Getting married once is a big deal. Choosing to renew your wedding vows, on purpose, with the person you already promised forever to, is its own kind of statement. Vow renewal ceremonies have been quietly growing more popular, and for good reason: they come with none of the pressure of a first wedding and none of the rules either. No legal paperwork, no need to get it “right” the first time, no obligation to explain yourself to anyone who asks why.
In this guide, we’re covering what a vow renewal actually is, the real reasons couples choose to renew their vows, when people typically plan one, how to plan your own vow renewal ceremony from start to finish, what to actually say during the ceremony, how people online feel about the whole idea, and a few celebrity couples who’ve renewed their vows publicly.
Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Elizabeth Nord, Unveiled Brides Co
What Is a Vow Renewal?
A vow renewal is a ceremony where a couple who is already legally married comes together to recommit to one another. It’s not a wedding in the legal sense, there’s no marriage license involved, no officiant signing off on anything binding, but emotionally it can carry just as much weight, sometimes more. Couples use a vow renewal ceremony to reaffirm their love, look back on everything they’ve built together, and make new promises for whatever comes next. Since the legal vows were already exchanged the first time around, the ceremony gets its own name entirely, a renewal, a reaffirmation of commitments already made rather than new ones being created. Some couples treat their vow renewal as a scaled-down echo of their original wedding. Others treat it as something completely different, shaped entirely by who they’ve become since.
A Brief History of Vow Renewals
Vow renewals aren’t a new invention, though they’ve become far more visible in recent years thanks to social media. Throughout history, marriage vow renewal ceremonies have taken various forms, adapting to the customs and beliefs of different cultures. In ancient Rome, married couples would exchange vows and tokens of love on milestone anniversaries. In Hindu culture, the Saptapadi ceremony, where couples take seven steps together, is often repeated throughout a marriage to reaffirm their bond. In medieval Europe, couples would renew their vows in churches, seeking blessings from clergy to strengthen their union.
Over the twentieth century, the practice slowly moved beyond religious contexts and into more secular territory, becoming a way for couples of any background to mark meaningful anniversaries, personal turning points, or simply a desire to celebrate a marriage that had grown and changed. Today, vow renewal ceremonies have expanded even further, no longer tied to any particular milestone year or religious tradition, but instead treated as a flexible, personal celebration that couples design entirely on their own terms.
Photo: Courtesy of Beba Suki, Lee Soomin
Why Do People Renew Their Vows?
There’s no single reason, and that’s kind of the point. Deciding to renew your vows really comes down to how a couple feels about their relationship, and what they want to mark about it.
For some, it’s about getting the wedding they didn’t get the first time around. “My wife and I did it at our 10-year anniversary,” one person shared. “We were married in the middle of someone’s living room with a baby wanting held. So we had the wedding we wanted at ten years.”
Another couple who married during COVID described something similar. “We had a Covid wedding in our living room in 2021, and we are doing a five-year vow renewal as our big celebration in May. Everyone is super excited about it, and we have explained what it is to anyone who has asked, and they were all understanding and excited. We have told people we do not want gifts, but instead to give donations to a charity of their choice if they insist, since we do not need anything and we just want to have a big celebration with friends and family without people thinking it is a gift grab.”
Photo: Steelcut, Courtesy of Hanna Schönberg
For others, the reason is harder to talk about. A vow renewal can mark the moment a couple came through something genuinely difficult together, a rocky stretch, a separation they worked through, months of counseling, and chose deliberately to recommit rather than simply move on. “This year is our 30th wedding anniversary in October,” one person wrote. “We went through a very rough time during our 10th year. We did months of counseling and decided, at the end of that, to renew our vows. The counseling taught us how to communicate with each other, and we still use those lessons today. We have a strong marriage and look back at that renewal celebration with fond memories.”
Sometimes it’s simpler than that: more money the second time around, more clarity about what actually matters, or just wanting to celebrate. “My wife and I got married in a parking lot during Covid,” one person said. “Plus we’ve been through a lot together the last six years. So we want to celebrate our love with those we love, for both the first time and in a way we feel will be meaningful to us.”
And for many couples, it’s about updating the promise itself. “We were married in 2016, but since then we’ve had career changes, Covid, I got my Masters, our daughter was born, we bought a house, and adopted our dog,” one bride wrote. “We have changed so much as people, and have been through so much. I want to update our vows to the people we are now.”
When Do You Renew Your Vows?
