The excerpt presents the wedding vows exchanged between Kevin Kyser and Aubrey during their ceremony. Kevin opens with a heartfelt declaration of love, praising Aubrey’s kindness, shared resilience through grief, and spiritual devotion, then enumerates a series of personal promises covering emotional support, encouragement, faith partnership, and lifelong commitment. A minister (Speaker B) offers a brief ceremonial blessing, pronouncing them married. Aubrey responds with her own vows, expressing gratitude for Kevin’s positivity, acknowledging their shared challenges, and committing to partnership, honesty, forgiveness, curiosity about differences, and continual spiritual growth. The content emphasizes mutual love, faith in God, perseverance through hardship, and a shared vision for a supportive, evolving marriage.
Chapters
Aubrey, my beautiful ray of sunshine, I am so excited to marry you. I sat down to write these vows and I couldn't stop writing, filling up pages about my endless love for you. Your kind and caring heart for others will always have me falling deeper in love with you. We've selflessly carried each other through the grief of the worst kinds, and I'm not sure how, but I'm grateful that you are somehow able to put up with my Energizer Bunny amount of energy where I want to squeeze every drop out of life. I am so moved by your faith and love for God and want nothing more than to foster and help grow it. Aubrey, you are my best friend and my better half. For the rest of my life, I make these promises to you. I promise to hear you when you don't feel heard. I promise to see you when you don't feel seen. I promise to always make you know how beautiful and loved you are. I promise to laugh with you and cry with you. I promise to always remember the importance of the little things. I promise to protect you from all things and demons. I promise to encourage your compassion because it makes you wonderful. I promise to value our differences just as much as our common ground. I promise to support you and learn with you in your faith. I promise to keep you on your toes by keeping life full and exciting. I promise to always be your hype man. And I promise to work hard, not just because you deserve it, but because we deserve it. I choose you again and again at the start and finish of every single day. I choose you to struggle and succeed with, to fight and make up with, to love and grow old with. I choose you knowing there are mountains left for us to climb, but knowing we've climbed mountains before. I choose you as my partner to always be by my side. I choose you.
You may kiss your bride. You may kiss your bride again. You may kiss your husband. As a minister of the gospel and as a friend of this couple, I present to you for the very first time But for the rest of eternity, Mr. and Mrs. Kyser. Thank you.
Kevin, I love you so much, and I'm so excited to be standing here with you. It's been a long and sometimes difficult road, but there's no one I would rather walk it with. Thank you for your unfailing positivity, your patience throughout the years, and for the way you've loved and supported me. I love the way you see the world, the way you make friends wherever you go, always bringing out the best in people. I'm so blessed to be marrying you. In all the grief, you have been my unfailing support, and in all my joys, you have been my biggest encourager. I promise to be your partner from this day forward. I promise to celebrate your triumphs and stand by you in your defeats. I promise to cherish your hopes and dreams as closely as I hold my own. I promise to forgive you when you make mistakes and to be patient with you. I promise to approach our differences with curiosity. When times are hard, whether because of grief or anger, I promise to remember these vows and choose to love you. In times of joy, I promise to share my happiness with you. I promise to build you up and encourage you. I promise to be honest with you, always telling you the truth in love. I promise to let God continue to change my heart so I can be love to you and to everyone else in our lives. I promise to be faithful to you, and I promise to love you always. I promise to love you unconditionally.
As you turn the page on this chapter of life and enter into the beginning of the rest of it all, always see yourself as a student of life and remember to start with the end in mind. At the end of my journey, I will meet God. I cannot imagine doing anything at that moment but to fall face down in worship. And if I can speak at all, I hope I can say— I used up everything you gave me.
