We have all heard Corinthians at more than one wedding and it has it's place (I had it at my own!). But if you are looking for something a little more modern and non-religious then turning to books, the screen and even songs can be a great way to find something that suits you as a couple.
Finding the right reading (and the right reader!) can create a beautiful highlight within your ceremony.
If you have someone who is willing to write something truly unique to you as a couple - a poem or letter, for example, that is amazing! But if not, then here are some recommendations for lovely words.
Take the time to consider your chosen reading, find something that really chimes with you both, your relationship and your lives...it really will make all the difference!
On Your Wedding Day
by Anon
Today is a day you will always remember The greatest in anyone’s life, You’ll start off the day just two people in love And end it as Husband and Wife. It’s a brand new beginning, the start of a journey With moments to cherish and treasure, And although there’ll be times when you both disagree These will surely be outweighed by pleasure. You’ll have heard many words of advice in the past When the secrets of marriage were spoken, But you know that the answers lie hidden inside Where the bond of true love lies unbroken. So live happy forever as lovers and friends It’s the dawn of a new life for you, As you stand there together with love in your eyes From the moment you whisper ‘I do’. And with luck, all your hopes, and your dreams can be real May success find it’s way to your hearts, Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys But today is the day it all starts.
Everything I Know About Love
by Dolly Alderton
I know that love can be loud and jubilant…It can be dancing in the swampy mud and the pouring rain at a festival and shouting “YOU ARE AMAZING” over the band. It’s introducing them to your colleagues at a work event and basking in pride as they make people laugh and make you look lovable just by dint of being loved by them. It’s laughing until you wheeze. It’s waking up in a country neither of you have been in before. It’s skinny-dipping at dawn. It’s walking along the street together on a Saturday night and feeling an entire city is yours. It’s a big, beautiful, ebullient force of nature. I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing. It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee. It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting. It’s hanging up their laundry when they leave the house having moronically forgotten to take it out of the washing machine. It’s saying ‘You’re safer here than in a car’ as they hyperventilate on an EasyJet flight to Dublin. It’s the texts: ‘Hope your day goes well’, ‘How did today go?’, ‘Thinking of you today’ and ‘Picked up loo roll’. I know that love happens under the splendour of moon and stars and fireworks and sunsets but it also happens when you’re lying on blow-up airbeds in a childhood bedroom, sitting in A&E or in the queue for a passport, or in a traffic jam. Love is a quiet, reassuring, relaxing, pottering, pedantic, harmonious hum of a thing; something you can easily forget is there, even though its palms are outstretched beneath you in case you fall.
Maybe
by Anon
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.
The Bridge Across Forever
by Richard Bach
A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soul mate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soul mate is the one who makes life come to life.
Grow Old With You
from The Wedding Singer
I wanna make you smile whenever you’re sad Carry you around when your arthritis is bad All I wanna 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 when you’ve had too much to drink Oh, I could be the person who grows old with you I wanna grow old with you
I Will Love You Forever, from the ‘The Amber Spyglass’
by Phillip Pullman
I will love you forever; whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again… I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you… We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me.
Happiness Is You
by Johnny Cash
Way down the mountain I chased a moonbeam On the beach I built sand castles too My moonbeams faded my castles tumbled All of this was meaningless cause happiness is you
No more chasing moonbeams or catching falling stars I know now my pot of gold is anywhere you are My heart won’t miss you my heart goes with you Loneliness is emptiness but happiness is you
I tried to doubt you and live without you Tried to deny but I love you like a do But I realize now and I’ll admit it You’ll always be a part of me cause happiness is you
No more chasing moonbeams or catching falling stars I know now my pot of gold is anywhere you are My heart won’t miss you my heart goes with you Loneliness is emptiness but happiness is you
Native American Blessing
Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives — remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.
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.
The Priest's Speech from Fleabag
by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Love is awful. It’s awful. It’s painful. It’s frightening. It makes you doubt yourself, judge yourself, distance yourself from the other people in your life. It makes you selfish. It makes you creepy, makes you obsessed with your hair, makes you cruel, makes you say and do things you never thought you would do.
It’s all any of us want, and it’s hell when we get there. So no wonder it’s something we don’t want to do on our own. I was taught if we’re born with love then life is about choosing the right place to put it. People talk about that a lot, feeling right, when it feels right, it’s easy. But I’m not sure that’s true. It takes strength to know what’s right. And love isn’t something that weak people do. Being a romantic takes a hell of a lot of hope. I think what they mean is, when you find somebody that you love, it feels like hope.
Love Is Friendship Caught Fire
by Laura Hendricks
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.
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