What is the standard format of wedding vows?

Four parts: a declaration that you are taking this person, one specific thing about them, the promises themselves, and a closing line that commits. Most vows that go wrong have skipped part two or padded part three — three promises land, nine do not.

How many promises should a wedding vow contain?

Three to five. Beyond that the guests stop hearing individual promises and start hearing a list, and the vow loses its shape. If you have nine you love, keep the three that only apply to this person and put the rest in a letter.

Should the brackets be filled with something specific?

Yes — a place, a habit, a date, a running joke. Generic filling defeats the template. The line that gets quoted at the reception is always the one nobody else in the room could have written.

Is it obvious if we use a template?

Not if you fill it properly. Every traditional vow in existence is a template that several million people have used, and nobody hears it as borrowed. What sounds borrowed is a vow with no specifics in it at all.

Wedding vows template: 16 fill-in-the-blank vows

Complete vows with the personal parts left open. Fill the brackets with something only the two of you would understand, read it aloud once, and you are done.

The structure every template below uses

1. The declaration. “I take you to be my wife/husband.” Say it early — it tells the room what kind of vow this is going to be.
2. The specific. One true detail about this person: what you noticed, when you knew, the thing they do. This is the part templates cannot write for you and the part everyone remembers.
3. The promises. Three to five, concrete rather than abstract. “I will listen when you are talking” beats “I will always support you.”
4. The close. A short line that commits and stops. Do not trail off, and do not add a second ending.

Total: 100 to 150 words, which reads aloud in about a minute. If you want the longer method behind this shape, see how to write your own wedding vows.

Start here

The all-purpose template

Classic four-part · 60 seconds

[Name], I take you to be my [wife / husband].

I knew it at [place or moment], although I did not admit it for [length of time]. It was not anything dramatic — it was the way you [small, specific thing they do].

So here is what I promise you. I promise to [everyday promise]. I promise to [promise about hard times]. I promise to [promise that is a little funny and entirely true].

From today, for the rest of my life, whatever it turns out to look like. This is my vow.

If you only look at one template, use this one. It works in a church, a garden or a courthouse.

The short template

Classic · 25 seconds

[Name], I choose you. I love [specific thing about them] and I have loved it since [moment].

I promise to [promise], to [promise], and to stay when it would be easier not to. Everything I have is yours.

Four sentences, and nothing to lose your place in. The right choice for a small ceremony or a shaking voice.

The traditional template

Traditional frame, one personal line · 40 seconds

I, [your name], take you, [their name], to be my [wife / husband], to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.

And one promise the old words leave out: I will [your own promise, in your own voice].

Keeps the standard clauses intact and adds a single sentence of your own — what most couples actually mean when they say they want traditional vows.

Would you rather answer questions than fill brackets? Use the vow builder — pick a tone, answer four questions, get a draft you can edit.

Promise-led templates

Where the promises are the whole vow. The easiest shape to fill and the hardest to make boring, as long as the promises are specific.

The list of five

Promise-led · 40 seconds

[Name], today I promise you five things.

I promise to [promise about listening or attention]. I promise to [promise about conflict — apologising, telling the truth, not going quiet]. I promise to [promise about ordinary domestic life]. I promise to [promise about their ambitions or work]. And I promise to [promise about illness, age or hard years].

Five promises, one person, the rest of my life.

Promises with the reason attached

Promise-led · 55 seconds

[Name], I take you as my [wife / husband], and I want to tell you why each of these promises is the one I chose.

I promise to [promise], because [reason drawn from your history together]. I promise to [promise], because you have done exactly that for me every time [situation]. And I promise to [promise], because I have watched you [thing they do for other people] and I want to be that for you.

Today, and every day I get after it.

What I will not do

Promise-led · 40 seconds

[Name], some of what I owe you is what I will not do.

I will not [thing you will not do — go quiet, keep score, leave things unsaid]. I will not [thing you will not do]. I will not stop [thing you will keep doing — noticing, asking, trying].

And I will love you, plainly and out loud, for as long as I am here to do it.

Story-led templates

Open with one moment, then turn it into a promise. Keep the story to two sentences — the vow is not a speech.

The moment I knew

Story-led · 55 seconds

[Place], [rough date]. You were [what they were doing], and I remember thinking, very clearly, [the thought you actually had].

I have thought about it a great deal since, and I think what I was noticing was [quality — kindness, steadiness, nerve].

So I promise to [promise that protects that quality]. I promise to [promise]. I take you as my [wife / husband], and I am so glad it is you.

