Properly Pretty & Poetic (Potentially Practical) Promises for Posterity

Ah, the vows..oaths, pledges, professions, troth, promises...Of course we are writing our own. I want to get a copy of our vows to the officiant just in case. Here's how writing those went.

Excuse my hair (ugh) and the plastic croissant courtesy of little Miss Roo. This is me writing my vows. Actually this is right after I wrote them. I was laughing because I sat down with that mound of books in front of me and didn't open a single one of them. I'd been researching vow inspirations for months. It just felt like an imposing task.

Yesterday, I was determined. I had Shakespeare, Chekhov, some works of fiction, handwritten notes, blog posts, some of my friends vows, old poems I wrote Mike and other assorted things on standby. I procrastinated by changing my Facebook status. Then I looked at my old blog posts about vow inspiration, started crying and went to find chocolate.

Armed with Hershey kisses, I took a deep breath and took another run at it. I managed to copy and paste a few quotes into a word document. Then I looked and what I'd done and got annoyed. It was at this point that I decided to check my Facebook page. It was a good call because a wise (and recently married) friend had left this comment:
There is nothing I stressed about more. I kept on telling myself that I consider myself somewhat of a writer, so there's more stress. In the end, I stopped thinking about it and let my heart speak. Apparently, my heart is a better writer. But, there will be so many emotions you can quote Godzilla and Mike would say "I Do."
That made me feel a lot better. Here was an intelligent person who knows how to turn a phrase feeling the same pressure I was. I was over thinking it. Maybe I needed start again.

At that point I erased all the copied quotes and just started writing. It took me about 15min all together to finish my vows. They just flowed. I stopped thinking about it and just did it. There was a minor revision here and there, but they're done. I've said everything I need to say in 13 lines. I read them to my mom and she cried. She may also have laughed I don't remember. I think I'm in good shape.

It's an enormous weight off my shoulders. I can't believe how much lighter I feel. I double checked that I addressed all the major points of traditional vows. It's all in there. I'm pretty sure I said all the things I need to remember as I grow old with him.

Vow Inspiration: Literary

General Sources

• Shakespeare (in general & Midsummer Night's Dream specifically)
• Dear Writer, Dear Actress: The Letters of Anton Chekhov & Olga Knipper
• Jewels of the Sun
Ok, it's a Nora Roberts novel, but it has a fairy prince with a love curse so I'm hoping it'll yield some theme related inspiration. I read the trilogy the spring I went to Ireland and really enjoyed them, but this is the only one I own. This one is the first book then there's Tears of the Moon and Heart of the Sea
• Dr. Seuss, don't laugh he made a lot of really good points. I may just use him for a reading though.
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I read it before I met Mike and then on a road trip we took turns reading it to each other it's so good. I highly recommend it.

One of my favorite Shakespeare quotes (that I used on my Save the Dates and wedding website) is from Comedy of Errors:
“It is thyself, mine own self's better part,
Mine eye's clear eye, my dear heart's dearer heart,
My food, my fortune and my sweet hope's aim,
My sole earth's heaven and my heaven's claim."
I also love this quote about rings from Richard III
Look, how this ring encompasseth finger;
Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart.
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted servant may
But beg one favor at thy gracious hand,
Thou dost confirm his happiness forever.
You get the idea. No one does mushy stuff better than The Bard. There's a lot to choose from.

I don't want to give too much away, but here's a nice one Time Traveler's Wife:
There is only one page left to write on. I will fill it with words of only one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love.
And
But you make me happy. It's living up to being happy that's the difficult part.

If you wrote your own vows/ceremony what books did you use for inspiration? What were your readings?

More Unlikely Vow Inspiration

Play it from 3:40, They have escaped the country club ceremony that was forced upon them and are kneeling in the grass looking into each others eyes. The words aren't right for Mike and I, but I love the honesty and intimacy of their moment.
Dharma: I, Dharma Freedom Finkelstein promise to never ever become my mother.
Greg: Or my mother.
Dharma: Like that's possible.
Greg: I, Gregory not saying the middle name Montgomery promise I will not bottle up my feelings for 30yrs and spew them like a volcano at our childrens' wedding.
Dharma: Aww, that's a good one.
Greg: Thank you.
Dharma: I promise to let you be you and me be me.
Greg: (whispering) Thank you.
Dharma: As long as every now and then we get naked and switch.
Greg: Uh-Ok. Do you promise to always look at me with that light in your eyes?
Dharma: (Nods) If you promise to always brush my hair off my face like that. (kissing) And kiss me like that.
Greg: You make me feel like the luckiest man in the world.

And then they dance by themselves in the grass. So, romantic. This is what I was trying to explain about having a moment that's just us during the first look photos. I want what Jim and Pam had. An intimate moment that was theirs and then an amazing time with friends.

I just want to take a moment for us, there have been so very few. Then I want to make real promises we'll try to keep every day, together. I want to make them in front of my friends and family. I want to laugh and have a good time. I want to surprise people. I want an unforgettable celebration.

By the way I am not an uncultured couch potato. My post of literary vow inspiration is still in the works.

As You Wish...

Movie/Televison Quote Inspiration

Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind Sigh. The Princess Bride

Post it note vows:
I promise to love you even when I hate you.
I will never run, ever.
Take care of each other when we're old and smelly.
This is forever.
They sign their vows and kiss.

So this I am sure - you are my partner, my lover, my very best friend. My heart beats for you. On this day, the day of our wedding I promise you this: - I promise you me. Grey's Anatomy

It seems right now that all I've ever done in my life is making my way here to you. The Bridges of Madison County

I take the good with the bad. I can't love people in pieces. I only know one way to love my lord, and that is body and heart and soul First Knight

I love you with every cell, with every atom. I love you on a subatomic level. Flubber

Love is stronger than life. It reaches beyond the dark shadow of death. Laura

So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day The Notebook

We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly. To Love and Be Loved

I will love you fiercely and sweetly. And I look forward to sharing this great life with you. Thank you for marrying me. Rachel Getting Married

May you never steal, lie or cheat.
But if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows.
And if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life.
And if you must cheat, then please cheat death, because I couldn’t live a day without you. Leap Year

I promise never to take you for granted
Or utter a word unkind
Never allow my affections to be recanted
Or stop marveling at your behind Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass. That's the kind of person that's worth sticking with. Juno