Parts of a Wedding Ceremony
Photo taken at the Scottish Rite Cathedral
by Halee Betzner Photography
by Halee Betzner Photography
The Vows of Marriage Wedding vows come from the heart. Couples often ask if I will proof-read their vows and let them know they are OK. I always say I will read them, but I would NEVER give any sort of negative feedback. I'm a firm believer in speaking your own heart and mind in your own way! Everyone expresses themselves differently and your vows are not a competition! I've had one partner share pages, and pages, and the other a short paragraph. They said almost exactly the same thing, in two different ways. It was perfect! I have a guide for writing your own vows that you can use here. How to Write Your Own Wedding Vows Below, are some pop-culture vows you are welcome to use as inspiration, or just read and feel the feels!! If you are looking for the "I do's" They are called the Declaration of Intent, and can be found here: The I do's! No Matter What Wedding Vows Songs can be a huge inspiration in writing wedding vows. A couple I married bonded over the song "No Matter What" and wanted the lyrics in their wedding vows. This is what we wrote: Name and Name, as you stand here together today to exchange your vows and commit to each other in marriage. You come each as your own person and as the couple, you have grown into over the past 23 years. You both understand the meaning of commitment not just to each other but to the relationship you share. The two of you have found your own place in the world. You both know that no matter what the outside world may say to you, you will each hold the other safe in the protection of your love. Your wedding vows are a public proclamation of you love for one another, so I ask you… Do you each promise to bring who you are into this marriage and leave behind that which you are not, to honor who you are together and allow your hearts to lead you? Will you keep each other safe and be the strength for one another? Will you love and stand by each other in blue skies? Will you shelter one another should the skies turn stormy? If you ever find your relationship barren will you allow a new dream to be born? Name, do you take Name to be your husband/wife/partner, no matter what? From The Notebook Noah: “So it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be really hard. And we are going to have to work at this every day. But I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, every day. From the Corpse Bride With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never be empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way into darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine. From The Vow I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not, to agree to disagree on red velvet cake, and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home. I vow to fiercely love you in all your forms, now and forever. I promise to never forget that this is a once in a lifetime love. And to always know in the deepest part of my soul that no matter what challenges might carry us apart, we will always find our way back to each other. From Sleepless in Seattle Sam: “It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together, and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home, only to no home I’d ever known. I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like magic. My dear beloved. Today I am yours and you are mine, forever. My love for you is so strong that it feels limitless, boundless, able to weather any storm. I promise today to you that should storms come, I will be your shelter. I will comfort you if you are sick, keep you warm if you are cold, and find laughter and joy with you if times are hard. This is my promise to you, for now and forever. This is the start of our new life together. Tomorrow we will be a married couple, off on a brand new adventure. And like any good adventure, there are sure to be beautiful new things we've never seen before, unknown wonders we could never anticipate and exciting challenges. But even when our strength is tested, I know that we will persevere and our adventure will be even more wonderful than the journey that brought us to this place. I promise to always stay faithfully by your side, to be honest, loving and true, and most importantly to always, just in the nick of time, help you escape from fiery pits, imminent avalanches, or crocodile-infested rivers before the end credits roll. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world today, getting to marry such an amazing person. You are warm, kind, so smart, generous, loving, strong, and protective. And as lucky as I feel, I know that luck is what you make it. This is a relationship that we have built together, step by step, growing and nurturing it into the most beautiful love. I can't wait to find out what tomorrow may bring, to discover the ways I know I will feel even luckier and more grateful than I am today. I take you to be my partner, staying loving and true both in times of unexpected fortune and in times of unanticipated hardship, working by your side to make a lifelong love and marriage. In storybooks, kids make tin can telephones with string stretched through side yards, so that best friend can stay connected even after playtime is over. When you and I met, I almost instantly felt a similar kind of string connecting our hearts, and over the past two years, I've felt that string growing stronger. Today, as we tie the knot, we are taking that tender string and making it a strong rope, holding each other near and safe no matter where we are in the world. I promise you that through I years together I will constantly work to strengthen our tie to one another, and to increase my already enormous love for you. I will be true and strong and no matter what, always connected to you. Today I pledge to you what has already been yours for so long -- my eternal love. As we have always done, I promise to walk hand-in-hand with you through life's journeys. No matter what lies in our path, it will be our path, together. In the joys and troubles that lie ahead of us, I will be faithful and loving to you. This is my solemn vow. Today I pledge to you my eternal love. I promise to be your lover, your friend, your confidant. I promise to respect and appreciate our differences, to be open and honest, especially around things that are difficult to say. I promise to give you the freedom to be yourself, and to explore your world. I promise to trust in our growth, and our ability to change and discover new adventures together. In all that life may bring us, my love is yours. I affirm my love to you as I invite you to share my life. You are the most beautiful, smart, and generous person I have ever known, and I promise always to respect you and love you. With kindness, unselfishness and trust, I will work by your side to create a wonderful life together. I take you (name) to be my lawful (wife/husband), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health for as long as we both shall live. From the moment I first saw you, I knew you were the one with whom I wanted to share my life. Your beauty, heart, and mind inspire me to be the best person I can be. I promise to love you for eternity, respecting you, honoring you, being faithful to you, and sharing my life with you. This is my solemn vow. Today I become your husband and you become my wife. I will strive to give you the best of myself while accepting you the way you are. I promise to respect you as a whole person with your own interests, desires, and needs, and to realize that those are sometimes different, but no less important than my own. I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams. I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face change as we both change, keeping our relationship alive and exciting. And finally, I promise to love you in good times and in bad, with all I have to give and all that I am, in the only way I know how -- completely and forever. Today, I take you for my wife. I promise to love you without reservation, comfort you in times of distress, encourage you to achieve all of your goals, laugh with you and cry with you, grow with you in mind, and spirit, always be open and honest with you, and cherish you for as long as we both shall live. Today I take you to be my husband/wife/spouse. Together we will create a home, becoming a part of one another. I vow to help create a life that we can cherish, inspiring your love for me and mine for you. I vow to be honest, caring and truthful, to love you as you are and not as I want you to be, and to grow old by your side as your love and best friend. I take you to be my partner, loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. I eagerly anticipate the chance to grow together, getting to know the person you will become, and falling in love a little more every day. