I, Krista, take thee, Wade ....

Okay that phrase is rarely used in real weddings; most just in television weddings! Most churches modernized their language about a hundred years ago. Or less. I'm not sure!

The United Church is a Canadian religion. I think it literally only exists in Canada. It's a fairly liberal church, founded a long time ago from a merger between the Presbyterian Church (aka the Church of Scotland), the Methodist Church, and two smaller church groups. (Some of those church congegrations remained separated, but most became United Churches.) Wade and I are both United ... Well, when we went/go to church, it was/is United. Our mothers were both raised United. I don't know about his dad. My dad was raised Anglican (but they often went to the closer Presbyterian Church).

The traditional United wedding vows are fairly similar to that tradition television/movie vows (that we all know), but are actually in normal English. Our minister has given us the option of writing our own, personalized vows or using one of a half-dozen traditional vows.

As an aside, our minister also informed us that the United Church has never allowed women to be given away in a marriage. The United Church has never viewed women as property. The father can walk his daughter down the aisle, indicate that he is bringing his daughter forward and that he blesses the marriage, but he cannot give his daughter away. Cool, huh?

Wade and I have a big and important decision to make. The vows are the heart of the ceremony. The ceremony is the reason for the wedding. And the wedding is the reason we party at the reception! I do know want to overlook the ceremony in order to plan the "perfect" reception. (Does a perfect reception even exist? I don't think so. I hope I don't even try for perfection, just to make sure it's a fun time!).

So back to our decision. Do we write our own vows, instilling a deep sense of meaning into this very personal commitment? Or do we accept and embrace the tried-and-true traditional vows?


P.S. Sorry about not posting yesterday. I was not in the mood to turn on the computer last night. I hope the 2 posts (and 1 non-wedding post) on Tuesday helped tide you over.