Wedding vows for couples who love nature and the mountains

We got married a year ago next month (eek!) Due to the extremely short planning time we had, that means it was about the same time since we were writing our ceremony vows.

As soon as we knew we were getting married, we knew we wanted the day to encapsulate our love for nature, adventure, and the mountains.

Luckily for us, we were locked down in Scotland – and under Covid regulations, we were allowed to get married in the dream venue we didn’t yet know existed… a treehouse on the banks of Loch Goil. So we knew that our location would tick the boxes for nature, adventure, and mountains.

The next thing we had to decide were our ceremony vows.

How we wrote the vows for our mountain wedding

I knew I wanted the words I shared that day to be infused with my love of the world’s wild places, which has been such a key part of our relationship since I first met Iain in Norway. (You can read more about our love story in my book, Mountain Song: A Journey to Finding Quiet in the Swiss Alps).

Before our record speed engagement, I would’ve guessed I’d need weeks to think up and refine my wedding vows. But that really wasn’t the case. 1) We didn’t have weeks to work with. And 2) We came up with something pretty incredible in the first go.

We wanted our wedding day to be raw and honest, and that’s exactly what our vows were like. We sat down and wrote, and about twenty minutes later we had each drafted our vows.

After reading each other’s (and sobbing a little bit, in my case), we decided against editing. They were exactly right, just as they were – real, honest, and straight from the heart.

If we had to do it all a second time, this is exactly what I’d want to do again.

Vows about nature and the mountains to inspire your own

Here’s part of what I came up with for my vows:

“Iain, from this day forwards, I promise to be by your side. To join you at mountain tops and the sea, through the forests and sunshine and storms. To share your joy on the happiest days and hold your hand on the most difficult.

I promise to help you find your dreams and keep going until you reach them, celebrating with you as if they were my own. For every one of your achievements, I’ll remember how much you inspire me to follow my own callings, courageously and with a graceful appreciation for the journey we’re taking together.

I promise to treasure the joy, wonder, comfort and companionship that you have always brought me, ever since that first day we met.

I promise to love you as you deserve to be loved: with my whole heart, honestly and generously, as two souls who belong together, as the geese love the water and the oaks adore the sun.

With these words, and all the words of my heart, I marry you and bind my life to yours, as two people who are strong apart but always stronger together. I love you, today and always.”

And here are Iain’s, which I’ve only just read back for the first time since our wedding day [sobs]:

“Lucy, I love you. You are my favourite person and my best friend. Knowing you has transformed me into a more thoughtful, understanding person, one who listens and feels things as I never did before. You have connected me to humanity, and to my place in this world, as no one ever has.

Today I will bind my life together with yours, inseperably as two rivers becoming one. Every part of me, big and small, will become a part of us, and I could not be happier. There is much that we could achieve apart, but together we have always been so much more.

From this day forward, I pledge to do everything I can to make your dreams a reality. To build together a life of humble wonder, from the wildest of adventures to perfect little moments of simple contented silence.

I pledge that you will never be alone again, and I will always be there in times of struggle to provide comfort, support, guidance, and love.

I pledge to always be true to you, with honesty and devotion. When I feel I cannot go on, I will turn to only you, and know that together we can overcome any obstacle.

I make these promises to you today for all the days to come. I love you so much, and I know that the passing of time will only deepen our connection. Nothing excites me more than the thought of us growing old together in this wonderful world, as the scars of time slowly make their imprint across our bodies.

I cannot wait to begin my journey through life together with you. Together, nurtured by each other’s life, there is nothing that we cannot do.”

I hope this can provide some inspiration for your own wedding ceremony vows. For more about our mountain wedding, here’s my write-up about our incredible venue in Scotland, the day itself, and everything I learned along the way.