Wedding Vow Examples to Borrow, Adapt and Make Your Own

These wedding vow examples are written to be borrowed from. Some are a single sentence and some take a full minute, but every one is meant to be changed: swap the café for your coffee shop, the dog for your cat, the bookshelf for whatever the two of you built without reading the instructions.

Read through all the styles before you pick one. Many of the best vows mix them, with a funny opening, a romantic middle and a simple promise at the end.

Short, romantic and funny vows

Short wedding vows

I already know what it’s like to have you on my side. I promise you’ll always know what it’s like to have me on yours.

I can’t promise that every day will be easy. I can promise you’ll never face a hard one alone.

My favorite sound is your key in the door. I promise to be on the other side of it, always.

I promise to be honest with you, patient with you and on your side, especially when it’s hard to be.

You’re the first person I want to tell everything to. I promise you’ll always be the first to know.

Romantic wedding vows

The night we talked until the café started stacking chairs around us, I didn’t want to go home. I still don’t, unless you’re coming too. I promise to keep talking with you, and listening, until they stack the very last chair.

I used to think love was something that happened to you. You taught me it’s also something you choose, on tired Tuesdays and in hospital waiting rooms. I choose you, today and every Tuesday after.

I love the way you hum when you cook, the way you read the last page of a book first, and the way you look at me when you think I’m not watching. I promise to spend my life giving you reasons to keep looking.

Before you, I made plans. With you, I’m making a life. I promise to hold your hand through all of it, the parts we plan and the parts we never see coming.

You make me braver than I am on my own. I promise to be the safe place you come back to, and the voice that says “jump” when you’re ready.

Funny wedding vows

I vow to stay calm until at least the second wrong turn, to share my fries without sighing, and to love you even when you hit snooze six times.

You once built a bookshelf without the instructions, and it’s still standing, mostly. I promise to build a life with you the same way: confidently, together and with a few extra screws left over.

I promise to support your dreams, including the sourdough phase, the kayak phase and whatever comes next. I’ll cheer for every new hobby and help you find somewhere to store the gear.

Our dog loved you first, and honestly, he has excellent judgment. I promise to be as loyal as he is, a little less hairy and much better at sharing the bed.

I promise to let you warm your cold feet on me every night of our lives, which, for the record, is the most romantic thing on this list.

Traditional and non-religious vows

Traditional wedding vows follow a familiar shape: you take your partner as husband or wife, then promise faithfulness through good times and bad, for life. Your officiant can give you the exact wording used in your tradition. The versions below keep that shape in plain, modern language.

Traditional-style wedding vows

I take you to be my husband, from this day on. I promise to be faithful to you, to stand with you in good times and in hard ones, and to love and honor you all my life.

I, Daniel, take you, Grace, to be my wife and my partner in all things. I give you my hand, my heart and my word, and I promise to keep all three for as long as we live.

Before our families and friends, I choose you as my partner for life. I promise to be faithful and kind, to share your burdens and your joys, and to love you, whatever comes.

I give you this ring as a sign of my promise: to love you faithfully, to stand by you in every season, and to make my home with you for all of my days.

Non-religious wedding vows

I choose you freely and with my whole heart. I promise to respect who you are, to support who you’re becoming, and to keep choosing you when choosing is hard.

In front of the people who know us best, I promise you this: honesty when it’s uncomfortable, patience when it’s needed and a partner who never stops paying attention.

I promise to be your teammate: to split the hard jobs fairly, to celebrate your wins as loudly as my own, and to remember in every argument that we’re on the same side.

Nothing about us was guaranteed. We built it with late-night talks, small apologies and big decisions made together. I promise to keep building it with you, on purpose, for the rest of our lives.

Vows for a religious ceremony

If your ceremony is a religious one, you might add lines like these. The non-religious vows above pair well with them when your families’ beliefs differ.

I believe God brought us together, and I’ll ask for His help to love you well. I promise to be patient and faithful, to forgive as I have been forgiven, and to build a home where our faith can grow.

Before God and everyone we love, I give you my promise: to pray for you, to stand by you and to love you faithfully for as long as we both live.

Vow renewal examples

A vow renewal is a chance to say what the years have actually held. These look back first, then forward.

Renewing your vows after years together

Twenty years ago I promised you forever without knowing what it would cost or what it would give. Now I know. I’d make the same promise again, and faster this time.

We’ve raised two kids, moved three times and repainted the kitchen more often than I’d like to admit. You’re still the best decision I ever made. I promise you every year we have left, and the paint color of your choice.

When we married, I loved who you were. Now I love who you’ve become, and I’m grateful I got to watch it happen. I promise to keep watching, and cheering.

I’m renewing my vows because they still fit, like a favorite jacket: a little worn at the elbows and warmer than ever. I’d choose you again tomorrow, and I’m choosing you today.

We’ve had seasons when we were great at this and seasons when we were just getting through. You stayed in both. I promise to keep staying, and to make more of the great ones.

How to make an example your own

• Swap every detail. The café, the dog and the bookshelf are placeholders for moments from your own life.
• Keep the shape, change the words. If a vow’s rhythm works for you, reuse it and fill it with your own promises.
• Read it out loud. If you stumble over a phrase, it isn’t yours yet.

Ready to write the full version? Our guide on how to write wedding vows walks you through it step by step, and you’ll find more ideas written specifically as vows for him and vows for her.