The “Book of Common Prayer” was a book that came into being in the year 1549 and wedding vows came into being. In the early days before the book was published the father and the groom would have a talk or an event would be organized where the father would hand over the daughter to the groom. This was followed by an agreement of services provided by the groom and a small dowry would be provided to the groom. The wealthy would sign a document and have a reception to make the alliance legal. This is the backdrop of the origin of wedding vows.
The wealthy would have a ceremony where a prominent member of the church would look over the proceedings while the poor had some minor clergyman take vows before God in the church.
The groom would mouth these words “I blank, take thee, blank, to be my lawfully wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for the better, for the worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward, till death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance.”
Then the Bride would return with this phrase I, take thee, to be my lawfully wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer of for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance.
The vows remain more or less same today with some minor variations. The church has backed people voice behind it. In the year 1922 the women population forced the Episcopal Church leaders the word obey from the phrase “to love, honour and obey” to the phrase “to love, to honour and to cherish”
The ceremony would end with the exchange of rings and the traditional kiss. This is signifying the end of the ceremony and couple would be christened as husband and wife. Wedding vows may not mean anything but just a chore for the folks today. However this few lines signify the reason behind the marriage. This statement is to makes the couple take the union seriously and to live happily ever after.