This year’s best vow examples

We've featured literally thousands of real weddings on Offbeat Wed, and most of them include an excerpt from the couple's vows. For those of you planning your weddings and trying to write your wedding ceremony scripts, these wedding vow examples from real couples can be a great way to get ideas to help you figure out how to write your own wedding vows.

So, for all of you writing your vows for your wedding day, we present this year's best vow examples… we've got super personal wedding vows, funny wedding vows, nonreligious wedding vows, vows for him and vows for her, wedding vow promises. Oh, but one thing to keep in mind: these may not be the religious wedding vows you're used to. Offbeat Wed isn't really about traditional weddings, and we're not really about traditional wedding vows. We're about passion, laughter, adventure, honesty, and creating a wonderful life with your soul mate.

Vows for him

Royce's vows to Angelique at their Nightmare Before Christmas wedding

I stand here today with a woman who truly loves me for me. For those of you who know me well, you know that isn’t always easy. I have the mind of a nerd, the work ethic of a bull, and a temper that can put Hulk to shame at times.
But you, you accept me for it all and love me even more for it.
Because of that today I stand before not just you but all our loved ones and make these solemn vows to you.

On the darkest of days, I shall help to be your light
On days when the world attacks you, I shall be your shield
On days when you feel you are alone, I will always be your player 2
On days when you feel you’ve gone crazy, I’ll be the doctor that brings you back
On days when you can’t whether the storm, I will be the stone for you hold on to.
On days when you can’t see a way through it all, I will help be your vision

I vow to speak words of power into you when you are weak.
I vow to always work to be worthy of your hand.
I vow that my mind will always be open to you and that my eyes will only have you in their sight.
Whether it be out in a spaceship or in a jaeger, you will always be my co-pilot
Whether it be as a Guardian or a Spartan, you will always be my most trusted teammate
Whether you are as mischievous as a kitty or majestic as a unicorn, you will always be the one to put a smile on my face.

Today before all our family and loved ones I stand before my Sun and my Moon, the Marvelous to my Mitchell, and the Love of my Life to make these vows to you. I pledge to honor them as well as you.

These are Patrick's vows from his wedding:

I, Patrick, take you, Lyndsay,
to be my lawful wedded wife,
to share with me all the wonders life has to offer,
through good times and bad,
through laughter and tears,
through Fast and Furious sequels and Star Wars prequels,
until my watch has ended.

We loved Shayla's story about Isaac's funny vows from their old school hip-hop wedding:

We each expressed what each other meant to the other, but it was a really fun moment when Isaac playfully started his vows to me with a fist bump, and said I was cool.

He took a bow and said, “The end.”

One of our favorite moments from this wedding came during their vow reading. Chris said, “I vow to use my privilege to help fight the patriarchy,” and everyone cheered. Clearly, he’s a keeper!

After Brandon's traditional vows at his wedding, he stopped the ceremony and turned to our witnesses and told them:

She has been there from the beginning and is my best friend and the love of my life.

We are getting started later than what people expect, but we’re here now.

We are family.

The bride told us she broke down in tears.

Vows for her

We love the vow promises section from Sarah's vows:

My Blaine,  since we met  I've always viewed our relationship like a river. Effortlessly flowing together as the current takes us further and deeper down this path we call life. I didn't know a love like ours was even possible till I met you.

They say a soulmate isn't someone who completes you but is someone who inspires you to complete yourself.  A meeting of mind spirit and body with someone  who's strength, flaws and energy perfectly complements your own. It's not the excitement and chaos of feeling butterflies but yet the calm and  tranquility of a warm embrace when words wont suffice. A steady ground and a shelter in a storm. A point on a map when you are wayward and lost- a promise of a place to come home to for as long as you are here in the world.

Like a stack of dominos I feel like everything in my life has lead me to you. My choices, my heartbreak, my regrets. Everything. When we're together, my past seems worth it, 'cause if I would have done any of it differently I would have never met you. 

