A vow renewal is not a do-over. The first time, you promised each other a future you could only imagine. This time, you say the words knowing exactly what they cost and exactly what they're worth.

Couples come to wine country to renew their vows for all kinds of reasons — a milestone anniversary, a hard season weathered together, or simply the feeling that a promise this good deserves to be said twice. Whatever brings you here, a renewal ceremony carries a depth no first wedding can match.

No License, No Paperwork

The practical side could not be simpler: because you are already married, there is no license to obtain, nothing to file, and no legal requirements at all. You do not need to visit a clerk, gather witnesses for a signature, or meet any deadline. The entire ceremony can be devoted to the two of you and the people you invite to witness it — which makes renewal planning blissfully light.

When Couples Choose to Renew

  • Milestone anniversaries. Ten, twenty-five, forty years — round numbers make natural occasions, and wine country makes a beautiful setting for them.
  • After a hard chapter. Some couples renew because they have come through something together and want to mark the far side of it.
  • The wedding you wish you'd had. Perhaps the first time was a courthouse, a rush, or someone else's plan. A renewal can be the ceremony you would choose now — an intimate elopement-style moment on a Mendocino bluff, or a full celebration with everyone you love.
  • With family this time. Children and grandchildren can stand with you, read, or simply watch their parents and grandparents choose each other again.

What a Renewal Ceremony Looks Like

I write renewal ceremonies the same way I write weddings: from scratch, around your story. We revisit how you met and what you promised the first time, honor the years in between honestly — the joys and the weathering both — and then turn toward what you are promising now. Many couples exchange new vows, and sometimes new rings, in a setting chosen purely for beauty: a vineyard at golden hour, a redwood grove, a garden, or the coast.

As a couple once told me:

“Peter is the best, we are using him when we renew our vows in ten years.” — Bryan & Michael

That is the spirit of it. A renewal is not nostalgia — it is a decision, made again, with your eyes open.

Pricing: The Same Packages

Renewals use the same packages as my weddings: The Elopement at $400 for an intimate, just-the-two-of-you moment; The Intimate at $650 for a small gathering; and The Signature at $950, which includes a rehearsal, for a full celebration. Travel is included across Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino counties, a 50% retainer reserves your date with the balance due two weeks before, and destination renewals are gladly quoted up front — have officiant, will travel.

Making It Your Own

Because there are no rules to satisfy, a renewal can take almost any shape. Couples read their original vows aloud first — sometimes to laughter at how young they sound — and then answer them with new ones. Others involve the friends who stood beside them the first time, or ask their children to do a reading. Some keep it to two people and an officiant on a headland at sunset; others gather forty people in a vineyard and throw the reception they never had.

A few wine country touches I love for renewals: opening a bottle from the year you married, if one has been cellared for the occasion; returning to the region — or even the spot — where you honeymooned; or writing each other letters to be read at the next renewal, because couples who renew once tend to make a habit of it.

However you shape it, the writing matters as much as it did the first time. Your story now has decades in it. The ceremony should sound like all of them — the beginning, the middle, and the road still ahead.

How Booking a Renewal Works

Exactly as it does for a wedding. We begin with a conversation about your story and the tone you want, a 50% retainer reserves your date, and the balance is due two weeks before. I take bookings from one month to two years out, so a renewal can be a long-planned anniversary celebration or a beautiful idea you act on this season. If you would like help refreshing your vows, vow-writing coaching is available for $95, and a keepsake ceremony script — a printed copy of the words spoken over you — is $25. Some couples renew at home or abroad as well; destination ceremonies are quoted up front, travel and lodging included in the number.