11 Traditional Wedding Vows from a Variety of Faiths

1. Jewish Wedding Vows

During a traditional Jewish wedding, the bride and groom may say these words (in
Hebrew) as they exchange rings:

I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.

Along with the ring exchange, the Seven Blessings (Sheva Berakhot) are recited. Here's a
translated excerpt:

Blessed are You, Adonai, our God, Ruler of the universe, gladden the beloved
companions as You gladdened Your creatures in the garden of Eden. Blessed are You,
Adonai, Who gladdens this couple. Blessed are You, Adonai, our God, Ruler of the
universe, Who created joy and gladness, loving couples, mirth, glad song, pleasure,
delight, love, loving communities, peace, and companionship. Adonai, our God, let
there soon be heard ... the voice of the loving couple, the sound of the their jubilance
from their canopies and of the youths from their song-filled feasts. Blessed are You
Who causes the couple to rejoice, one with the other.

We bless God for creating joy and happiness, bride and groom, mirth song, gladness
and rejoicing, love and harmony, peace and companionship; and we thank God for
letting this bride and groom to rejoice together.

2. Hindu Wedding Vows

As the bride and groom walk around flame honoring Agni, the Hindu fire god), they
recite the following:

Let us take the first step to provide for our household a nourishing and pure diet,
avoiding those foods injurious to healthy living.

Let us take the second step to develop physical, mental, and spiritual powers.

Let us take the third step to increase our wealth by righteous means and proper use.

Let us take the fourth step to acquire knowledge, happiness, and harmony by mutual
love and trust.

Let us take the fifth step so that we are blessed with strong, virtuous, and heroic
children.

Let us take the sixth step for self-restraint and longevity.

Finally, let us take the seventh step and be true companions and remain lifelong
partners by this wedlock.
3. Protestant Wedding Vows

Traditional Protestant wedding vows may be the most familiar to you. If you're nervous
about slipping up, ask your cleric to perform the vows in a read-and-repeat style.

In the name of God, I, (groom/bride's name), take you, (groom/bride's name), to be

my (husband/wife), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are
parted by death. This is my solemn vow.

4. Methodist Wedding Vows

These vows are a call and response. The only words a bride and groom have to
remember to be wedded: "I do."

Officiant: "Will you have this (woman/man) to be your (wife/husband), to live

together in holy marriage? Will you love (her/him), comfort (her/him), honor, and
keep (her/him) in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to
(her/him) as long as you both shall live?"

Bride/Groom: "I do."

5. Lutheran Wedding Vows

Similar to other Christian religions, Lutheran vows can be read by your officiant and
repeated by the bride and groom.

I, ______ , take you, to be my (wife/husband), and these things I promise you: I will
be faithful to you and honest with you; I will respect, trust, help, and care for you; I
will share my life with you; I will forgive you as we have been forgiven; and I will try
with you better to understand ourselves, the world, and God; through the best and
worst of what is to come, and as long as we live.

6. Baptist Wedding Vows

There are two options for traditional Baptist vows. The first is a call and response from
your officiant:

Officiant: "Will you, have to be your (wife/husband)? Will you love her/him, comfort
and keep her/him, and forsaking all others remain true to her/him, as long as you
both shall live?"

Bride/Groom: "I will."

Your other option is a shorter version of vows—one line said by both bride and groom:
I, _____, take thee, to be my (wife/husband), and before God and these witnesses I
promise to be a faithful and true (husband/wife).

7. Catholic Wedding Vows

Before you get to your vows, Catholic brides and grooms usually have to answer three
questions from the priest:

"(Name) and (name), have you come here freely and without reservation to give
yourselves to each other in marriage?"

"Will you honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?"

"Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law
of Christ and his Church?"

You will respond with either "I will" or "yes," then continue onto the vows themselves:

I, (name), take you, (name), to be my (husband/wife). I promise to be true to you in

good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the
days of my life.

8. Apache Wedding Vows

In Apache tradition, there may not be exchanging of vows. However, a wedding blessing
is read to the couple:

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will
feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no
loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons,
but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey
ahead and through all the years. May happiness be your companion and your days
together be good and long upon the earth.

Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what
brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and
kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties and fear assail
your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember
to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this
way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives —
remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if
each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked
by abundance and delight.
9. Cherokee Wedding Vows

In another Native American tradition, Cherokee also read a beautiful wedding blessing
to their brides and grooms:

God in heaven above please protect the ones we love. We honor all you created as we
pledge our hearts and lives together. We honor Mother Earth and ask for our
marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons. We honor fire and
ask that our union be warm and glowing with love in our hearts. We honor wind and
ask that we sail through life safe and calm as in our father's arms. We honor water to
clean and soothe our relationship — that it may never thirst for love. With all the
forces of the universe you created, we pray for harmony as we grow forever young
together. Amen.

10. Buddhist Wedding Vows

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the bride and groom answer the first set of vows read
by the officiant together. The vows are longer than in many other religions, but create a
sense of companionship as the couple respond in unison. Here’s an excerpt:

Officiant: (Bride's first name) and (groom's first name) do you pledge to help each
other to develop your hearts and minds, cultivating compassion, generosity, ethics,
patience, enthusiasm, concentration and wisdom as you age and undergo the various
ups and downs of life and to transform them into the path of love, compassion, joy and
equanimity?

Bride/Groom: "We do."

Officiant: Recognizing that the external conditions in life will not always be smooth
and that internally your own minds and emotions will sometimes get stuck in
negativity, do you pledge to see all these circumstances as a challenge to help you
grow, to open your hearts, to accept yourselves, and each other; and to generate
compassion for others who are suffering?

Bride/Groom: "We do."

Officiant: Understanding that just as we are a mystery to ourselves, each other person
is also a mystery to us, do you pledge to seek to understand yourselves, each other, and
all living beings, to examine your own minds continually and to regard all the
mysteries of life with curiosity and joy?

Bride/Groom: "We do."

Officiant: Do you pledge to preserve and enrich your affection for each other, and to
share it with all beings? To take the loving feelings you have for one another and your
vision of each other's potential and inner beauty as an example and rather than
spiraling inwards and becoming self-absorbed, to radiate this love outwards to all
beings?

Bride/Groom: "We do."

11. Non-Denominational Wedding Vows

In this beautiful set of wedding vows from non-denominational ceremony, husband and
wife conduct a knot tying unity ceremony (wherein they make a fishermen's knot — the
kind that grows stronger with pressure. Then, they vow to one another"

*I, (name), commit myself to you, (name of significant other), as (wife/husband) to

learn and grow with, to explore and adventure with, to respect you in everything as an
equal partner, in the foreknowledge of joy and pain, strength and weariness, direction
and doubt, for all the risings and settings of the sun. We tie these knots to symbolize our
connection to one another. They represent our trust in each other and our combined
strength together. *