I haven't, but I felt that when we had our 25tg anniversary party, that was affirmation similar to renewing our vows.

We have many long married friends but know only one couple that had a renewal ceremony and party. It was for their 25th anniversary. To be honest, I felt they could have just had a party with a reaffirming toast to each other. The 'ceremony', was a little cheesy with the bride walking down an aisle on the arm of her son.

I have been in church on a Sunday, when the priest introduced and called a couple up to the altar to do a quick renewal prayer. Without even knowing the people that was much more moving to witness.

ML

Nice thoughts - thanks so much to you both, elledi61 and maddielee! I can certainly see how a full-fledged ceremony could come across as cheesy. A renewal prayer sounds lovely, as does the reaffirming toast. The more I think about it, the renewal prayer would probably hold the most significance for DH and me. We've already "renewed" our vows to one another in private, but do like the idea of going public with it in a church setting, in a very understated way. Food for thought!

I love that you renewed your vows in private.

I understand that a lot of people don't see why anyone would ever consider renewing their vows. The subject is certainly not without strong opinion on both sides!

I personally like what I read on another site:

"The better question is why not? A marriage is not a thing you do once, it’s a thing you do every day forever – I think taking a milestone to recognize that and “refresh” your mindset is nice. I wouldn’t do it like a wedding though. I’d do it but more privately. I had that stress and craziness once now and I think “that was great, NEVER AGAIN.” I would totally have big anniversary parties and invite lots of people or something, but NO CEREMONY or anything like that. If I were doing a true vow renewal it would be just me and him on a beach somewhere, maybe a photographer if we really felt like making it special and had money to burn."

No, not for us. We renew ourselves every time he snatches my pillow as I'm putting my head down and I pretend to be surprised, or when we read stories, both news stories and a pretty paragraph or two from a book to each other, or he raves about the wonderful meal I made, or how pretty the garden looks, or he writes another poem about something ordinary that knocks me off my feet.

It's the little things. They add up.

On the other hand, my neighbor celebrated her 25th ann'y Saturday and wore her wedding gown and veil all day while her husband wore black cargo shorts and short sleeve shirt with bow tie! They were adorable! They had wedding cake and catered BBQ in their tented back yard. It was a blast!

Some interesting perspectives. DH and I will celebrate our 25th next year (June) and I am already trying to think of a special way to celebrate. I thought of a vow renewal, but it just seems sort of empty, when we do things all the time that affirm our marriage. Like you said, sheesh, it's the little things. And sometimes the big ones too. Love what your neighbors did.

DH wants to go on one of those European World War II tours that visits a lot of the Band of Brothers sites. I'm thinking of looking into that plus some add-on tours while we are in the neighborhood, plus a big party with our friends.

We had our 35th anniversary earlier this year. We have never talked about renewing our vows as, like Sheesh, we seem to do so every day. He works out of state four days a week and we Skype each night ending with blowing each other loads of kisses and then we hug ourselves and "throw" it to the other before a few more blown kisses and hang up.
Yes, we are corny like that. When he leaves for the airport, I walk out with him, getting a stand up hug before he gets in his vehicle, then kisses through the window no matter the weather. I then watch him leave, getting a blown kiss as he finishes backing out and is ready to pull away. I watch him down the road, blowing a kiss just before he goes out of site and then run to a a few other places where I can see him pass through our neighborhood. Then I run through the house and out the front door to wait until he drives by on the highway. He toots his horn while I raise my arms and wave, blowing kisses again just before he's out of site.
We didn't have a dance at our wedding. Never gave it a thought. When our daughter got married three years ago, I asked the DJ if he had Longer by Dan Fogelberg. He said he didn't, but would be sure to have it at the reception. Unbeknownst to us, after our daughter and her hubby danced with each other and then our daughter with her Dad and her hubby with his Mom, the DJ asked Hubby and I to the dance floor and played "our song". I thought others would join us, but no one did. Not that we would have noticed. Though it wasn't a renewal of our vows, it sure was an awesome experience. When photos started showing up on fb, there were more shots of us dancing than there was of the newly weds. All stating how nice it was to see how true love could really last. We have been so blessed with each other.

Here's one of the pictures of us dancing. My, do hope my hair really didn't look that bad. Not that I cared then.

Love these stories :)

Dh and i were college sweethearts and have been married 34 years. When we said our vows the first time we meant them......no renewal necessary :-)

Justgotabme, you're a hoot! My dh is gone a good bit too and you make me feel like I haven't been giving him a proper sendoff all these years, lol.

I think renewal is a good thing; there are deal breakers in marriage and a remembrance of vows, what they mean and what marriage means, is valuable for some couples.

I think that it's a very thoughtful, romantic idea, and surely means a lot to those that have a ceremony like that. I've never wanted one myself . . . and DH and I are very romantic people who've been happily married now for 32 years. OK, now I'm feeling a twinge of guilt that I don't. None of our friends or any of my many siblings have had a renewal of vows, either, so I've never been to a ceremony. They sound lovely, though.

(Edited to add:) What we really enjoy doing to our big anniversaries is to take a romantic vacation away somewhere in the Caribbean.

Thanks so much to everyone who shared thoughts! I'm particularly loving that precious photo of justgotabme and her hubby. Do those two have stars in their eyes, or what? :-)

Thank you Cindy and Jen. :^D
Cindy, your comment made me remember something else I used to do when hubby traveled years ago. He hasn't always traveled. I used to write and tuck love notes into his pockets and.... um unders. ;^) I think I might just have to do that next week. The only problem is now we pack his suitcase together. He likes the way I fold his shirts.
Now I'm missin' him. :'^(