Wedding Vows Examples: Beautiful Ideas to Inspire Your Own

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Writing your wedding vows sounds incredibly romantic until you sit down with a blank piece of paper and realize you’re somehow supposed to sum up your entire relationship, how much you love your partner, and what you want to promise them for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. And suddenly, you’re Googling wedding vows examples wondering what on earth you’re supposed to say.

Um, no pressure.

The good news is that your vows don’t have to sound like they came out of a romcom. And they actually shouldn’t.

The best wedding vows come from the heart and sound, well, like you!

They can be romantic or funny. Simple or 10 minutes long. Heck, it’s your wedding, and this is for life! They can talk about God, family, friendship, adventure, the hard things, or the absolutely-only-things-you-two-would-know that are somewhat embarrassing and endearing.

Heck, I recently found out a family member sleeps in scrubs just for the fit and he’s not even in the medical industry.

If you have absolutely no idea where to begin, looking at these wedding vows examples can help you figure out what feels right and, just as importantly, what doesn’t.

The Anatomy of a Wedding Vow

Honestly, there really isn’t one perfect formula for wedding vows. Most personal wedding vows really come down to some combination of three things:

1) What you love about this person.

What is it about them that made you want to marry them?

You don’t need to list every wonderful quality they possess. One or two special things can say so much more.

2) A little bit of your story.

This could be how you met, something you’ve been through together, some activity that somehow captures your relationship perfectly or the moment when you just knew, Uh oh… he’s “THE ONE!”

3) The promises you’re making.

Now, this is the actual vow part of your wedding vows:

What are you promising this person as you enter your marriage?

And those promises don’t all have to be enormous. Yes, a promise to stand beside them through the difficult seasons of life is beautiful and a classic vow. Also you can add some sweetness and promise to make them coffee when you’re the first one awake. Both can and should belong in your marriage.

Wedding Vows Examples

Ooh, this is the fun part.

Here are some sample wedding vows to inspire you. Pay attention to what makes you stop, giggle or even cry.

You may discover that you love romantic vows but don’t like anything too flowery. Or that you thought you wanted funny vows, but the really simple ones are the examples that make you emotional.

Read these example wedding vows and look for that one that just feels like us.

Romantic Wedding Vows Examples

If you’re naturally sentimental or this is your one chance to finally say all the things you don’t say nearly enough, romantic vows might feel the most like you.

You are my favorite person, my safest place, and the love I never want to take for granted. I promise to choose you in the ordinary moments as faithfully as I choose you today. I will celebrate your joys, carry the hard days with you, and keep building a life where we can both be fully ourselves. I love you, and I choose you for all the days ahead.

Or you could focus less on sweeping declarations and more on the life you’re about to share:

I used to think love would be measured by the big moments, but loving you has taught me how much of a life is made in the little ones. It’s morning coffee, laughing when we should be asleep, finding each other across a crowded room, and knowing I get to come home to you. I want the adventures, but I want the ordinary Tuesdays too. I want the gray hair, the old stories, and every version of us still to come.

Short Wedding Vows Examples

Your vows can also be short, sweet and also so meaningful.

If you’re nervous about speaking in front of everyone, your ceremony is already long, or you’re simply someone who doesn’t need 700 words to say something important, short wedding vows can be both impactful and beautiful.

I love you, I respect you, and I’m grateful for the life we share. I promise to be honest with you, patient with you, and faithful to you. I’ll be beside you in the exciting moments and the ordinary ones. Today I choose you, and I’ll keep choosing you every day.

Or even:

Today I choose you as my partner, my family, and my best friend. I promise to love you with kindness, to stand beside you when life is hard, and to never stop being grateful that I get to share this life with you.

Short. Personal. Done.

Simple Wedding Vows Examples

Simple wedding vows are perfect if overly poetic language just isn’t your thing.

I love who you are and who I am when I’m with you. You’re my best friend and the person I want beside me for the rest of my life. I promise to listen to you, support you, and tell you the truth with kindness. I promise to make time for us when life gets busy and to keep finding joy in the small things. I choose you today and always.

Simple wedding vows can actually feel incredibly precious, sweet and intimate.

Heartfelt Wedding Vows Examples

Bring out the Kleenex. Heartfelt vows are the deep emotions that you want to share with your partner and loved ones.

