As requested by my Dad during his speech, here are our wedding vows. On the big day itself, I went first:
Since I met you, I have climbed high mountains, clambered through narrow gorges and canoed into hidden lagoons. Your sense of adventure is an inspiration, and has given me the courage to try new experiences and embrace the unfamiliar.
Since I met you, I have quit my job, moved cities, set up my own business and produced my first play. I’ve achieved more in the last four years than the rest of my life put together – and that is thanks to your encouragement, and confidence in me.
Since I met you, I have been happier and more at peace than ever before in my life. Your love has given me the strength I needed to face up to difficult things from my past and present, and to know what feels like to look forward to my future.
You are the best person I have ever met, and you have asked me to marry you.
I love you because you always encourage me to be the best person that I can be, because you see potential in me that I all too often don’t recognise in myself. I promise to you today to live up to that, and to not settle for second best – either in my own life or in our life together.
I love you because you are the hardest working person I know. I admire your drive and your ambition and I see the places your career could go. I promise you today that I will be alongside you in that journey wherever it takes us.
I love you because you have the biggest smile and dirtiest chuckle I have ever encountered. I promise you today that I will never stop making you laugh.
Thank you for asking me to be your husband.
I promise you today that you won’t regret it.
—
And here are Donny’s
Chris,
it is a privilege to be getting married to you today.
From the first time I met you, I knew that you were going to be very special in my life.
To quote a card I wrote for you on our first anniversary together:
–“The day I found you in my life, was the last day of my feeling lost.”
And indeed, I was quite lost when we first got to know… each other.
I was still reeling from the end of one great relationship, and was anxious about entering yet another.
But, we started off as friends.
I still remember, when I invited you over to eat leftovers from a Thanksgiving dinner I made.
I didn’t want the evening to end, so I walked in the rain, to the bus stop with you, so that we could spend some more time chatting beneath the umbrella.
And then something happened.
Over time… you became my best friend.
And through the years, not only have you given me your friendship, but you have also given me the inspiration to continue becoming a better person.
And that is why you are not just my best friend…whom I happen to be marrying… but you are also my best man.
With everything you do, you have proven again and again, to be a wonderful partner in every sense of the word. Individually we are just two ordinary people, but together, we become an extraordinary team.
Together, we have made our house into a home, that is filled every day with laughter, love, warmth, and sincerity.
Chris,
I love you for the values that we share… and your generous and gentle heart.
I love that you understand me so completely—and have an intuitive understanding of me, even when I sometimes don’t even understand my own words or actions.
I love that you are clever enough to keep up with me, yet smart enough to let me win some arguments.
I promise to continue to surprise you in life, like I surprised you this morning.
You make me laugh and you are my best friend. And I hope to continue to make you laugh as well.
I will also be there to remind you that the journey is often more important than the destination.
And I will be there to refill the water jug when you forget, and to close cabinet doors after you.
I will always respect you… your wishes… and your opinions.
And most importantly, I will continue to encourage you to become stronger and more whole, both as an individual and as part of our dynamic duo.
Chris, I love you with all my heart, and I thank you for filling my heart with your love as well.