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Required wedding vows in Minnesota

Question:

 

Hi, Reverend Tomkin,

 

Thank you so much for your Minnesota wedding planning website! My brand-new fiance and I will probably get married in Minneapolis next year, and in my early poking around, your site has come up repeatedly and it's a wealth of information. We'll be using your wife's MN marriage preparation classes this summer, by the way!

 

I have one question that I haven't been able to answer by Googling, which is what are the standard vows for the state of Minnesota? I'm trying to decide whether we'll write our own vows or use something standard, but there seems to be a lot of options! Is there a legal requirement of certain things that need to be promised or said, whether the marriage is at the courthouse? Part of the reason I ask is that a friend was married at a courthouse in Tennessee and was expecting a secular civil ceremony but their standard vows do including "swearing before God" or something along those lines. I'm just trying to figure out the standard baseline and decide whether we'll use those or write our own.

 

Thank you so much!

 

Minnesota Bride

Answer:

Dear MB,

Congratulations on your engagement!

Good question - in Minnesota, you can use any vows that you find work for you, and they do not have to include "swearing before God". Just for comparison, the traditional (non-religious) wedding vows are:

I...(MB's fiance), take you, MB,
    to be my wife,
         to have and to hold
         from this day forward,
         for better for worse,
         for richer for poorer,
         in sickness and in health,
         to love and to cherish,
         until death do us part (or, "for as long as we both shall live").

I hope this helps!

Warm regards,

 

Rev. Tomkin Coleman

Minneapolis Wedding Coordinating and Officiating

Hear MN string quartet online

Question:

Hi Rev. Tomkin,

How have you been?

I'm working on some Four Voices string quartet stuff, and I went to your site to see your latest website.
Really good looking, very informative, and I LOVE the venue matrix of MN wedding reception sites and your approach to providing the information.   I've often thought about how much info we have harbored in our past experiences that I'd love to make available to couples to help them plan, example in particular cool Minneapolis and St Paul wedding sites. You've done it!

Did you do your site yourself?   We want to revamp ours, and likely will hire someone.   Any ideas?

I wonder if you might be interested in a link to part of a video Four Voices made in January?

Here's a link to the online portion.

You are a class act.  It's always great to see you on a gig and hear your services.

All my best,

Susan

Answer:

Dear Susan,

Absolutely! I love seeing the Four Voices string quartet play at MN weddings (and it was great hearing you online, as well!)

By the way, Julie and I are going to La Boheme at the Ordway in St Paul, MN, and look forward to hearing you play for the Minnesota Opera again. I love the fact that each of the four musicians in your string quartet plays professionally, such as for the MN Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the like. You are amazing!

I wish you the very best for 2010, and break a leg at La Boheme!

Warmly,

Rev. Tomkin
Minneapolis Weddings

p.s. Yes, I do all the website work myself. It's a labor of love - I love working with couples on their weddings!