To ask you to tell me your favourite wedding readings?

[BlueRaptor]

DP and I get married early next year and wanted to involve my uncle somehow and thought having him do a reading was a good way of this. Only thing is we can't really find anything we love! We're getting married at a venue by the local registrars do nothing religious allowed but no other rules I know of.

Anyone want to share ones they used/heard and loved?

[youllneverknow]

I read 'The Owl and the Pussycat' at my friends' wedding. To this day I don't know how I got through the bit where it says:
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are'
knowing all my friends were sniggering in the pews

[sandiedc01]

Went to a wedding and someone read out the Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the news - was a brilliant moment!

[YouAndMeAreGoingToFallOut]

It's interesting to see people saying "oh such and such is read at every wedding". Most weddings I've been to (my own included) have been church ones, and so they've only maybe had one secular reading, and those therefore tend to vary quite a lot. We had the e.e cummings mentioned upthread, and three Bible readings. The same Bible readings come up all the time, but no one seems to mind that repetition in the same way!

We were slightly contrary. Our vicar was desperate for us to use new and inventive forms of service: at the time we got married the Scottish Episcopal Church was designing a new Marriage Liturgy and there were various experimental services floating around. So he kept saying things like "what about this one, it's got some lovely cairn imagery and a whole congregational prayer borrowed from the New Zealand Common Worship" and we would say "that's lovely - we'd like the Prayer Book service please." In the end, what I liked best about using such an old form was how staggeringly unoriginal it was.

[MWestie]

Agree that Scaffolding by Seamus Heaney is lovely. Also like this, very simple, author unknown:

These I Can Promise

I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.

But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow

[IJustLostTheGame]

In the three wedding I've been to over the last three years the reading has been a story about a dinosaur. I've no idea what it's called.

[LaundryFairy]

We had Carry Her Over the Water by W.H. Auden:

Carry her over the water,
And set her down under the tree,
Where the culvers white all days and all night,
And the winds from every quarter,
Sing agreeably, agreeably, agreeably of love.

Put a gold ring on her finger,
And press her close to your heart,
While the fish in the lake snapshots take,
And the frog, that sanguine singer,
Sing agreeably, agreeably, agreeably of love.

The streets shall flock to your marriage,
The houses turn round to look,
The tables and chairs say suitable prayers,
And the horses drawing your carriage
Sing agreeably, agreeably, agreeably of love.

[squoosh]

Yes I've heard the dinosaur one too. And the Captain Corelli one too many times. I wonder how it became so popular all of a sudden.

[RobinsAreTerritorialFuckers]

Please check the context of the Captain Corelli one, before you use it. It's a father warning his daughter that if she sleeps with her lover, she will likely end up pregnant and/or with syphilis, and he will not abort the baby for her, so she may well end up as a prostitute in order to keep ends together.

It's not a romantic reading, in my book.

[therootoftheroot]

Vow

I vow to honour the commitment made this day
Which, unlike the flowers and the cake,
Will not wither or decay. A promise, not to obey
But to respond joyfully, to forgive and to console,
For once incomplete, we now are whole.

Advertisement

I vow to bear in mind that if, at times
Things seem to go from bad to worse,
They also go from bad to better.
The lost purse is handed in, the letter
Contains wonderful news. Trains run on time,
Hurricanes run out of breath, floods subside,
And toast lands jam-side up.

And with this ring, my final vow:
To recall, whatever the future may bring,
The love I feel for you now.

it's roger mcgough
makes me want to SOB

[therootoftheroot]

ignore the advertisement line! copy and paste fail!

[therootoftheroot]

John Agard
Nuptials

River, be their teacher,
that together they may turn
their future highs and lows
into one hopeful flow

Two opposite shores
feeding from a single source.

Mountain, be their milestone,
that hand in hand they rise above
familiarity's worn tracks
into horizons of their own
Two separate footpaths
dreaming of a common peak.

Birdsong, be their mantra,
that down the frail aisles of their days,
their twilight hearts twitter morning
and their dreams prove branch enough.

[Friolero]

A House of Stone - by Carmen Bugan

In the village where I was born, we wish
A house of stone to shelter the heart of the marriage

So here too, I wish you
Obstinate, strong love, unyielding and unending.

May you be in reach of each other when all seems lost,
May your tears and your smiles happen always face to face.

When you imagine that you have shared everything
May you know that you still have the rest of your lives
To do all of it again and again.

But now listen to the hurry of bells and
Look how petals of roses about the vineyard

Bring you the words husband and wife:
First words in your house of stone.

