Examples of Vows

I promise to be a loving companion to you, 
To support you in your dreams and aspirations, 
To stay by your side when things are not easy, 
To build a family with you that is happy and safe
To continue to accept and love you for you
It is my life's greatest honour to become your wife today
And I will always choose you.

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We've come a long way together, and I've loved every moment.
From the leap of faith in Japan, through the PhD era and now enjoying everyday life.
Just being with you has helped me grow as a person, and made me feel at home.
I owe it all to you, and how beautiful, intelligent, considered and caring you are.
In writing these vows, I was thinking that you complete me.
But it's not just that, I refused to even think about my life without you.
I vow to continue our journey together, and always be your best friend.
I vow to love you, support you, care for you and above all, 'I Choose You’.

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Love is a word that is much too soft and used far too often to ever describe the fierce, infinite and blazing passion that I have in my heart for you. I’d choose you - in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I’d find you and I’d choose you. You acknowledge my strengths and accept my faults. You challenge me without fear. I take you as you are now, tomorrow and for eternity to come, to be my husband. Even when the day comes that we’re old and grey, I will always love you with the same heart that I love you with at this exact moment. 

So today I vow to honour you and respect you, support you and encourage you. I promise to dream with you, celebrate with you, and walk beside you through whatever life brings. I vow to laugh with you and comfort you during times of joy and times of sorrow. I promise to always fight for you, and love you wholeheartedly for the rest of my life. You are my best friend and I’m the luckiest person on earth to call you mine.

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I promise to love you, to hold you, and to grow old with you. I will be by your side through thick and thin, better and worse, perfect and imperfect. I promise to stand with you against your troubles, and look to you when I need help. I promise to give you my words when needed, and to share the silence when they are not. 
I promise to smile and laugh with you, explore and adventure with you, dream with you, and work with you to achieve those dreams.
With you, I am excited to fill our home with life, and watch our kids with little ears and too many teeth grow up (and hopefully be better behaved than our dog).
You are stunning and smart, strong but delicate, loyal and loving. I am incredibly proud and thankful to hold your hand for the rest of my life. You know me better than anyone else in this world, and yet you still love me. 
I will make mistakes, and we will disagree. I’ll go quiet, and you’ll storm off, but as usual, we’ll talk it over and move on. I’ll do my best to listen and improve, because you, the love of my life, make me want to be better.

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For a long time I didn’t understand marriage. That was until about four years into our relationship, when I realised that I wanted to stand here in front of all the people we love the most and show them how much I love you.

You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I have never met anyone who treats people with the level of respect and care that you do. I love how you go out of your way to help those in need even if you’ve never met them before; and you believe that everyone deserves to be loved. I love how you keep believing that until someone proves you wrong.

Our relationship has changed a lot over the nine years we’ve been together. Starting with picnics on my college room floor to buying our own home and travelling the world together. We’ve been through some challenges; and I’m sure there will be a few more; but whatever happens, I promise with all my heart that I will protect you from the snakes. I will support and help you to do whatever you want to in life and always respect your decisions. I vow to find new and creative ways to tell you that your clothes are inside out; I will hold you when you need me and turn your songs into duets whether you like it or not.

The longer I spend with you, the more I love you. I keep thinking that’s not possible, but you keep proving me wrong.

——

I read a book once that described falling in love as all excitement and uncontrollable flurry. It went on to describe how love itself is what endures when the rush of falling in love has faded.  I have no doubt that this is what we have.  

Your smile can lift my darkest moods, your silliness sends me into fits of giggles. Your kindness and generosity are unmatched.  You inspire me to want to do better and be better.  Every day with you makes me more excited about our future.

And so today, in front of all our people I vow to always respect, support and encourage you.  I vow to be your biggest cheerleader and to stay by your side through whatever life throws at us.  I promise to make time for our adventures, big and small, to laugh at your terrible puns and to celebrate every little thing that we achieve, because even the smallest things are worth celebrating with you.  

Thank you for being my best friend and biggest champion. Thank you for teaching me that unlike what movies or TV suggests, love does not have to be a struggle and it does not have to be hard. Love can be easy, like breathing. Like falling asleep. And I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life falling asleep every night, next to you. 

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I can’t believe we’re finally here together, although it feels like been a whirlwind these past few weeks, marrying you today feels very overdue.
And choosing to marry you was the easiest decision, you are the kindest friend, loyal to those you love. You are endlessly patient and kind.
You are compassionate, empathetic and exist to make the lives of those around you infinitely better. You’re full of silly moments, jokes that
only make sense to us and quirks that only you could embody, that keep me laughing relentlessly, lifting me out of my lowest moments, whether it’s been a rough day or we’re in our 260th day of lockdown.
In our marriage I promise to be your biggest supporter, to champion you every day, and to be present in our brightest and our darkest moments.  
I will always try to brighten up your days when you’re tired and stressed,
I will keep making plans for us and taking us on adventures to try new things. 
I will love you unconditionally, even when you deliberately send me a blue shell me when I’m in first place on the finish line in Mario kart.
Together we have overcome anything that’s come our way, moving in together the day before the first lockdown started, buying our beautiful (if slightly broken) house, raising our crazy dogs and our grumpy cat and finally getting my permanent visa so we can be here together today. 
In years where I’ve felt very far away from home, my home will always be wherever you are.

You are my best friend. I love you.

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