Whether you’ve been married for one year or 30 years, vow renewals are a special way to remind your other half how much you love and care for them. If you would like to renew your vows again in front of family and friends, here’s what you need to know:
Choose a host
Much like a wedding, you can choose who hosts this event. Typically it’s the couple who puts the vow renewal celebration together but children and other loved ones are just as welcome to host.
Opt for a meaningful location
While you don’t have to renew your vows in the same place you tied the knot, you should choose a location that has special meaning for both of you. For instance, arrange for the vow renewal ceremony to take place at your honeymoon location, in your current place of worship or where you had your first date. Wherever it is, make sure the place you choose has sentimental value – it will make the event all the more special.
Decide who to invite
Your vow renewal ceremony can be as large or as small as you would like. You can choose to invite only close friends and family, or you can open up the event to a larger group of people for a big celebration. No matter how many people you invite, you’ll want to send out vow renewal invitations 2-4 weeks prior to the date. On the invitations, make sure to note that gifts are not expected. A vow renewal is purely celebratory for everyone involved.
Make new memories
You can certainly incorporate elements from your original nuptials, like reciting the same vows or wearing your wedding gown. However, you should also take this opportunity to make new memories with your spouse. Opt for different flowers or march down the aisle to a different tune – it’s up to you!
Hire a photographer
A vow renewal can be just as special as your wedding, and you’ll be glad that you have photos of the event to look back on years from now. If you don’t want to splurge on a photographer, ask a friend who’s savvy with a camera to take pictures for you. Oh, and be sure to get that classic shot where you and your spouse are holding a photo from your wedding day. How beautiful!
I’m planning on it. Our Anni is in spring but I want a fall renewal. And quick. I’m so stumped on how to go about it at this point. :o(
My 10 year anniversary is January 7th but we are doing our renewal on November 1st since I love the fall. I feel if you want to do it and go ahead with the expense of it then do what ever you really want to do. There really are no rules for these kinds of things. It’s all about the couple!
Hi.
We are going to renew our vows on our wedding anniversary the 3rd of October. I have always said that I would like to get married every 5 years to the same man of course will it be strange to to this again in our life time?
My husband and I get remarried every 5 years. This will be our second time this December to renewal our vows. The first time we renewal-ed them we did a 50’s Elvis themed wedding. In 2020 hubby wants to do a Roaring 20’s wedding. We are working on this years right now. I say there is nothing wrong with it and we think it is fun.
I don’t see anything wrong with it either! We got married in Las Vegas and I loved it! I was small and intimate and fun. But I always wished my extended family would have been able to come and celebrate with us. So I told my husband on our 1st anniversary that I wanted to do a “big wedding” for our 5th. I might have to talk him into doing some sort of celebration every 5 years.
I am looking for some vow renenul ceremony. it self What I am looking for is like what to say for vows for bride and groom and the preacher also what to do at the end light a candle or pouring of the sand. We have two daughters and their husbands we wanted something that all of us could do as a family. I need a layout of the whole ceramony what we can do and what not to do.
Thank you c-Candace Stevens
My husband and I want to have a vowel renewal for our 10 year anniversary. But I want to wear a nice wedding dress and make it really fancy. We didn’t have a wedding the first time because I was 8 months pregnant and I feel like I really missed out on making memories. Is it wrong to have a big fancy vowel renewal?
Not at all! 10 years is a reason to celebrate! The bigger the better! Congrats on 10 years together and make sure you check out all of our fabulous vow renewal invitations at http://www.invitationsbydawn.com/Wedding-Stationery/Vow-Renewal/index.cat.
I really want to do a renewal of our vows for our 10 year anniversary, but my husband being in the military may not be here on our actual anniversary date…is it okay to have something on a different date? We never had an actual wedding and I’ve never been fitted for a wedding dress and its something I really want to do! Thank you in advance! 🙂
Absolutely!!! Your guests will be more than understanding of the circumstances revolving around the date of your ceremony. 10 years is a huge milestone and a reason to celebrate! Make sure you check out our collection of vow renewal invitations and happy planning!
My husband and I have been married for 5 years now. We didn’t have a wedding because of financial issues so we just went to the courthouse. Now my parents want to plan us a wedding/ vow renewal. I’m excited to have a wedding but I fear it’s tacky since it will be on our 6 year anniversary. Any advice?
Couples can decide to have a vow renewal ceremony for a number of reasons! Check out numbers 2 and 5 on our list of top 5 reasons to have a vow renewal ceremony. No reason at all to think it’s tacky. Just have fun and enjoy another year of marital bliss! Make sure to check out our full collection of vow renewal invitations as well!
You can renew your vows anytime you want to , and make it as big and fancy as you want , there’s no limits on renewing your vows , my husband and I renew our vows every year , the sky’s the limit
we will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on July 14,2015. We host our bird club picnic every year in June so this year we’ll renew our vows during the picnic. It will be a blast since most of the club members would be invited anyway. We’re having our friend that is an amazing chef with a Food Truck cater the main dishes and as always people can bring food to share. It also happens to be our clubs 125th anniversary this year! So we’ll commit to the club again too!!
we are renewing our vowels in April, we are celebrating 30 years of happiness.
