Vows For All Romantic Occasions
We usually think of weddings when we think of vows, but we can say vows to our partners at other romantic moments as well. We can renew our commitment to our spouse, we can make our own ceremony of “marriage” and recite vows to each other and we can even say a vow to ourselves.
There are many romantic vows to be found in different books and ceremonies. Each religion has it’s own traditional vows, each with their own beauty and special message. Following are some of my favorites, excerpted from various ceremonies and books. These vows can be used as part of a marriage ceremony, or just to re-affirm your current love. I hope that some of them will speak to you and your needs.
Vow #1
Come to me softly, my love; speak to me softly and let me hold your love warm against my heart. May we experience the quiet joys of marriage as our love grows deeper through each season. I will be there for you always, holding your hand as we walk together side by side.
Vow #2
You are God’s precious gift to me, my springtime, my hope and my joy. You are everything that’s good and pure and true and I worship you with my mind, body and soul. How blessed I am to be able to say that you are mine, to be able to love and cherish you for the rest of my days.
Vow #3
I love you because you are the finest person I have ever known; you are unselfish; loving; gentle; loyal; tender; trustworthy; sympathetic; and a true joy to be with. Your laughter, your smile and your unfailing optimism buoy me, lift me and make me a better person. How can I be so blessed as to be loved by you? What could I have ever done in my lifetime to deserve such a treasure? My heart overflows with my love for you. I will treasure you always, as I do at this moment.
Vow #4
Today is but a brief day in time, and although our vows are spoken in a matter of minutes, they are promises that will last a lifetime. When we leave this ceremony today, I will be a better person, because of you. Because of your love and trust my life is fulfilled and has a new beginning. I promise to be faithful and worthy of this love. I will be true and loyal to you in every way from this day forward as we begin our new life together.
Vow #5
What a great and beautiful mystery it is for two souls to join together in a marriage, as I do now join with you. I vow to be faithful and loving, to minister to you in sorrow, to share with you in gladness and joy, and to be one with you in the silent unspeakable joining of our hearts.
Vow #6
You are my love, my life, my very breath. Until you came to me I was searching for you, longing for you. Today we become one flesh as we unite in a sacred commitment to share our lives together and to be true to each other as long as we both shall live. I promise to give you the best of myself, to respect you as your own person, to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship. I will be true and faithful and this is my solemn vow to you this day.
Vow #7
Today I choose you to be my life partner. I promise to sleep by your side, to be the joy of your heart, the food to your soul and the best person I can be for you. I promise to laugh with you when times are good, and to suffer with you when they are not. I promise to wash away your tears with my kisses and to hold you sweetly and gladly until our days on earth are over.
Vow #8
I take you today as my adored and cherished partner and I promise to be a loving and faithful partner in return. May our sunshine be shared, our rains be gentle and our sweet love eternal. I pledge myself to you from this day forward and for all eternity.
Vow #9
I commit to you today because you are my beloved, the one I have chosen to journey with me through our remaining days. You are my companion, my lover and my friend, and I promise that wherever our journey leads and whatever its outcome, I will love you, cherish you and be faithful to you forever.
Vow #10
Shakespearean sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate… When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee
Vow #11
Shakespearean sonnet 91
Thy love is better than high birth to me, Richer than wealth, prouder than garments’ cost, Of more delight than hawks or horses be; And, having thee, of all men’s pride I boast…
Vow #12
Kahlil Gibran
Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
Vow #13
Voltaire
Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes in the twinkling of an eye, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delights of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed. I shall love you until I die.
Vow #14
Robert Louis Stevenson, from “A Night Among the Pines”
…and yet even while I was exulting in my solitude I became aware of a strange lack. I wished a companion to lie near me in the starlight, silent and not moving, but ever within touch. For there is a fellowship more quiet even than solitude, and which, rightly understood, is solitude made perfect. And to live…with the woman a man loves is of all lives the most complete and free.
Vow #15
Traditional Shoshone Indian love poem
Fair is the white star of twilight, and the sky clearer at the day’s end; but she is fairer, and she is dearer, She, my heart’s friend.
Fair is the white star of twilight, and the moon roving to the sky’s end; but she is fairer, better worth loving, She my heart’s friend.
Vow #16
John Keats
A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams…
The above vows and quotations can be found with many others in Diane Warner’s Complete Book of Wedding Vows
Cultural Verse
I know not whether thou has been absent:
I lie down with thee, I rise up with thee,
In my dreams thou art with me.
If my eardrops tremble in my ears,
I know it is thou moving within my heart.
Aztec love song
You are my husband/wife.
My legs run because of you.
My feet dance because of you.
My heart shall beat because of you.
My eyes see because of you.
My mind thinks because of you.
And I shall love because of you.
Eskimo love song
In Love That Long
I am here, this moment, inside the beauty,
The gift God has given,
Our love:
This gold and circular sign
means we are free of any duty:
out of eternity
I turn my face to you, and into
eternity:
We have been in love that long.
Jelaluddin Rumi, thirteenth century
Translated by Coleman Barks
Love
What is the beginning? Love.
What is the course. Love still.
What the goal. The goal is love.
On a happy hill.
Is there nothing then but love?
Search we sky or earth
There is nothing out of Love
Hath perpetual worth:
All things flag but only Love,
All things fail and flee;
There is nothing left but Love
Worthy you and me.
