PULTEVENT
Vow renewal party ideas: 7 things to put on the screen after the second I do
A garden in late June, a gazebo hired for the afternoon, and a folding table with a laptop on it under a patio umbrella. On the TV someone has wheeled out from the living room is a photograph from 1999: a bride with enormous sleeves, a groom with frosted tips, a cake with a plastic couple on top. Standing in front of it, twenty-five years older, are the same two people, laughing so hard they have to hold on to each other. Their son is at the laptop. He clicks, and the next photo is last summer: the same couple, same pose, on a pier in Cornwall.
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A vow renewal is a strange and lovely event to host. It has the bones of a wedding (vows, rings, a toast, cake) but none of the nerves. The couple have nothing to prove. Many of the guests were at the first wedding. There are grown children, sometimes grandchildren, and a lot of shared history in one room. The best vow renewal parties lean into that history instead of trying to recreate a wedding reception.
What follows is a set of ideas that use a screen for exactly that: old photos next to new ones, the couple's story as a game, messages from people who were there the first time. All of it runs on PULTEVENT from a laptop connected to a TV or projector. Guests play the games from their own phones by scanning a QR code, no app needed, as long as their phones have internet.
7 vow renewal party ideas built around a screen
1 Then-and-now welcome screen
The original wedding photo and a recent one, side by side, with the couple's names and both dates underneath. Up on the screen as guests arrive, with a slideshow cycling behind it.
How to run it. Scan the old prints properly. A phone photo of a photo album page with glare on it looks sad on a big screen.
It sets the tone before anyone has said a word, and it's the photo everyone takes a picture of.
2 Recreate the first entrance
The couple walk in to the same song they walked in to the first time, with the original wedding video (or a clip of it) playing on the screen behind them.
How to run it. Load the clip as a one-tap button in the video section so it starts on cue. Test the sound from the laptop.
Guests who were there the first time will recognize the song in two notes. The ones who weren't get to see the original.
3 Our years in order
Ten moments from the marriage, shuffled: the first flat, the first child, the move abroad, the dog that ate the sofa, the year of the kitchen renovation. Guests arrange them in order on their phones.
How to run it. Write the events with specific details. The children will remember things the couple have forgotten.
It turns twenty-five years into a story the whole room tells together, and it settles family arguments about what year the caravan holiday was.
4 Who's in this wedding photo
Photos from the original wedding, zoomed in on one guest. The room guesses who it is today. The reveal shows them now.
How to run it. Pick guests who are present and happy to be picked on. Hair from the nineties is fair game; weight isn't.
The original wedding party gets its own moment, and people spend the next hour comparing notes.
5 Messages from the first wedding party
The best man who now lives in Canada, the bridesmaid who couldn't get childcare, the vicar who married them. Short clips, played in a row.
How to run it. Ask each person to start with where they were standing on the original day. It gives the clips a thread.
It connects the two ceremonies in a way no speech can.
6 The marriage quiz, by the children
The kids write questions only the family would know: the couple's worst argument about directions, the first car, Dad's secret talent. The room answers on phones and the leaderboard runs.
How to run it. Let the children host this bit themselves. Their delivery is half the fun.
It hands the microphone to the next generation and keeps the afternoon from turning into a long speech.
7 End credits
A credits screen at the end of the party listing the cast: the couple, the original wedding party, the children, the grandchildren, the neighbor who lent the gazebo.
How to run it. Put it on as the last song plays and people start looking for their coats.
It's a small, funny way to say thank you to everybody by name.
Then and now
Wedding photos from the first time next to photos from this year. The simplest idea and the one that gets the loudest reaction.
The years as a game
A timeline of the marriage that guests put in order from their phones.
The original cast
Bridesmaids, best man and the first wedding's guests get a moment on screen.
Run by the kids
One laptop, one person. Grown children usually take the job and love it.
It isn't a second wedding
The mistake people make with a vow renewal party is copying a wedding reception wholesale: the formal entrance, the first dance, the bouquet toss. Some of that is lovely. Most of it feels like a rerun. What guests actually want is to celebrate the years in between, and the years in between live in photos, stories and the people who were there.
So plan the party around memories, and let the ceremony be the short, heartfelt bit at the start.
Choosing the anniversary
Ten, twenty-five and forty years are the classic moments, but plenty of couples renew their vows after something hard: an illness they came through, a long separation for work, a move to another country. For those, go easy on the roast and heavier on the messages and photos. The timeline game still works; just read the room before putting the tough years into it.
The children as hosts
In most vow renewals I've seen, the grown children run the party. That's a gift for everyone. The couple get to be guests at their own event, and the children get to say things in a quiz or a caption that they'd never say in a speech. One of them sits at the laptop and clicks through the rounds; another holds the mic. No professional host needed, though if the family books one, the same setup works in a hired room.
Where to hold it
Gardens, village halls, a restaurant's private room, the same venue as the original wedding if it still exists. For a garden, you need a screen that can be seen in daylight, which usually means a big TV under cover rather than a projector. Put it under the gazebo or in a doorway facing the lawn. Check the Wi-Fi reaches the garden. If it doesn't, phones on mobile data are fine.
Guests who were there in 1999 and aren't now
A vow renewal often brings up absent friends: people who've moved away, and people who've died. The screen can carry both. Video messages from those who've moved away, and one quiet photo, early in the afternoon, of those who are missed. Keep it brief and let the couple decide if they want it at all.
"Should we include Uncle Pete?"
"He was the one who talked me into proposing. Of course we should."
Trying it out
The free 3-day demo is enough to build everything above and play it once on the family TV, no card needed. If you'd like to keep it for other family events, the full version is a one-time license, no subscription; prices are on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to put together a vow renewal party with a screen
- 1
A month out, dig out the original wedding album and scan the best prints.
- 2
Ask the original wedding party and far-away friends for short video messages.
- 3
With the family, write the timeline events and the children's quiz questions.
- 4
Build the welcome screen, the rounds and the credits in the console.
- 5
On the day, set up the TV where it can be seen and load the entrance clip.
- 6
Run the ceremony, then the games, then the messages, and close on the credits.
FAQ
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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