Your Printable Christian Wedding Vows

Exchanging Christian wedding vows is just one of the many ways for you to create a meaningful ceremony. These can be traditional or contemporary.

Above, Prince William and Princess Cate exchange Christian wedding vows in April 2011. Did you get up early and watch the royal wedding? I did!

The traditional words usually come from your pastor or from the minister or priest officiating at the service. You can also look them up online. It seems each denomination spins its own little twist on the traditional words with the base being the same for all.

The contemporary wording can be something that your minister provides. It can also be something that you and your fiance write together. If you are good with words, go ahead, write your own vows. They will be a lot more special to you than just repeating something that your minister tells you to say.

Either way, contemporary or traditional, make sure the Christian marriage vows you choose to take reflect your lifelong commitment to each other, with Christ as the Center of your marital union.

Many traditionalists within churches get hung up on the "do you promise to love, honor and OBEY?". A lot of old timers will insist on the bride promising to obey her husband.

Brides, if this is what you want in your ceremony and if you feel comfortable with it, then go ahead and include it in your wedding vows.

If not, CHANGE THE WORDING! If your minister won't allow you to, change ministers for the ceremony! Do not be forced into promising something you do not feel comfortable with just because your grandmother promised it.

My mother did the "love, honor, and obey" bit with my father. Throughout their marriage, they fought constantly and he was always bossing her, telling her what she had to do. He would throw the "you promised to obey me" routine in her face. She could never spend any money, earn any money, or make any decisions on her own. She could never go anywhere on her own because she did not drive and most of the time, he did not want to take her anywhere. No way was I going to go through that garbage.

As I planned my wedding, I did not feel at all comfortable promising to obey, so I said no way to that vow and my husband-to-be had no problem with it and it worked out great. Of course, my minister was fairly young so he understood. We used the phrase "love, honor, and cherish."

Before you write your own vows, check with your minister to see if he is okay with it. If he is, he still may have some restrictions on what you are allowed to say in his church. If he does not approve and writing your own Christian wedding vows is important to you, find a new minister to marry you. Really, any minister will do, but it is nice to have your own pastor there to marry you on your special day.

Remember that this is Your Special Day so you should be allowed to write your own Christian wedding vows if that is what you want to do.

If your parents and/or grandparents are traditionalist people, you would be wise in keeping this a secret until the wedding to avoid family fights.

Family fights due to weddings are common and explosive, not to mention ugly. Been there, done that. Avoid conflict at all cost. Don't ruin this special time of planning your wedding with fights that you can avoid.

Okay, so you and your fiance have decided to write your own words and it is okay with your minister. Great! Where should you begin?

Get a pad and a pen and your fiance. Sit down together and think back to the beginning of your relationship. Consider the following questions, and jot down notes:

1. Where and how did you meet?

2. Where did you go on your first date?

3. When did you first realize that you were in love?

4. What are some of your favorite things to do together?

5. How do you see yourselves in the future?

6. What do you hope to accomplish together in 10, 20, and 30 years?

7. What Bible passages and other books do you enjoy reading and sharing?

8. What do you enjoy talking about with each other?

If any of his answers, especially to questions 5 and 6, really scare you or are completely opposite to your own vision of your life together, run for the hills, Baby! Don't marry him or, trust me, you will be sorry for the rest of your life!

Life is too short to regret getting married every single day for the rest of your life. You do not want to live that way. God has someone out there for you who shares your values and your dreams. Wait upon him!

Incorporate the answers to some of these questions in your Christian wedding vows.

Some couples each write a paragraph or so containing their statement of love and commitment and read it to each other during the ceremony.

Other couples write one together and break it into parts, taking turns reading it aloud during the ceremony, as in a play:

Bride:

Groom:

Bride:

And so on.

You can use Scripture, love poems, readings, and/or the words to a favorite love song along with your lifelong pledge of love and commitment into your Christian wedding vows.

Whatever you prefer is fine as long as you are committing yourself to your fiance (and he to you) in your Christian wedding vows.

This page gives you an example of traditional Christian Wedding Vows. It basically uses King James language with the words "thee", "thou", "thy", and "ye". Perhaps thy great-grandparents recited similar vows way back in the day. Believe it or not, some modern couples opt for vows like this so I am including a sample for you to print and use if you enjoy King James' English.