I love you for all the reasons I knew I would, and for so many I never could have imagined. I love the life we’ve built in the ordinary moments, the laughing-until-we-can’t-breathe moments, and even the ones that have brought us to our knees. You have seen me at my best and loved me through my worst, and somehow, through all of it, you have continued to feel like home. I promise to keep choosing you. To listen when you need to be heard, to reach for your hand when life gets hard, to laugh with you as often as we possibly can, and to never stop being grateful that out of everyone in this world, I get to walk through this life with you.

Yes, you can cry.

Modern Wedding Vows Examples

Modern wedding vows tend to feel a little more conversational and relaxed.

They can sound like something you would actually say to your person instead of something you found in a centuries-old ceremony book.

I love our big plans, but I love our completely unremarkable days just as much. I love the trips, the late night conversations, the errands, the inside jokes, and the way even the most ordinary day feels special because you’re in it. I promise to keep dreaming with you, making plans with you, laughing with you, and finding joy in all the little moments in between. I choose you as my partner, my adventure buddy, my favorite person to come home to, and the one I want beside me for everything from seeing the world to figuring out what we’re having for dinner.

Funny Wedding Vows Examples

Funny wedding vows can be absolutely adorable. The best ones aren’t a string of punchlines. They’re the little things that make your partner laugh because they know exactly what you’re talking about.

Think inside jokes, funny habits, the things you lovingly tease each other about, and those wonderfully weird little details that make your relationship yours.

Try something like:

I promise to keep laughing at your jokes, including the ones I’ve already heard at least twelve times. I promise to keep texting you memes from across the room instead of just showing you my phone like a normal person. I promise to keep making up ridiculous songs with you, laughing at things no one else would understand, and growing old without ever becoming too grown up together. Most of all, I promise to love every wonderful, hilarious, completely-you thing about you for the rest of my life.

Funny. Personal. Still makes you go awww.

Traditional Wedding Vows Examples

There’s something incredibly beautiful about making the same kinds of promises couples have made to each other for generations.

If you love the timeless feel of traditional wedding vows but want the words to feel a little more like your own, you can keep the heart of those classic promises while making them personal to the two of you.

I take you to be my beloved partner, to love, honor, and cherish from this day forward. I promise to stand beside you in joy and sorrow, in abundance and uncertainty, and to remain faithful to the promises I make today. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love for all the days of my life.

Simple, timeless, and honestly pretty hard to beat.

Christian Wedding Vows Examples

For Christian couples, wedding vows can be more than promises made to each other. They can also reflect the covenant you’re making before God and the faith you want at the center of your marriage.

Your vows can speak to the kind of husband or wife you hope to be, the ways you want to love and serve one another, and your promise to keep seeking God together throughout your life.

Before God and the people we love, I choose you as my partner in marriage. I promise to pray for you, encourage you, honor you, and love you with kindness and grace. I will seek God with you in every season and remain faithful to the covenant we make today. I thank God for you, and I joyfully give you my heart.

You can also weave a favorite Scripture into your vows. Maybe it’s a verse you’ve prayed over your relationship, one that has carried you through your time together, or simply a passage that beautifully expresses the kind of marriage you hope to build.

Choose one that genuinely means something to the two of you and let it become part of your promise to each other and God.

Wedding Vows About Growing Old Together

There is something about the growing old together vows that gets me every time.

Maybe because your wedding is one beautiful day, but marriage is all the forever after it.

I want to grow old with every version of you. The person you are today and the person you’ll be decades from now. I want the laugh lines, old photographs, familiar stories, and a thousand tiny traditions we haven’t invented yet. I choose you for this beautiful beginning and for the long, extraordinary life that follows.

Wedding Vows About Friendship

If your relationship is rooted in friendship, say it.

You’re the person I want to see every day right when I open my eyes. You are the person I want to tell everything to first. The wonderful news, the ridiculous story, the idea that may or may not be completely impractical. You’re my love and my best friend. I promise to protect that friendship inside our marriage, to keep laughing with you, listening to you, and choosing you as my favorite person to do life with.

Your marriage doesn’t replace your friendship, it gives it somewhere to live for the rest of your lives.

Wedding Vows About Family

For some couples, getting married isn’t only about becoming husband and wife. It’s the beginning of the family and home they want to create together.

Today you officially become my family, although you’ve felt like home to me for a long time. I promise to protect the life we build together, to make our home a place of kindness and honesty, and to remember that we’re always on the same team. I will show up for our family, share the work and the joy, and keep choosing the love that brought us here.

This can be especially meaningful if you’re blending families or already have children together.

