Sample Vows I've Written

My dearest James,

Standing here today, looking into your eyes, I'm overwhelmed by the journey that brought us to this moment. From the first time we met at that crowded coffee shop on a rainy Tuesday morning, I knew there was something different about you. The way you smiled when you held the door open for that elderly woman, the way you laughed at my terrible joke about the weather... I remember thinking to myself, "I need to know this person."

And now, years later, I get to marry you. I get to promise you my forever.

James, you are my best friend, my greatest love, and the answer to prayers I didn't even know I was praying. You've shown me what it means to be truly seen, truly heard, and truly loved. You know my worst flaws and my deepest fears, and somehow, you love me not in spite of them, but with them.

I promise to stand by your side through every season of life. When the days are bright and easy, I'll celebrate with you. When the nights are dark and difficult, I'll hold your hand and remind you that we're in this together. I promise to support your dreams, even when they scare me. I promise to cheer for your victories and comfort you in your defeats.

I promise to be patient, even when you leave your socks on the floor for the hundredth time. I promise to be understanding when work keeps you late and stress makes you quiet. I promise to be kind, especially in moments when kindness feels hard. I promise to listen, really listen, not just wait for my turn to talk.

I vow to choose you every single day. On the mornings when we're both exhausted and the kids are crying and the coffee pot broke. On the evenings when we disagree about something important and need to find our way back to each other. On the ordinary Wednesdays when nothing special happens except that we're together. I choose you.

I promise to build a life with you filled with laughter, adventure, and endless love. I promise to be your partner in raising our future children, in creating a home that feels like a sanctuary, in growing old together. I promise to travel the world with you, to try new things even when they terrify me, to dance in the kitchen and sing badly in the car.

I vow to love you unconditionally, the way you've loved me. Not a love that depends on you being perfect or always making me happy. But a love that's steady and sure and unwavering. A love that sees you on your worst day and says, "You're still mine, and I'm still yours."

Today, James, I give you my heart. I give you my trust. I give you my hand to hold for all the days of my life. I pledge to love you, honor you, and cherish you, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

You are my forever. You are my home. You are my greatest blessing.

I love you, today and always.

Marcus,

I promise to always laugh at your terrible dad jokes, even the ones that make absolutely no sense. I promise to let you have the last slice of pizza at least... okay, maybe 40% of the time. And I promise to pretend I don't see you sneaking cookie dough straight from the bowl, even though we both know I'm counting every spoonful.

But honestly? Beyond the jokes and the pizza and the cookie dough, you are the most incredible person I've ever known.

When I met you at that disastrous karaoke night three years ago, I was not looking for love. I was definitely not expecting to fall for the guy who confidently sang "Total Eclipse of the Heart" completely off-key while wearing a Hawaiian shirt. But there you were, totally unselfconscious, just having the time of your life. And I thought, "That's someone who knows how to live."

You've taught me so much about joy, Marcus. Before you, I took everything so seriously. I stressed about work, worried about what people thought, planned every detail of my life down to the minute. And then you came along with your spontaneous road trips and your dance parties in the grocery store and your insistence that we should definitely adopt that three-legged dog we saw at the shelter.

You make every day brighter. You make every challenge easier. You make every adventure more fun. With you, going to the DMV becomes an opportunity to people-watch and make up stories about strangers. With you, a flat tire on the highway turns into an impromptu picnic. With you, even the hard days somehow have moments of light.

I promise to be your partner in crime for all our future adventures. I promise to say yes to your crazy ideas, like that time you wanted to take salsa lessons or when you suggested we learn Italian just for fun. I promise to be your biggest cheerleader, whether you're going for that promotion or finally learning to make sourdough bread or just trying to get through a really hard week.

I promise to be your safe place to land. I know you joke around a lot and keep things light, but I also know there are days when the weight of the world feels heavy on your shoulders. I promise to be there on those days. To listen without judgment, to hold you without trying to fix everything, to remind you how strong and capable and loved you are.

I promise to love you on the easy days and the hard days. When we're young and full of energy, and when we're old and our knees hurt. When we agree on everything, and when we need to compromise. When life goes according to plan, and when it throws us curveballs we never saw coming.

I promise to keep falling in love with you, over and over again. To notice the little things, like the way you hum while you cook or how you always let me have the better view at restaurants. To appreciate your kindness, your humor, your loyalty, your heart.

