A World of Ways to Say I Do: Wedding Vows, Readings, Poems, and Customs from Different Traditions and Cultures and How to Write Y (Hardcover)

Today's modern bride and groom want to incorporate tradition, eloquence, and faithful promises into their vows, and this beautiful book offers ideas and inspirations for incorporating meaningful words and thoughts of love into their special day.

In this book couples will discover how others from around the world and across time have chosen to say "I do" as well as the derivatives and customs behind these words.

Your wedding vows are likely to be the most transformative words that will ever cross your lips. These brief utterances not only provide the cornerstone of your ceremony but mark the beginning of your lifelong journey together. You want them to be profound yet personal, unique but universal. When the moment comes to profess eternal love, commitment, and friendship to your beloved, how will you choose to express it?

To help you personalize vows that you will proudly share on your special day and remember fondly for years to come, A World of Ways to Say "I Do" offers a wide assortment of conventional and unconventional cultural and religious traditions, customs, poems, readings, and vows to inspire you. Discover how others from around the globe and across time have chosen to pledge their lifelong love and celebrate their marital unions, as well as tips on how to:

• Draft your own "I dos"--Craft original vows that express all your feelings, dreams, and love for one another succinctly and eloquently
• Adapt traditional religious vows--Rework faith-based pledges of commitment--from Catholic to Celtic to Quaker and beyond--so that they reflect your own perspective on love and marriage
• Find unique readings--Get away from traditional excerpts and instead use more memorable texts, such as an inspirational Apache wedding blessing or a 3,000-year-old Egyptian love poem.
• Spice up the ceremony with wise and witty proverbs--Add a bit of wisdom from Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Americas.
• Cement your commitment symbolically--Include an unexpected tradition, such as the tasting of sweetened milk (Morocco) or presenting the bride with thirteen coins (Mexico).

Whether you're planning an interfaith, second, secular, or May-December wedding, or you just want to tweak tradition to suit your style, this lovely volume will help you create a ceremony that is timeless, tender, and true to the two of you.

Discover a world's worth of wisdom to enrich your wedding ceremony!

Wedding vows are more than lines to memorize and recite. They are magical words that join two people as one. To craft a promise that touches the soul and speaks from the heart, dip into these thought-provoking pages, where you'll not only find simple approaches to writing your own life-changing vows but also discover ideas and customs from around the world to add meaning and insight to your special day. You may be inspired to:

• Profess your love with lyrical lines of Shakespeare
• Celebrate your differences with witty quotes from Oscar Wilde or Yiddish proverbs
• Sanctify your union by silently exchanging sake in the tradition of the Japanese
• Proclaim your devotion with the words of a 2,000-year-old Sanskrit love poem
• Bind your hands together for the ceremony with braided grass as in Africa to symbolize your commitment
• Seal the deal by reciting a Native American love affirmation
• Ensure a long and lucky life together with the Greek custom of breaking champagne glasses on the wedding night

Draw on the wealth of wedding resources in A World of Ways to Say "I Do" to enhance your vows, readings, programs, thank-you notes, even your wedding website. This rich array of global and historical perspectives on matrimony will help you shape your ceremony into one that respects tradition and reflects your unique personalities.