Do you and your partner both hold strong religious beliefs? Then traditional wedding vows may be something that you are looking at reciting at your ceremony.
A wedding is one of the most important days in most people’s lives. For a couple, it serves as a symbol of their love and commitment for each other. Wedding vows recited at the ceremony is a promise that they make to each other citing their unconditional love and affection. While many couples opt to write their own wedding vows, there are others who would rather use more traditional faith based wedding vows. If you and your partner are both spiritual and want to have a traditional faith based ceremony, then you would want to opt for the traditionally religious wedding vows. In this article, we give you some samples of these wedding vows.
Samples of Wedding Vows
If you are a traditionalist at the heart of things, then you would probably opt for faith based traditional marriage vows. In a ceremony that follows the traditional Christian wedding, the vows start with the minister or the officiant starting the ceremony. Wedding vows for a religious couple should ideally be a reflection of the values that they share. There are many different options that you can choose from. Some of these are given in the table below.
Christian Wedding Vow Samples | |
Vows for Groom | Vows for Bride |
I, name of groom, take thee, name of bride to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part. Today I pledge my faithfulness. | I, name of bride, take thee, name of groom to be my lawfully wedding husband. To have and to hold from this day forward, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and obey until death do we part, today I pledge my faithfulness. |
I, name of groom, take you, name of bride, to be my wedded wife. With deepest joy I receive you into my life that together we may be one. As is Christ to His body, the church, so I will be to you a loving and faithful husband. Always will I perform my headship over you even as Christ does over me, knowing that His Lordship is one of the holiest desires for my life. I promise you my deepest love, my fullest devotion, my tenderest care. I promise I will live first unto God rather than others or even you. I promise that I will lead our lives into a life of faith and hope in Christ Jesus. Ever honoring God’s guidance by His spirit through the Word, And so throughout life, no matter what may lie ahead of us, I pledge to you my life as a loving and faithful husband. | I, name of bride, take you, name of groom, to be my wedded husband. With deepest joy I come into my new life with you. As you have pledged to me your life and love, so I too happily give you my life, and in confidence submit myself to your headship as to the Lord. As is the church in her relationship to Christ, so I will be to you. name of groom, I will live first unto our God and then unto you, loving you, obeying you, caring for you and ever seeking to please you. God has prepared me for you and so I will ever strengthen, help, comfort, and encourage you. Therefore, throughout life, no matter what may be ahead of us, I pledge to you my life as an obedient and faithful wife. |
Name of bride, we read in Genesis, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife,” and in Proverbs “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing.” He has ordained that the husband be the head of the wife. He instructs me, as the one who will be your husband, to love you as Christ loves the Church. It is my desire and delight to follow this scriptural teaching. With all my heart, I make this pledge to you. | Name of groom, the Lord instructs me as the one who will be your wife to submit to you as unto Him. Our Father created woman to be man’s helper. It is my desire and delight to follow this scriptural teaching. With all my heart I make this pledge to you. |
Name of bride, I love you and I know that this love is from God. Because of this, I want to be your husband so that we might serve Christ together. Through all of the uncertainties and trials of the present and future, I promise to be faithful to you and love you. I promise to guide and protect you as Christ does his church, as long as we both shall live. God’s Word gives us the perfect example of this love in Christ’s death for the Church. I shall try always, with God’s help, to show you this same kind of love, for I know that in His sight we will both be one. | Name of groom, I love you. I prayed that God would lead me to his choice. I praise Him that tonight His will is being fulfilled. Through the pressures of the present and uncertainties of the future I promise my faithfulness, to follow you through all of life’s experiences as you follow God, that together we may grow in the likeness of Christ and our home be a praise to Him. |
Name of bride, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy. I choose you to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live. | Name of groom, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy. I choose you to be my husband: to have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health; to have and to cherish, as long as we both shall live. And hereto, I pledge you my faithfulness to show to you the same kind of love as Christ showed the Church when He died for her, and to love you as a part of myself because in His sight we shall be one. |
Name of bride, as we stand before both God and man, making public our commitment to one another, I wish to make it known that I recognize first of all God’s authority over my life which is exercised from His loving heart. He has chosen me to be one of his own, and He is now my life. I recognize also that He has blessed me and entrusted to me your life as a free gift that I have not earned. In recognition of these things, name of bride, I purpose to love you with His love, to provide for your needs through His enablement, and to lead you as He leads me, as long as He give us life together, regardless of the circumstances. As Psalm 34:3 expressed my heart when I asked you to marry me, so it expresses my heart now: “O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.” | On this special day, name of groom, I am reminded of the verse James 1:17 which says, “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” With a gift such as you, I know that many new responsibilities face me. In I Corinthians, it explains “It is required of a steward to be found trustworthy.” I cannot do this on my own strength, name of groom, but by God’s grace and power working within me I desire to be trustworthy as your wife by following your leading submissively, even as unto Christ, loving and serving you in all circumstances as long as He give me life on this earth. |
Religious beliefs and sentiments aside, the wedding vows also need to be a reflection of the couple’s love and commitment for each other.