The I Dos and Me Toos

After writing our ceremony, us Pin Cushions still needed to tackle our wedding vows. But instead of a tackle, it ended up being more of a bob and weave; we avoided writing those vows for days . . . which became weeks and ::shudder:: finally months. Our vows did not get written until the night before the wedding!

Everything is more beautiful after the pressure of the vows is off . . .
(by the lovely Steep Street Photography

It was easy enough to let the procrastination bug get the better of us. There was so much pressure tied up with the vows! Vows are supposed to be the ultimate statement of love to one another, a promise of your life together. Each time we mentioned to each other that perhaps we should think about writing them, I would feel my chest tighten up and a cold sweat break out.

After putting it off for as long as we possibly could, we finally agreed upon a general format:
1) You're awesome because . . . 2) Thank you for . . . 3) I vow to . . .

Nice and structured. Low pressure. Breathe . . . Reading our vows to one another turned out to be one my favorite moments of our wedding day. Perhaps they weren't as scary as we had once thought.

Here they are:

Kendra,
I love that you have been my best friend for the past ten years and I still find you completely fascinating.
I love that you burst into song, even when it's just a song from a commercial.
I love that you are the most caring and compassionate person I know, that you have empathy for every person you meet.
I love that you really can't do a British accent but that you still love to.
Thank you for always being there for me, even when you were 3,000 miles away.
I love that you don't take yourself too seriously, and that you just care about having fun.
Thank you for staying by me through all our difficult times and working with me to make things work.
I promise to always be there at the end of your long days, to take care of you and rub your back.
I vow to always be open to trying new things with you.
I promise to give you the space you need to be the amazing woman that you are.
I vow to love you to the best of my ability and to always strive to improve myself and our relationship.

Chris,
Thank you for your kindness and acceptance. I fell in love with your intelligence, but have grown to love you because of your sensitivity.
I love that you tell me that I am beautiful, even when I am in less than flattering situations.
I love the sweet gestures you do for me everyday, like always offering to carry the groceries for me.
I love that you call me "quirky", instead than "crazy".
Thank you for always fighting so hard for our relationship.
As your wife, I vow to do everything I can to keep you happy and to make you laugh, sacrificing my own dignity when necessary.
I promise to love you through happy times and sad times, and I will love you even if you gain 500 pounds from all the chocolate chip cookies I feed you.
I promise to fight for your dreams as though they were my own.
I vow to work diligently to keep the passion alive in our relationship.
As your wife, I vow to accept you fully and to support and encourage you as we grow old together.

For the lovely readers who would prefer to watch, rather than read, here are our vows in video-form (I apologize for the quiet nature of our voices-not sure how to explain this, since my voice volume is normally turned up to an 11).

What wedding task have you been avoiding? Are you planning on writing your own vows? Is it scaring you as much as it did me?