‘I do – again!’ Why are so many people renewing their marriage vows?

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz are doing it, Guy Ritchie is doing it – and some people are even doing it with a Mary Poppins impersonator to officiate. Here, couples share why they’ve tied the knot for a second time

When Jade Foster-Jerrett married Dean in 2015, the couple decided that if they were still together in 10 years’ time, they would renew their vows. “We always said that it felt like a big milestone if we ever made it – which, luckily, we did.” This month, they held a ceremony in the forest behind their home, colourful bunting fluttering in the wind, with a Mary Poppins impersonator emerging from the trees to surprise their guests and officiate. “We love to have a laugh,” she says.

Mary Poppins was Foster-Jerrett’s favourite film when she was a child, and she used to watch it with her father, who died in 2020. “We wanted to mark him not being there,” says the 42-year-old children’s entertainer from Romford, London. Her best friend, who was a bridesmaid at her first wedding, did a reading, and the couple gave their 22 guests kites made of paper studded with poppy seeds that they could plant later at home. Afterwards, they returned home for food and drinks with their guests, including their 12-year-old son and Foster-Jerrett’s 19-year-old son from her first marriage. Since the ceremony, she and Dean, a 49-year-old local government officer, “are closer than ever. We realised how much more in love we are with each other.”