Today I pledge to you what has already been yours for so long, my eternal love and devotion.

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, laughter, strength, and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to always fight for you and what we have built together as we learn from one another, grow and evolve. 

I promise to keep myself open to you. To let you see through the window of my soul  into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face changes and compromise in order to keep our relationship alive and thriving. To adapt with you as the seasons of our life together change.

I promise to never leave you feeling alone, unwanted, and undesired and to always protect your heart as honestly and lovingly as I possibly can.

I promise to love you in times of joy and times of sorrow, in times of failure and triumph and in sickness and health. To stand by you and comfort you when you feel doubt and despair with all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how: with honor, honesty and faithfulness completely and forever for the rest of eternity.

We loved Steph's marriage vows to her husband from their Venezuelan-American rustic rave wedding. They manage to be both solemn vows, but also peppering in a few jokes.

As we stand here today, I wanted to reflect on the past three years – We have been through so much together, good and bad, but look at us, we made it!

As you know, when I’m faced with life decisions, big or small, I often come from a place of uncertainty. Anxiety has almost always prevailed over other emotions in my life, yet over the past three years of knowing you, you have taught me how to live in love rather than in fear.

When I overthink, you simplify. You rationalize the irrational. You remind me of my strength. You make me want to be the best version of myself that I can be. This is why we are here today.

Looking at you on our wedding day, I am reminded of why I love you. You always find a way to turn my darkest day around, even if it is by cooking a delicious meal or kissing me over and over until I get annoyed and laugh. You support and encourage my passion for music. You believe that guava does not belong in a tequeño, which I completely agree.

And I love you because you have never, ever once tried to change who I am. You have wholeheartedly accepted me and my flaws and I thank you for that.

I vow to stay in the present moment as much as possible for our life together. To be grateful for every day by your side, because we both know that tomorrow is never promised.

I vow to work and laugh even through the messy moments. To cherish the hard days, knowing there will always be light if we conquer the dark together.

It’s you and me against the world, forever.

Shut up – I love you.

Here were Jessica's geeky and very personal vows to Jon at their waterfall elopement:

You are, hands down, the most incredible person I have ever met. You’re so smart and I love that we can talk about politics or Star Wars or feminism.

I love that you’re always interested in reading my plays and going to my shows.
I love that you learned about set construction to spend more time with me on builds that lasted late into the night.
I love that you share your passions with me, whether we’re going to archaeology lectures or watching old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies.
I love your wide tastes in music, that your playlists range from Duke Ellington to The Pixies to Kendrick Lamar – and that you’ve gotten me into music I wouldn’t have given the time of day.
I love that you are an artist like me; your paintings and drawings inspire me to make more art.
I love that you love to dance.
I love that you watch scary movies and determine whether or not they’re too scary for me.
I love that we cried together when Carrie Fisher died. And when David Bowie died.
I love that the first thing you asked for when you woke up in the hospital was a Cherry Coke.
I love that you carry your mother in your heart, and I am thankful every day that I got to know her and love her.

Our families and friends are who made us the people we were when we met. But we have made each other the people we are today. We are greater than the sum of our parts, and I’m so happy to be marrying you today. You give me strength to do everything I do. You keep me grounded so I can fly, and you make me a better person every day. I love you.

Geeky wedding vows

At Melissa & Greg's fandom wedding, their ceremony managed to include both nerdy romantic wedding vows, but also a D20 dice:

Our officiant explained that we would be rolling for initiative and taking turns speaking vows from Doctor Who.

The source of inspiration for our alternating our vows came from this video: 

Gay wedding vow example

Adam told us: “I used a simple, two-part vow structure; the first half communicated what I love about my fiancé and what his love has given me, while the second outlined the things I hope to always give him in return.”

Adam's vows:

You are beautiful inside and out. You are the kindest, most thoughtful, most generous person I have ever met. You've allowed me to see the world with new eyes and regain a sense of excitement and possibility.

