Vow time and word-count

So long as you're around 2 -3 minutes I wouldn't stress about it. I don't think word count matters at all really, not as much as timing. Also remember when you read your vows its going to be emotional and fairly adrenaline filled so even if you're at that time now, thats you saying it calmly by yourself.

I didn't time my vows at all, and I didn't even look a the word count, but I don't think it took my more than two minutes to say them all and I know I rushed at least part of it out of nerves. Also you may get emotional so it still might take you a minute.

Basically TL; DR: Your vows are a super important moment so don't over complicate it. There will be a lot of emotional factors in how long it will take you to say it the day of, so so long as you're 3 minutes or under you're fine.

I know my limitations, I'm very anxiety filled when in front of people and especially since it'll be so intimate. I kept it to about 300 words which takes me approximately a minute to read or so. I'll be choking up -- so that'll be difficult in itself.

FH and I just decided we were going to write our own vows. We are ordering these cards from Etsy which is a standard "card" size. We decided whatever fits in the card is what we will say. We will probably both pre-write on normal paper to get all of our thoughts down, but we are only using this card so it won't be too long.

Etsy vow card

My viws are about a 30 seconds long that is because I get nervous talking in front of crowds. First wedding I didn't reciite vows just said "I do" after the preist receited the traditional vows. This time my FH and I decided to receive our own vows. He's great with words. And really great at rhyming so I can't wait to hear what he has to say.lol. but 2-3min isn't that bad. I would keep everything you have. I'm sure it's beautiful and your FH will love it

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That makes sense, thank you! It's so hard for me to guess how long it is actually going to take for me to read at the ceremony, since I am sure I will be emotional and that will slow me down, but I also know I tend to talk fast when I'm nervous so that may speed it up...?

Good to know that 3 minutes is still good though, so even if it takes a little longer than I think it'll still be ok. Our ceremony is only going to be like 20 mins long at the most so I'm not worried about the time for that, I just don't want it to sound like I'm rambling or being too wordy or redundant and detract from the powerful-ness of it!

My vows are 390 words and takes me under 3 min to read. I know that the day of may be different, and I may end up adlibing part of them because of nerves. I also talk really fast when I am nervous so I will probably rush through them.

View Quoted Comment I like this vow card, very cute! I've seen vow books but didn't think we'd need all of the pages. The card is perfect. Thanks for sharing!

I’ve read 2-3 minutes is best regardless of word count. You’ll want to time yourself slowly.

The current draft of my vows is 140 words, and takes just shy of a minute for me to say. I just can't think of anything else that would add to them.

FH and I decided to keep it around 250 words. Reading slowly, mine (230 words) take just over a minute. Nerves will certainly make me speed up so I'm estimating just at or just under a minute on the day of. We're having a fairly short ceremony, which is why we wanted the vows to be on the short side. Plus, I tend to ramble given the chance, so it forced me to focus on what was really important. 2-3 minutes should totally be fine

I don't know what my word count was, but I wrote two paragraphs and they took about a minute to read (longer on the day of because I had to stop and regain my composure a few times lol). My husband's vows were 9 promises, each just a sentence. Our entire ceremony took 12 minutes from processional to recessional!

We wrote vows that are under a minute each, which will be followed by the traditional ones. So I think it will be 2 minutes or less for both of us.

Uhhh mine clocked in at about 3 minutes (+16 sec), so maybe they're too long?

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I think that's fine! That's about how long mine ended up being.