A post by Matt Foss at Honest to Godless reminded me that I have not posted my wedding vows. I keep forgetting to do it, thinking I should wait until my anniversary, but since it has been a slow couple of days, I thought this would be a good time to share them.
Just a little bit of background: my wife and I were married in Pennsylvania, which allows for Quaker weddings that require no officiant, so we married ourselves. We conducted a brief introduction a few paragraphs long, opened the floor to anyone who wanted to share their thoughts (we informed people they could prepare a statement ahead of time) and then exchanged vows and rings in front of guests numbering in the teens (I think there were 19 people there, including the two of us).
So, anyway, the vows:
[Name], I promise to be your trusted friend, loving companion and equal partner. I promise to love and support you, through life’s successes and failures, for rich or for poor, through sickness and good health. I promise to love you not only despite your flaws, but also because of them. I promise to stand by you through the good times and the bad, for you make the good times all the more enjoyable, and the bad times all the more bearable. I promise to honor and respect you as my husband/wife, now and for the rest of our days.
I like.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is very similar to the vows my wife and I ended up using. I'm ashamed to say I can't remember exactly how they went, but this was the basic message. Other than the little addendum that TrollMinister tacked on the end, that is.
Yes! The "Quaker License". My uncle and aunt married that way, and my second husband and I got a "Quaker License". No minister, no religion, none of that.
ReplyDeleteMy first wedding was religious, not because I believed, but to keep the inlaws from going ballistic.
I love the do-it-yourself Quaker thing.
I love Quaker... oatmeal. Oh and your vows made me tear up a little.
ReplyDeleteThey made my wife cry, too. I didn't think they were that bad...
ReplyDelete