Editorial policy

Two kinds of text, always labelled

Nearly every page on this site carries one of two things, and they are never presented as the same:

1. Authorised wording. The actual text of a rite, a statute or a scripture passage. Quoted verbatim, attributed to the book or Act it comes from, and never paraphrased into something that reads better.
2. Original examples. Vows and speeches written for this site, for you to take and adapt. They are ours to give away and yours to change; no attribution, no permission, no credit needed.

Liturgical and legal texts are never quoted from memory

Traditional vow wording circulates online in dozens of slightly corrupted versions, because sites copy each other rather than the source. Every verbatim rite text, statute and scripture quotation here was checked against a named published source before publication, and the check is recorded as it happens.

• Christian rites come from the books themselves — the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Common Worship, the 1979 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, the Order of Celebrating Matrimony, the Lutheran Book of Worship, the PCUSA Book of Common Worship. Where a rite has more than one authorised form, we give them all rather than the one everyone else copies: the Catholic rite has four, not one.
• Scripture is King James Version, fetched verbatim rather than retyped, and labelled as KJV on the page. KJV is used because it is public domain and citable.
• Legal wording is quoted from the legislation — the Marriage Act 1949 for England and Wales, New York Domestic Relations Law for the clearest statement of the general US position.
• Where a tradition has no vows, we say so. A traditional Jewish ceremony and an Orthodox Christian ceremony contain no exchange of vows. Those pages explain that rather than inventing a text to fill the space.
• Unverified means unpublished. If we have not checked a text against its source, it does not go on the site, even when it is easy to find elsewhere.

Anything that can go out of date is dated

Marriage law moves. The legal status of humanist marriage differs across the UK and is currently under review in England and Wales, so the page that covers it states the date its position was checked rather than asserting a fact that may quietly expire. The same applies anywhere else the law is in flux.

What we will not tell you

Whether your ceremony is valid, whether your church will let you alter a line, or which form your parish uses. Written Vows publishes example wording and sourced reference texts — it is not legal, religious or officiating advice. Requirements vary by country, state and individual officiant, and your registrar or officiant is the authority on the day. Where a rite forbids rewording, the page says so.

Corrections

The sourcing process exists because it catches things. It has already caught a published error on this site: a vow taken from the Lutheran Book of Worship was attributed to the wrong book and ended on the wrong clause. It was fixed the day it was found, and the source record was updated so the same mistake cannot be reintroduced.

If you find a misquoted rite, a wrong attribution or an out-of-date legal detail — especially if you are a member of the clergy, a registrar or a celebrant — please tell us. Corrections are made promptly.

Independence

Nothing on this site is paywalled and nothing requires a sign-up. If a page ever carries advertising or an affiliate link, that will never determine which wording we publish or which rite we cover. Written Vows is published by Known by One, LLC; who writes it is on the about page.