What is your opinion of vow renewals?

[Ember]

Just a pointless Friday question.

I'm not a fan of them. If it's a private moment for the couple, with just the two of them, that's one thing. But a 2nd wedding doesn't do it for me. I was invited to one recently, complete with gift registry information (TACKY!), and politely declined. I was at the actual wedding 5 years ago and don't feel the need to see these people dress up and get married again.

Thoughts?

 

[mistymouse5001]

Hey that's a good idea! I like free stuff

 

[ReneeA]

Just a pointless Friday question.

I'm not a fan of them. If it's a private moment for the couple, with just the two of them, that's one thing. But a 2nd wedding doesn't do it for me. I was invited to one recently, complete with gift registry information (TACKY!), and politely declined. I was at the actual wedding 5 years ago and don't feel the need to see these people dress up and get married again.

Thoughts?

They got married only 5 YEARS AGO?

That's just silly. I can see a vow renewal after40 or 50 years or so, but anything less is just begging for additional gifts.

 

[SanFranciscan]

Makes me wonder when their wedding vows expired!

 

[WDWBarb]

I think marriages should "expire" every 7 years with an option to renew.



But you do have to wonder how many couples WOULD renew...?

 

[RitaZ.]

Just a pointless Friday question.

I'm not a fan of them. If it's a private moment for the couple, with just the two of them, that's one thing. But a 2nd wedding doesn't do it for me. I was invited to one recently, complete with gift registry information (TACKY!), and politely declined. I was at the actual wedding 5 years ago and don't feel the need to see these people dress up and get married again.

Thoughts?

A vow renewal after 5 years of marriage? Maybe they were trying to collect the gifts they didn't get 5 years ago.

I've thought about having a vow renewal. We have been married almost 21 yrs. It would be a private function, though. No gifts and only our close family members would be in attendance.

 

[Desnik]

Well, personally I think it is a great idea! Especially since I am having one at WDW in Nov!!!

Now, let me just say that we did not have a wedding the first time around. We got married at the courthouse then honeymooned at WDW. I was 3 months pregnant and had all day sickness, it was July and it was not pretty! A few years ago we(DH, myself and our 2 kids ages 3 & 8 at the time) were involved in a horrific car accident and almost lost our lives. We had 3 years of really tough times after the accident. Now that we are doing better physically and financially we can't think of a better way to celebrate our lives together and our commitment to each other. It has been 12 years(in July) since we were married and 15 years this past Feb since we have been together. This is a dream come true for us and we are really so excited to do it. We didn't think any family or friends would be interested but once news got around we were doing it, everyone wanted to come! We have about 60 people joining us! I did not register anywhere and do not expect any gifts at all, to me that is tacky.

 

[minkydog]

A vow renewal after 5 years of marriage? Maybe they were trying to collect the gifts they didn't get 5 years ago.

Hey! We should do that! After 28 years of marriage, all our stuff is worn out. We could give it all the a thrift store, take the tax deduction AND get cool new stuff. Where do we sign up?

Can you tell I think vow renewals are stupid? Well, not all of them. For couples who have been married at least 25 years, or perhaps have gone through a very rough patch and they want to re-commit to the marriage.But it should be done privately, family only. And the couple pays for everything.

 

[binny]

We had one for our 10th anniversary. BUT it was just the 2 of us on a beach with the photographer and the minister. It was also our honeymoon, we did not feel like celebrating after our first wedding as my dad had just passed away.

We wanted something that we could attach "happy thoughts" to instead of the sad memories surrounding the other wedding. Neither one of us really remember a lot of that first day anyway, we were both in a real fog.

I didnt feel like our original vows "expired" I just wanted be able to have some great memories for our wedding.

So, we did it again It was lovely and I wouldnt change it for the world.

ps: we didnt register or anything and no one else was even sent an announcement. It was just for the 2 of us

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[horseshowmom]

DH and I renewed our vows on a recent trip to Israel while visiting Cana (married 25 years). I mainly did it because he wanted to so much (we were with a group, and two other couples decided to join us).

It was nice, and he was so sweet (surprised me with a beautiful silver necklace since it was our "silver" anniversary - I didn't even know which was which so he must have looked it up on his own ).

