Wedding Vows: How to Write Them and Samples to Get Inspired By

Wedding vows are an important part of any wedding. The words spoken by the bride and the groom are way more than just words. Wedding vows are made for life, so those words carry a lot of weight and meaning. Obviously, these words aren’t spoken lightly, so they shouldn’t be written lightly either. Burning the midnight oil with a few hours to go before your wedding isn’t the ideal way to write your wedding vows. However if you are reading this post and doing exactly that, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. If you have stumbled over here and your wedding is a few days/weeks away, you are at the right spot and you are bound to find something you will like. With a little help from this post, you can shift your creativity to the next level and write such an amazing wedding vow that it’s bound to bring the house down. Girls, boys, grown men and women, they will all be emotionally moved because of your incredibly worded wedding vows. Great wedding vows can have a bigger impact than a fabulous wedding dress or a grand wedding feast.
As far as weddings are concerned, if you pay close attention to the ones you have attended, you will notice that the vows are what set the stage for the wedding. Wedding vows make us understand why we’re all there and what the couple is committing to. Since wedding vows are so important, this post is going to compile the best tips and suggestions to write great wedding vows. Along with the suggestions and tips, the post will also provide a lot of real world examples of wedding vows written by real life couples. All of that is bound to get your creative juices flowing.
You might want to write your own wedding vows. But you might not. Maybe you’re looking for time-tested traditional marriage vows that echo what generations before you have said. Or maybe you’re looking to tweak traditional vows just a little bit to make them feel like yours. Whatever you’re looking for, chances are that this post has got the wedding vows and tips in its list that will help you craft the promises you want to make on the big day.


How to write wedding vows?


This might feel obvious at first, but just because you might have known that you’ve wanted to write wedding vows for years and years, your partner might not. Talk to them. Decide together that you definitely want to write them. If traditional wedding vows work for you, go ahead and use them, there is nothing wrong with them. However, if you want to be extra creative and do it yourself, both of you have to be equally committed to this concept. If not, it’s going to show in your vows.
Once you’ve decided that you want to write your vows, these tips will help you get started:


• Talk to your officiant

This is an important first step that’s easily forgotten. A lot of houses of worship will require couples to compulsorily recite the traditional vows for that religion. Sometimes this won’t preclude also saying vows that you wrote (though full disclosure, sometimes it will), but you’ll want to know what the rules are—and what the religious reasoning for them is—up front. Some officiants may ask to review your vows before the ceremony, so be prepared to have them early if this is the case.


• Come up with a structure

Will you write your vows together, or separately? Will you show them to each other beforehand, or will you keep them a secret until the ceremony? Do you want to set a due date for when you need to have your vows written? (Hey, you might laugh, but tell me you don’t know someone who wrote their vows the night before the wedding.) If you’ve decided that you will not see each other’s marriage vows before the ceremony, it’s not a bad idea to make sure both of you are going to be vowing somewhat similar things. You don’t want to be promising to care for someone on their deathbed, while they’re promising to always DVR Grey’s Anatomy for you. Having a structure will also help you keep your word limit and help your vows match your partner’s. Finding a structure that works for you may require some tracking down, but don’t be afraid to mix and match from lots of examples you find.


• Research types of vows

If you are a practitioner of a certain faith, you could start by reading the traditional wedding vows of your own religion. In case you are marrying a person who practises another religion, read some of the traditional wedding vows of their religion as well. In case you are non-religious or want a secular wedding, go through some secular vows as well. This post has an extensive selection of wedding vows. You can pick and choose what works for you. You can even incorporate these into what you write, or use them as a jumping-off point. You can also get some ideas from poetry, books, and even movies or video games. Jot down words and phrases that capture your feelings. The quotes you keep closest to your heart ring true for a reason. Use them. And if you’re someone who keeps a journal, go back and steal from your past self too. You’re not publishing a book or writing a college essay. Plagiarism is both allowed and encouraged. In fact, the wedding vows mentioned in this post are also curated from others, and not the creation of a single writer’s pen. Wedding vows are technically plagiarism since we’re hoping to steal some wisdom from people that have walked down the aisle before us.


• Think About Your Relationship

Spend some time reflecting about what makes your relationship work and why you love your significant other. Write down the most memorable moments you have shared together, good or bad. Think about the promises you want to make to your partner, and which ones you don’t. Use your wedding vows to represent your relationship in a realistic manner and don’t make it sound like a fairy-tale.