Marcus, you're my favorite person in the entire world. You're my best friend, my adventure partner, my dance floor companion, my fellow pizza enthusiast, and my forever love. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life finding your socks all over the house, stealing your hoodies, arguing about what to watch on Netflix, and laughing until my stomach hurts.

Here's to a lifetime of terrible jokes, spontaneous adventures, and never-ending laughter. Here's to building a life that's full of love and joy and really good pizza. Here's to growing old together while staying forever young at heart.

I love you so much it's actually ridiculous. And I choose you, today and every day after.

David,

You are my home. The place where I feel safest, most loved, most completely myself. Before you, I was searching for something I couldn't quite name. And then I found you, and suddenly everything made sense.

I promise to love you unconditionally, with my whole heart, for the rest of my life. Not because you're perfect, but because you're perfectly you. Not because love is always easy, but because you're worth every challenge, every compromise, every moment of choosing us over everything else.

I promise to support your dreams with everything I have. When you doubt yourself, I'll believe in you. When you're tired, I'll help carry the load. When you succeed, I'll celebrate like it's my own victory, because your happiness is my happiness.

I promise to be honest with you, even when the truth is hard to speak. To communicate openly, to share my feelings, to never let resentment build up in the silence. I promise to fight fair when we disagree, to remember that we're on the same team, to always come back to love.

I promise to be patient. With your process, your quirks, your need for alone time after a long day. I promise to give you space when you need it and to be present when you need me close.

I promise to laugh with you often. To find joy in the ordinary moments, to be silly and playful, to never take life so seriously that we forget to have fun. To dance in the kitchen, to go on adventures both big and small, to make memories that will sustain us through the years.

I promise to grow with you. To change and evolve, to learn from our mistakes, to become better versions of ourselves together. Not to stay exactly as we are today, but to move through life hand in hand, adapting and growing while holding tight to what matters most.

I promise to take care of you in sickness and in health. To be there on your hardest days, to bring you soup when you're sick, to sit with you in waiting rooms, to hold your hand through whatever life brings. Your pain is my pain, and I will help carry it.

David, I promise to choose you every single day. In big ways and small ways. In moments of passion and in moments of routine. On our best days together and on days when we both fall short. I choose you, always.

You are my best friend, my partner, my love. You are the person I want next to me for every sunrise and sunset. You are my greatest adventure and my safest harbor. You are my today and my tomorrow and my forever.

I love you with everything I am. And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life loving you even more.

Thomas,

We both know that love the second time around is different. It's not less, it's just... different. Deeper. Wiser. More intentional. We've both loved before. We've both lost before. We've both learned hard lessons about what it takes to build something that lasts.

And that's exactly why I'm standing here today with complete certainty. Because I know what I'm choosing. I know what I'm promising. And I know, with every fiber of my being, that you are worth it.

When I met you two years ago at that art gallery opening, I wasn't looking for love. Honestly, I'd convinced myself that my chance at that kind of happiness had passed. I was content with my life, with my independence, with my grown children and my career and my routines. I thought I had everything figured out.

And then you walked over to discuss that abstract painting we were both staring at, and within five minutes, we'd moved from art criticism to life philosophy to sharing stories about our kids. Within an hour, I was laughing harder than I had in years. And within a few months, I realized I'd been wrong. My story wasn't over. It was just beginning a new chapter.

You've shown me that it's possible to love again without forgetting what came before. You've never asked me to erase my past or pretend that my previous marriage didn't shape who I am today. Instead, you've honored that part of my journey while helping me create something new and beautiful.

I promise to be your partner in creating this new chapter together. To blend our families with patience, grace, and lots of communication. To help your children feel welcomed and loved, while honoring the boundaries and relationships that already exist. To navigate the complexities of stepparenting with wisdom and humility, knowing we won't always get it right but we'll always try our best.

I promise to embrace our blended family with an open heart. To celebrate holidays even when the logistics are complicated. To share in the joy of your children's milestones. To be a steady, supportive presence while respecting that I'm not trying to replace anyone who came before.

I promise to be patient through the transitions and the adjustments that come with joining two lives, two families, two sets of histories. I know it won't always be easy. I know there will be moments of confusion, of conflicting loyalties, of figuring out new dynamics. But I promise to face all of it with love and understanding.

