WEDDING VOWS

In a Civil Ceremony, at the point when couples exchange wedding rings, vows are spoken out loud.

Vows are essentially the verbal commitments that are exchanged between the two partners and are used to express personalities and indicate feelings towards one another.

Unlike with Church Weddings, couples are free to choose the words that they say so long as the vows are non-religious and the Superintendent Registrar approves. But for many couples, the thought of scribing their own vows is somewhat daunting, and in these instances the Registrar may suggest some appropriate words to use. That said, the vows that will be suggested are often quite basic and do not give the couple the opportunity to stamp their mark on the Ceremony - typical suggestions may be along the following lines:

·         <Name>, I give you this ring, as a token of my love, and a symbol of our marriage/partnership, I vow to be loving, faithful and loyal to you, throughout our lives together.

·         <Name>, I take you to be my wife/husband/partner, I promise to love you, honour and respect you. I will stand by you and be true to you always. I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness and I ask you to wear it as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today. Whatever life may bring I will always love you.

·         With this ring, I thee wed, and with it, I bestow upon thee all that I have to offer.

As you can see, the typical Registrar suggestions can be quite simple, so it is easy to see why many couples up and down the country are taking this opportunity to put into words just how they feel for each other (in a nice way, of course).

The remainder of this article is for those couples who fancy having a go at creating some words that wouldn’t look out of place in a Mills and Boon paperback.