[bananafish81]

As a pp mentioned, we had 'Love', by Roy Croft

I love you
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple.
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good.
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.

[bananafish81]

Ummmed and aaaahed about Us Two by AA milne too

Us Two - 
from Now We Are Six - A A Milne

Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,
There’s always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
“Where are you going today?” says Pooh…
“Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.
“Let’s go together,” says Pooh, says he.
“Let’s go together,” says Pooh.
“What’s twice eleven?” I said to Pooh,
“Twice what?” said Pooh to Me.
“I think it ought to be twenty two.”
“Just what I think myself,” said Pooh.
“It wasn’t an easy sum to do,
But that’s what it is,” said Pooh, said he.
“That’s what it is,” said Pooh.
“Let’s look for dragons,” I said to Pooh.
“Yes, let’s,” said Pooh to Me.
We crossed the river and found a few…
“Yes, those are dragons all right,” said Pooh.
“As soon as I saw their beaks I knew.
That’s what they are,” said Pooh, said he.
“That’s what they are,” said Pooh.
“Let’s frighten the dragons,” I said to Pooh.
“That’s right,” said Pooh to Me.
“I’m not afraid,” I said to Pooh,
And I held his paw and I shouted “Shoo!
Silly old dragons!”… and off they flew.
“I wasn’t afraid,” said Pooh, said he,
“I’m never afraid with you.”
So wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,
There’s always Pooh and Me.
“What would I do?” I said to Pooh,
“If it wasn’t for you,” and Pooh said… “True,
It isn’t much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together,” says Pooh, says he.
“That’s how it is,” says Pooh.

[scarednoob]

Just a little quickie from Ogden Nash:


To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup
Whenever you're wrong, admit it
Whenever you're right - shut up!

[Sn0tnose]

We had Corinthians and our none religious reading was The Union by Robert Fulghum. I still get emotional every time I hear it.

[squoosh]

I had to read that Robert Fulgham at a friend's wedding. Lots of people thought I'd written it! Er no, far too treacly to have come from my pen.

[fruityb]

Re the Corelli one I think the madness part and the tree image is lovely. If you read the rest of that it preludes a warning that Pelagia could become a whore or catch a disease from Corelli, but that part on its own is more about Iannis and his wife being in love and how he recognises Pelagia is in love with Corelli. I like that part on its own. I'd keep the syphillis bit out lol. I do plan on having that at my wedding.

I always think it's funny when people choose I dreamed a dream from Les Mis without realising it's a song about a whore lamenting how different she felt her life would be!

[PinguForPresident]

I did the Hovis Presley One at my brother's wedding. They got married in Vegas, and the US contingent dodn't quite get some of the references. Still, most people laughed at appropriate moments.

My brother wrote a reading for my wedding. It was ace. Propely funny, a bit moving and 100% original. He was rather in demand for a while after that for reading compositions.

[TheWernethWife]

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea my love is as deep. The more I give to thee the more I have for both are infinite".

Romeo and Juliet

[Lolimax]

Loving these thank you all! I have to find something for DD to say at a family wedding soon so I shall give her this thread to read.

[Cutecat78]

This Day I Married My Best Friend

Author Unknown

This day I married my best friend
the one I laugh with as we share life's wonderous zest,
as we find new enjoyments and experience all that's best.
the one I live for because the world seems brighter
as our happy times are better and our burdens feel much lighter.
the one I love with every fiber of my soul.
We used to feel vaguely incomplete, now together we are whole.

Author Unknown

We are now divorced but it was lovely at the time

[taxworries]

We had 'a birthday' by Christina Rossetti
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44992

[Mariqui]

We are having an abridged version of Vow by Clare Shaw.

Say yes.
That word on your lips
is a kiss;
is a promise already made.
We made it.
Love did not turn from hurt
or hard work.
When lights failed, it did not switch off.
When love had no road,
we willingly built it.
We have learnt to hold to each other
when nothing was given by right;
how love will insist
with its ache; with its first painful
tug on the guts; it must at all costs
be answered. We have answered
and so have a million before us
and each of their names is a vow.
So now I can tell you, quite simply
you are the house I will live in:
there is no good reason
to move. Good earth,
you are home, stone, sun,
all my countries. Vital to me
as the light. You are it
and I am asking.
Say yes
for now, we make our promises gently.
This extraordinary day we have made.
Listen –
the birds in their ordinary heaven.
Tonight the sky will blaze
with stars. Today, my love,
rooms bloom with flowers.
Say yes.
The sky is ours.
~ Clare Shaw ~

[Bonnefoi]

Editt*
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee


Sonnets from the Portuguese