The closing clause of the traditional vow, and the one that has been rewritten most — including once because the English language moved underneath it.
The 1549 Book of Common Prayer read “till death us depart.” Depart then meant to separate — until death separates us — and the line was perfectly clear. Over the following century the word narrowed towards simply meaning to leave, and the sentence stopped parsing. The 1662 revision rewrote it as “till death us do part,” which is the form still printed in the English books.
The familiar American reordering, “till death do us part,” came later and has no liturgical standing at all. It is simply what people say.
1662 prayer book · Common Worship, 2000
… to love and to cherish, till death us do part; according to God’s holy law.
The English form, and legally binding wording in a Church of England service. Note the order: “us do part,” not “do us part.”
1979 Episcopal · United Methodist
… to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.
Both twentieth-century American books moved away from the older phrasing, and both close instead with “this is my solemn vow” in place of the troth line.
Roman Catholic · Order of Celebrating Matrimony, Form A
… to love you and to honor you all the days of my life.
Death is not mentioned at all. The alternative form permitted in United States dioceses does use “until death do us part,” so within the Catholic rite both are available.
Lutheran Book of Worship · Presbyterian Book of Common Worship
… and I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us.
… in sickness and in health; as long as we both shall live.
The two plainest endings in the mainline books. “As long as we both shall live” is also the standard secular substitute, which is why it sounds neither religious nor evasive.
The same clause family, and the single most commonly cut line in the whole vow. The prayer books print it without an “or” — “for richer for poorer” — and it is unusually direct: medieval rites named goods and property outright, because marriage transferred both. Catholic Form A drops it; the Presbyterian text replaces it with “in plenty and in want.” In a civil ceremony it goes without anyone noticing.
The clause sets a term, and the term is the whole of your life. Rewrites fail when they quietly install an escape clause instead.
Secular · usable as written
For all the days I am given, and I am not counting them.
Until one of us is not here any more — and then for a while after that, I expect.
For as long as we both shall live, which I have thought about properly, and which I mean.
What not to write: “for as long as our love lasts” and its relatives. Couples choose them to sound honest and modern; guests hear a condition. If you do not want to promise a lifetime, say something else entirely rather than a lifetime-shaped sentence with a door left open in it.
You can replace it freely in a civil ceremony, and every authorised alternative above is available to you. Dropping the idea altogether is a different matter: a vow with no term in it at all tends to land oddly, because the closing clause is what tells the room the promise has finished.
In a liturgical service the wording is the book’s — but as with the other clauses, you may be able to choose a different authorised form rather than edit this one. What each tradition permits is set out at Christian wedding vows.