• Edit for tone, and then shorten

It’s best to decide on your overall tone before you put pen to paper, but make sure to go back over your words and refine towards the tone you want to achieve. Poetic and romantic? Humorous but touching? It’s up to you. The most important thing is that your marriage vows ring true and sound like they’re from your heart. However, while your vows can be light-hearted, they should, in some way, acknowledge the seriousness of the commitment you’re about to make. Use humor in moderation, and remember, at the end of the day, making the audience laugh is not your goal. Keep in mind that your vows shouldn’t be so personal that they can’t be followed by anyone, so don’t make them overly cryptic or embarrassing. You’ve invited your family and friends to witness your vows in order to make your bond public, so think about your words from their point of view—your guests want to feel included in that moment, even if they’re not feeling exactly what you’re feeling. That implies that you must use inside jokes, deeply personal anecdotes, obscure nicknames, or code words in moderation. A major chunk of your guests shouldn’t be left clueless. Unless it’s just the two of you eloping, in which case, go crazy. And then, shorten. Aim to have your vows last for about one minute or less per person. One minute is a lot longer than it sounds. Get to the core of why marrying this person is important to you.


• Practice. Memorization is optional, practicing is not

Practice looking up while you read your vows, so you can actually look at your partner as you say the words. It’s common to mumble or speak softly when reading, so practice your vows to make sure your family and friends will hear you. Since a large gathering of people is going to be listening to your vows, ensure that you check how the words sound while you are speaking them. The written always doesn’t translate well into the spoken word. Read your vows out loud to make sure they flow easily, and watch out for tongue twisters and run-on sentences—both easy mistakes to make when you write marriage vows.


• Then do what you like

At the end of the day, they’re your words. Do what you want. Seriously. Your vows don’t even have to sound or read like vows; you could write an essay, a sonnet, or rap them if that’s what is going to mean the most to you. Your vows should sound like you are making them, not the protagonist of a romantic comedy. On this day of all days, you shouldn’t sound like someone else, so write vows that matter to you and feel authentic.


Best sample wedding vows to be inspired by:


Now that you know about the approach towards writing your wedding vows, let’s look at some wonderful samples curated from real-life couples. The samples will also feature wedding vows from religions across the world. In case you get a writer’s block, these samples will definitely help you overcome it. So let’s dive into these awesome wedding vows and start drawing some inspiration.

Romantic real wedding vows


Partner 2, you are my best friend. I promise to laugh with you, cry with you, and grow with you. I will love you when we are together and when we are apart. I promise to support your dreams and to respect our differences, and to love you and be by your side through all the days and nights of our lives.
I, Partner 2, choose you Partner 1 to be no other than yourself. Loving what I know of you, trusting what things I will discover. I will respect you as a person, a partner, and an equal. There is little to say that you haven’t already heard, and little to give that is not already freely given. Before you asked me, I was yours and I am devoted to you in every way. I marry you with no hesitation or doubt, and my commitment to you is absolute. Do you take me to be your lawfully wedded husband/wife/partner?

I choose you. To stand by your side and sleep in your arms. To be joy to your heart and food for your soul. To learn with you and grow with you, even as time and life change us both. I promise to laugh with you in good times and struggle alongside you in bad times. I promise to respect you and cherish you as an individual, a partner, and an equal, knowing that we do not complete, but complement each other. May we have many adventures and grow old together.
I, Partner 2, do pledge you, Partner 1, my love, for as long as I live. What I possess in this world, I give to you. I will keep you and hold you, comfort and tend you, protect you and shelter you, for all the days of my life.

Personal Wedding Vows


I love you unconditionally and without hesitation. I vow to love you, encourage you, trust you, and respect you. As a family, we will create a home filled with learning, laughter, and compassion. I promise to work with you to foster and cherish a relationship of equality knowing that together we will build a life far better than either of us could imagine alone. Today, I choose you to be my husband/wife/partner. I accept you as you are, and I offer myself in return. I will care for you, stand beside you, and share with you all of life’s adversities and all of its joys from this day forward, and all the days of my life.

Today, I promise you this: I will laugh with you in times of joy, and comfort you in times of sorrow. I will share in your dreams and support you as you strive to achieve your goals. I will listen to you with compassion and understanding, and speak to you with encouragement. Together, let us build a home filled with learning, laughter, and light, shared freely with all who may live there. Let us be partners, friends, and lovers, today and all of the days that follow.

