Irish (Gaeilge) Wedding Vows

The official written name of the Irish language is Gaeilge — though you’ll often hear it called simply Gaelic, or more precisely Irish Gaelic, to avoid confusing it with Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, or even Breton (all proudly Celtic, all equally ready to start a friendly argument about it).

Gaeilge is a proud member of the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family — which technically makes it a very distant linguistic cousin of English, though they’ve long since drifted apart and now barely nod at each other at family reunions.

In the Republic of Ireland, English is the dominant first language, heard in every pub, classroom and taxi. But Gaeilge is also an official language, taught in schools, used in public signage, and occasionally spotted in the wild. It’s estimated that around 40% of people have learned it, though for many, it ends up stored in the same mental drawer as the quadratic formula: vaguely familiar, rarely used.

In Gaeltacht regions (those beautiful, windswept parts of western Ireland), Irish is still spoken daily, though even there, English continues to creep in, fuelled by global media, tourism, and the universal appeal of not having to explain grammar.

Historically, Irish Gaelic was the first language for most of the population until the 19th century, before a combination of colonisation, famine, migration, and "for goodness sake, just speak English!" led to its decline.

For native English speakers, speaking Gaeilge can be a proper challenge — but even if you don’t master it, simply listening to fluent Irish speakers is a treat. The rhythm, the melody, the occasional magical flourish… it all sounds like a lullaby and a riddle rolled into one.

So even if you can’t hold a full conversation in Gaeilge, you can still start your marriage with a few beautifully pronounced promises — and if you trip over the words, don’t worry: true love is fluent in forgiveness.

Wedding vows in Gaeilge