Wedding Readings - Ideas For Your Civil Ceremony

What should be included in a wedding reading?

Think about chosen readings for your wedding that really mean something to both of you. Consider passages from literature, poetry, movies, or songs.

Who traditionally does readings at weddings?

Family members or close friends are great choices for wedding readers. They've known you for a long time, and having them read is a lovely way to show how important they are to you.

How long should a wedding reading be?

It's suggested to keep each reading to five minutes or less, and limit the total number of readings to two or three.

The Art of Marriage 

by Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created. In marriage the little things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say 'I love you' at least once a day. It is never going to sleep angry. It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years. It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.

It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy. It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It is not looking for perfection in each other. It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal. It is not only marrying the right partner; it is being the right partner.

Maybe

by Unknown

Maybe we are supposed to meet the wrong people before we meet the right one so when they finally arrive we are truly grateful for the gift we have been given. 

Maybe it's true that we don’t know what we have lost until we lose it but it is also true that we don’t know what we’re missing until it arrives. 

Maybe the happiest of people don’t have the best of everything, but make the best of everything that comes their way. 

Maybe the best kind of love is the kind where you sit on the sofa together, not saying a word, and walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you ever had. 

Maybe once in a lifetime, you find someone who not only touches your heart but also your soul, someone who loves you for who you are and not what you could be. 

Maybe the art of true love is not about finding the perfect person, but about seeing an imperfect person perfectly.

My Advice (Reading for children)

by Anon

Mum and Dad Get married Today,

I’d Like to help them on their way.

So here’s some special advice from me,

To help them with our family.

Keep our house filled with laughter

Let’s have fun forever after.

Keep the drawer filled up with sweets,

And give us children lots of treats.

Make sure you spend time together,

To keep your happiness forever.

Make sure you spend lots on us,

And then us kids won’t make a fuss.

But the most important thing for you,

Is to show your love in all you do.

A caring word, a kiss, a touch,

And those family cuddles that mean so much.

To Love Is Not To Possess

by James Kavanaugh

To love is not to possess,

To own or imprison,

Nor to lose one’s self in another.

Love is to join and separate,

To walk alone and together,

To find a laughing freedom

That lonely isolation does not permit.

It is finally to be able

To be who we really are

No longer clinging in childish dependency

Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,

It is to be perfectly one’s self

And perfectly joined in permanent commitment

To another—and to one’s inner self.

I will be here

by Stephen Curtis Chapman

If in the morning when you wake, If the sun does not appear, I will be here.

If in the dark we lose sight of love, Hold my hand and have no fear, I will be here.

I will be here, When you feel like being quiet, When you need to speak your mind I will listen. Through the winning, losing, and trying we’ll be together, And I will be here.

If in the morning when you wake, If the future is unclear, I will be here.

As sure as seasons were made for change, Our lifetimes were made for years, I will be here.

I will be here, And you can cry on my shoulder, When the mirror tells us we’re older. I will hold you, to watch you grow in beauty, And tell you all the things you are to me.

We’ll be together and I will be here. I will be true to the promises I’ve made, To you and to the one who gave you to me. I will be here.

A Marriage

Mark Twain

A marriage makes of two fractional lives a whole;

It gives two purposeless lives a work,

And doubles the strength of each to perform it.

It gives to two questioning natures a reason for living

And something to live for.

It will give new gladness to the sunshine,

A new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth

And a new mystery to life.

The Giraffe and the Monkey

by Daniel Thompson

Wherever we go

Whatever we do

Whenever there’s me

I hope that there’s you.

Now Money is Funny, it can make people odd. You forget to be happy, and you live for your job. And fashion, is a passion, beset with a flaw. You can dress to excess, but you’ll always need more.

And a muscle toned body, may sound like a dream. But no body is better, than chocolate ice cream. What I’m trying to say, is that happiness grows. Not through your wages, or body or clothes.

But in laughter and love, and in sharing your life. In the arms of another as husband and wife. So when you find someone who’s weird just like you. Who laughs when you’re stupid and who makes you laugh too.

When you sit on the sofa, not hiding your flaws. As imperfectly perfect, as the hand that holds yours. When the fortune of kings, or purse of a beggar. Won’t change how it feels, just being together.

When a cuddle and cuppa is all that you need….

Well then…you’ve found something quite special indeed.

Wherever we go. Whatever we do. Whenever there’s me. I hope that there’s you.

The Wedding Singer Movie

I want to make you smile whenever you’re sad, carry you around when your arthritis is bad.

All I want to do is grow old with you.

I’ll get your medicine when your tummy aches.

Build you a fire if the furnace breaks, Oh it could be so nice, growing old with you.

I’ll miss you, Kiss you, Give you my coat when you are cold,

Need you, Feed you, Even let you hold the remote control.

So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink, Put you to bed if you’ve had too much to drink, I could be the man who grows old with you, I want to grow old with you.

Carrie's Poem

from Sex And The City

His hello was the end of her endings

Her laugh was their first step down the aisle

His hand would be hers to hold forever

His forever was as simple as her smile

He said she was what was missing

She said instantly she knew

She was a question to be answered

And his answer was “I do”.

Winnie the Pooh 

If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together… there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.

Dr. Seuss

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.

Edward Cullen in Twilight: Breaking Dawn

(Part One) (2011)

It's an extraordinary thing to meet someone who you can bare your soul to, and who will accept you for what you are. I've been waiting, what seems like a very long time, to get beyond what I am. And now…I feel like I can finally begin…No measure of time with you will be long enough. But let's start with forever.

Celtic Wedding Poem

May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rainfall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.