Good wedding vows make good marriages. What if your wedding vows weren’t something you simply said at your wedding ceremony? What if you crafted your vows as the working document that will carry your relationship into the future? Because you know, that’s the job of your wedding vows: to give you clear guidelines in the work of making your marriage. They are to be the heart of your marriage and the foundation of the family you will grow in this new marriage. That they will make a beautiful centerpiece for your wedding ceremony is lovely, but it is more crucial that they are the corner stone in building a wedding ceremony that does its job – making you married!

While marriage vows need to be general enough that the two of you have some room to work things out as life interjects itself into your carefully made plans, they also need to be specific enough that you know when you are and aren’t keeping them.

Tip: Couples need to develop a process for recognizing when their intentions for keeping their vows goes awry and then for getting back into alignment with their deepest desires and highest intentions.