Planning your St. Thomas Vow Renewal

Vow renewal ceremonies are lovingly referred to as, “I do, Number 2”.  They are a chance to recapture those wonderful memories and feelings you felt when you first said “I do”.  Or a chance to have the dream wedding you always wanted but couldn’t do the first time around.

I perform hundreds of weddings each year but some of my favorite ceremonies are with couples renewing their vows.

Vow Renewal Ceremony Wording

Welcome, we are gathered here on this beautiful Caribbean island to celebrate this wonderful couple and to reaffirm the love they have for each other.  In the routine of ordinary life, the extraordinary has happened.   _______________ and _______________ met each other, fell madly in love with each other and they created an amazing marriage (and family).

Romance is fun, but true love like this is something far more important and rare.  When you first joined hands and hearts _____ years ago, you did not know where life would take you. You promised to love, honor and cherish one another through all things. Life I’m sure has brought you both wonderful blessings and difficult tribulations.

________________(children) of your blessings are standing here with us today they are here to support and to honor your wonderful relationship that will nurture them throughout their years.

So, as you come here today to reaffirm your wedding vows, reflect back over those years from when you shared air together, to the wedding _____years ago, to _________________ (children), and all of those other happy times, all the way until this moment, standing here as husband and wife with __________________ (children).  That seedling of friendship has grown and blossomed into this deep and meaningful true love that one can only experience as husband and wife.

The bond of marriage provides the sweetest, most precious and enduring relationship on earth. The value can best be described by these words, “sweeter as the years go by”. Marriage is a life long commitment not to be entered into thoughtlessly or lightly. _______________ and _______________ you both realized this _____ years ago and you have grown together as one, in your love. 

And today you wish to renew your commitments, wedding vows, and to reaffirm this enduring and loving relationship that you created when you said “I do”.  Compassion, peace, love and support are your prime responsibilities to each other, and today you will recommit to that bond of everlasting love and devotion.

____________ and ____________ may you both be granted the continued patience to listen, the capacity to understand, the compassion to give comfort, the joy to laugh, and to just be yourselves. Let your marriage still make a home where neither of you is ever lonely.  

Let your marriage offer illumination and the nourishment of shared experiences. May your union continue to be strong enough to endure the difficult times, and to enjoy the happy times.  May life’s challenges never separate you; and may you always be able to turn to each other.

____________, do you still take ___________ to be your husband? Will you continue to love him, honor him, comfort him and keep him in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, and remain faithful to him as long as you both shall live?

_____________, do you still take _______________ to be your wife? Will you continue to love her, honor her, comfort her and keep her in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, and remain faithful to her as long as you both shall live?

I now ask you to repeat after me:
_______________  ______ years ago – I gave you the greatest gift I had to give – my undying and unwavering love – I believe in this marriage more strongly than ever – I love you more with each passing day – so it is with joy – born of ______ years of love and trust – that I renew my vows of marriage to you – you are my husband, best friend and companion. What I promised before – I gladly promise all over again – to love you – honor you – and respect you above all others.

_______________ _____ years ago – I gave you the greatest gift I had to give – my undying and unwavering love – I believe in this marriage more strongly than ever – I love you more with each passing day – so it is with joy – born of _____ years of love and trust – that I renew my vows of marriage to you – you are my wife, best friend and companion. What I promised before – I gladly promise all over again – to love you – honor you – and respect you above all others.

[IS THERE GOING TO BE AN EXCHANGE OF RINGS?]

(May I have the rings.  I would ask Hector to place the ring upon Hope’s finger and repeat after me, “with this ring, I thee wed.  Continue to wear it as a symbol of my love and commitment.”)

The Family Ring
I would now like to ask the boys to join their parents and hold hands and stand in a circle.  At a wedding there is always a ring ceremony, at which the bride and groom give each other rings to signify the promises they are making to each other.  

Your parents did that _______ years ago, but today they are renewing those vows and as they remember the commitments they made to each other, they are also making commitments and promises to each of you.

You are standing in a circle because a circle is the symbol of wholeness, peace, and unity.  A circle has no beginning and no ending, just as this family has no beginning and no ending.  You parents have committed themselves to each other for the rest of their lives, and they are also committing to you for the rest of their lives.  

A marriage is between a husband and wife, and as that family continues to grow your sons are an extremely important part in this relationship.  Your parents commit to you a lifetime of support, respect, caring, nurturing and love.

Keep living your life with passion, compassion and excitement.  Play, dance, share in life’s long journey, make footprints in the sand, sail in the gentleness of the winds, climb mountains together, laugh together, cry together, smile often, be happy, be silly, rejoice in the beauty of life, and from now on and into all of your tomorrows always remember you are partners in love and in life, and most importantly always remember to be each other’s best friend.
Having heard the vows you have just made with each other, made under this gorgeous Caribbean sky and hot sun, and by the power vested in me by the Territorial Court of the United States Virgin Islands, I now have the pleasure to re-confirm you as husband and wife.

You may now kiss your wife.