Probably the most important part of the wedding ceremony is the vows. Vows are the promises that you exchange with your partner that establish the contract that you enter into as part of the marriage agreement.

In Australian civil weddings the Celebrant must state the legal definition of marriage, which we call the Monitum. 

That is, “Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of two people to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.”

Two people only, joined in a relationship, freely chosen, forever. 

When we hear people talking about renewing their wedding vow what they are doing is reaffirming promises they made in their wedding and re-establishing and recommitting themselves to them for the future.

In a wedding in Australia you are legally obliged to have wedding vows, and they must take the following form:

I call upon the persons here present to witness that I, A.B, take thee, C.D, to be my lawful wedded <wife, or husband, or spouse>

You can use whichever is appropriate to your case.

Some people like to include the the old-fashioned church style: 

”to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

Some people like to make their own:

“I promise to make you banana smoothies every Saturday morning, I promise to catch the spiders in the house’ -  whatever. 

You're allowed to come up with something that's both special and personal - as long as it doesn't diminish the meaning and importance of the vows you've already taken.

As a celebrant I'm happy to work with you to create something that is personal and significant to meet your needs