I have wanted to do a vow renewal since the day i got married. This year in june will be our 5th year of wedded bliss but at our wedding i was 8mths pregnant and didnt really get to do everything i had ever hoped to do at my wedding like father daughter dance and have a photographer. I only question doing it as my sister inlaw just got engaged and her wedding is in dec/jan and shes a bridezilla and i don’t want to make her actual wedding put aside for my “fake” do-over. All i want is my parents and grandparents and my hudbands parents sisters and grandfather…small and lovely
I have it all planned i just dont know if it’s rude to do a “renewal” in june when her weddings 6mths from then. Any suggestions or comments pplease.
5 years is a huge milestone and should be celebrated! It makes perfect sense to celebrate in the month you got married and we say go for it! Vow renewal ceremonies are a lovely way to celebrate and are becoming more and more popular every year. Your 5 year anniversary only comes around once so if you would like to mark this occasion with a real ceremony done up the way you always imagined then you should do it. Your friends and family will understand! 🙂 Congrats on 5 years together and many more years of happiness to you both!
my husband and I are planning a vow renewal for our 20th anniversary. We are including our children ages 17 and 13. We are planning on inviting kids over the age of 15 so as not to have a bunch of little kids running around but I don’t know how to word it on the invitation. I can’t find any books to help me, so any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance
Wedding invitations address this matter on the outer and inner envelopes. The couple writes exactly who is invited on the envelope, addressing each person (children included) by name. I’m not sure you can trust this method for a vow renewal since it’s a more casual occasion, so I would suggest finding a spot in the invitation wording or add corner copy to say something like “This invitation is extended to adults and children 15 years of age or older.” You can write a friendlier message like “Children are such a pleasure to spend time with but in an effort to allow everyone the opportunity to relax, this invitation is for adults and children 15 years of age or older.” It’s perfectly acceptable to write a short note like “Adults Only” as well. Yours might say “Adults and Children 15+ Invited.”
I am planning a 40 year vow renewal to take place exactly 40 years after the first time. The first time there was no wedding, my husband was in Germany and I flew there to get married by the Justic of the Peace. We married on 7-7-77 and now we are going to do it up big on 7-7-2017. I have never had a wedding dress or anything that goes into that special day so now is my chance to plan and have a special day for all my friends and family to share.
We will be married 10 years in October 2017. I’m super excited to do a vow renewal. We had a small wedding so we want to have a large wedding in a Catholic church and a big party…do I have to have the renewal the same month as our original wedding date? Could I also have a 10 year renewal on year 9?
Most couples choose to have their vow renewal ceremonies close to there original wedding date as a way to celebrate both their vow renewals as well as an important anniversary. However, every couple is different and can choose to have their ceremony whenever they like. If you want to have a 10 year renewal we recommend holding it on your tenth year of marriage as a way to not confuse your guests.
My husband and I are renewing our vows in August 2016 (a few months shy of our 5 year anniversary) and we’re going all out – wedding dress and all! We had a quickie small wedding when we married the first time and since his family is from Scotland, they weren’t able to attend. This time, we are doing them the courtesy of coming to our vow renewal ceremony in Scotland! I’ve read a lot of etiquette on the topic and there are some really negative things about having a “second wedding” with your spouse, but I feel we have a very unique situation. We want to have the chance to celebrate with them and have wedding pictures with his parents, too. Everyone will know that gifts are not expected, we just want to have the chance to celebrate with everyone. And this time around, there will be a little one it tow!
We will soon be married 20 years. Can we do a renewal now or should we wait until we’ve been married 25 years?
Yes, you can do a renewal whenever you like! 20 years is something to be proud of. We say go for it!
My husband and I had a rough start in our marriage and have decided that on year 5 we are going to renew the vows our families think it is silly and unnecessary. Does anyone else have that issue? We have decided to do it a local car museum on there beautiful open lawn. But when in comes down to who to invite we cant decide should it be small and intimate or an amazing do over for us.
We just had our 15th aniv. This year was extra special because in January of this year my other half came out publicly as transgender. I told her at the time i wasn’t ready to stop calling her my husband. On june 20, on our 15th aniv, in front of the city’s Pride celebration, i publicly stopped saying saying husband, and asked her to be my wife instead. I wasn’t planning on causing a renewal but all our friends are insisting we have to do something. Lol so we are. 🙂 just not sure where or when. 🙂
I would like to renew my vows for 10 years of marriage, that just passed actually, but I was thinking of doing it while on vacation on Cape Cod in August. We rent a house w/ my inlaws (MIL, FIL, and aunt) for two weeks, but people visit us a day or two throughout that time. Do you think it’d be rude if we plan it for a day/night when my mom comes down for her visit? Not telling anyone else? (siblings) I know my 7 & 8 year old would get a kick out of it, being ‘in a wedding’. I was just thinking quiet, low-key on the beach where we got engaged and not having a big dinner after (just a bbq back at the house)
Your plans sound wonderful and quite perfect for a vow renewal. Most couples keep their vow renewals simple and casual with a fairly limited guest list. As far as not telling siblings or other family members, that is completely your choice. A vow renewal is an intimate celebration where you handpick a group of guests. There is no reason to feel obligated to invite anyone besides the two of you. If you think you have siblings that will be hurt by not being invited, let them know it’s happening and why you’re keeping it small. More than likely they’ll understand your plans but they’ll appreciate you telling them about this very special event. Enjoy your vacation, and congrats to 10 years!
