Playful wedding vows for a spouse at a courthouse ceremony

I promise to love you even in this fluorescent lighting, which is really saying something because you look beautiful anywhere, but wow, these bulbs are doing neither of us any favors.

I vow to remember that Tuesday afternoon when we got completely lost trying to find parking for this place, drove in circles for forty minutes, and you said 'Maybe the universe is telling us something,' and I said 'Yeah, that we should've taken the bus.' But here we are anyway, parallel parking our way into forever.

I promise to always be the one who fills out the boring forms if you'll be the one who makes waiting in line feel like an adventure. I'll handle the paperwork of life; you handle making me laugh at inappropriate times in serious government buildings.

I vow to build a life with you that's nothing like this waiting room—full of color, terrible jokes, spontaneous dance breaks, and significantly better coffee.

I promise to choose you every single day, no ceremony required, though I'm glad we did this one. You're my favorite person to do official things with, and also my favorite person to do absolutely nothing with.

I promise to love you in every kind of lighting, including whatever this situation is—though honestly, if we can commit to forever under these fluorescent tubes, we can survive anything.

I vow to remember that Tuesday we spent lost in parking garages, me insisting the universe was sending signs, you insisting the universe just has terrible municipal planning. You were probably right, but I'm glad we ignored both theories and showed up anyway.

I promise to be the one who keeps us laughing in waiting rooms, at the DMV, in every beige corridor life throws at us, if you'll be the one who remembers what forms we need and which line we're supposed to be in. I'll bring the joy; you bring the organizational skills.

I vow to make our actual life together nothing like this building—messy and warm and full of inside jokes that nobody else gets, with way more plants and significantly fewer clipboards.

I promise to keep choosing this, choosing us, choosing you—in courthouses and living rooms and grocery store aisles. Forever starts right here, right now, in the least romantic room in the county, which somehow feels perfect because I'm standing here with you.