Thomas, I promise to always choose us. To prioritize our relationship even when life gets complicated. To make time for date nights and quiet conversations and stolen moments just for the two of us. To remember that a strong marriage is the foundation that allows everything else to flourish.

I promise to love you with the maturity and wisdom that comes from experience. To communicate clearly, to listen actively, to work through conflicts with patience instead of running away. I promise to bring my whole self to this marriage, the good and the broken and the healing parts.

I promise to respect your independence just as I hope you'll respect mine. To understand that we're both complete people coming together, not incomplete people trying to fill each other's gaps. To celebrate the life we're building while honoring the lives we've lived.

I promise to grow old with you in the most beautiful way. To face health challenges together, to support each other through loss and grief, to find joy in grandchildren and in the quiet satisfaction of a life well-lived. To prove that the best is yet to come, no matter what age we are.

Thomas, you've given me a gift I never expected: hope. Hope for more love, more laughter, more adventures, more years of partnership with someone who truly sees me. You've shown me that it's never too late to begin again, to take a risk on love, to build something wonderful.

Thank you for your patience, your kindness, your steady presence in my life. Thank you for loving not just me, but my children too. Thank you for showing up every day with your whole heart.

I love you deeply, truly, and completely. And I choose you, today and for all our tomorrows.

Jordan,

From the moment we met at that hostel in Barcelona, I knew you were different. Most people I'd met while backpacking were just passing through, collecting passport stamps and Instagram photos. But you? You actually cared about the places we visited. You learned phrases in every language, you asked locals for restaurant recommendations, you wanted to understand the history and the culture and the heart of every city.

On our third day of knowing each other, you suggested we skip the tourist traps and just wander. We got completely lost in the Gothic Quarter. We stumbled upon a tiny restaurant where no one spoke English and we had to point at pictures to order. We watched the sunset from a rooftop bar we found completely by accident. And I remember thinking, "This is what travel is supposed to feel like. This is what life is supposed to feel like."

I never expected that chance meeting would turn into three months of traveling together through Europe. I never expected those three months would turn into a long-distance relationship where we'd meet up in different countries every few months. And I definitely never expected that five years later, we'd be standing here, getting married in Bali, ready to promise each other forever.

But here we are. And I've never been more certain of anything.

Jordan, you've turned my life into the adventure I always dreamed of. Before you, I was too scared to quit my job and travel. Too worried about stability and security and what people would think. And then you came along and showed me that the biggest risk isn't taking the leap, it's staying somewhere that doesn't feed your soul.

You've taught me that home isn't a place. Home is the person you choose to explore the world with. Home is sitting together on a train through the Swiss Alps, or sharing street food in Bangkok, or camping under the stars in New Zealand. Home is wherever we are, together.

I promise to keep exploring the world with you. To say yes to new adventures, whether that's a new country or a new coffee shop around the corner from our apartment. To be your co-pilot, your navigator, your companion through every journey life takes us on.

I promise to be brave with you. To take risks, to try things that scare me, to push past my comfort zone. Whether that's cliff jumping in Croatia or trying durian in Malaysia or moving to a new city where we don't know anyone. I promise to embrace the unknown, because with you, even uncertainty feels like an adventure.

I promise to be present in every moment we share. To put down my phone and actually see the sunset. To have real conversations with locals instead of just snapping photos. To collect experiences instead of just souvenirs. To make memories that matter.

I promise to be flexible when plans change, because they always do. When flights get delayed, when hotels lose our reservation, when the weather ruins our hiking plans, when things don't go the way we expected. I promise to laugh instead of stress, to find the adventure in the detours, to remember that some of our best stories come from things going wrong.

I promise to make everywhere feel like home because I'm with you. To build a life that's rich in experiences even if we're not rich in possessions. To choose adventures over acquisitions, memories over material things, exploration over settling.

But I also promise to appreciate the quiet moments between adventures. The lazy mornings in bed, the evenings cooking dinner together in whatever kitchen we're calling home this month, the comfortable silence of a long car ride. Because home isn't just the destination, it's the person sitting next to you on the journey.

