Wedding Vows for Him With 30 Examples to Borrow

If you'd rather start from a blank page, Wedded Wonderland's guide to writing your own wedding vows takes you through it. For a line to open or close with, browse 17 quotes to include in your wedding vows or 10 alternative wedding vows.

9 romantic wedding vows for him

For traditional and literary lines, read the best wedding vows of all time.

In each of these, the detail to swap comes first:

1. For the man who notices everything

   You knew I take my tea black before I'd said a word about it, and you've paid that kind of attention ever since. I promise to pay it back. I will notice when you're tired before you say so.

2. For a love that started slowly

   It took us two years and one borrowed umbrella to see what everyone else already could. I'm glad we took our time. I will choose you on the dull days as surely as today.

3. For the quiet one

   You're the quietest person at every party and the first one anyone calls when something goes wrong. From today, I'm the call you make, and I will always pick up.

4. For the man who made a home

   Before you, home was wherever I left my suitcase. Now it's the sound of you whistling up the stairs. I promise to be home before you whenever I can, and to keep being the reason you whistle.

5. For the man who has your back

   When I reversed into a stranger's car, you got out first and did all the apologising. I will be on your side like that, in waiting rooms as well as on dance floors.

6. For the man who changed your mind

   I used to say I'd never marry someone who reads the last page of a book first. Then you read the ending of us before I'd finished chapter one. Today I promise to make the middle worth it.

7. For the man who stays calm

   When the power went out the night before your sister's wedding, you made it feel like part of the plan. I promise to be calm for you on the days you can't be.

8. For a long-distance love

   For eighteen months we lived in different time zones, and you stayed up at strange hours to hear about my day. From today we share one time zone, and I will still want to hear about yours.

9. For a blended family

   You came into my life knowing it already had my daughter in it, and you made room without being asked. I promise the three of us will keep making room for each other.

8 funny wedding vows for him

A funny vow is one light line, then a true one, with the joke on yourself. Cut any line a guest would need the backstory for. The keys and basil vows turn the laugh into a plain promise. With grandparents or a priest listening, the dog, menu and basil vows travel best. Save the blanket vow for a room of friends:

1. For the one who always finds things

   I've lost my keys, my passport and once a whole car in a car park, and you found all of them. I can't promise to stop. I can promise you'll never have to look for me.

2. For the man who packs for everything

   You pack for a weekend like it's a month, plasters and a torch included. I've laughed at every one of those bags. I promise to stop laughing, and to be the one thing you never have to pack.

3. For a household with a dog

   Our dog has slept on your side of the bed since the day you moved in, and I've stopped arguing. Today I make it official. I promise you the first hello when you walk in, even before he gets his.

4. For the man who waits while you order

   I take forty minutes to read a menu, then order what you're having. I promise to decide faster, eventually. I made up my mind about you before the bread arrived.

5. For a fight over the blanket

   I will still steal the blanket. I want that on the record, in front of witnesses, so nobody can say you weren't warned. Everything else I have is yours.

6. For the cook in the house

   My cooking once put us both off pasta for a month. I promise to leave the stove to you, and to be right beside you when something goes wrong that takeaway can't fix.

7. For a home full of plants

   Since we met I've killed four basil plants and the fern you gave me. I promise to look after this marriage with far more attention, and to move it into the sun when it needs it.

8. For the man who loves his team

   I promise to learn the rules of your game. Not this year, but within the marriage. Until then, I'll sit beside you for every match and know exactly when to stay quiet.

7 short wedding vows for him

Each runs under 35 words, about 15 seconds aloud, for a man who'd rather not be looked at or a brief slot in the rite:

1. For the man who hates a fuss

   You'd rather be anywhere than up here, so I'll be quick. When a day gets loud, you're the one I look for. I will keep coming home to you.

2. For a first date that ran long

   Our first date ran three hours past the booking. I promise to keep running late with you, for all the good reasons.

3. For the early riser

   You make the coffee before I've admitted I'm awake. I promise to stop pretending I haven't noticed, and to thank you more often.

4. For the long view

   I take you as you are today, and I'll take you again at sixty, and on whatever birthday you stop counting.

5. For the man who shows up

   You once drove four hours with a thermos of soup because I had the flu. That's the whole speech. I promise to keep showing up like that for you.

6. For a promise kept in private

   I'm promising this in front of everyone we love, and I'll keep it when nobody's watching, on the long drives home and the nights neither of us can sleep.

7. For the man who taught you things

   You taught me to swim out past the waves and to leave a party before I'm tired of it. I promise to keep learning from you.

6 faith wedding vows for him

Skip this set for a civil ceremony or one without faith.

The first three name God once and suit a mixed room. The last three are for a Christian service or blessing, with your vicar's or priest's agreement and never in place of the set vows:

1. Quiet faith, for a mixed room

   I ask God to keep us patient with each other, and I promise to keep asking. Where I fall short, and I will, I promise to say sorry first and to mean it.

2. Quiet faith, for two families

   Our families pray in different ways, and some not at all. I thank God for you, and I promise to honour the people who raised you, long family lunches included.