Whenever you want. There’s no waiting period, no minimum number of years required, no rulebook at all. Some couples renew their vows after one year of marriage, some at twenty, and some choose to renew their vows more than once over the course of a marriage.
Photo: Courtesy of Fuen Albaladejo Diaz, Lee Soomin
How to Plan a Vow Renewal Ceremony
The planning process borrows a lot from a traditional wedding, minus the legal steps.
Start by deciding how you want the celebration to feel. It can be as casual as a backyard barbecue or as elaborate as a full reception, there’s no formula here, just whatever fits the two of you.
From there, work out the practical details: the location, whether that’s an international destination, a favorite restaurant, or your own backyard, and how formal or informal the day should feel. Build a guest list, thinking specifically about who has actually been part of your relationship over the years, children, siblings, close friends who’ve watched the marriage unfold. Choose a date, send invitations, and pick your outfit.
Meeting with an officiant matters here too, even if it’s less official than the first time around. A good officiant can open the vow renewal ceremony with a reflection on your years together, weaving your actual story into the moment rather than reading something generic.
Photo: Courtesy of Dorit Revelis, Leonie Hanne
What Do You Say When Renewing Your Vows?
This part is entirely up to you, and it’s often the most personal piece of the whole day. Some couples repeat their original wedding vows word for word, wanting the same promises to carry forward exactly as they were first spoken. Others keep a few key lines from the original ceremony and rewrite the rest, updating the language to reflect who they’ve become. Some couples start from scratch entirely, writing something completely new that has nothing to do with their first wedding at all. There’s no wrong approach here. Whatever you choose, the goal is the same: promises that genuinely reflect who you are now, not who you were on your original wedding day, and a real sense of what you’re actually committing to for the years still ahead. Some couples even bring humor into it, referencing inside jokes or specific memories from their marriage that only the two of them, and maybe their closest guests, will fully understand.
What People Actually Think About Vow Renewals
Not everyone gets it, and that’s fine. On wedding forums, the question comes up a lot: “Renewal of vows, why?” Some people are simply confused by the concept. “Some people just want an excuse to celebrate their marriage without it being an anniversary dinner,” one commenter offered. “Nothing wrong with that.”
Others see real meaning in it. “If you have been together for a long time, then you grow and change over those years. Renewing your vows is a way to reconfirm your commitment to each other,” one person wrote. “I’m newly married but have been with my husband for over a decade. I’m nothing like the same person I was when I met him.”
A smaller, more skeptical camp exists too. “Personal opinion, but I think vow renewals are ridiculous, and often a sign of a troubled relationship,” one commenter wrote. “If you want to have a celebration of your anniversary, just have a damn party already.” It’s a fair opinion, and it’s far from the only one. Reactions to vow renewals online tend to split pretty evenly, some people see them exactly as they’re usually meant, a simple celebration of love that’s lasted, while others remain genuinely unconvinced the whole concept makes sense at all.
Photo: Courtesy of Dilara Findikoglu, Ibtihel
Vow Renewal Ideas Worth Considering
- Plan a destination vow renewal that doubles as a family vacation, giving everyone a real trip out of the celebration, not just a single afternoon.
- Recreate a detail from your original wedding day, the same song, the same flowers, the same vows, as a way of tying the two moments together.
- Or go the opposite direction entirely and make the renewal feel nothing like your first wedding, a different location, a different style, a fresh version of the two of you.
Celebrity Vow Renewals
Plenty of famous couples have chosen to renew their vows publicly, treating the milestone as its own celebration worth marking in front of family, friends, and sometimes millions of followers.
Nearly twenty years after tying the knot, David Beckham revealed that he and Victoria had renewed their vows. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs for a special 75th-anniversary edition, the soccer star opened up about the ceremony. “We have renewed our vows since our first wedding,” David said, without elaborating on exactly when it took place. “It was a lot more private, about six people there in our house.”
Photo: Courtesy of Justin and Hailey Bieber
Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz first married in April 2022, in a lavish ceremony at the Peltz family’s sprawling Palm Beach estate. Just over three years later, the couple renewed their vows in an intimate outdoor ceremony. In photos shared on Instagram, Nicola wore a romantic off-the-shoulder gown with puffed sleeves and floral detailing on the bodice, holding a single rose. “This day meant so much to us,” Peltz wrote. Beckham added, “Forever my girl.”
Photo: Courtesy of Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz
