Renewing Vows


I hardly share personal notes about myself here on the blog but I thought this post would be okay. My husband and I have been married for 13 years. I am 34 and I have been with him since I was 20. We met at church and I have been “growing up” with him ever since.

When we first got married we hardly did anything. I borrowed my wedding dress from a friend, bought some pearls from the thrift store, rolled my hair, and wore house slippers that look like ballet flats.

He wore a suit that he would normally wear to church. I had no flowers anywhere, not even a bouquet. No groomsmen, bridesmaids, no reception, just a small group of family and friends. Less than 20 people.

We said our vows and his parents took us to Fridays for dinner. After that, we went home. No honeymoon either.  We didn’t have much yet I would not change a thing about that day. I loved it!

My husband and I worked with what we had. We were not trying to impress anyone. We didn’t care! I knew in my heart that in the future the Lord would work it out where I could get a “do-over”. Now here we are. We are in our second home that the Lord allowed us to build, we have very nice vehicles, I graduated from college (with no debt), my husband’s business is doing very well, I am a paralegal with the United States government, we have an 11-year-old daughter and I have two step-sons who are very good men.

Life is good! I have no complaints. But when I see anything about a wedding my heart kind of mourns. I am a girly, girly, and would enjoy having a nicer wedding ceremony in the future. So I prayed and talked with my husband and he agreed that we can renew our vows during our 20 year wedding anniversary. I am so happy! So of course and took to Pinterest and I wanted to share some of my ideas for our 20-year wedding ceremony.

Photo credit Nicola Bathie Instagram account
I am using these chairs as inspiration for my wedding invitations! 

I love this! Using vintage plates at the reception. Sounds wonderful!
I am a huge fan of lace and will most likely have it on my dress.

My dream shoes and bouquet.

I love the thought of having a “naked cake” for our reception. 

I have not made up my mind as far as a dress for our daughter. As she has gotten older her tastes have changed. So we will see. Of course, it will be elegant and simple. 


Well, it was nice sharing all of my ideas with you. I am waiting patiently for the day and I look forward to creating all of the details of our renewal ceremony and spending time with family and friends. If you wish to follow my wedding board on Pinterest see here.

6 replies
  1. Gramspearls
    Gramspearls says:

    Dear, dear Mrs. Shockley,
    Thank you for sharing your story. You have such a wonderful heart and spirit, your wedding and marriage are lovely examples for all. Now, we can enjoy your journey planning the renewal of your vows.

    Warmly, Kathleen

    • Mrs. Shockley
      Mrs. Shockley says:

      Thank you Kathleen! We have our ups and downs but I do believe that marriage is very important especially today. Thank you for the kind wishes! We look forward to having a ceremony.

  2. Unknown
    Unknown says:

    Thanks for sharing friend. I completely understand that feeling. I share the same story. My husband and I have been married now 14 years and I'm 33. We've been together almost 20 years come March. We had a small family wedding with about 30 people. We built our home 10 years ago and have three children. My dream was to have that big wedding with family and friends and our children. So, we have planned to renew our vowels next year to celebrate our 15 years if marriage!! I am so excited! I get jitters just as we look at venues and different ideas that we both want. I encourage you to have fun while planning and keep blogging.

    Tanisha #BRHS

    • Mrs. Shockley
      Mrs. Shockley says:

      Oh, thank you for stopping by Tanisha! That is wonderful that you and your hubby and renewing vows next year! I hope you share some photos! I would love to see it. And you enjoy planning too! I am sure it will be fun!!!!

  3. Unknown
    Unknown says:

    This post made me tear up a little… I hope you get your dream wedding. God is good! I'll be 33 this May. My husband and I reside our first home but plan to build our second next year. We are both educators. We have 2 children, a 3 year old girl and 3 month old boy. We hit the "gender jackpot" so we are not planning on having anymore children. Do you plan to have another child?

    • Mrs. Shockley
      Mrs. Shockley says:

      Hello Cindy!
      Thank you! I do hope that the Lord will work it out as far as my dream wedding. I believe he will. No, we don't want anymore children. Our daughter is 12 and my husband has 2 older boys from his first marriage so we are good. Thank you for stopping by!

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