What is a wedding vow?

Why are simple words strung together in a vow so immensely important as a whole?

Why do we hold the wedding vow to be the core of what we are at The Siners Photography?

What makes the vow so weighty, even after the altar?

 

We have been privileged to photograph and be present for a myriad of weddings with unique and individual vows. The portion of the ceremony where the vows are repeated never ceases to stir up emotions inside of me. I am transported back to the time I promised those sacred words to the love of my life nearly eight years ago. Whether you, (like I did) scribbled some heartfelt words on the back of a napkin or you tirelessly worked to come up with eloquent words to your future spouse, you can agree that the vow that you uttered then remains in your mind even today.  In essence, we all pledge to love and cherish our spouse, through sickness and in health, in all circumstances until death separates one from the other.

 

With the help of social media and a busy world, words don’t seem to hold the same gravity today as they once might have. It is so easy to make hollow promises, profess weak love, and over communicate about many things. Promises are broken all of the time, and exaggerated pledges aren’t taken very seriously. But Ashley and I believe the wedding vow ought to be different. Those precious words should never be spoken without really understanding the meaning.  According to the American Psychological Association, almost 50% of marriages end in divorce. This is a staggering statistic, and it’s particularly sobering for Ashley and I as wedding photographers.

 

We invest so much time and effort into each of our couples, and we want them to have a lifetime of unity and joy in marriage. It is sad to think that over half of the couples we meet each year are embarking on an adventure that statistically speaking, only one out of two marriages will weather. WE BELIEVE THIS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE TRUE.  It is our prayer and our mission to see our couples cherish the vow and to help fight alongside them for their marriages.

We feel compelled to take on a larger role in the valuing our clients marriages, and as much as we can, offer help and guidance for others to attain happy and fruitful marriages.  As we were going through our re-branding process a few months ago, Ashley and I kept coming back to two things:
1) All of our couples believe they have found “The One”, their forever love.
2) In finding their forever love they are making a forever promise, The Vow, to that person.
These two ideas are hugely significant and impactful aspects of marriage.  So we wanted to put our whole focus on these two. Choosing to always see your spouse as “the one” requires energy and intention as years go by, and meditating on the vow of love and selflessness you make during your wedding ceremony helps keep commitment fresh and valued.

 

As a practical step toward offering encouragement to our clients, past, present and future, we have a new blog post each month directed toward newly married or engaged couples.
We will be sharing candidly the highs and lows we have had in our relationship, providing topics of discussion for you as a couple, as well as sharing insights from articles that have inspired us in our marriage.

 

It is also our hope that all of our couples would see that we are an open book and willing to discuss anything and everything. We want to be a support system, and friends that can celebrate from the most exciting moments in a relationship. And we also want to be trusted listeners and support during the inevitable harder seasons of marriage.
I don’t think Ashley and I stumbled into this wedding photography business by accident, and we have so much vision to encourage couples. We invite you to join us as we pursue our purpose and provide our couples with the best support network they can have as they enter into a lifetime of marriage. 🙂 We feel so blessed to have found a life partner to spend our days with, and we want to be helpful to others as they pursue the process of two people becoming one in marriage. Whether you are still pursuing this goal, have found your “one” or don’t even know if there is a “the one” out there, I hope you will enjoy this series.