My Husband and I have 2 years until our 10yr anniversary, we are planning a vow renewal because our first wedding was very small could not afford a lot of the things that we wanted, for instance the “reception” was more of a lunchen and we wanted a party, so this will be our PARTY wedding 🙂 I also let him take over the theme and he is helping a lot more with choosing things. Our invitations are going to say 10 years, 5 kids, one heck of a party.
I think that no matter the reason, being married is a the BEST reason to have a party.
My husband and I have our 15th in November of 2016, the actual date falls on a Thursday, would you recommend doing it like Thursday or move it to Saturday evening to make it more accessible for people? Would it seem strange to not have it on the actual date? I feel more stressed planning the renewal than the original wedding!
It’s your day so do what is best for you! It all depends on how extravagant your party is going to be. Be prepared for having some guests not make it if it is during the week. Other guests may have to leave early. If you want to throw a huge party then Saturday is the way to go. If you are keeping it to a nice small intimate gathering then there should be no problem with having it on the actual day. Make sure you check out all of our wonderful vow renewal invitations and happy planning!
My husband and I’ll be married ,20 years in September. The ,28th. I want to renew our vows. I want a white long wedding dress. I want after ward a small get together. What steps should I take to pull this off for just a few friends. Do they bring gifts. What about cake. I’ve dreamt about a wedding in a long dress since I was a little girl. Can you help me? With suggestions?
We suggest hosting whatever kind of vow renewal celebration you want! You can have a long white dress or wear a casual sun dress. It’s totally up to you. We don’t have any hard-fast rules about what kind of celebration a couple should host. It’s all about their own style. Consult your husband and make sure you’re on the same page, and enjoy the day!
Renewing our vows, but never had a wedding. So, I want a small but nice wedding. Making our own foods, using family home to have wedding. Have several friends doing pictures, flowers and a dj friend. I don’t want anything traditional. I want what I want but nice. We have four daughters that will walk me down and give me to their dad. Just looking for simple invitations but fall colors.
I have been wanting to do this We will be married for 34 yrs in July I am hoping we can do this for our 40
My husband and I have gone through a separation after 6 years of some pretty gnarly stuff. As we reunite, I think a vow renewal would be good for us, and especially significant to me. My only problem is I am not sure how supportive my friends and family would be. I want to have an event to formally signify the end of our “false start” and the beginning of a new and better life together, and I want those I love to be there to support me. I also want to show the world that I’m not ashamed of going though tough stuff with my husband, and I love him the same, or maybe more, for the trials we’ve had. How should I handle this? Do I just invite those who support us, and risk offending others? Do I venture out to those who love us, but worry we are making a mistake sticking to our marriage and not getting divorced, and risk having their rolled eyes ruin the mood? I swear. Some days, dealing with other people’s judgement is worse than dealing with the actual marriage…
Also, any ideas on including a 3 and 5 year old?
Hey there,
You might like this article about including children in the ceremony: http://www.annsbridalbargains.com/blog/2010/08/how-to-include-kids-in-the-wedding-ceremony-79.html
As for who to invite, remember that this is a celebration of your new life together and you will want to invite people you are most comfortable celebrating with. If you can handle a few doubters in the crowd, go ahead and invite them. Just make sure the majority of your guest list includes people who will bring a loving attitude to your vow renewal. It’s a VERY special day for the two of you and kudos to you both for working through tough times toward a better future.
My husband and I are renewing our vows on our 25th wedding anniversary, I would like my dad to walk me down the aisle, would this seem strange?
I have read on other sites not to wear a wedding dress for a renewal ceremony. What about wearing your original dress that you wore on your wedding day? Would that be weird?
My daughter recently had a “legal wedding ceremony” and they are wanting to have a destination wedding/vowel renewal in exactly one year from their wedding date. The wedding was a bit sudden so none of the usual frills (no showers, gifts, reception etc) They are planning on keeping it intimate and low key with only immediate family and a couple of close friends, a dress that is white but simple and beach minded. One bridesmaid and one groomsmen…outdoor beach venue….simple serve yourself dining with simple cake etc. Hiring photographer and having bar with signature drink in addition to wine/beer. Walking down aisle together, own vowels, small but simple flowers etc.
My question is if it is still okay to register since they did not get to have any of the that the first time and it has only been one year??