It’s no secret that planning a wedding can be stressful, but when the day comes, that stress vanishes, and it’s all about celebrating your love as newlyweds. Between all the beautiful decor, party mood, and yummy food, one part of your wedding day will remain the most memorable and meaningful for you and your partner: the exchanging of your wedding vows. Come to think of it, this is almost the only time of the day where you get to really allocate a moment just for you two. A moment where you get to express your love, feelings, and promises to each other at the beginning of your new journey. Exchanging your wedding vows is the most romantic and intimate part of your wedding day: it is beautiful, emotional, joyous, sweet, and precious (only to use a few adjectives, of course).
Writing your wedding vows is no easy task… You have all these exciting feelings, promises, and dreams you want to share, but expressing them all on paper can be daunting. And that’s what we are here for, making every wedding-related task easy and seamless! So with no further ado, here are our tips & guide to writing the most memorable wedding vows.
Top tips to writing the most beautiful wedding vows
When writing your wedding vows, you don’t need to be very structured; as long as you keep a flow and tell a story, you are good to go! Wedding vows are very personal, and it is up to you to decide how to express your love. Here are a few tips to help you write the most memorable and meaningful wedding vows.
1. Discuss the basics with your partner: Before you start anything, try and align with your partner on the format: are you going to read a poem? Make a speech? Say a few promises? What tone of voice are you going for?
2. Start writing your vows early: Don’t leave writing your vows to the last minute. You will need time to think, sort out your ideas, and jot down your thoughts. After all, you can always amend them as time passes. You need to be calm to be able to property express everything you want to say, so make sure you are not writing them during your wedding week amidst all the planning tasks and wedding jitters.
3. Write down every idea: This tip complements the one before. Jot every idea that pops in your head or any little thing that you remember, and that can be useful. You won’t have to say them all, obviously. Just write everything down, and when you start working on your vows, then you can highlight and pick and choose the ones you want to keep. This way you will avoid forgetting things and regretting not saying some things.
4. Make it personal through stories: Whether they are happy or funny situations or a bad but meaningful experience, share it. Make it raw, personal, and be yourself. Tell stories that represent your relationship, that symbolize your couple’s dynamics, that reflect both your personalities, and, most importantly, tell stories and anecdotes that embody your love and feelings.
5. Make sure it’s witty without turning it into a comedy: Try to include some funny or smile-worthy parts, you will love seeing the special smile on your partner’s face. But while you want to include some funny elements, make sure to avoid any embarrassing story or, even worse turning it into a comedy.
6. Don’t pressure yourself into including everything: There will definitely be many, many things you want to say and share on this special occasion, but you cannot cover everything and you also don’t want the essence to be lost between the many ideas, topics, and promises, which brings us to the next tip.
7. Don’t make it too long: An often asked question is how long wedding vows should be? Make sure you don’t go over 2 minutes. You want it to be long enough for you to say what you want to say, but you don’t want it to become boring, repetitive, and have your partner (and additionally, your guests) lose track and focus.
8. Steer away cryptic messages and fancy vocabulary: Simplicity is key. Make sure your vows flow naturally and that your messages and vocabulary are simple and easy to understand. You are saying them out loud, so you need the message to be quickly and easily understood.
9. Get inspired but avoid cliches: find inspiration online, read poems, look at song lyrics, favorite books, quotes, etc. These can be excellent starting points or metaphors to symbolize your feelings and relationship.
10. Make sure to include short pauses: This is one important thing to include in your wedding vows structure. You want to give time to your partner to take in what you are saying, wipe some tears, and laugh a little without interrupting your flow.
11. Practice out loud and ask a friend to listen: Ask a friend to listen to you while practicing out loud. A close and trustworthy friend will keep the secret and, most importantly, give you constructive criticism and the right advice to perfect your vows and the way you say them.
12. Last but certainly not least, keep your vows a secret from everyone and, most importantly, your partner!
You are now ready to write the most beautiful wedding vows and not leave a dry eye in the house! Stay tuned for more wedding tips and inspiration on WedBoard!
And since we are talking about wedding vows, you can check out our roundup of the most gorgeous wedding altars and stunning wedding arches to make sure you read your vows against a perfect backdrop.
Meanwhile, if you are thinking of planning a destination wedding in Italy, then you’ve landed in the right place! Head to WedBoard, where you will find everything you need to plan your perfect Italian destination wedding, including the best destination wedding vendors in Italy and the most beautiful Italian wedding venues to choose from!
Feature image credit details: Photo: Matteo Crescentini