Wedding Vows About Getting Through Hard Times

You don’t need to tell your entire relationship history at the altar. Some things belong to the two of you. But if you’ve already weathered a difficult season together, acknowledging what you’ve learned from it can make your vows incredibly meaningful.

You have seen me on days when I felt strong and on days when I had very little to give. Through both, you’ve been my friend. I promise to offer you that same safe place. To listen without rushing you, encourage you without trying to control the outcome, and remind you that you never have to carry the hard things alone.

Notice that you don’t need to explain what happened. Your guests don’t need the whole backstory. The person standing across from you will know exactly what you mean.

Find Wedding Vows That Sound Like You

If you’ve read through all those wedding vows examples and you’re still bouncing between romantic, simple, funny, traditional and still have absolutely no idea what to say, I made something just for you.

The Wedding Vow Example Finder lets you choose the kind of vows you’re looking for, who they’re for, how long you’d like them to be, and what you want them to focus on.

Then it shows you examples that actually match what you’re looking for.

Use them as inspiration, pull out the ideas you love, and make the words your own.

How to Make Sample Wedding Vows Your Own

Can you use these sample wedding vows? Absolutely. Read enough of the example vows and see what you’re drawn to.

Maybe you love the traditional vows but want to change the flowery language. Maybe you thought you wanted something funny until you read the simple vows and realized that speaks to your heart more. Maybe one sentence about growing old together immediately makes you think of something your partner once said to you.

That’s the point. Take the idea, structure, and rhythm or the type of promise. Then bring your relationship into it.

Nobody else can write the part about the way they make you your favorite tea every morning, the road trip when everything went wrong, your ridiculous nickname, the Sunday morning pillow talks, the person they were when you needed them most, or your future 10 acre 5 home compound the two of you keep talking about building.

That’s where your vows are.

Think Specific, Not Private

Your wedding vows should be personal enough that they couldn’t comfortably be read to just anyone. But not so personal that your partner wants to disappear behind the altar.

Think specific, not private. Something like this can be lovely:

Somewhere between our first terrible apartment and all those late night grocery runs, you became home to me.

You don’t need to explain the apartment. You don’t need to tell everyone what you bought at the grocery store. Your partner knows.

What I’d avoid are stories that embarrass your partner, references to exes, intimate details, unresolved arguments, or anything you’re secretly using the microphone to finally get off your chest. Wedding vows are not Festivus.

5 Tips for Reading Your Wedding Vows

You’ve written the vows. Now you actually have to stand up there and say them.

Here are the things I’d do BEFORE the wedding.

1. Read Your Wedding Vows Out Loud

Something can look beautiful on a screen and be an absolute mouthful when you’re standing in front of 150 people trying not to cry.

Reading your vows aloud will immediately show you where sentences are too long, where you naturally want to pause, and whether something just doesn’t sound like you.

You want your vows to sound natural so if you keep tripping over the same sentence, rewrite it.

2. Aim for About One to Two Minutes

Your vows do not need to become a keynote address. Somewhere around one to two minutes each is a lovely target for personal wedding vows.

If your first draft is enormous, that’s okay. Write the giant emotional version first and get everything out. Then edit it.

You’ll probably discover that three different sentences are trying to say exactly the same thing. Keep the best one.

3. Practice Them, But Don’t Try to Perform Them

Read your vows enough times that the words feel familiar. Your wedding day is a big day so there is no need to memorize them. It’s best to write them all down on paper, or in a Vow Book, so you don’t have to worry if you forget and go blank.

4. Put Them Somewhere Beautiful

Once your vows are finished, print them or write them out. You can read them off your phone but a small vow book or a nice piece of handmade paper will look so much better to your partner, your guests and in your wedding photos. And afterward, you get to have a beautiful keepsake.

5. Don’t Worry About Crying

You might stumble over a word. Your voice might shake. You may ugly cry halfway through. It’s okay. Use waterproof mascara on wedding day, fyi.

Crying might actually be one of the sweetest parts of your whole day.

Your Wedding Vows Don’t Have to Be Perfect

That’s really what I want you to remember after reading all these wedding vows examples. You’re not trying to compete with a movie or write the world’s greatest wedding vows. Ultimately, you’re talking to the person you’re about to marry. Your one true love.

Look at examples for inspiration. Borrow the ideas that help you find your words and throw away anything that doesn’t sound like you.

Then tell your partner what you love about them, what this life means to you, and what you’re promising from this day forward.

That’s enough and actually, that’s everything.