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us. Today, as I take you to be my wife, I trust you completely with all my love. I will love you through good and the bad, through joy and the sorrow. I will try to be understanding, and to trust in you completely. Together we will face all of life's experiences and share one another's dreams and goals. I promise I will be your equal partner in a loving, honest relationship, for as long as we both shall live. From this day forward I promise you these things. 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. I will remain faithful to our vows for better or for worse, in times of sickness and health. You are my best friend and I will love and respect you always. I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard, when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you and to always hold you in the highest regard. These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life. My love, You have already given me the two greatest gifts of my life: your love, and our beautiful child. Today, it is my honor to become your wife/husband/spouse. I promise to continue building our family together, celebrating our joy, comforting one another in hard times, and strengthening our family's future. I vow to love and cherish you for all the days of my life. Today I marry my best friend, the one I will live with, dream with and love. I take you to be my husband/wife/spouse. From this day forward I will cherish you, I will look with joy down the path of our tomorrow's knowing we will walk it together side by side, hand in hand and heart to heart. I take you as my partner, my friend, and my love. My hopes and dreams will now be intermingled with yours. I will seek to balance my needs with those of our community and family. I will openly draw from our combined experience and feelings in our search for truth and meaning. I will strive for harmony through compromise and understanding. I will be forgiving, but not complacent. From this day forward, I take shared responsibility for our marriage, family, community and myself, regardless of our successes or failures. I promise to be faithful and true to you in mind, body, and spirit; to cherish you and respect you; and to be a source of comfort and encouragement, free and bound by our love, as long as we shall live. I Promise by Dorothy R. Colgan I promise to give you the best of myself and to ask of you no more than you can give. I promise to respect you as your own person and to realize that your interests, desires, and needs are no less important than my own. I promise to share with you my time and my attention and to bring joy, strength, and imagination to our relationship. I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you see through the window of my world into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams. I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting. I promise to love you in good times and bad, with all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how. Completely and forever. We pledge to each other to be loving friends and partners in marriage. To talk and to listen, to trust and appreciate one another; to respect and cherish each other's uniqueness; and to support, comfort and strengthen each other through life's joys and sorrows. We promise to share hopes, thoughts, and dreams as we build our lives together. May our lives be ever intertwined, our love keeping us together. We will build a home that is compassionate to all, full of respect and honor for others and each other. May our home be forever filled with peace, happiness, and love. Name and Name, do you, with your family and friends as your witnesses, present yourselves willingly and of your own accord to be joined in marriage? We do Will you promise to care for each other in the joys and sorrows of life, come what may, and to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together? We will Vows Name, please repeat after me. I, Name, take you Name, to be my wedded wife/husband/spouse I give to you in the presence of these witnesses My promise to stay by your side, In sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, As well as through the good times and the bad. I promise to love you without reservation, Comfort you in times of distress Encourage you to achieve all of your goals, Laugh with you and cry with you, Grow with you in mind and spirit Always be open and honest with you, And cherish you for as long as we both shall live I promise to always be your sous chef, even when the meal contains vegetables. I promise to protect you from spiders, the small ones and the smaller ones. I promise to always go to nerdy conventions with you by my side. I promise to hold you tight and hand on when life gets hard. I promise to comfort you when the Lions lose and drink wine with you when they win. I promise to be your navigator, consoler, sidekick, best friend and your husband. Finally, I promise to hold your hand every night and to never let us lose our spark. My commitment to you is one if give willingly, absolutely, and without hesitation. I am yours utterly and have been since the moment we met. We were married before this day and will always be. I promise to grow with you and build with you a better life each day as we learn from each other to be patient, kind, giving, and to always cherish each day together. I Choose you To be no other than yourself, Loving what I know of you And Trusting who you will become, I will respect and honor you Always and in All Ways With you I pledge to repair One small piece of the world. I take you to be my spouse, To have and to hold In tears and in laughter In sickness and in health To love and to cherish From this day forward, In this world and the next. Every promise I make to you is one I feel is not a burden, but rather a gift - I don't HAVE to honor and cherish you, I GET to, I GET to have you be the person I spend the rest of my life with, I GET to be there for you and support you. It is my fantastic pleasure to be in the position to be there for you my love. Today I affirm my love for you and vow to share my life with you in everything - to respect and love you. You are the most generous person I have ever known - kind, honest, and beautiful. I take you to be my wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health from this day forward you shall be first in my heart and our souls shall be together as one. Today I take you to be my wife and vow to help create for us a life of honesty, fidelity, trust, and love. To love you not as some idea of you, but as you truly are. To grow with you, learn with you, and to live out our days hand in hand. It is clear to me now that everything in my life has led me to you - I think back on all my choices and consider even the bad ones blessed, because if I had done even one thing differently, I might never have met you and become your wife. I promise to challenge you to be everything I know you can be, to never be trapped in despair, to always see in yourself what I see in you, an amazing man, my husband, for whom I will always feel the greatest pride and admiration.
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