Jordan, I promise to keep my sense of wonder alive. To never stop being curious about the world. To ask questions, to learn new things, to stay open to possibilities. To live a life that's full and rich and constantly evolving.

I promise to support your dreams, wherever they take us. If you want to learn to surf in Portugal, I'll be there cheering you on. If you want to spend three months volunteering in Costa Rica, I'll pack my bags. If you want to finally write that travel blog you're always talking about, I'll help you make it happen.

I promise to face the challenges of our lifestyle with patience and understanding. I know it's not always easy to live out of suitcases, to be far from family, to navigate visa complications and cultural differences. But I promise to weather every storm with you, knowing that the life we're building together is worth every challenge.

Here's to a lifetime of new horizons, spontaneous detours, and making everywhere feel like home because we're together. Here's to stamps in our passports, sand in our shoes, and love in our hearts. Here's to getting beautifully lost and always finding our way back to each other.

I love you more than all the places we've been and all the places we've yet to go. You are my greatest adventure, today and always.

Sebastian,

You are the answer to every question I never knew how to ask. You are the missing piece I didn't know I was searching for. You are the love that feels like coming home after a lifetime of wandering.

Before you, I moved through life behind walls I'd carefully constructed. I smiled at parties while feeling alone in a crowded room. I went through the motions of living while never really letting anyone see the depths of who I was. I'd been hurt before, disappointed before, and I'd learned to protect myself by never fully opening my heart.

And then you walked into my life with your gentle persistence and your patient heart. You didn't demand entry. You didn't try to tear down my walls. Instead, you showed up every day with quiet kindness and steady presence. You waited. You listened. You saw the person I was hiding and you loved her anyway.

You taught me that vulnerability isn't weakness. That letting someone in doesn't mean losing yourself. That true love doesn't hurt or diminish, it expands and elevates. You showed me what it feels like to be truly known and still truly loved.

I promise to honor the gift of your love by being worthy of it. To show up for you the way you've shown up for me. To be present in our relationship with my whole heart, not holding anything back out of fear. To trust you with my dreams and my doubts, my hopes and my fears, my light and my shadows.

I promise to love you with depth and intention. Not the surface-level love that fades when life gets hard, but the deep, soul-level love that grows stronger through every challenge. The kind of love that sees you on your worst day and loves you more for letting me witness your humanity. The kind of love that celebrates your victories and mourns your losses as if they were my own.

I promise to be your safe harbor in every storm. When the world feels too heavy and the future feels uncertain, I promise to be the place you can rest. To hold space for your emotions without trying to fix them. To listen without judgment. To love without condition.

I promise to cherish the quiet intimacy we've built. The early morning conversations over coffee. The comfortable silence of reading side by side. The inside jokes that make no sense to anyone but us. The way you hold my hand when you're anxious. The way I lean into you when I'm tired. These small, sacred moments that make up the fabric of our love.

I promise to grow with you through all the seasons of our life. To evolve and change while holding tight to what matters most. To support your journey of becoming whoever you're meant to be, even if that person looks different than who you are today. To trust that love isn't about staying the same, it's about growing together.

I promise to fight for us when things get hard. Because they will get hard. Life will test us. We'll face losses and disappointments and moments when we don't understand each other. But I promise to never give up on us. To communicate even when it's uncomfortable. To seek understanding even when I want to be right. To choose love even when it's not easy.

I promise to build a life with you that feels like poetry. Not perfect or polished, but real and raw and beautiful. A life filled with meaning and purpose and connection. A life where we create something together that neither of us could create alone.

Sebastian, you've given me the greatest gift anyone has ever given me: you've taught me how to truly live. Not just exist, not just survive, but to be fully present and fully alive and fully open to the beauty and pain and wonder of this existence.

You've shown me that love isn't about finding someone to complete you. It's about finding someone who inspires you to complete yourself. You've made me braver, kinder, more compassionate, more honest. You've helped me become the person I always hoped I could be.

I love you with every part of me. The strong parts and the broken parts. The parts I'm proud of and the parts I'm still learning to accept. I love you in the morning light and the evening shadows. In moments of joy and moments of sorrow. In the extraordinary days and the ordinary ones.

You are my today and my tomorrow. You are my greatest blessing. You are the love I'll carry with me for the rest of my life.

Thank you for seeing me. Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for loving me so completely.

I am yours, now and forever.