Bracketed lines are directions to perform, not lines to read aloud.
[The couple, the officiant, and any witness stand together. There is no processional. The officiant waits until everyone has stopped moving and the couple is facing each other.]
Take a breath. Look at where we are for a second, and then look at each other. We can begin whenever you are ready.
[Partner A] and [Partner B], you could have done this in front of two hundred people. You chose this instead: this place, this hour, and nobody watching but [the witness / the two of us / the mountains].
That is not a smaller wedding. It is a wedding with everything optional taken out of it, which leaves only the part that was ever load-bearing: the two of you, and what you are about to promise each other.
[Say one true thing here about why they chose this place. It is the only address you get, and twenty seconds is the right length for it.]
Marriage is not one enormous decision made on one day. It is a small decision made daily, usually in an ordinary kitchen, usually when neither of you is at your best. Today you are making the first of those decisions out loud, and every one after this will be quieter and will matter just as much.
Nobody is here to be impressed. There is no seating plan and no audience to satisfy. Whatever you say next, you are saying because you mean it, which is the whole reason you came all this way to say it here.
[Partner A], do you take [Partner B] to be your [wife / husband / partner], to love and to look after, in easy years and hard ones, for as long as you both live?
[Partner A]: I do.
And [Partner B], do you take [Partner A] to be your [wife / husband / partner], to love and to look after, in easy years and hard ones, for as long as you both live?
[Partner B]: I do.
[The couple joins hands. If they wrote their own vows, they speak them now, in whichever order they agreed. Otherwise the officiant leads each of them through the lines below.]
[Partner A], repeat after me.
I take you, [Partner B], with nobody watching and nothing to prove. I promise you my honesty, my patience, and my company on every ordinary day after this one. Wherever we end up, I am going there with you.
And [Partner B], repeat after me.
I take you, [Partner A], with nobody watching and nothing to prove. I promise you my honesty, my patience, and my company on every ordinary day after this one. Wherever we end up, I am going there with you.
You brought rings. Put them on each other now, and say this as you do.
This is the sign of what I promised, in a place we will both remember.
[Each partner places a ring on the other’s hand. The officiant stays quiet through the fumbling; it always takes longer than expected.]
Before I finish, I am going to stop talking for a moment. Stay exactly where you are and just be here.
[The officiant stops speaking for a slow count of twenty. Nobody fills the silence, including the photographer, who should be told about this block in advance.]
[Partner A] and [Partner B], you have said what you came all this way to say. By the power vested in me by the [state / jurisdiction], I am glad to tell you that you are married. Kiss your [wife / husband / partner].
[The couple kisses. The officiant lets the moment run long.]
[The couple, the officiant, and any witness sign the marriage license. The officiant checks every field before the folder closes.]
That is the paperwork finished. I am going to walk back down and leave you two on your own for a while. Congratulations, both of you.