My wedding anniversary is coming up, so this story about wedding vows caught my eye. Seems like “’til death do us part” is now out of vogue with the J-Lo generation…and “’til whatever” is in.

Hat tip: The Anchoress, who sums up the trouble with the “temporary vows” trend precisely:

So, when the tough get’s going – and all marriages hit their rough patches, for a variety of reasons, your non-specific, relativistic temporary vows are kind of like a “get out of marriage guilt free” card, and nobody feels like they have “failed.”

Seems to me that making what amounts to Temporary Vows to each other is an invitation to instability. Marriage is a difficult enough undertaking in the best of circumstances. If you’re starting off unwilling to believe you’re going to make it to the finish line together…well…then you very likely won’t.

“For as long as our love shall last?” That could be three weeks! Why not say “’til the inevitable divorce does us part?”

That is utterly meaningless – it is the matrimonial loophole that’s not really a vow at all, it’s more like a compromise agreement. It is anticipating failure.

Yes, marriage is hard work, and sometimes a marriage can be broken beyond repair, but if you’re getting “married” with a conditional sort of vow which suggests that your love won’t last…well…ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecies?

The commenters at Absinthe and Cookies offer more alternatives. I liked this one:

“Until a ‘home-cooked meal’ means ‘Hot Pockets’…”

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