Christina Rossetti, nineteenth century
And I have You
Rain has drops Sun has shine
Moon has beams That make you mine
Rivers have banks Sands for shores
Hearts have Heartbeats That make me yours
Needles have eyes Though pins may prick
Elmer has glue To make things stick
Winter has Spring Stockings feet
Pepper has mint To make it sweet
Teachers have lessons Soup du jour
Lawyers sue bad folks Doctors cure
All and all this much is true
You have me And I have you
Nikki Giovanni, twentieth century
There are many romantic vows to be found in different books and ceremonies. Each religion has it’s own traditional vows, each with their own beauty and special message. Following are some of my favorites, excerpted from various ceremonies and books. These vows can be used as part of a marriage ceremony, or just to re-affirm your current love. I hope that some of them will speak to you and your needs.
Vow #1
Come to me softly, my love; speak to me softly and let me hold your love warm against my heart. May we experience the quiet joys of marriage as our love grows deeper through each season. I will be there for you always, holding your hand as we walk together side by side.
Vow #2
You are God’s precious gift to me, my springtime, my hope and my joy. You are everything that’s good and pure and true and I worship you with my mind, body and soul. How blessed I am to be able to say that you are mine, to be able to love and cherish you for the rest of my days.
Vow #3
I love you because you are the finest person I have ever known; you are unselfish; loving; gentle; loyal; tender; trustworthy; sympathetic; and a true joy to be with. Your laughter, your smile and your unfailing optimism buoy me, lift me and make me a better person. How can I be so blessed as to be loved by you? What could I have ever done in my lifetime to deserve such a treasure? My heart overflows with my love for you. I will treasure you always, as I do at this moment.
Vow #4
Today is but a brief day in time, and although our vows are spoken in a matter of minutes, they are promises that will last a lifetime. When we leave this ceremony today, I will be a better person, because of you. Because of your love and trust my life is fulfilled and has a new beginning. I promise to be faithful and worthy of this love. I will be true and loyal to you in every way from this day forward as we begin our new life together.
Vow #5
What a great and beautiful mystery it is for two souls to join together in a marriage, as I do now join with you. I vow to be faithful and loving, to minister to you in sorrow, to share with you in gladness and joy, and to be one with you in the silent unspeakable joining of our hearts.
Vow #6
You are my love, my life, my very breath. Until you came to me I was searching for you, longing for you. Today we become one flesh as we unite in a sacred commitment to share our lives together and to be true to each other as long as we both shall live. I promise to give you the best of myself, to respect you as your own person, to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship. I will be true and faithful and this is my solemn vow to you this day.
Vow #7
Today I choose you to be my life partner. I promise to sleep by your side, to be the joy of your heart, the food to your soul and the best person I can be for you. I promise to laugh with you when times are good, and to suffer with you when they are not. I promise to wash away your tears with my kisses and to hold you sweetly and gladly until our days on earth are over.
Vow #8
I take you today as my adored and cherished partner and I promise to be a loving and faithful partner in return. May our sunshine be shared, our rains be gentle and our sweet love eternal. I pledge myself to you from this day forward and for all eternity.
Vow #9
I commit to you today because you are my beloved, the one I have chosen to journey with me through our remaining days. You are my companion, my lover and my friend, and I promise that wherever our journey leads and whatever its outcome, I will love you, cherish you and be faithful to you forever.
Vow #10
Shakespearean sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate… When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee
Vow #11
Shakespearean sonnet 91
Thy love is better than high birth to me, Richer than wealth, prouder than garments’ cost, Of more delight than hawks or horses be; And, having thee, of all men’s pride I boast…
Vow #12
Kahlil Gibran
Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
Vow #13
Voltaire
Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes in the twinkling of an eye, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delights of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed. I shall love you until I die.
Vow #14
Robert Louis Stevenson, from “A Night Among the Pines”
…and yet even while I was exulting in my solitude I became aware of a strange lack. I wished a companion to lie near me in the starlight, silent and not moving, but ever within touch. For there is a fellowship more quiet even than solitude, and which, rightly understood, is solitude made perfect. And to live…with the woman a man loves is of all lives the most complete and free.
Vow #15
Traditional Shoshone Indian love poem
Fair is the white star of twilight, and the sky clearer at the day’s end; but she is fairer, and she is dearer, She, my heart’s friend.
Fair is the white star of twilight, and the moon roving to the sky’s end; but she is fairer, better worth loving, She my heart’s friend.
Vow #16
John Keats
A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams…
The above vows and quotations can be found with many others in Diane Warner’s Complete Book of Wedding Vows
Cultural Verse
I know not whether thou has been absent:
I lie down with thee, I rise up with thee,
In my dreams thou art with me.
If my eardrops tremble in my ears,
I know it is thou moving within my heart.
Aztec love song
You are my husband/wife.
My legs run because of you.
My feet dance because of you.
My heart shall beat because of you.
My eyes see because of you.
My mind thinks because of you.
And I shall love because of you.
Eskimo love song
In Love That Long
I am here, this moment, inside the beauty,
The gift God has given,
Our love:
This gold and circular sign
means we are free of any duty:
out of eternity
I turn my face to you, and into
eternity:
We have been in love that long.
Jelaluddin Rumi, thirteenth century
Translated by Coleman Barks
Love
What is the beginning? Love.
What is the course. Love still.
What the goal. The goal is love.
On a happy hill.
Is there nothing then but love?
Search we sky or earth
There is nothing out of Love
Hath perpetual worth:
All things flag but only Love,
All things fail and flee;
There is nothing left but Love
Worthy you and me.
Christina Rossetti, nineteenth century
And I have You
Rain has drops Sun has shine
Moon has beams That make you mine
Rivers have banks Sands for shores
Hearts have Heartbeats That make me yours
Needles have eyes Though pins may prick
Elmer has glue To make things stick
Winter has Spring Stockings feet
Pepper has mint To make it sweet
Teachers have lessons Soup du jour
Lawyers sue bad folks Doctors cure
All and all this much is true
You have me And I have you
Nikki Giovanni, twentieth century