I've wanted the following reading at my wedding since I was a teenager, due to get married in six weeks' time. All planned and ready, my uncle is going to do it for us.
"Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past. It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough."
One of my bridesmaids feels strongly that the last line of the reading will be really upsetting to anyone who's single - she thinks it'll twist the knife and make them feel like shit basically (she's engaged so not about her). She's also shared it with colleagues who've found it similarly shocking.
Since she said this I've asked around a bit and no one has expressed such shock to me, although they wouldn't would they!
I've asked single and divorced/separated people and they've both said that while weddings can be a bit of a moment if you're sad about being single, you expect lots of talk about love, and the readings should be about us as a couple, not how others might take them. -And another said no one will even be listening so who cares-
This doesn't sit 100% right with me though, and now I'm debating scrapping the whole thing. I don't want to upset anyone and I am annoyed at myself for not thinking more sensitively. I could just scrap the last line but to be honest it's all left a bad taste in my mouth now and since I've loved it since I was a kid, i don't know about changing it.
Any thoughts appreciated please - would anyone reading this now find this upsetting?