For many of my couples who want to create a heartfelt and inclusive ceremony, they know that asking a friend or family member to do a reading for them is a smart choice.
The reader feels honoured to be asked to be a part of the couple's ceremony, the couple feels like they have elevated the reader to a more visible role and everyone feels validated.
Until the actual reading needs to be chosen.
That's when it all hits Stress-Town.
Now before I go into some of the readings that I'm really loving at the moment (that hopefully, you haven't heard at your friend's wedding or anywhere else at least 100 times), I want to let you in on a little secret.
It's the single rule you really need to keep in the forefront of your mind when trying to select anything that goes anywhere near your marriage ceremony.
YOU HAVE TO LIKE IT.
I mean, REALLY like it.
If you and your fiancé don't dig 'IT' in a serious way, then how can you expect your guests to pay any attention?
So the first place that I would be looking for a wedding reading would be in the songs/books/movies that really make me laugh hard, sing at the top of my lungs or cry like a baby. A reading, your vows, your music; it should all MEAN something to you. And if it doesn't, then give it the flick.
Your ceremony deserves to be "all killers, no fillers" (as they used to say on Triple M in the 80s).
But, if you're on the lookout for something sweet, romantic, a little left-of-centre, then I might have some gold for you right here.
Failing this, there is always the post: 5 Wedding Readings That Aren't Too Soppy
When I Hear You Laugh
Author Unknown
When we share a secret
When your eyes sparkle
When we're just us
When we don't have to talk
When I watch you sleeping
When you remember
When I don't have to explain
When you walk into the room
When we are in a crowd
When I am by myself
When you are just being you
When you make me giggle
When I hear your heartbeat
When you reach for me
Even when you're not looking
That's when I love you.
These I Can Promise
Author Unknown
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.
I Will Be Here
Steven 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.
If
Larry S Chengges
If you can always be as close
And as happy as today
Yet be secure enough to grow
And change along the way
If you can keep for you alone
Your love as man and wife
Yet find the time to share your joy
With others in your life
If you can be as one
And walk through marriage hand in hand,
Yet still support the goals and dreams
That each of you had planned
If you can dare to always go
Your separate ways together
Then all the wonder of today
Will stay with you forever.
Author Unknown
"Love isn’t always perfect. It isn’t a fairytale or a storybook. And it doesn’t always come easy. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on & never letting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, & impossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, Love is realising that every hour, every minute, & every second was worth it because you did it together.“
Marriage Is Not Beautiful
Unknown author
Marriage is ugly, you see the absolute worst in someone.
You see them when they’re mad, sad, being stubborn, when they’re so unlovable they make you scream.
But you also get to see them when they are laughing so hard that tears run down their face, and they can’t help but let out those weird gurgling noises.
You see them at 3am when the world is asleep except you two, and you’re eating in the middle of the kitchen floor.
You get to see the side of them that no one else does, and it’s not always pretty. It's snorting while laughing, it’s the tears when it feels like it’s all crashing down, it’s the farting, it’s the bedhead and bad breath, it’s the random dances, it’s the anger and the joy.
Marriage isn’t a beautiful thing, but it is amazing.
It’s knowing that someone loves you so much, and won’t leave you even though you said something nasty.
It’s having someone have your back no matter what.
It’s fights over stupid things, like someone not doing the dishes or picking up after themselves.
And it’s those nights you fall asleep in each other’s arms, feeling like there will never be enough time with them.
It’s cleaning up their vomit, or just rubbing their back when they’re sick.
It’s the dirtiest, hardest, most rewarding job there is.
Because at the end of the day you get to crawl into bed with your best friend, the weirdest, most annoying, loving, goofy, perfect person that you know.
Marriage is not beautiful, but it’s one heck of a ride.
The Eternal Song
Rosemonde Gérard
When you and I are old
When my fair hair turn grey
In the month of May when the garden is drenched with sun,
we shall go and warm our old trembling limbs
It is true.
We shall be old, very old, weakened by age
But I shall hold your hand more tightly
Because, you see, each day I love you more
Today, more than yesterday and far less than tomorrow.
Marry Your Best Friend
N’tima
Marry your best friend.
Really, truly find the strongest, happiest friendship in the person you fall in love with.
Someone who speaks highly of you.
Someone you can laugh with. The kind of laughs that make your belly ache, and your nose snort. The embarrassing, earnest, healing kind of laughs.
Wit is important.
Life is too short not to love someone who lets you be a fool with them.
Make sure they are somebody who lets you cry too.
Find someone that you want to be there with you through the darkest times.
Most importantly, marry the one that makes passion, love and madness combine. A love that will never dilute - even when the waters get deep and dark.
Reading
Author Unknown
In your eyes, I have found my home.
In your heart, I have found my love.
In your soul, I have found my mate.
With you, I am whole, full, alive.
You make me laugh. You let me cry.
You are my breath, my every heartbeat.
I am yours.
You are mine.
Of this we are certain.
Still Life With Woodpecker
excerpt by Tom Robbins
Love is the ultimate outlaw.
It just won't adhere to any rules.
The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice.
Instead of vowing to honour and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet.
That would mean that security is out of the question.
The words "make" and "stay" become inappropriate.
My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.
An Uncommon Love
Terah Cox
May you have the love only two can know.
May you go where only two as one may go.
May the sun rise and set in your bonded hearts
and the moon never find you too long apart.
May you cherish each other’s dreams as your own
and turn stumbling blocks into steppingstones.
May you brave life’s mountains and miles together.
May there be no storm your love cannot weather.
May you be lovers and allies and friends.
May your soul’s conversation never end.
May you capture on earth what’s in heaven above.
May your hearts know the rapture of an uncommon love.