Some marriages are examples of Great Romances.

When this is the case, the husband and wife may choose to hold a “vow renewal” ceremony. In a way this is just like a wedding except the couple is reiterating their commitment and dedication to their union while celebrating the marriage that they already enjoy.

A vow renewal ceremony holds several advantages over the original ceremony. For one, usually the couple is older and since they are footing the bill, they can have whatever kind of ceremony they like. It doesn’t require legal paperwork and although you can have a minister, priest or rabbi officiate, you could also have a friend or no one at all depending on how you plan the ceremony.

The only thing governing the reception party is your budget and your personal taste. You will have to decide what sort of music you want to have played - will it be music from your lives now or music that was part of your lives while courting? Will you wear formal attire or casual?

If you can afford it, consider having your vow renewal in an exotic setting or a location noted for natural beauty. Think about resorts in the mountains or renewing your vows against the breathtaking backdrop of a sunset on the beach. Don’t put limits on your creativity.

You can renew your original vows or write new ones that are relevant to your own personal experiences together and your plans for your future. Consider the reason you are renewing your vows - a pledge of enduring love, an important milestone in your lives or a benchmark anniversary.

Whatever you decide, private or public, conservative or modern and non-traditional, make your vow renewal ceremony special by making it reflect who you are as a couple and where you are going together - into your future.

Yes, we have a new header. If you don’t see it, hold down Ctrl and hit F5 - that will refresh the cache and it will load the page as new. Why a new one? Well, I have been evolving a new style for our Syntagma blogs and Great Romances was one of the earliest. It was beginning to look a bit dull in comparison with later headers and so I “spruced it up”.

Choosing the picture for the header was not an easy task. I searched through hundreds of cloying, unlikely ones before coming across one that featured flamenco dancing. “That’s it!” I thought, “Flamenco is perfect for the task; all those smoldering eyes and dramatic poses.”

So then I looked through hundreds of flamenco pictures. I knew exactly what I wanted: one of those poses with the guy looking down proudly at the lady, while she turns away in pretend rejection of him. And could I find it? Obviously not.

But the picture that won in the end is close enough. And, importantly, it has all the right colors; the golden flesh tones, dark background and the red of the cloak. This enabled me to fade the black behind the couple into the same red as the cloak - and red, of course, is the color of passion.

The font is the only survivor from the old header. It’s Vivaldi, a romantic font that fits the subject perfectly, I think. Leaving it white echoes the lady’s dress and contrasts well with the red and black background.

So there it is in all its glory. I hope you agree that it’s suitable and effective.

Clive