By the way, there was no registry of any sort!

I've got to tell you, renewing your vows after 5 years and having a registry is ridiculous.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I think Vow renewal is lovely.
After 5 years, sounds "interesting"
We know someone that renews EACH year, privately, they just want to "renew" their love, they say!

I will be married 25 years (to my HS sweetheart, started dating at 15 so we've been together 34 years!!)...I "mentioned it" to my dh and he looked at me like I think he thought I wanted the WHOLE thing over, which I didn't, but was not worth even discussing as it was just a thought....
but he indulges me with my Disney fixes, so I think I'll keep him
The BIG italian wedding the first time was enough I guess

but if I DID do it, it would be very private, with our ds present and no party.

But those that choose to go that route, guests can always decline, so I say, Life is SHORT, do what makes YOU happy!

 

[a1tinkfans]

We had one for our 10th anniversary. BUT it was just the 2 of us on a beach with the photographer and the minister. It was also our honeymoon, we did not feel like celebrating after our first wedding as my dad had just passed away.

We wanted something that we could attach "happy thoughts" to instead of the sad memories surrounding the other wedding. Neither one of us really remember a lot of that first day anyway, we were both in a real fog.

I didnt feel like our original vows "expired" I just wanted be able to have some great memories for our wedding.

So, we did it again It was lovely and I wouldnt change it for the world.

ps: we didnt register or anything and no one else was even sent an announcement. It was just for the 2 of us

That sounds LOVELY!!!!

 

[SamRoc]

I think there a great idea. Dh and I celebrated our 25th on the beach with our bridal party, family and friends. We had it catered from a rib place, had a keg of beer. danced on the sand, and put up a tent on our deck on the water. It was a beautiful October day. One of my neighbors on the beach came up to us after the renewal (that my aunt and uncle performed) and gave us a bottle of champagne. we had a hawaiian theme with my dh and i wearing leis and i wore a white haku in my hair. my aunt and uncle included our 2 children with a beautiful ceremony on the beach. very informal, bare feet, very relaxed, wish my original wedding was a stress free!!!

 

[Nik's Mom]

First of all, 5 years is way too soon for a vow renewal, in my opinion.

I'm looking into renewing our vows for our 15th anniversary. It will be just dh, me and the kids. We had a big wedding, but this time I'd like to just renew our vows with no one else around but us.

 

[onelilspark]

I think it totally depends on the situation and the couple. Many of these that have been mentioned seem like the "appropriate" way to a Vow Renewal. If the couple has only been married 5 years and nothing traumatic has happened in that 5 years...as someone else said, it sounds "interesting."

I had a friend who's parents did a Vow Renewal. It was on their 25th Wedding Anniversary and her Dad surprised her Mom. It was just family. I thought it was sweet!!

 

[HunnyPots]

When our license expires, I'll consider renewal. Otherwise...

 

[Handbag Lady]

After only 5 years?

It begs the thoughts:

Who messed up and whoa it must have been a biggie!

I'm guessing it was the guy. Most guys wouldn't ask for a renewal as a make-good, you know what I mean. He'd ask for something that requires whipped cream and Las Vegas.



Me, I love the idea of renewals for majors years, like 25 or 30 and I love the idea of a renewal after what Desnik there went through. THAT makes a lot of sense. Or even in the case where a family adopts two more kids after 15 years and has a ceremony to renew the entire family.

But after a mere five years and no life-threatening issues or service in the war or anything, honey, that is a gift grab.

And any invitation that has registry information in it needs to be tossed. Tacky and crass.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

My first thought, and I shared this with DH, was "Didn't they mean it the first time?"

I just don't get why you would want to do this. Especially when it seems like most vow renewals are a do-over of the wedding.

Now I do understand those that didn't have a "real" wedding the first time around and want to do that. But a couple that I went to school with did this. They had a huge wedding and did it all over on a cruise ship for their 15th anniversary. The husband really didn't want to do it but just went along for the ride so to speak...

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I'm guessing it was the guy. Most guys wouldn't ask for a renewal as a make-good, you know what I mean. He'd ask for something that requires whipped cream and Las Vegas.