Reasons Couples Renew Their Vows (A Look Into Our Special Day)

Renewing your vows is a great way to make new promises and commitments to one another.

In 2014 my husband and I set out on a journey to focus on our relationship and concentrate on each other. Between my husband's music career, kids, and all the responsibilities of life, we were needing to pause a moment and get things back in line.

We were kind of slowly drifting apart, not meaning too...we were just busy with everyday life. We started making "us" a priority. We began doing everything together. I mean EVERYTHING! Grocery shopping, working out, traveling, and my husband has even taken me and the girls to every concert gig, to date. He said he wants us always to be on the road with him whenever possible. We were a pretty close family to begin with, but we have really bonded and have become even closer now.

For a whole year, we took some time off and totally focused on our relationship. We went on countless dates, it's like we went backwards into our dating years and it was absolutely wonderful! My husband even purchased hunting gear just for me...my own stylish camo clothes and archery gear. We started hunting together and he taught me how to shoot a gun and a bow.

Well shortly into this journey, my husband told me he wanted us to renew our vows and asked me to marry him all over again. Of course, I said yes!

Reasons To Renew Your Wedding Vows

• You've reached a milestone and want to celebrate and reaffirm your commitment to each other.
• You may not have been able to have a ceremony when you were originally married.
• You and your spouse may have gone through a tough and challenging season in your marriage and you want to make new commitments because of all you have overcome.
• You may want to include your children.

We had our vacation planned at the beach just a few weeks later, so we thought this would be the perfect place to have the ceremony. This means I had to hurry and find a dress, flowers, shoes, jewelry, etc. I was just hoping I could pull this all together before our trip. My girls were extremely excited. They said they wanted to pick everything out. And my oldest daughter has always wished she could have been at our first wedding, (that it looked so much fun)! 🙂 They were beyond thrilled to be my flower girls.

We had the best time shopping for the dress and accessories. At the very first store to find my dress, our youngest daughter, 5 years old at the time, came running! Dress in hand, she said, "Mommy, Mommy I found it!" I mean, how could I resist? She was so excited and it was the perfect dress for the beach. We all loved it and knew it was the one. My oldest daughter, 11 at the time, picked out all of my jewelry and accessories. Everything was just perfect.

How To Renew Your Wedding Vows

There are absolutely no official rules here, anything goes. Most importantly, a vow renewal is all about you, your spouse and the journey you have been on and will continue the rest of your lives. Together, you can make it special and meaningful with whichever way you choose. Here are a few tips to consider...

• Where will the vow renewal take place?
• Who do you want to officiate the ceremony?
• Who you want to be present.
• Will you be writing your own vows?
• What will you be wearing?

The final piece to complete everything was a flower bouquet. I searched everywhere for a simple bouquet and finally found the perfect one at my last stop, Walmart! I would have never thought I would find one so beautiful or one at all, especially there. Everything came into place so easily. It was such a special time.

We arrived to our vacation destination the night before our big day. We got plenty of rest and woke up the next morning and began to get ready. We decided we would go down to the beach around 5:00 p.m. when the sun would be going down a bit.

My girls and I got ready together. We listened to music and painted our nails all the same color to match our dresses.

We made sure to have plenty of time to talk, reflect, and pray together.

My sweet girls.

I love these photos. My daughters are really special in that they love & care so deeply. When my youngest was little like this, she would look at you in such a loving way...a way that you knew she had a really special heart and loved intensely.

I love this moment here of my girls with their daddy. He is the best daddy and has always taken the time with our girls. He was showing them the ring that he had purchased...and had it specially engraved. It read, "All Things New" to represent our new journey and promises to each other.

Tips To Make Renewing Vows Extra Special

• Choose a special location. Renew your vows somewhere that is special to you and your spouse, such as: the place you were first married, your favorite vacation spot, or even the town where you first met.
• Write your very own vows. This is great because writing vows comes straight from the heart and is so very meaningful and special.
• Do something meaningful during the ceremony. There are several things you can do during the ceremony to make it meaningful, such as: The Cord Of Three Strands-God's Knot, exchanging new wedding bands, or even having your wedding bands engraved like we did.

