diff --git a/src/HttpServer.cc b/src/HttpServer.cc
index 0a4221aa..60a27eb6 100644
--- a/src/HttpServer.cc
+++ b/src/HttpServer.cc
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ void print_session_id(int64_t id) { std::cout << "[id=" << id << "] "; }
 } // namespace
 
 namespace {
-void append_nv(Stream *stream, const std::vector<nghttp2_nv> &nva) {
+template <typename Array> void append_nv(Stream *stream, const Array &nva) {
   for (size_t i = 0; i < nva.size(); ++i) {
     auto &nv = nva[i];
     auto token = http2::lookup_token(nv.name, nv.namelen);
@@ -702,10 +702,11 @@ int Http2Handler::submit_file_response(const std::string &status,
 int Http2Handler::submit_response(const std::string &status, int32_t stream_id,
                                   const Headers &headers,
                                   nghttp2_data_provider *data_prd) {
-  auto nva = std::vector<nghttp2_nv>{
-      http2::make_nv_ls(":status", status),
-      http2::make_nv_ls("server", NGHTTPD_SERVER),
-      http2::make_nv_ls("date", sessions_->get_cached_date())};
+  auto nva = std::vector<nghttp2_nv>();
+  nva.reserve(3 + headers.size());
+  nva.push_back(http2::make_nv_ls(":status", status));
+  nva.push_back(http2::make_nv_ls("server", NGHTTPD_SERVER));
+  nva.push_back(http2::make_nv_ls("date", sessions_->get_cached_date()));
   for (auto &nv : headers) {
     nva.push_back(http2::make_nv(nv.name, nv.value, nv.no_index));
   }
@@ -716,16 +717,15 @@ int Http2Handler::submit_response(const std::string &status, int32_t stream_id,
 
 int Http2Handler::submit_response(const std::string &status, int32_t stream_id,
                                   nghttp2_data_provider *data_prd) {
-  auto nva =
-      std::vector<nghttp2_nv>{http2::make_nv_ls(":status", status),
-                              http2::make_nv_ls("server", NGHTTPD_SERVER)};
+  auto nva = make_array(http2::make_nv_ls(":status", status),
+                        http2::make_nv_ls("server", NGHTTPD_SERVER));
   return nghttp2_submit_response(session_, stream_id, nva.data(), nva.size(),
                                  data_prd);
 }
 
 int Http2Handler::submit_non_final_response(const std::string &status,
                                             int32_t stream_id) {
-  auto nva = std::vector<nghttp2_nv>{http2::make_nv_ls(":status", status)};
+  auto nva = make_array(http2::make_nv_ls(":status", status));
   return nghttp2_submit_headers(session_, NGHTTP2_FLAG_NONE, stream_id, nullptr,
                                 nva.data(), nva.size(), nullptr);
 }
@@ -740,12 +740,12 @@ int Http2Handler::submit_push_promise(Stream *stream,
         http2::get_header(stream->hdidx, http2::HD_HOST, stream->headers);
   }
 
-  auto nva = std::vector<nghttp2_nv>{
-      http2::make_nv_ll(":method", "GET"),
-      http2::make_nv_ls(":path", push_path),
-      get_config()->no_tls ? http2::make_nv_ll(":scheme", "http")
-                           : http2::make_nv_ll(":scheme", "https"),
-      http2::make_nv_ls(":authority", authority->value)};
+  auto nva =
+      make_array(http2::make_nv_ll(":method", "GET"),
+                 http2::make_nv_ls(":path", push_path),
+                 get_config()->no_tls ? http2::make_nv_ll(":scheme", "http")
+                                      : http2::make_nv_ll(":scheme", "https"),
+                 http2::make_nv_ls(":authority", authority->value));
 
   auto promised_stream_id = nghttp2_submit_push_promise(
       session_, NGHTTP2_FLAG_END_HEADERS, stream->stream_id, nva.data(),
diff --git a/src/h2load.cc b/src/h2load.cc
index b5fc484f..73d431c7 100644
--- a/src/h2load.cc
+++ b/src/h2load.cc
@@ -1249,7 +1249,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 
   // list overridalbe headers
   auto override_hdrs =
-      std::vector<std::string>{":authority", ":host", ":method", ":scheme"};
+      make_array<std::string>(":authority", ":host", ":method", ":scheme");
 
   for (auto &kv : config.custom_headers) {
     if (std::find(std::begin(override_hdrs), std::end(override_hdrs),
diff --git a/src/shrpx_http2_upstream.cc b/src/shrpx_http2_upstream.cc
index 79a9c5d2..a7ee2564 100644
--- a/src/shrpx_http2_upstream.cc
+++ b/src/shrpx_http2_upstream.cc
@@ -1139,11 +1139,11 @@ int Http2Upstream::error_reply(Downstream *downstream,
 
   auto content_length = util::utos(html.size());
   auto status_code_str = util::utos(status_code);
-  auto nva = std::vector<nghttp2_nv>{
-      http2::make_nv_ls(":status", status_code_str),
-      http2::make_nv_ll("content-type", "text/html; charset=UTF-8"),
-      http2::make_nv_lc("server", get_config()->server_name),
-      http2::make_nv_ls("content-length", content_length)};
+  auto nva =
+      make_array(http2::make_nv_ls(":status", status_code_str),
+                 http2::make_nv_ll("content-type", "text/html; charset=UTF-8"),
+                 http2::make_nv_lc("server", get_config()->server_name),
+                 http2::make_nv_ls("content-length", content_length));
 
   rv = nghttp2_submit_response(session_, downstream->get_stream_id(),
                                nva.data(), nva.size(), &data_prd);
diff --git a/src/template.h b/src/template.h
index 422cc1ef..efb3cb0c 100644
--- a/src/template.h
+++ b/src/template.h
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include "nghttp2_config.h"
 
 #include <memory>
+#include <array>
 
 namespace nghttp2 {
 
@@ -43,6 +44,12 @@ make_unique(size_t size) {
   return std::unique_ptr<T>(new typename std::remove_extent<T>::type[size]());
 }
 
+template <typename T, typename... Rest>
+std::array<T, sizeof...(Rest)+1> make_array(T &&t, Rest &&... rest) {
+  return std::array<T, sizeof...(Rest)+1>{
+      {std::forward<T>(t), std::forward<Rest>(rest)...}};
+}
+
 } // namespace nghttp2
 
 #endif // TEMPLATE_H