Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway will answer your questions and help relieve wedding stress. Please e-mail your questions and wedding challenges to The Wedding Goddess.

Dear Wedding Goddess:

I am worried about marriage and making it last. I am afraid to admit this to anyone. What advice can you share about keeping our love alive after our wedding? - Janey

Dear Janey -

It is wonderful that this is on your mind!

It's essential you think about nurturing your love and growing your relationship while planning your wedding.

Your marriage will hopefully be a long and fruitful journey. To keep it fresh and keep it vibrant, look for ways to continually renew your commitment and to acknowledge the sacred promises you made. Over time, your marriage will need a tune up here and there, where you must make sure you are both still aligned with your vows; in addition, your vows themselves may need some enhancement. As time goes on, you will both change and grow and your married life will evolve.

1. Sweetly Keeping Your Promises Alive. You will be pretty high on love and life after you wedding – that’s why they call it the honeymoon period! --yet remembering the promises made at the altar can help you both maintain the energy of your very special day, every day. Take your vows with you on your honeymoon and every night, before you go to bed, take some time to look deeply into each others eyes and repeat them to one another.

2. Surround yourself with reminders of your sacred day. Get some beautiful paper, print your vows out and frame them. Keep them in your boudoir, next to your favorite wedding photo, and any other mementos from your wedding that fill your senses with happy memories.

3. Expand your vows. The vows you speak at your wedding may be on the short side, or tend to be romantic. There may have been some things you felt were too personal, or too practical to add in. And once you have a little experience with marriage under your belt, you may find there are additional sentiments you would like to add to your vows. These are very personal statements the two of you can come up with together. You can add them to your existing vows and repeat them to each other, and frame them, or just keep them in a sacred place – such a holy book or even in a frame behind your wedding photo, symbolically making them the foundation beneath your marriage. Over time, you can add in anything that you desire as you learn more about what you both hold dear in married life.

4. Regularly recommit to your marriage. Remember, you can celebrate and recommit to your marriage at any time. Your legal marriage is a one time deal, yet there is no law that says you cannot renew your commitment at any stage. Consider a recommitment ceremony every few years. Every time you experience a ritual that declares your love, it’s like giving your love, your life and your marriage a new infusion of energy or, even, a fresh start.