Anyone else here planning a Vow Renewal?

I am planning our 30th wedding anniversary and since it is our "pearl" I am going with that for the theme. I HATED my first wedding dress, I didn't pick it, my mother made it and I had no choice in what it looked like so I am picking a nice evening gown for the day, but not breaking the bank on it.

Congratulations on 15 years of marriage! We are planning a vow renewal for our 20th Anniversary in 2021. I love the idea of displaying photos from over the years. I wish I could fit into my original wedding gown; however, it’s not my style anymore anyhow. I’m looking forward to having a more intimate and mature event this time around.

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HI Cliodhna,

I haven't tried it on yet LOL...I'm afraid too since I know my body isn't the same after 2 babies. I was thinking about displaying pictures and like your idea of setting them up where our guests will arrive.

Planning is moving along but I'm a bit behind in some of my tasks. We have the venue booked and they take care of the catering. We have the band and officiant booked as well. My nieces are musicians as well so they will play a small half hour set during the reception. I'm now looking for a dress and figure out my decorations. If I wear my wedding dress for the ceremony than I'll look for a cocktail or evening gown for the reception. If my dress doesn't fit me then I'll look for an evening gown that I will wear at both. I'm hoping not to spend more than $300 on this.

As for decorations, the venue has offered to lend me lanterns for my centrepieces. I'm looking for an inexpensive but nice way to add to the lantern. My sister suggested using twigs or branches from our forest to put around or under the lantern (we plan to use battery tea lights). My girlfriend loves the idea but I'm having a hard time picturing this because I'm not a great DIYer. The venue comes ready with full length tablecloths and napkins of my colour choice.

So I think the only other decorations I really need is for the Ceremony Arch (they have a plain wooden one at the venue), a seating plan, and maybe something for the picture tables where the guests arrive and head table (not sure if we will do a typical head table of just a regular table since we would like to be able to talk to one another during the dinner).

Hi Lorraine!

That's amazing that you can still wear your original wedding dress! Have you decided to wear it for the ceremony?

I think using photo frames filled with lots of photos would be a lovely way to tell your story and journey over the years. You could have them displayed as guest enter the venue. This would be super cost efficient also!

How is the planning coming along?

That sounds great! We have 5 kids that range in ages 18 months to 26 years old. Like you we didn't celebrate with our family and friends. We had a destination wedding with a couple of friends who we're not friends with anymore. Our kids (minus our 18 month old) are planning on saying a speech as a group during the reception. Our renewal is coming up soon and we still haven't firmed up our officiant. We may ask a friend of ours but I'm leaning towards hiring someone with experience. Is your ceremony at the same location as your reception? How do you have your events timed out? Did you say anything about gifts on your invitations? Everything I've read says I should specify no gifts. To be honest I would love a gift but I certainly don't expect one. We are celebrating our 15 year anniversary but we don't need anything to get us started like newly weds do. I was thinking of not putting anything on the invitation but maybe mentioning on our Blog that gifts are not required. How are you handling this?

We're also really looking forward to a great party. We've hired a band which we've seen many times before at one of the popular bars/restaurants downtown. I'm sure the guests will love dancing to them play!

I am doing my vow renewal this summer. We eloped so now we can afford to do a bigger ceremony. I bought a new to mewedding dress only because I eloped in a $100 dress from fairweathers 10 years ago. We are doing a funny short and sweet ceremony and have included our 2 daughters in it by doing a sand ceremony and having them do readings. Our reception is going to be one big party.