The traditional Christian wedding vows are not magical. It is not so much the words that you promise on your wedding day, but the intent of your heart that will give you a committed and long lasting marriage.

Traditional Christian Wedding Vows To Print

_______(Groom's name), wilt thou take _________(Bride's name) to be thy lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, cleaving only unto her so long as ye both shall live?

(Groom answers, "I will")

________(Bride's name), wilt thou take ________(Groom's name) to be thy lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward? Wilt thou love him, comfort him, honor and obey (or instead of the word "obey," you can insert the word "keep") him, in sickness and in health, cleaving only unto him so long as ye both shall live?

(Bride answers, "I will")
I________(Groom's name), take thee __________(Bride's name) as my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death us do part, and thereto, I pledge thee my faith.

I_________(Bride's name), take thee ___________(Groom's name) as my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death us do part, and thereto, I pledge thee my faith.

You can always change the language for a more modern wedding vow, yet it will keep that traditional feel. It is okay to replace the old English words with words we use today. Using "thee" and "thy" will not make your marriage last any longer than using "you" and "your".

Below are some generic printable Christian wedding vows that are appropriate for any Christian wedding.

Most wedding officiants or ministers will have their own standard vows to use. Sometimes, a couple may want to choose the exact wording so the vows below may be what you want. Sometimes the officiant is new and does not have a book of vows to use. Please feel free to print out and use or edit the vows below in your wedding ceremony.

Once, my husband and I traveled out to a tiny town in Texas so he could perform the wedding of a relative. He did not have his book of rites with him so we went on the internet and printed out wedding vows. In an emergency, the printable Christian wedding vows below will work. They are also very nice if I do say so myself :)!

Printable Christian Wedding Vows

_______(Groom's name), will you take __________(Bride's name) to be your wedded wife, to live together according to God's holy ordinance of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, as long as you both live?

(Groom answers, "I will")

_______(Bride's name), will you take __________(Groom's name) to be your wedding husband, to live together according to God's holy ordinance of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him, as long as you both live?

(Bride answers, "I will")

________(Groom's name), please repeat after me:

I__________(Groom's name), take you _________(Bride's name) to be my wedded wife. From this day on I pledge to you my love and my faith, in sorrow and in joy, in wealth or in poverty, in sickness and in health. I promise to give myself up for you. I promise to protect, honor, and love you. I will give my love to you until death separates us.

I________(Bride's name), take you __________(Groom's name) to be my wedded husband. From this day on, I pledge to you my love and my faith, in sorrow and in joy, in wealth or in poverty, in sickness and in health. I promise to respect you and submit to you as to the Lord. I will be your helper in all things. I will give my love to you until death separates us.

_________(Groom's name), do you take ___________(Bride's name) to be your wedded wife according to God's holy ordinance of matrimony? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, keeping yourself only unto her so long as you both live?

(Groom answers, "I do")


_________(Bride's name), do you take _________(Groom's name), to be your wedded husband according to God's holy ordinance of matrimony? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, keeping yourself only unto him so long as you both live?

(Bride answers, "I do.")

I______(Groom's name) take you, __________(Bride's name) to be my wedded wife. From this day forward, I give you my unconditional love and vow to protect you. I promise to honor and cherish you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I promise you my love and faithfulness until death parts us.


I ______(Bride's name), take you __________(Groom's name), to be my wedded husband. From this day forward, I give you my unconditional love and respect. I promise to honor and cherish you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I promise you my love and faithfulness until death parts us.

There are many different versions of standard Christian wedding ceremony vows, depending on your church denomination.

I was raised Nazarene so that denomination's vows sound best to me. I have since attended several Southern Baptist churches and a few non-denominational churches. The Baptist wedding wording is slightly different than that of the vows from the Nazarene manual.

I have been to weddings in other church denominations and each one puts their own spin on what a husband and wife promise each other on their wedding day.

The Catholic wording is slightly different than the Methodist wording. The Presbyterian wording is slightly different than the Pentecostal wording of the marriage vows.

Discuss the specific wording that you want in your ceremony with your pastor or officiant. Most major denominations have a church manual with their own vows.

If your officiant is a minister, he will most likely want to use the official vows of his religion. Some ministers are open to using different wording than their church's own wedding vows. Other ministers are not.
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If you would like to review denominational wedding vows that are used by different churches, they are available online. Just search for "wedding vows _____________(insert denomination, such as Baptist, Catholic, etc.)