Picture yourself with the love of your life on a mountaintop during a beautiful summer day, enveloped by endless wildflowers. The breeze is softly blowing as you gaze into your partner's eyes, preparing to exchange vows on one of the most significant and joyful days of your life. Tears of happiness and plenty of laughter accompany the heartfelt vows you share. What a perfect day to commit your lives to each other! Photographing vows on an elopement day is one of the most heartfelt things that I get to experience as an elopement photographer. Getting to photograph the reactions and emotions to such beautifully written vows inspired me to make this resource for couples like you, since the photos that come with vow readings are so special and intimate! But if you're feeling a bit stuck on what to include and how to even begin writing your elopement vows, here's 15 tips for how to write the most meaningful elopement vows, and prompt ideas so you can have the most incredible vow reading experience together on your wedding day!
1: Set the Tone - Get in the Right Headspace
Whenever you feel like you can relax and think the most - make notes of it then! Whether that be in the morning with coffee, or in the evening with some candles in a bath, make notes in your phone or a notebook.
2: Outline Things You Want to Mention
Make a list of some of your favorite memories (prompts to help with this below) and write them down in no specific order to reference as you start to write out your vows. Write down specific words or traits that you specifically love about them.
3: Are You Reading Your Vows Privately or With Family?
This may make a difference in what you want to say in your vows. You'll want to decide on who's all coming first, and talk with your photographer about when the best time to read the vows might be - either during ceremony with family, a commitment ceremony with just the two of you, or privately before or after ceremony with family.
If you can't decide if you want to read them privately or with family - you can do both and just read them twice! That way you can still have that intimate moment together with the two of you and your family won't miss out on your vows.
✍️Tip: one of my favorite photos to capture during getting ready on the wedding day is you writing your vows down in your vow book - you can even do this together as a fun getting ready activity. You can also have most of it written in the book already, and just write down the last little bit morning of!
4: Include a Variety of Your Relationship Dynamics
No doubt you guys love to make each other laugh, and of course you've had hard moments as well. Include a variety of good times, and also times where you stuck together when it got tough and how you overcame it together. This allows for a variety of emotion to be shown while you read your vows to each other. Don't feel like you have to go overboard and include everything, just one or two of each that were a foundation to your relationship.
5: Talk About the Future
Though there's plenty to reminisce on in the past, on your wedding day it's also meaningful to think about the future! What are some things you can't wait to do together (even if that's watching SpongeBob in bed all day on a Saturday with all the snacks, haha)! If you're adventurous and love to travel, what are some places and things you'd love go do and see with each other? What are some next steps that you can't wait to do together, like purchasing and decorating your first home together? Include those too!
6: Include a Surprise
It's always fun to include a little surprise in the vows, something like bringing along a memento that was significant while dating, or reenacting something you did together that made you laugh when you were dating, or something like that! Other things could include writing a poem, memorizing a portion of the vows in a different language, singing or playing a song to the other person! It's so fun to capture your other half's reaction to things like this!
7: Practice Reading Out Loud
If you're a nervous person like I am to read in front of people, it can help to practice when you're alone, either in a parked car on your lunch break, or in a place where you'll be by yourself for a few minutes. If you feel like the emotion won't be there if you've practiced, it will be! Seeing your person all dressed up in their wedding attire will definitely bring on those good emotional feelings, so definitely practice if that will help you.
8: Make Your Vows Similar in Length
I personally think it's a lot more meaningful if the vows are somewhat similar in length. If one person's vows are longer and drawn out, they might feel funny if the other person's are just a couple sentences long. Make it similar so you can plan out the length of the ceremony too!
9: Consider the Structure of Your Vows
Are you going to be keeping the vows in a more traditional structure? Or likely if you're eloping, you can include whatever is meaningful to you! You can also include a mix of a little bit of a traditional structure (like including words like "I vow to ...", or a bit more freestyle with some more personal touches unique to your relationship.
10: Don't Feel Like it Has to be Overly Formal
The beauty of saying vows on the elopement route is that you have the freedom to make your vows fully personalized. Don't feel like it has to be overly formal, include the things that are special to your relationship, and skip out on what isn't. Include your nicknames for each other, or any inside jokes! This makes them much more personable as well. You're talking to your best friend after all!
