Please CHECK OUT my unconventional vows

laurenbono

Hi!  I'm getting married in October and have decided to begin writing my vows.  They a re a little unconventional (especially the part "written" by our dogs) but I tried to write from the heart and stay true to myself. Also, they're a little long.   Any suggestions or comments welcome!!

 

_________,

You know everything about me, but you love me anyway. Marrying you is the easiest decision I have ever made.  Not because I take the decision lightly, but because I have faith in you. I have faith in your honesty, in your integrity, and in your affection. I have faith in our love and devotion to each other.

I vow to take risks with you and never settle for less than what we both deserve. I want to grow with you and age disgracefully with you. I promise to love you all the time, every day, even when I don’t like you all that much. Because you are always worth it.  I choose our life together, and I choose the life we have yet to build.

I vow stand by your side and hold your hand not only when life is good, but when life goes sideways and things are difficult. You have stood by me through unimaginable sadness as well as amazing triumph, and I know I couldn’t have made it without you.  I promise to always stand by you through anything that comes our way. We make an amazing team.

I vow to never stop being goofy. This means you’ll be getting some terrible puns, raps about grocery shopping, and interspecies conversations for the rest of our lives… hope you’re down for that. The humor we share makes me feel like I am always with my best friend, and the fact that I get to spend every day with you from this day forward makes it even better.

I vow to love you forever and ever, no matter what.  I love our little family, and I can’t wait to see it grow. You are my heart and my friend. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that I don’t have one without you.

The Dogs insisted I add in some important observations on love they have for us on our wedding day.  As they are probably the ones who know us best and see us at our worst, I couldn’t argue.  They are remarkably insightful.

Falling in love is a lot like owning a dog.  It’s a big commitment so we’re glad you’ve thought long and hard before deciding on love.

On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security: when you're walking down the street late at night and you have a leash on love, nobody is going to mess with you. Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable. Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm. It lies between you and lives and breathes and makes funny noises and smells.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.  But come home and love is always happy to see you.  It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life, but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No!  Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love!

Love makes messes. Love leaves you little surprises here and there. Love needs lots of cleaning up after. Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.  Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper and swat love on the nose, not to cause pain, just to let love know “Don't you ever do that again!” But you don’t, because love rolls over for a belly rub.

Love makes you happy! So very happy that you can’t help but dance around and wag your entire body.

Sometimes love just wants to go play and run in the park.  Because love loves exercise.

 It will run you around the block and leave you panting.  It pulls you in several different directions at once, or winds you around a pole until you can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.  People who have nothing in common but love stop and talk to each other on the street.  Love builds a family.

But most of all, love needs  love, and lots of it.

And in return, love loves you and never ever stops.

 

Jen4948

It's too long.  I think you need to cut it back to something you can say in two minutes or less.

mlarchweds

Here are my suggestions:

 

This is a really, really long "vow". Have you talked to your fiance to see how long his are? Can you imagine giving really long vows for his to be like... 12 sentences?

If you really love the dog part - maybe split it up from the actual "vows". Do you have an officiant? Maybe they could "read" this part for you before you give your vows. You should always do something you love, and your guests that know you, may understand this quirky idea and like it.

You want to say nice things to your future husband. I totally get it. But parts of it your just repeating what you really meant, and your guests *may* get bored. For example:

I vow stand by your side and hold your hand not only when life is good, but also when life goes sideways just as you've always done for me. and things are difficult. You have stood by me through unimaginable sadness as well as amazing triumph, and I know I couldn’t have made it without you. I promise to always stand by you through anything that comes our way. We make an amazing team. (I personally would laugh at this from it's cuteness. you should keep it)

 

 

itzMS

I would cut out most of the fluff. Write those things in a letter to him that he can read prior to the ceremony. Also, the "Falling in love is like owning a dog" thing isn't original, so I'd leave it out of your vows, especially since you're paraphrasing parts.

 

You know everything about me, and you love me anyway. Marrying you is the easiest decision I have ever made. Not because I take the decision lightly, but because I have faith in you. I have faith in your honesty, in your integrity, and in your affection. I have faith in our love and devotion to each other.

I vow to take risks with you and never settle for less than what we both deserve. I want to grow with you and age disgracefully with you. I promise to love you all the time, every day, even when I don’t like you all that much. Because you are always worth it. I choose our life together, and I choose the life we have yet to build.

I vow stand by your side and hold your hand not only when life is good, but when life goes sideways and things are difficult. You have stood by me through unimaginable sadness as well as amazing triumph, and I know I couldn’t have made it without you. I promise to always stand by you through anything that comes our way. We make an amazing team.

I vow to never stop being goofy. This means you’ll be getting some terrible puns, raps about grocery shopping, and interspecies conversations for the rest of our lives… hope you’re down for that. The humor we share makes me feel like I am always with my best friend, and the fact that I get to spend every day with you from this day forward makes it even better.

I vow to love you forever and ever, no matter what. I love our little family, and I can’t wait to see it grow. You are my heart and my friend. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that I don’t have one without you.

The Dogs insisted I add in some important observations on love they have for us on our wedding day. As they are probably the ones who know us best and see us at our worst, I couldn’t argue. They are remarkably insightful.

Falling in love is a lot like owning a dog. It’s a big commitment so we’re glad you’ve thought long and hard before deciding on love.

