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Renewing wedding vows for 5th anniversary.

neenee26
New User

Post #1 of 2 (2326 views)

Renewing wedding vows for 5th anniversary.

My husband and I have been together for 10 years; married for 3 years. We have two children and want to renew our vows in church for our 5th anniversary. We were married in city Hall because I was pregnant with our second child. We both have planned and want the WHOLE big SHINDIG.. what are the rules for vow renewal ceremonies?

I have my dress and would really like to use it ! We did not have any type of reception or anything .. if you can imagine I was 8 months pregnant getting married civilly at 9 in the morning. .. not at all what I had dreamed of!! I am not sure where to start; o we have attendants, tux, the whole 9 yards or is that improper? We were going to have the church wedding a couple of months after the baby but decided we wanted a house MORE so now we have the house and the kids and the careers and the only thing missing is the ACTUAL WEDDING? Where do we start? Do we have a shower?? There are so many questions..I do not know where to begin.

Thank You

(This post was edited by the_admin on Jun 19, 2005, 1:03 PM)

the_admin
Remarriage Forum Moderator / Moderator

Post #2 of 2 (2321 views)

Re: [neenee26] Renewing wedding vows for 5th anniversary. [In reply to]

Dear neenee:

Congratulations on a successful marriage thus far. It is wonderful that you would like to have your marriage blessed by God in the church however you should refer to this ceremony as a blessing of your marriage or as a vow renewal since you are already married and have been living together as husband and wife. Calling it a wedding would be confusing to your friends and family and may look just like an attempt to gain gifts. (Please note that a vow renewal ceremony, unlike a wedding, does not oblige a guest to bring a gift.)

So, you would treat this event as renewing wedding vows. You can have the dress you like (white no longer shows a sign of purity but suggests a new begining) but please match the style to the formality of the event. You may have many of the traditional parts of a wedding such as a ceremony, a reception, a cake (this should be more like an anniversary cake than a wedding cake), etc. You would obviously not have bachelor/bachelorette parties, garter toss, dad walking you down the aisle (giving you away) nor should anyone be hosting a shower for you since the shower is a tradition that is supposed to help a new, young bride to set up a household. You have this all set now so there's no need for showers. Some guests may widh to honor you by bringing a gift but please don't expect gifts.

We have an entire page on this topic so please review that page for more details.

Vow renewals

If you have more questions after reviewing this page please feel fre to come back and post.

Best of Luck...
I Do - Take Two Moderator