11: Don't Stress
After looking at the list of prompts down below, write down what comes to mind first, and then move on to the next prompt. Don't overthink what you're writing down. Include some of your favorite highlights of your relationship but don't feel like you have to include every single detail. This will make it easier!
12: Don't Forget to Say "I Love You"
This may be an easy thing to accidentally overlook, but include "I love you" either towards the end or at the end of your vows, it's also a great way to conclude them.
13: Don't Wait Until the Last Minute
Waiting until the last minute to start thinking about what to include in your vows will definitely induce more stress than necessary, so definitely start thinking about what you might want to include a couple months before the actual elopement.
14: Get Personalized Vow Books
Getting vow books with your names, date of your elopement, and/or that include the color(s) or design of the theme of your elopement will really tie into the overall feel of the day! And it will be beautiful in detail photos, as well as when you're reading from them.
I do send you a pair of vow books in your welcome gift that you are able to use! But definitely feel free to get your own version of vow books, here's a few places with some gorgeous vow books for your elopement:
📖 Etsy is a wonderful place to find unique vow books!
📖 The Keeper Co. has hard and soft cover vow books with prompts inside the pages!
📖 Minted has stunning, high quality vow books in an array of styles.
📖 Ox and Pine specializes in handmade, 100% leather vow books.
📖 Field Notes would be super cute to match the national park you're getting married in with their gorgeous cover artwork!
15: Make Eye Contact When Reading Your Vows
When it's your turn to read your vows for the ceremony, don't forget to make eye contact when reading to make them feel so much more intimate! Your officiant may even have you hold hands during this, so you can really feel that personal touch.
✍️Tip: Remember to slow down when reading them to your partner, take breaths and don't rush through them! You'll want the words to sink in and it's easier to do so when they're being read slower.
16: Bonus Tip - Use a Smear Proof Pen
Especially if you're left handed, the ink may smear as you write to the right, so get a quick drying pen. Also if you happen to end up reading your vows in the rain or by a waterfall, you'll be glad you used a pen that won't smear if some water gets on the page, even if they are tears, too!
You'll also want to make sure the pen doesn't bleed through the pages as you're writing in the vow book, so it's also a good idea to have a separate rough draft written out so you can test the pen and word things how you'd like!
Prompt Ideas For Writing Your Elopement Vows
Listed below are prompt ideas to help you get some ideas for what to include in your vows to make them special and customized to your relationship. Don't feel like you have to mention something from all of these prompts, use what's most applicable to your relationship! For visual video examples of real couples reading their vows during their elopement, Wandering Weddings has just the blog for you!
✍️Tip: When reading through this list, have some paper and a pen handy to write down the memories that come to mind!
❤️ Favorite memory together when you were dating?
❤️ Where was the first place you met?
❤️ First quality you fell in love with in your person.
❤️ Funniest memory together?
❤️ The moment you knew you were meant to be together.
❤️ What are some hobbies you like to do together?
❤️ Core memories you made together.
❤️ What are some things you look forward to achieving/doing in the future together?
❤️ Favorite date you've been on together, or mention a memory from your first date.
❤️ How did you know you were ready to marry this person?
I hope these tips and prompts were helpful in giving you some ideas on what to include to write the most meaningful elopement vows! Again, nothing has to be perfect, and no matter what you tell your partner on your wedding day they will love it!
Here's some more elopement planning resources to help ensure you'll have the most memorable day:
Elopement Packages
For even more help for all things elopement, check out my elopement packages and pricing to see how I can help you throughout the process of planning your dream day and getting the best images for your elopement! Don't forget to check out my other blogs for even more free helpful planning resources!
Elopement Photographer
As an elopement photographer, it's super important to me that you get images you'll cherish and an experience you won't forget on your wedding day (read more about working with me here). That's why I love providing these blogs for you to help navigate the process of creating your own unforgettable elopement day! Interested in working together? You can contact me here and let's schedule a free planning call for your elopement experience!
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