Brief wedding vows for a partner at a backyard ceremony

I promise to tend what we're building together with the same care you showed me that first spring, when you taught me that some things can't be rushed.

I'll water the hard days and pull the weeds before they take root.

I'll celebrate every bloom with you, and I'll stay through every season.

Today, in this backyard we've made ours, I choose you. Every day after this, I'll choose you again.

I promise to keep planting seeds with you, even when we can't yet see what will grow—the way we did that first spring, not knowing if anything would take.

I'll bring patience to what we're growing, and I'll trust your hands when mine forget the way.

I'll stand with you in sun and storms, and I'll help you remember that we've weathered both before.

Here, in the yard where we first dug in together, I choose you. I'll keep choosing you, season after season.