Renew your marriage vows in the Parish of Bengeo
To recapture your wedding day or celebrate a special anniversary by renewing your vows can be romantic, magical, exciting and fun to do.
You can renew your vows whenever you want and there is no limit on how many times you do so.
Being married for only one or twenty-five years, renewing your vows is a gesture of love and commitment to your partner.
You may have been married abroad and want to celebrate with family and friends who were unable to be with you during your wedding day. It may even be that you have been through a period where your relationship had suffered and you both now want to make a fresh start by renewing your vows to each other. It could be that you never had that dream wedding you always wanted for a number of reasons or you may just be a person who loved your wedding day so much that you want to relive it again and again. No matter what the reason is, there doesn’t have to be one!
A special celebration
Renewing your vows or having your rings blessed in church is not a marriage service, more a ‘service of blessing’. The difference between a renewal and a first wedding is simply that the wedding is a legal ceremony where a register is signed and your marriage is recorded. At the Renewal of Vows service you will not be asked to sign the wedding register; however, the service can be recorded in the church service register. It is a non-legal ceremony conducted to reaffirm commitments you made to each other at the beginning of your marriage.
Walking down the aisle – all over again!
We’re happy to hold the service in a way that is very similar to your wedding and relive some happy memories. You might want to take the opportunity to personalize the service to declare how your marriage has grown over the years.
You may even want to conduct part of the ceremony yourselves and involve family and friends who’ve played an important part in your relationship. A close friend or even your children can read a favourite piece of poetry or prose, and even pay tribute to you and your example of commitment in a formal address or an informal speech.
The Renewal of Marriage Vows can take from 15 to 30 minutes and depends on the amount of options chosen and any readings you have.
What happens at the service?
The standard elements of the ceremony consists of:
- Welcome
- Reading
- Renewal of vows
- Exchange of wedding rings
- Prayers
- Blessing
Additional Elements can be added to make the occasion more special and totally unique to you. For example:
- Acknowledgement of the achievements of your life together
- Re-dedication of rings previously given to each other
- Blessing and giving of new rings
- Giving of gifts
- Music (hymns or recorded music)
- Previous wedding guests saying a few words
- Further readings or speeches by guests
- The acknowledgement of your children
- The ringing of the church bells at Holy Trinity Church
Renewing Vows – Outfits
Your renewal of vows can be a small or lavish day with full wedding attire; you could even wear your wedding dress again.
Men can wear one of their everyday suits or hire a tuxedo and although nothing is set in stone, smart clothing should at least be worn by everybody to celebrate the renewing of your vows.
After the Vow Renewal Ceremony
You may end your day with a quiet meal with a few members of your family or just the two of you. A holiday can be taken as a second honeymoon or even your first if you did not have one before.
You may want to hold a full blown wedding reception with a sit down meal, a photographer, cake and speeches. Your imagination and memory can be used to recreate your first wedding day.
Why not have a video of your original wedding day playing in the background? Why not share photos taken during the course of your marriage to invoke some memories?
An occasion to remember
Whether you’re coming back to the place where your marriage began or reaffirming your personal commitment to one another in a spiritual atmosphere of joy and thanksgiving, Holy Trinity Church and St. Leonard’s Church Bengeo are ideal locations to hold your ceremony. To re-live your wedding day once again showing your love and life-long commitment to each other in front of your family and friends can make for another one of those truly happy and unforgettable days in your life.
To book a Renewal of Vows Service
To book your service, or ask for further information, please contact the vicar, Revd Robert Thompson on 01992 413691 or email info@parishofbengeo.com
He will need to meet with you to discuss your plans. At this initial meeting you can outline your ideas – he’ll then prepare a draft order of service which you can adapt as required until we have the right service for you. Your marriage certificate will be required as proof before the ceremony of renewing your vows can be booked and the average price of the ceremony can be from £150 onwards.