CHICAGO — Saying the old language had left millions of married Americans “dangerously exposed to unenumerated circumstances,” the Joint Committee on Uniform Matrimonial Language announced Thursday that the phrase “including, but not limited to” has been added to the nation’s standard wedding vows, effective for all ceremonies held on or after the date of this announcement or such earlier date as a court may find.
Under the revised text, couples will now take each other “for better, for worse, including, but not limited to, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,” a change the committee said would finally close what it called the “everything else loophole” that has existed since the vows were first written down in English.
“For nearly 500 years, people have promised to love each other in exactly six conditions, and then acted surprised when a seventh one came up,” said committee chair Harold Ainsworth-Pike, 61, holding a 41-page draft of the new vows that he described as “the short form.” “Nobody ever said ‘for kayak.’ Nobody said ‘in the event of a podcast.’ We have a generation of spouses who honestly believe they never agreed to any of it.”
The vows have not changed much since Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer put them into English in 1549, when couples swore to stay together “till death us depart.” By 1662 that had become “till death us do part,” which the committee said was the last time anyone in the wedding industry reviewed the language. Ainsworth-Pike said the committee had kept the old line “out of respect for tradition,” then added “or such earlier date as either party may specify in writing, with 30 days’ notice.”
The phrase came to the committee’s attention Monday, when the NFL defended a replay review by pointing to Rule 15, Section 9 of its rulebook, which lets the league’s officiating department step in on situations “including, but not limited to” the ones it lists. Committee members said they watched the explanation “with the feeling you get when you see your own house on the news.” By Tuesday the phrase had been adopted by a vote of 9–0, with all nine members reserving the right to revisit their votes in light of circumstances including, but not limited to, the vote.
“Those four words used to sit at the back of contracts nobody read,” said Dr. Priya Lindqvist, director of the Center for Clear and Obvious Studies, who has now been asked to comment on both stories. “Now they sit between ‘I’ and ‘do.’”
Legal scholars warned that the change may not cover as much as couples hope. Under the old rule of ejusdem generis, Latin for “of the same kind,” courts often read a vague catch-all as covering only things like the items on the list, and some judges have simply ignored “but not limited to” altogether. That means a spouse who vowed to stay “for richer, for poorer” may be bound to stand by a partner through a bad crypto year, but not through a bad crypto personality.
The Vow Redliner™
Here are the vows your grandparents said, with no exclusions, no exhibits and no counsel present. Bring them up to code one line at a time.
Billed at $650 an hour in six-minute increments, including, but not limited to, the six minutes spent kissing the bride. Restoring the 1549 text does not refund billable hours.
The wedding industry welcomed the change. The average American wedding cost $33,000 in 2024, according to The Knot’s 2025 Real Weddings Study, and vendors said the new vows give couples a chance to spend that money on something that will hold up. Several venues now offer a “signing hour” between the ceremony and the cocktail hour, and at least one Chicago florist has begun pressing boutonnieres into notary seals.
Younger couples said the new language mostly says out loud what they had already put in writing. Roughly four in 10 married or engaged millennials and Gen Zers have signed a prenuptial agreement, according to a 2022 Harris Poll. “Honestly, the prenup was the romantic part,” said Kaitlyn Ruiz-Becker, 29, who married her partner Saturday under the new text. “The vows are just us reading it to our grandparents.”
Others are letting machines do the drafting. The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study found that 36% of engaged couples now use AI to help plan their weddings, up from 20% a year earlier, and some are handing it the vows as well. Officiants said the AI-written drafts arrive with the new phrase already in place, plus an indemnification clause and, in at least one case, a footnote advising the bride that the vows “do not constitute marital advice” and that she should consult a licensed spouse.
Not every couple has adapted. Officiants report that ceremonies under the new text run about 40 minutes longer, mainly because guests now object during “speak now or forever hold your peace,” which the committee also amended to “speak now, or within 30 business days.” In Naperville, a groom took 14 minutes to get through “forsaking all others” because his fantasy football league had sent a lawyer.
How Many Carve-Outs Can Your Ceremony Take?
Every exclusion you add makes the marriage safer and the ceremony longer. Drag to find the point where the open bar closes before you say “I do.”
Estimates assume one officiant reading at a normal pace and no objections from the fantasy league. The flower girl is not covered by any of the carve-outs and has been told so.
Religious leaders were split. Some clergy said the vows had always been open-ended by design, and that “for worse” was meant to cover everything. The committee said it agreed in principle, but noted that “for worse” had been tested in court and found to be “doing a lot of work for two words.”
For now, the committee said it will review the remainder of the ceremony, including, but not limited to, “you may now kiss the bride,” which a working group has recommended changing to “you may now kiss the bride, the groom or any successor in interest.”
At press time, a couple in Evanston who had been married for 11 minutes under the new text were already in mediation over whether “to have and to hold” included the remote. Both parties said they still loved each other, including, but not limited to, on weekends.
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