3. Quiet faith, for gratitude

   I believe God put you on that platform the night every train was late. I promise to give thanks for you on the easy days, and to keep faith in us on the hard ones.

4. For a church blessing, if your vicar agrees

   We have already made our promises before the law. Now I make them before God and the people who taught me to pray. I will love you with patience, and I will forgive you as I have been forgiven.

5. For words said beside the church's vows

   The words we have just said belong to everyone who has stood here before us. These ones are only yours. I promise to pray for you on the days you can't.

6. For a blessing with your elders present

   Before our families and before God, I thank you for the man you are. I promise to keep our door open to the people who made you, and to walk beside you all my life.

How to make these vows sound like you

A vow from a list becomes yours in four steps:

1. Swap the detail

   Replace the tea, the umbrella or the dog with something only the two of you know.

2. Promise plainly

   Use "I will" or "I promise". "Try", "hope to" and "do my best" sound like escape clauses.

3. Cut the stock phrases

   Soulmate, my person, partner in crime and other half belong to everyone, so they say nothing about him.

4. Search your finished lines

   Put each in quotation marks into a search engine, and reword any that turn up elsewhere.

A simple structure for vows to him

Four parts give you a draft tonight, about 95 to 145 words in all:

1. Something specific about him (20 to 30 words)

   A habit, a moment or something he says, told as a detail rather than an adjective.

2. What he changed for you (15 to 25 words)

   One plain sentence.

3. Three or four promises (50 to 70 words)

   Mix "I will" and "I promise", and put your light line in the middle so the close lands straight.

4. A plain close (10 to 20 words)

   Short enough to say while looking up from the card.

This model rewords the tea, suitcase, waiting-room and blanket vows into one voice, in about 110 words.

> You knew I take my tea black before I'd said a word about it, and you've paid that kind of attention ever since. Before you, home was wherever I left my suitcase. Now it's wherever you are, whistling up the stairs. I'll notice when you're tired before you say so, and tell you the truth even when it's inconvenient. I will still steal the blanket, but everything else I have is yours. I promise to be on your side in waiting rooms as well as on dance floors, and in rooms you're not in. That's my promise to you, and I'll keep it every day from this one.

How long your vows to him should be

Aim for about a minute. Speakers of American English average about 150 words a minute, according to the National Center for Voice and Speech, so 95 to 145 words leaves room to pause and let a laugh land. Read yours aloud with a timer, because nerves change your pace.

Keep the words a surprise, but agree the length. Send both drafts to whoever runs your ceremony, who can flag a big mismatch without showing either of you the other's. If either of you would rather not speak at length, repeat short vows after your officiant and save your own words for a letter he opens that morning.

Check what your ceremony allows

Ask whoever marries you whether personal words are allowed, where they sit and how long they can run:

• With a civil celebrant in Australia, each of you says the legal words in section 45(2) of the Marriage Act 1961, or words to that effect: "I call upon the persons here present to witness that I, (your name), take thee, (his name), to be my lawful wedded husband." Your own vows come after them and mustn't contradict them.

• A civil marriage in England or Wales must include vows and nothing religious. Ask your register office for its legal wordings; Rochdale Council's shortest is "I (name) take you (name) to be my wedded husband". Personal promises can follow, worded with the registrar beforehand.

• Church of England vows can't be rewritten, so your own words go in as an additional reading, agreed with the vicar. The standard Common Worship vows leave out "obey", but the Common Worship alternative vows and the Book of Common Prayer service both have the bride promise it, so ask which form the church will use.

For any other rite, see traditional wedding vows by faith and country.

Two ceremonies, two versions of your vow

A civil wedding followed by a church blessing or a family wedding abroad calls for two versions of your vow. Keep the civil one to 35 to 70 words, under half a minute, and save the full minute for the second, once the vicar or priest confirms your words have a place. The short version of the model above runs to 37 words.

> You knew I take my tea black before I'd said a word, and you've paid that attention ever since. I promise to pay it back, and to be on your side in every room. That's my promise.

Save any line in a second language for the blessing or family celebration. Say it in the family's language first and then in English, and have a native speaker check it beforehand.

Saying your vows on the day

Rehearse once at full volume from where you'll stand, then plan for these:

• Print your vows on heavy card in large type, one line per breath, with the pauses marked. Give your officiant a spare.

• Outdoors, ask whether there's a microphone, because wind takes a voice before it reaches the third row.

• If you expect to cry, make your first sentence the shortest and look at him, not the guests. If your voice goes, stop, look down at the card and carry on, with water within reach.

• If elders are listening, leave out exes, money, his family's habits, anything physical and the whole proposal story.

Planning the ceremony with Wedded Wonderland

Once your words are drafted, the setting for them is your next decision. With Wedded Concierge, your Wedded Advisor sources the venue from a vetted network, finds suppliers to suit it and manages the timeline through the event week.

To start on suppliers, browse the Wedded Marketplace. Choose your two or three vows tonight, and book a complimentary Discovery Call if the ceremony around them still needs planning.

Writing for her instead? See 30 wedding vows for her.

Frequently asked questions