You want to see me and that makes me want to be seen. Every time I have been braced for ‘I didn’t sign up for this’, you have met me with love, interest, and support. You'll never know just how much that means to me and I will always support you in living a life of joyful authenticity.

I will always be there for you, to encourage, to challenge, to comfort, to celebrate, to love you unconditionally. I will never take you for granted, and I will do everything in my power to ensure you receive the generosity and kindness you so readily put out into the world.

I can’t believe how lucky I am to have found you, and it would be my honour to spend the rest of my life by your side.

Lesbian wedding vow example

Niya & Tenai's vows were deep yet simple:

Turning towards our family and friends, we asked them if they supported our union.

We heard the crowd go “We do,” and it touched our hearts!

We vowed to always care for each other selflessly and love each other endlessly while cherishing each other forever.

Funny wedding vows

In Stephen King's book “The Body”, King says “The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.”

I've always joked that I fell in love with your writing first. The craftsmanship you have for words is intimidating and insurmountable. It was your words I was first smitten by in our very first screenwriting class together. Your writing was like a portal, I could tangibly feel with every line just how vividly you understood the beauty and nuance in all things ordinary, and it was apparent from just those first few pages and all the pages to come that you had a gift for distilling human emotions into meaningful, physical elements.

I vow to walk beside you, to learn with you and grow with you, even as time and life change us both.

I vow to have standards when it comes to pizza.

I vow to love what I know of you, and to trust the parts of you that I do not yet know.

When the world makes you sad and you fall into a deep hole and don't feel like coming out right away, I vow not to force you out. Instead I will build a rope ladder for you to climb out on your own time, and I will also lower down a basket of snacks everyday so you have the strength to make the climb back up to me.

I vow to help nourish your creative voice. I will read all your rough drafts and encourage you to pursue the dreams that set your soul on fire.

I vow to learn to play Magic the Gathering and tabletop games.

I vow to experience regularly scheduled and unscheduled adventures with you whether they are across the world or across the street.

I vow not to laugh too hard if the dog throws up on your butt in the middle of the night.

When we fight, I vow to put a clear mind before an angry heart.

I vow to uphold all your values and your goals as if they were my own.

And finally, I vow to love you openly and fiercely, for as long as you will have me. I do not know where our journey may lead, but I will embrace it and welcome every moment of it. 

You can read all of Suki and Anthony's funny wedding vows over here.

Super personal wedding vows

We love the sentimental quotes and sweet words that Lizzi shared for her groom Andy at their wedding:

This ring, my ring, is a very real representation of our relationship together. I know this ring came from your Grandma Shirley. Grandma Shirley was one of the first incredibly special women in your life. She filled every Sunday morning for you growing up with love, good food and motown music. She was easily one of your favorite people, and that love you had for her resonates today through everything you do. I'm grateful always that she left you this part of her.

I'm grateful for Sunday mornings we have together, with music and magic. Those Sunday mornings are a great foundation for everything in our life.

You decided to share with me this small, amazing beautiful part of her and in reality, it was a good representation of you yourself. Just like you, the ring came to me well used, slightly broken, and in need of some love and repair. But I love it. I admire and care for it. We got it fixed up when it was broken. I've shown it off and been really proud of it, and so far it's done nothing but bring me joy (That really goes for both you and the ring).

Anything worth keeping forever is worth taking care of. It's worth whatever time and patience you can muster to put into maintenance. You buy a home or a car knowing you're going to have to fix things eventually. Often people forget relationships work the same way. But you've proven time and time again that the upkeep and maintenance of things are important to you, too.

Whether it's just taking time to recharge or recuperate when needed, to little but important things like daily talks and making sure we're on the same page. All of your efforts don't go unnoticed and it is my wish to every day make sure you know and feel how much I appreciate you, and that you feel I'm equally dedicated to the maintenance required of the life we're building.