As I started to walk down the beach to my husband, I hear this roaring sound. People were watching and cheering from the balconies. It was great and so unexpected! It was like we had our own congregation of people there at our ceremony. It was pretty awesome and our girls loved it.

I thought this photo of my husband was gorgeous. I love his dark hair against the white outfit. The water was beautiful, the temperature perfect, everything went so smoothly just as we had prayed for. The Lord really blessed our special day. It was so amazing the fact that He "moved" the people out of the way. We don't remember anyone walking by while we were saying our vows or even while we were taking our photos. God was all in it for sure!

Here we are as we see each other for the first time. Of course, we were very emotional.

Our two beautiful flower girls. They scooped out sand along the way as they walked down the beach.

Cheyenne had the best time playing in the sand. It really kept her occupied.

Our oldest daughter filmed and took a few photos.

We each wrote out our own vows and promises to one another...both pretty much writing a book. 😊

Standing there, as we were holding each other's hand, tears pouring down our cheeks, we made new commitments, after 15 years of marriage. It was such an emotional experience and much more meaningful than when we said our marriage vows in 1999. We were so young back then and didn't have a clue as to what we were doing or even saying for that matter. Today, years later, we have had the experiences, the hardships, and the best part, the victories.He knew all of me and I knew all of him. We have been through some "stuff" and still choose each other. We now know what it truly means to sacrificially and unconditionally love one another...to forgive often. I can't even put into words, the joy and peace we felt on our day.

The past seven years, our relationship/marriage has been taken to a deeper level.

A Symbol Of God's Sacred Union In Marriage

Ecclesiastes 4:12 says "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

We wanted this ceremony to be very sacred, holy and meaningful and this is why we chose to incorporate, A Cord Of Three Strands, which is called God's Knot.

What Is A Cord Of Three Strands?

A Cord Of Three Strands is a symbol of a sacred union between a husband and wife with Jesus being the center of marriage. The Bible teaches us that God performs a miracle in our marriage, uniting us together in a covenant relationship with Him as one. By keeping Him at the center, His love will continue to bind us together as one throughout our marriage.

1. The bride and groom braid the Cord of Three Strands together.
2. The groom holds a small metal ring with three attached strands.
3. The bride then braids the strands together, symbolizing the union of God, husband and wife.

My husband prayed the sweetest prayer over the two of us.

And...we did it!

It was one of the most memorable and BEST days of our lives!

We then hung around on the beach, enjoyed the moment and took LOTS of photos!

I love this photo with our girls in the background.

It was truly the sweetest day.

Our girls were so patient and didn't complain one bit. We were there for several hours.

I love LOTS of photos, so we were here quite awhile.

They looked so beautiful.

Holding hands.

My precious girls and me.

Beautiful, precious Chanler.

Beautiful and precious Cheyenne.

I love these photos of my husband and girls.

So sweet!

Precious!

My family!

The water was absolutely gorgeous.

You probably thought we hired a professional photographer...my father-n-law is actually who took most of the photos.He's the best! He so graciously took the time to take lots of pictures that day.

We must of taken a thousand photos!

Photos are your memories and all you have to look back on!

More photos...

Throwing the bouquet.

Getting everyone in place.

They are ready.

Here we go!

My father-n-law even got in on the action.

He cracks me up and is so much fun.

Heading off to celebrate together.

Oh yeah, I must mention this great tip when you don't have time to lay out in the sun. I actually get asked this question from time to time...what self-tanner I recommend. I for sure didn't have time to lay out for this trip. That's when ECO TAN invisible tanning cream saves the day! ECO TAN is an organic, natural self tanner with NO artificial dyes or synthetic fragrances. I put this cream on 4-5 hours before an event. I usually apply twice, the second application 30 minutes after the first. It's so great and saves me so much time!

A few more photos!

Leaving to go celebrate together! I hope we've inspired you with our journey. This was truly one of the BEST days of our lives and we were so happy to share our day with you. Whether you renew your vows or not, we challenge you to step it up in your marriage. Take time for each other, communicate and go on lots of dates together. Most importantly, always keep Jesus first priority in your marriage. This is how we have made it this far! He's the secret to a successful and happy marriage.

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