Playful wedding vows for a spouse at a beach ceremony

I promise to never let you live down the time you tried to open a coconut with a beach chair and lost, but I also promise to always be the one holding the camera and not the one laughing too hard to film it steady.

Remember that sunset kayak trip where we got turned around and ended up paddling into the marina instead of back to the dock? I promise to keep steering us toward something, even when we're both pretty sure we're going the wrong way.

I vow to always reapply your sunscreen on the one spot on your back you can never reach, and to never once mention that you missed the same spot on me for three summers running.

I promise to build sandcastles with you that are structurally ambitious and doomed by the tide, because I'd rather lose something beautiful with you than build nothing at all.

Today, with the ocean as our witness and sand probably already in my shoes, I promise to keep choosing this — you, the mess, the salt, all of it.

I promise to keep filming when you lose to the coconut, because some moments are too good not to have evidence, and I vow to replay that footage at every anniversary until we're both ancient.

About that kayak trip into the marina — I promise to trust your steering even when we're clearly lost, because somehow we always end up somewhere worth laughing about.

I promise to remind you, gently and often, that you missed my back for three summers, and to love you anyway, sunburn and all, because apparently that's just how we do sunscreen.

I vow to help you build those doomed sandcastles every single time, and to never say 'I told you so' when the tide takes them, because losing things with you still feels like winning.

Standing here with you, sand in places sand should never be, I promise this is the only tide I never want to turn — just you, me, and whatever ridiculous thing happens next.