achievements… Because marriages do not fail, people fail When they enter into marriage Expecting another to make them whole… Because, knowing this, I promise myself to take full responsibility For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness I create me, I take half of the responsibility for my marriage Together we create our marriage… Because with this understanding The possibilities are limitless.
~Author Unknown
My Fiance, Ladies and Gentlemen
December 19th, 2006 @ 8:31 am by Mrs. Plum
Fiance: You are like the wish come true, from the day I got the longer part of the wishbone
Fiance: I’m eating chicken. 
This was during a conversation about writing our own wedding vows.
Should I be worried? 
Ceremony Help
September 6th, 2006 @ 2:02 pm by Mrs. Ant
Need help with ideas for how to personalize and word your wedding ceremony?
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Wedding Vows - A detailed instruction booklet for creating your own wedding vows/ceremony
Wedding Ceremony - A transcript from a simple and beautiful ceremony
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They have 25 helpful ceremony downloads available, including more sample ceremonies and vows.
