Writing, reading, memorizing, your vows?

I don't think it will look odd in pictures.

Also, if you are not used to memorizing and performing lines, it will be difficult with all the emotion in the moment to memorize. I still suggest practicing it out loud several times so you're comfortable and can look up during certain parts (cute eye gazing pictures!), but to not have the written words will be difficult for most people to memorize - even if they did it cold 35 times perfectly to their mirror. The added stress and emotion would make it difficult even for seasoned people with this. There's also a boost of confidence you'll have knowing that if you forget, the lines are in your hand. Also, super cute to have them as a keepsake forever.

There is never anything wrong with having cards in public speaking, imo. The trick is not to read verbatim from the cards. If you stand there and read, you run the risk of sound flat and robotic.

You still want to know what you're going to say. You still want to practice what you are going to say. The cards are more to keep you focused and on point.

I havent written my vows yet but when I do, I plan on reading them outloud several times (by myself) to try and get some of the emotion out of my system so I'm not a crying fool when trying to speak. But yes, I'll have them written on a card or something. Memorizing will be more stressful for me and the last thing I want on that day is stress!

Thanks ladies, I appreciate the backup. I know we don't want to try to memorize for sure, I can just see having a block right then just because of the emotion! I will stick with the card idea for now and I would love to hear how others are noting their vows? Journals, cardstock, index cards, post its? :-)

We wrote our own vows! I bought these tiny "vow books" that had were like small notebooks with about four pages each so we had just enough room for the vows and they weren't bulky. We both memorized them for the most part, but we had it if we needed it in the moment and now we have cute keepsakes.

We wrote our own vows and our officiant is printing them in keepsake booklets for us to read from during the ceremony. I've seen pictures of other ceremonies she's done this way and it doesn't look weird at all

Don't attempt to memorize them; you'll spend the first 18 minutes of the ceremony dreading those two minutes, and that shouldn't be.

Get little notebooks (I buy them by the ton on Wish.com, but the shipping takes forever...) or put them on card stock. It won't look weird and you'll be able to relax....

We read our vows. My H read them off an iPad provided by our Officiant which he also used during the ceremony. Mine were written in a "card for future husband" I found at Papyrus. I don't have my pictures yet, but in the video it looked fine. My MOH walked in with my card and I took it from her when I handed her my bouquet.

Awesome ideas ladies! I am going to go search for the vow books, I did not even know they existed! I should have known...but somehow I didn't! :-)

Came here to say vow book! Was just looking at them yesterday!

I ordered "vow books" off Etsy, little keepsake books. We'll be reading ours. I'd forget in the moment even if I had them memorized before hand.

You'll also naturally pause and look at your FS while reading them, just like you naturally pause and look at your audience if you're using notecards during a presentation. It won't look odd.

We pulled out pieces of paper and read them. No pressure and I didn't care about the papers being in pictures. Not that big of a deal to me

I just found the greatest little vow books on Etsy that will be personalized and match our "vine" wedding accessories. Bonus the pages are removable so when my handwriting inevitably screws the whole vibe up I can rip the pages out and redo with no one the wiser! Thank you again ladies!!!

Our officiant actually told us to bring our vows written out, and to use it. He also said to read them out loud at least 4-5 times well in advance as some written things do not portray well when spoken. He's a hired professional, so we are absolutely taking his advice.

ETA:

OP - mind sharing your find?! Love to see!