Anyone NOT writing their own vows?

Allison:

http://weddings.about.com/od/weddingvows/a/traditionalvows.htm

I wanted to originally, but FH shot it down immediately. We picked an officiant that does only secular/non-religious weddings for family or friends and when he gave us his template. We went with it. They are perfect for us! I did add a little portion that I wrote out to my Step children and added it though. FH cried when I read it to him for the first time so I guess it worked out perfectly.

We are using traditional ones. Want to know the real reason? FH and I were talking about it and we both decided we were too lazy to write our own and we'd rather just do traditional ones.

We may however vamp them a little so they aren't so obey-y. Overall though, I like those ones and I'd rather focus on other things.

We wanted to use only the traditional vows. They feel more timeless than something we might write based on where we are in our lives right now, which might be very different from what we'd write 10 or 20 years from now. Plus, part of the idea of having guests at a wedding ceremony is to get community support for you marriage. So we wanted to emphasize the things we had in common with other married couples, not the things that are unique to us.

Here is what we used:

Rabbi: NotFroofy, will you take 2dBride to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?

NotFroofy: I will

Rabbi: 2dBride, will you take NotFroofy to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?

2dBride: I will

Rabbi: Will you, the families and friends of 2dBride and NotFroofy, support and uphold them in their marriage now and in the years to come?

Congregation: We will.

Rabbi: NotFroofy and 2dBride, I now invite you to join hands and make your vows, in the presence of your family and friends gathered here.

NotFroofy: I, NotFroofy, take you, 2dBride, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.

2dBride: I, 2dBride, take you, NotFroofy, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.

NotFroofy: With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee honor, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.

2dBride: With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee honor, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.

I wanted to, but then I ended up really liking the ceremony the officiant came up with, so we decided to go with that instead. We're still doing letters to each other the night before the wedding and any really mushy stuff can go in there. lol

We both decided to go with the traditional vows. We thought writing them may make it too emotional to say during the ceremony.

We're not writing our own vows, i don't think i would be able to keep it together reading them

We are using these vows... I love them

today I take you to be my husband, my faithful partner, and my one true love, loving you now and as you grow and develop into all that God intends. I promise to encourage you, to inspire you, and love you truly when we are together and when we are apart, when our lives are at peace and when they are in turmoil, when I am proud of you and when I am disappointed in you, in times of work and in times of rest. I promise to passionately pursue you, to pray for you, and to empower you to do the things that you dream. From the depth of my being, I will seek to be open and honest with you. I will forever be there to laugh with you, to lift you up, and to love you unconditionally, through all of our adventures in life together. I say these things believing that God is in the midst of them all.

And I give you this ring as a token of my unending love.

FW seems to want to write our own. I would be more inclined to look online for something we liked and modify it as necessary, I feel like using words that have been used before by other people would be more meaningful (and less embarrassing), but whatever, I think it matters more to her than to me.

We are doing the traditional repeat after me, but if I would have had my way we would have only said I Do. I want short, sweet, and to the point. Lol

No it isn't mandatory to write vows (which i believe was your original question) you can simply repeat after the officiant. For us however, we have both agreed to writing our own vows, just seems more personal and special. We arent getting married until August next year so timing is all we have. Honestly, I already wrote mine lol. I love writing poems so this vow coming from my heart just seems so perfect. I wont sit here and say im not nervous about reciting it, but i am speaking to him and only him at that moment so I will continue to tell myself that and hopefully all goes well.