On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security: when you're walking down the street late at night and you have a leash on love, nobody is going to mess with you. Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable. Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm. It lies between you and lives and breathes and makes funny noises and smells.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long. But come home and love is always happy to see you. It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life, but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love!

Love makes messes. Love leaves you little surprises here and there. Love needs lots of cleaning up after. Sometimes you just want to get love fixed. Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper and swat love on the nose, not to cause pain, just to let love know “Don't you ever do that again!” But you don’t, because love rolls over for a belly rub.

Love makes you happy! So very happy that you can’t help but dance around and wag your entire body.

Sometimes love just wants to go play and run in the park. Because love loves exercise.

It will run you around the block and leave you panting. It pulls you in several different directions at once, or winds you around a pole until you can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go. People who have nothing in common but love stop and talk to each other on the street. Love builds a family.

But most of all, love needs love, and lots of it.

And in return, love loves you and never ever stops.

manateehugger

I agree with with itzMZ's cuts. 

Wedding vows aren't supposed to love letters. 

colleengilhooly

The "dogs" portion sounds like something I have read before. There is a great wedding reading that compares love to dogs. Maybe you saw it already and pulled pieces from there. I can't find it at this moment, but ensure that if you used it for reference you don't just pull straight from it. I would side-eye these because they sound so famillar but are trying to be unique. I would also shorten them! Good luck

colleengilhooly

Found it. It's called "Falling in love is like owning a dog," by Taylor Mali. Here

laurenbono

Thank you all!  I figured starting way too long and "trimming the fat" as I went would be the best way to go.  The dog piece is going to be separate from the vows, perhaps a friend will use it as a reading. Back to work I go!

kaos16

If you are writing your own vows, the dog part that someone else wrote, and has been used before, doesn't really have a place with what you "write from the heart."  If you think it's cute and want to use it, maybe type it or write it on cute paper, give credit to it's author, and put it in your fiance's bag so he sees it the day of the wedding while he's getting ready and gets a chuckle out of it.

mlg78

You'll have to do far more than "trim the fat"...that was way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.  I'm pretty sure itzms cut out over 60% of what you'd written.

pesematology

Here's what I would whittle it down to:

I have faith in your honesty, in your integrity, and in your affection, and in love and devotion to each other. I value the humor we share. I love our little family, and I can’t wait to see it grow.

I vow to never stop being goofy. This means you’ll be getting some terrible puns, raps about grocery shopping, and interspecies conversations for the rest of our lives… hope you’re down for that.

I vow to take risks with you and never settle for less than what we both deserve. I vow to grow with you and age disgracefully with you.

I vow stand by your side and hold your hand not only when life is good, but when life goes sideways and things are difficult. I promise to always stand by you because we make an amazing team.

That's all you need.

jenn5628

I love everything you wrote!  There were a few parts (about being goofy, etc.) when I was like 'hmmmm maybe to silly'.  But the difference for me between your vows and other 'non-traditional' vows I see on here is that I legitimately believe that this is you and I feel like I get your personality from reading it.  It seemed really authentic.  

I do have to agree with PPs about the dog part.  Even before I knew that it was paraphrased, I thought - this would be really cute read at the reception or something.  Maybe you could read it to FI during the speeches... just a thought.  

hadelaney

This sounds really nice, I like that you will probably separate the dog "vows" from your vows to your man, just cause it gets a little confusing. But I like how you put it all together and what you said to your guy, it was really nice. Don't change it too much, please.

 

BangBangs39

Loved it... I personally like when you can read someone's vows and picture that person and their SO... vows are supposed to be one of the most meaningful parts of the ceremony, I wouldn't cut too much out... if it means a lot to you, then that's what matters!!  Again, loved it!

clg1213

just a thought -- my FI and I are going to do "readings" to each other, either things we wrote (me) or things that speak what we feel (just letting FI have the option).  We will NOT share these beforehand.  I WILL need tissues!  After the exchanges (I expect we'll have two "regular" readings before we go), we'll move into a fairly simple officiant-led vow, I'd like it to match but need to sell FI on all this (I've gotten the nodded head "Yeah, sure." which means he didn't really hear, now it has happened twice so he can put it together but will be surprised he commented at all_

 

I think that format could let you say everything (and it is lovely!) without seeming long.  Heck, you could even later say "I vow to keep the promises I've made here tonight.  I also vow to love and cherish you for all our days to come."

BangBangs39

clg1213 said:

just a thought -- my FI and I are going to do "readings" to each other, either things we wrote (me) or things that speak what we feel (just letting FI have the option).  We will NOT share these beforehand.  I WILL need tissues!  After the exchanges (I expect we'll have two "regular" readings before we go), we'll move into a fairly simple officiant-led vow, I'd like it to match but need to sell FI on all this (I've gotten the nodded head "Yeah, sure." which means he didn't really hear, now it has happened twice so he can put it together but will be surprised he commented at all_

 I think that format could let you say everything (and it is lovely!) without seeming long.  Heck, you could even later say "I vow to keep the promises I've made here tonight.  I also vow to love and cherish you for all our days to come."

My FI and I are writing our own vows, and I too will need some tissues.  We are not sharing with anyone beforehand expect for our pastor... I'm excited to see what he comes up with!!