My wedding vows

Last month, in conjunction with our upcoming anniversary, I shared some posts I had written about our wedding in 2006. Those posts originally appeared on a blog that no longer exists, so I wanted to revisit them and share some of my favorites here.

As a result, readers began asking me questions about our wedding, including what vows Elysha and I had recited. Rather than using standard vows, Elysha and I wrote our own vows and kept them secret from one another until reciting them on our wedding day.

I asked Elysha if she wouldn’t mind me posting them here, and she has agreed.

Today I am posting the vows that I wrote for Elysha. Tomorrow I will post her vows to me.

_______________________________

I used to believe that life would be perfect when all my dreams came true, but then you came along
and I realized that I didn’t know what dreaming was.

Elysha Jaffee Green, you are more than a man could ever ask for
and more than I deserve.

I vow to spend every day of my life
giving you as much as you have given me.

I promise to remember the darkness before you
so that I will never forget the brilliance that you have brought to my life.

I promise to share everything that I have
and to try to give you everything you could ever want.

I promise to stand beside you,
hold your hand,
and be your strong and loving friend
through good times and bad.

I promise to always be the one to go into the basement at night
when the darkness frightens you,
to find you the best parking spots available,
and to shop with you and eat sushi, no matter how much I despise both.

Most importantly, I promise to love you,
to love you like no man before,
with all of my heart and mind, and soul,
until the end of these days and beyond.