So I'm a little confused. It appears that the good majority of people on this site have issues with a couple throwing themselves a wedding-like ceremony for a vow renewal (even in the first post on this board about proper etiquette for a vow renewal). But when I first started looking at ideas for a vow renewal one of the first articles google pulled up was this one, posted right here on this site:
My husband and I didn't exactly elope, but I was pregnant with our second child, and I was dropped from my insurance and needed to be added to his. Not the greatest reason to get married, I know, but that is the truth of our situation. We booked a time slot at one of the little chapels downtown (we live in Vegas), and I wore the only dress from Dress Barn that we could afford at the time, and we had the only 2 people we knew come as witnesses (despite having his dad and step mom out here, they couldn't be the ones to attend because it would create jealously with the rest of the family because they were having some drama at the time). Really, the whole thing was terrible, and while I love the fact that we're married, I look back on that day with nothing but regret.
Despite starting out really young, we have made it through severe financial problems when the economy collapsed (including almost losing our house), we have made it through almost getting a divorce, and are now stronger than ever, and he has survived my many collapses into depression over the years due to mental issues I have. We've made it through all this and more over the past 8 years, so for our 10th anniversary we'd like to plan a do-over wedding (sorry, not sorry) to celebrate that we've overcome all this, and to celebrate it with our family there. I'm not thinking the whole first dance, dad walks you down the aisle thing necessarily, but something more than just the two of us. Something outdoors, I want to wear a wedding dress, though not a formal style one, with a decent party afterwards to celebrate.
And on a side-note, I didn't know that wedding "do-overs" were such a big deal because only 1 person in my family DIDN'T do it that way. They got married just the two of them, than threw themselves a wedding later on with the family. I always assumed it was more common place than the internet is now leading me to believe.