The hard year

Story-led · 55 seconds

[Number] years, and at least one of them I would not repeat for anything. You were there for all of it — [specific, unglamorous thing they did].

That is when I stopped wondering. So today is not a beginning; it is me saying out loud what has been true since [moment].

I promise to [promise]. I promise to [promise]. I am not going anywhere.

The thing you changed

Story-led · 50 seconds

Before you, I was [honest, unflattering thing about your old self]. You did not set out to change it. You just [what they did] until [what changed].

I promise to be that for you — to [promise], to [promise], and to make our home somewhere you can put everything down.

Light-hearted templates

Fill the first half with the jokes and the second half straight. That order is not optional. More at funny wedding vows.

Terms and conditions

Light-hearted · 45 seconds

[Name], I vow to [small domestic concession]. I vow to [pretend not to notice something]. I vow never to mention [thing you will absolutely mention].

And underneath the nonsense: I vow to be loyal to you, honest with you, and entirely on your side, for as long as I am lucky enough to have you.

The one-joke template

Light-hearted · 30 seconds

[Name], I was told not to be funny in my vows, so I will be brief instead.

You are [compliment], you are [compliment], and you have put up with [self-deprecating thing] for [length of time]. I promise to make the next fifty years worth the first [number]. That is the whole vow.

Roles and responsibilities

Light-hearted · 45 seconds

[Name], I accept the following permanent responsibilities: [chore you are worse at], [chore you are better at], and all future decisions regarding [shared running joke].

In return I ask only for your patience, your honesty and the good half of the sofa. I promise to [real promise], and I promise to mean it on the days it is not funny at all.

Faith-based templates

For a ceremony with a religious tone but no fixed liturgy. If your service has prescribed wording, see religious wedding vows instead — those texts are not adaptable.

Before God and this company

Faith · non-denominational · 45 seconds

Before God and everyone here, I take you, [name], to be my [wife / husband].

I thank God for [specific thing about them]. I promise to love you faithfully, to forgive you readily, and to [your own promise]. Where you go I will go.

With God’s help I will keep this promise for as long as I live.

The covenant template

Faith · non-denominational · 50 seconds

[Name], I make this covenant with you today, and I make it before God, because I do not trust myself to keep it alone.

I will love you as I have been loved. I will [promise] without keeping score. I will [promise]. And I will build a home with you where [what you want your home to be] is the ordinary weather.

Matched pair templates

Two halves written to be said one after the other, sharing a final line. The shared close is the trick — it makes the pair sound composed rather than coincidental.

Matched pair — the shared last line

Pair · 40 seconds each

First: [Name], I take you as my [wife / husband]. I promise to [promise] and to [promise]. I noticed [specific thing] first, and I have never stopped noticing it. Everything I have is yours, and so am I.

Second: [Name], I take you as my [wife / husband]. I promise to [different promise] and to [different promise]. I noticed [different specific thing] first, and I have never stopped noticing it either. Everything I have is yours, and so am I.

Matched pair — question and echo

Pair · 30 seconds each

First: [Name], will you [promise] with me? Because I will [promise] with you, for as long as I have.

Second: I will. And [name], will you [promise] with me? Because I will [promise] with you, for exactly as long.

Filling the brackets well

Specific beats beautiful. “The way you talk to waiters” is a better filling than “your endless kindness,” because only one of them could have been written about this person. Where you are stuck, answer the question out loud to a friend and write down the words you used — spoken language is already the right register for a vow.

Then read the finished thing aloud, standing, at full volume. Anything you stumble over was written for the page rather than the mouth; cut it. If you want finished examples instead of templates, see the example wedding vows.

Common questions

What is the standard format of wedding vows?: Four parts: a declaration that you are taking this person, one specific thing about them, the promises themselves, and a closing line that commits. Most vows that go wrong have skipped part two or padded part three — three promises land, nine do not.
How many promises should a wedding vow contain?: Three to five. Beyond that the guests stop hearing individual promises and start hearing a list, and the vow loses its shape. If you have nine you love, keep the three that only apply to this person and put the rest in a letter.
Should the brackets be filled with something specific?: Yes — a place, a habit, a date, a running joke. Generic filling defeats the template. The line that gets quoted at the reception is always the one nobody else in the room could have written.
Is it obvious if we use a template?: Not if you fill it properly. Every traditional vow in existence is a template that several million people have used, and nobody hears it as borrowed. What sounds borrowed is a vow with no specifics in it at all.