Jeweler Throws Mass Vow Renewal



Next week, a few hundred couples will gather at a Chicago-area hotel for a mass vow-renewal ceremony arranged by a local jeweler.

Candice Milstein, owner of Wyatt Austin Jewelers in Schaumburg, Ill., spent three months organizing the nondenominational ceremony, which will be held outdoors on Aug. 22 at the local Renaissance Hotel and presided over by an ordained attorney.

Milstein had hoped to break the Guinness world record for a mass vow renewal (1,087 couples). At press time, though, just 200 or so couples had signed up. 

“I was hoping the community would come together and do something to put Schaumburg on the map,” she says.

Milstein got the idea after hearing a speaker at a trade show talk about her experience with a mass vow renewal, which attracted more than 700 couples. But once Milstein decided to re-create it locally, it wasn’t easy to pull together.

“It took a lot of finagling,” she says. “I needed to be able to park 1,000 cars. Even the community park said there wasn’t enough parking for 1,000 cars.” 

Still, she did eventually attract a group of sponsors, including a fitness club and restaurant. Her store designed custom gold and diamond wedding rings, engraved with the vow-renewal date, which will be raffled off.

And she has gotten some nice publicity for the event, including an article in her local newspaper and Chicago Tribune, which generally tout the Guinness-world-record angle.

But even though Milstein admits her event is unlikely to break the world record, she is looking forward to next week. 

“More than 200 couples will be there,” she says. “It will be a really great party.”

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JCK News Director

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