Overview

Feeling overwhelmed by the idea of writing your wedding vows? Here is a sample that can be customized by your Hornblower charter sales manager and officiated by the Captain.

This is a sample template for you to get you started. Feel free to customize these vows for your wedding, and the Captain will perform them on your special day.

On This Day (Your Wedding Date)

(Captain to ask) Who gives this bride away?

We are here today to witness and to celebrate the marriage of (Groom's Name) and (Bride's Name). More than just a ceremony, this is the most significant moment of human celebration and personal commitment. Let us join in their understanding that at this moment we hold in our hands the past and the future of man, the loveliness and responsibility of the human person.

Marriage is not entered into lightly. We are concerned with more than just romance. It is something quite different from temporary relationships, which reach a peak quickly, then just as quickly subside. Marriage should be entered into reverently, or it is no marriage at all.

Each marriage is unique and the relationships of the partners differ according to individual needs. But in any marriage, each of the individuals should find new strengths and capacities. (Bride) and (Groom) have resolved that they will come closer to the fulfillment of their goals by a marriage to each other.

Marriage presents a possibility not only for gratification, but also for enrichment. Marriage should be a means for the development of those personal social values that we prize so highly: integrity, cooperation, self-respect and human dignity.

This ceremony will not unite you in marriage; only the two of you can do that. If the relationship between two people, which is symbolized in our culture by the state of marriage, does not already exist between you, this ceremony will not create that relationship. The bond uniting you is the entire meaning. This ceremony is simply the public announcement of the existence of that bond.

A good marriage is very many things; a good marriage is also a relationship of love. Essentially, to be in love means to have a deep sense of identification with another person. It is to live in the life of that person, feeling his or her joys and sorrows as if they were your own. And, when two people are truly in love, each is concerned with helping the other become what he or she ought to be. The husband wants to nourish the best qualities in his wife, and the wife wants to develop what is good in her husband.

There should be a sharing of your lives; your lives should be a life together, there should also be spaces in your togetherness. Allow each other room and privacy to be individuals, with hearts and minds of your own. For only by being a whole person, can you have something to give to the person that you love. Each of you should keep the freedom of spirit that brought you to stand here today.

It is our hope that your marriage will give you the strength and commitment to face all of life's adversities. Equally important, let us hope that it will enhance your sensitivity to all that is wondrous and beautiful. Your home should be a place to share the joys of life. Your home should also be a place where the pain and tragedies of life can be overcome. We hope that you will find there, a deep sense of security; security that comes as each of you learn to understand, to accept, and to forgive the other person, and as each of you learn to understand, accept, and to forgive yourselves as well.

So, having considered alone and together this marriage, I now ask you (Bride), do you take this man to be your husband? Do you promise to love him and to comfort him, to honor him, and keep him in sickness and in health, in prosperity and adversity, as long as you both shall live?

And I ask you (Groom), do you take this woman to be your wife? Do you promise to love her and comfort her, to honor her, and keep her in sickness and in health, in prosperity and adversity, as long as you both shall live?

Then (Bride), please say with me. I (Bride) take thee (Groom) to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and health, as long as we both shall live.

And, (Groom), please say with me. I (Groom), take thee (Bride) to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.

Then (Bride) as you place this ring on (Groom's) finger, please say with me, "With this ring, I thee wed, and join my life to yours."

And (Groom) as you place this ring on (Bride's) finger, please say with me, "With this ring, I thee wed, and join my life to yours."

May these rings stand as a sign to you of your desire to live, to love, to create, and to build in your lives and the lives of those whom you touch, that ideal of perfection which is humanity.

When the tide is low, and the rocks are painfully visible, may your love be the waters of the new tide. And, when the tide is high, give thanks to the spirit of life itself, and celebrate it.

So, having openly declared yourselves in accordance with the laws of the State of California, before everyone here, before the community of man, and most of all, before your own inner selves, I now pronounce that you are husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.

TESTIMONIALS 

Hornblower did an absolutely fantastic job! Our contact Julie made the event planning easy and fun! The crew on the boat did equally well. I am really glad I chose Hornblower as the guests raved about the boat and the food.

– Scott C.