I, Partner 2, take you, Partner 1, to be my husband/wife/partner. I promise to always be your biggest fan and your partner in crime. I promise to create and support a family with you, in a household filled with laughter, patience, understanding, and love. I vow not just to grow old together, but to grow together. I will love you faithfully through the difficult and the easy. What may come, I will always be there, each one believing that love never dies. As I have given you my hand to hold, so I give you my life to keep.

Modern real wedding vows


I take you as you are, loving who you are now and who you are yet to become. I promise to listen to you and learn from you, to support you and accept your support. I will celebrate your triumphs and mourn your losses as though they were my own. I will love you and have faith in your love for me, through all our years and all that life may bring us.

OFFICIANT: Do you, Partner 1, promise to be a loving friend and partner in marriage, to talk and to listen, to trust and to appreciate, to respect and to cherish Partner 2’s uniqueness? Do you promise to support, comfort, and strengthen him/her/them through life’s joys and sorrows? Do you promise to share hopes and dreams as you build your lives together, and to grow with Partner 2 in mind? Will you strive to build a home that is compassionate to all, full of respect and honor, filled with peace, happiness, and love? Do you promise to always be open and honest with Partner 2, and cherish him/her/them for as long as you both shall live?
I, Partner 1, take you, Partner 2, to be the wife/husband/partner of my days, the companion of my house, the friend of my life. We shall bear together whatever trouble and sorrow life may lay upon us, and we shall share together whatever good and joyful things life may bring us. With these words, and all the words of my heart, I marry you and bind my life to yours.

Today, surrounded by people who love us, I choose you, Partner 2, to be my partner. I am proud to be your wife/husband/partner and to join my life with yours. I vow to support you, push you, inspire you, and, above all, love you, for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, as long as we both shall live.

I take you to be my spouse. I promise to choose you every day, to love you in word and deed, to do the hard work of making now into always. To laugh with you, cry with you, grow with you, and create with you. To honor the divinity in you, of you, and around you. To be your kin and your partner in all of life’s adventures. Loving what I know of you and trusting what I don’t yet know, I give you my hand. I give you my love. I give you myself. Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me?

Traditional wedding vows


I, Partner 1, commit myself to you, Partner 2, as wife/husband/partner, to learn and grow with, to explore and adventure with, to respect you in everything as an equal partner, in the foreknowledge of joy and pain, strength and weariness, direction and doubt, for all the risings and settings of the sun. We tie these knots to symbolize our connection to one another. They represent our trust in each other and our combined strength together.

Today, surrounded by people who love us, I choose you, Partner 2, to be my partner. I am proud to be your wife/husband/partner and to join my life with yours. I vow to support you, push you, inspire you, and above all love you, for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, as long as we both shall live

OFFICIANT: Do you, Partner 1 and Partner 2, pledge to create a life of mutual respect, compassion, generosity, and patience toward each other as you grow together in years?
COUPLE: We do.
OFFICIANT: Do you pledge to recognize each other’s individuality and celebrate each other’s uniqueness as a strength in marriage? While at the Partner 1s time, will you guard one another’s weaknesses with understanding, support, and inspiration?
COUPLE: We do.
OFFICIANT: And do you pledge to share the love you have for each other with all living beings? To be a couple that lets their marriage radiate into others, making their lives more beautiful because of it?
COUPLE: We do.
OFFICIANT: Partner 1 and Partner 2, if you will face each other and repeat after me.
Partner 1: Partner 2, I give you my life. With all that I am and all that I have, I honor you.
Partner 2: Partner 1, I give you my life. With all that I am and all that I have, I honor you.

I, Partner 1, take you, Partner 2, to be the wife/husband/partner of my days, the companion of my house, the friend of my life. We shall bear together whatever trouble and sorrow life may lay upon us, and we shall share together whatever good and joyful things life may bring us. With these words, and all the words of my heart, I marry you and bind my life to yours.

You have taught me that two people joined together with respect, trust, and open communication can be far stronger
and happier than each could ever be alone. You are the strength I didn’t know I needed, and the joy that I didn’t know I lacked. Today, I choose to spend the rest of my life with you.
I promise to love you for who you are, and for who you are yet to become. I promise to be patient, and to remember that all things between us are rooted in love. I promise to nurture your dreams and to help you reach them. I promise to share my whole heart with you, and to remember to show you how deeply I care for you, no matter the challenges that may come our way. I promise to love you loyally and fiercely—as long as I shall live.
Do you take me to be your lawfully wedded husband/wife/partner?

I, Partner 2, do pledge you, Partner 1, my love, for as long as I live. What I possess in this world, I give to you. I will keep you and hold you, comfort and tend you, protect you and shelter you, for all the days of my life.

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