Hi Sandy and congratulations!
A renewal of vows ceremony is just that and you should follow the proper etiquette for it. You can have many elements of a "wedding", but in fact, it is not a wedding - you are already married. I post on lots of different wedding sites and this is talked about LOTS! Now some will say go ahead, but I say, YES, go ahead but do so with the proper etiquette. You can't have bridesmaids/groomsmen, etc.; no "giving you away"; no "first dance" - those things are reserved for a bride -- you aren't one. Again, this is asked quite frequently, and stated just as you did, about not having a "real" wedding, but in fact whatever kind of wedding you did have WAS a real wedding. Go to this link and there are pages and pages of questions and answers with the answers given by experts! Good luck and I hope you have a beautiful anniversary day!
Yes, I did exactly that. I have just written a long response with the whole story to the lady wanting to know if she could wear her veil, so I will make this shorter and you can find the full story there.
My hubby and I ran off and eloped. We were married by a J.P. In another state. 4 months later we had a ral wedding in our church complete with everything you would want. We are both glad we did because our families were not at our elopement and my Mom wanted to see her daughter get married.
Of course, the Wedding date is not our official date of marriage, but we celebrate both dates each year in different ways. Our family and friends know of our elopement marriage date, and my hubby and I celebrate our Wedding Date.
We have now had 92 anniversaries - 46 years - and have two fine children who "gave us away" when we renewed our vows on our 40th wedding anniversary.
My beloved hubby cringes when I say we've had 92 anniversaries - that I may be that old - but HE certainly isn't!
We also knew that since we had 2 anniversaries, it was impossible to divorce! We simply wouldn't know how to handle it! So we have worked hard at our marriage and are still happily married and very much in love.
My husband and I will renew our vows in a couple of years and I am looking forward to it. The first time we did it in 8 months and it was okay but now we are taking our time and planning it for 3 years, it should be flawless. All of our stuff was stolen last year, therefore we have no pictures or mementos or anything.