Sometimes my favorite thing is doing nothing with you. But knowing I could do anything with you is the best feeling. Handling everything from big issues like standing up to adversity and punching Nazis, to handling a pandemic, to picking up the right ingredients for dinner, you've come through as a great sense of stability and support every single time. I know that as long as I don't ask you to make chicken spaghetti, you've got my back.

Read Melat & Derek's vows:

Melat’s vows:

Derek, you are my best friend and the love of my life and I am so unbelievably happy to be standing here with you today.

As you know, words usually come easy to me. It’s very rare that I’m at a loss for words or that I think about what I’m saying before I say it. But when I sat down to write my vows I was suddenly hit with the enormity of the task.

How do you put into words how much someone who has completely changed you for the better means to you? How do I describe the safety, security and pure comfort I feel when I’m with you.

How could I possibly condense all the years of love, memories, and laughter into a couple hundred words? I guess the best place to start is the beginning.

Our love story began almost six years ago when you impressed me with your one liners and terrible dad jokes. To be clear, your jokes didn’t impress me and I can’t remember a single joke you told so they couldn’t have been very good.

But what I do remember from that night is how you made me feel. I knew I found someone very special. We talked as if we were old friends with inside jokes. Meeting you that night felt like reuniting with a best friend and suddenly realizing how much you’ve missed them.

Although we didn’t know it at the time, that chance encounter on August 21, 2015 was the start of the rest of our lives.

A life where we can find humor to deal with the chaos in the world and giggle like school girls when we’re stranded in the middle of nowhere in the freezing cold tourist trap they call Iceland.

Even after just meeting you I felt like I’ve known you my whole life. And now, I get to know you forever as your wife and best friend.

I could not imagine a better life.

I love your heart. I love that you are a caring and loving son, brother, and dog dad to our cute fur babies.

I love that you are unconditionally kind and so very patient. I know you need a lot of patience when you’re dealing with me and I don’t know how you do it, but I’m glad you do.

I love that you genuinely care about people. I’ve seen you help strangers like they were family members and I know the world would be a better place if more people had your heart.

I love your mind. I love that you’re always learning and sharing random little known facts with me.

I love your openness to new ideas and your ability to listen without judgment.

Most of all, I love your support and encouragement. Because of you, I live my life unapologetically. I can’t describe how freeing and beautiful it is to be loved for who you are, as you are.

So, today and every day, I promise to love you unconditionally and whole heartedly and put you before all else.

I promise to continue laughing at all your jokes even when they’re not your best work.

I promise to continue to be your biggest fan as you’ve been mine.

I promise to keep life interesting and keep you on your toes.

I promise I will never take our time together for granted.

And I promise to let you know each day through my words and my actions, that I love you more than anything in the world.

Derek’s vows:

Melat,

Our journey began on August 21, 2015, at bar in Chicago. I never could have imaged that a night of bad jokes, the worst pick up line and a year of gifs, would lead us to where we find ourselves today.

You came into my life at exactly the right time: When I wasn’t ready, and yet, when I needed your love the most.

You have shown me what love is suppose to look like, and every morning I wake up next you, drool and all, I fall more in love with you…

You have changed my life for the better. You have accepted me for me, my bad jokes, unfiltered rants about the smallest things, and my Sunday morning dances moves.

You have encouraged me to follow my heart and chase my dreams. 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.

As we begin our life together in front of our friends and family, I make these promises to you:

1. I promise to love you until I take my last breath, to protect you from harm, to comfort you in your times of need, to dry your tears and calm your fears.

2. 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.

3. I promise nurture your dreams and to help you achieve them.

4. I promise to be kind, unselfish, and trustworthy so that together, our dreams of a beautiful future can come true.

5. I promise to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed, and to share in the silence when they are not.

6. 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.

7. 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.

But most of all, you make me happier than I ever thought I could be and I promise to spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way.

Melat, I love you unconditionally, and always will.

Need even more wedding vow examples?

At Offbeat Wed, we've got PLENTY! Truly, we've enough vow examples to last you a lifetime.