Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Good … · Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Good wishes...

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Good wishes for the couple

Meaning: Hopes for a happy marriage Good for: Mother of the bride or groom

“Ideals to Live by in Marriage” by Carey Martin

To fall in love over and over again—with the same person.

To be the best of friends. To share the journey of life in the happiest way you can.

To be a woman; to be a man; to bring the best each has to offer to the special union you two share.

To care enough to communicate openly and honestly. To help one another along the way.

To say “I love you”—and have it convey the happiest single emotion any two people can ever say.

To be together today and to make the most beautiful memories you can to take with you into all of your tomorrows.

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Loving advice

Meaning: How to have a long and happy marriage Good for: Parent of the bride or groom

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“The Art of Marriage” (long version)

by Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created.

In the art of 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 all 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 in 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.

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.

It is discovering what marriage can be, at its best.


Meaning: How to have a long and happy marriage Good for: Parent of the bride or groom

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“The Art of Marriage” (short version)

by Wilferd Arlan Peterson

A good marriage must be created. In the art of 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 each day.

It is never going to sleep angry. It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.

It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.

It is finding room for the things of the spirit. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Focused on the marriage ceremony

Meaning: Many promises and agreements go into a wedding Good for: Officiant

“Union” by Robert Fulghum

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of

commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making promises and agreements in an

informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks—all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and

continued with “I will and you will and we will”—those late-night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe”—and all those promises that are unspoken

matters of the heart.

All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all

those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed—well, I meant it all, every word.” Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another—acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in

these last few years. Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you

shall say to the world, this is my husband, this is my wife.

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Down-to-earth

Meaning: Be excited, but practical, about marriage Good for: Parent or older relative/friend of the couple


Poem of Love

Taken from poems by Denise Braxton Brown and Peggy Wrightsman

Let’s grow old together...beginning with today. Let’s work slowly with each other and build a relationship that we can both enjoy

being a part of. Let’s share love and understand that neither of us is perfect; we are both subject to

human frailties. Let’s hold each other close and whisper though the night—pledging our love,

honoring our commitment. Let’s encourage each other to pursue our dreams, even when we’re weary from trying. Let’s expect the best that we both have to give and still love when we fall short of our

expectations. Let’s be friends and respect each other’s individual personality and give one another

room to grow. Let’s be candid with each other and point out strengths and weaknesses.

Let’s understand each other’s personal philosophy, even if we don’t agree. Let’s lie awake long into the night sharing our innermost secrets.

Let’s be friends as well as lovers. Let’s laugh at time and plan with each other and wonder how we ever got along

without this love we’ve found. Let’s never take for granted these moments that we’ve shared, but always be reminded

of how intensely we have learned to live, how completely we have learned to love. Let’s grow old together...and look back on life and smile.

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Friendly advice

Meaning: What makes for a good marriage Good for: Grandparent of the bride or groom

From Tuesdays with Morr ie by Mitch Albom

“Still,” Morrie said, “there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage:

If you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble.

If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble.

If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble.

And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble.

Your values must be alike.

And the biggest one of those values, Mitch? Your belief in the importance of your marriage.”

He sniffed, then closed his eyes for a moment.

“Personally,” he sighed, his eyes still closed, “I think marriage is a very important thing to do,

and you’re missing a lot if you don’t try it.”

He ended the subject by quoting a poem he believed in like a prayer: “Love each other or perish.”

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Positive and uplifting

Meaning: Optimistic yet realistic view of marriage Good for: The bride or groom

“Why Marriage?” by Mari Nichols

Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person,

With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body... Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me,

Who won’t hold them against me, Who loves me when I’m unlikable, Who sees the small child in me, and

Who looks for the divine potential of me... Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night

With someone who thanks God for me, With someone I feel blessed to hold... Because marriage means opportunity

To grow in love in friendship... Because marriage is a discipline

To be added to a list of achievements... Because marriages do not fail, people fail

When they enter into marriage Expecting another to make them whole...

Because, knowing this, I promise myself to take full responsibility For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness

I create me, I take half of the responsibility for my marriage Together we create our marriage... Because with this understanding

The possibilities are limitless.


Meaning: Gentle advice for a happy marriage Good for: Father of the bride

“Blessing for a Marriage” by James Dillet Freeman

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring,

and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another—not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness.

A mountain needs a valley to be complete;

the valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness.

May you want one another, but not out of lack.

May you entice one another, but not compel one another.

May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.

May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.

May you look for things to praise, often say, “I love you!” and take no notice of small faults.

If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense

enough to take the first step back.

May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another’s presence— no more physical than spiritual,

warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.

May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.

May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Well wishes for the couple

Meaning: Find a good balance in marriage Good for: Friend of the couple

“Marriage Fulfills the Dreams and Love Two People Share” Author Unknown

Everyone searches

for one special person they can share their lives with;

the other half who makes them whole, like two notes blending together

to make a beautiful song, or the colors that complement each other to form a rainbow.

It is everyone’s wish to have a lifetime of sunny days,

a rainbow after every storm; a lifetime of loving and living

and growing and giving, of sharing and caring;

a lifetime of days together, learning from the bad times

and cherishing the good times. Marriage is everything your heart desires,

and the strength, courage, and determination to work for it.

In marriage you take care of each other’s heart and hold on to what you share.

You hold it gently, so it doesn’t smother, and firmly, so it doesn’t slip away.

Hold it so that it can grow, and you can grow together,

and live and laugh and love together always.

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Joyful

Meaning: Your spouse should uplift and enrich your life Good for: Friend of the couple

From The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach

A soulmate 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 soulmate 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 soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.


Meaning: What goes into a strong, lasting marriage Good for: Officiant or older relative of the couple


Foundations of Marriage

by Regina Hill

Love, trust, and forgiveness are the foundations of marriage. In marriage, many days will bring happiness, while other days may be sad. But together, two hearts can

overcome everything...

In marriage, all of the moments won’t be exciting or romantic, and sometimes worries and anxiety will be overwhelming. But together, two hearts that accept will find

comfort together. Recollections of past joys, pains, and shared feelings will be the glue that holds everything together during even the worst and most insecure moments.

Reaching out to each other as a friend, and becoming the confidant and companion

that the other one needs, is the true magic and beauty of any two people together. It’s inspiring in each other a dream or a feeling, and having faith in each other and not

giving up...even when all the odds say to quit. It’s allowing each other to be vulnerable, to be himself or herself, even when the opinions or thoughts aren’t in total

agreement or exactly what you’d like them to be. It’s getting involved and showing interest in each other, really listening and being available, the way any best friend

should be.

Exactly three things need to be remembered in a marriage if it is to be a mutual bond of sharing, caring, and loving throughout life: love, trust, and forgiveness.

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Warm and uplifting

Meaning: Friendship is at the base of a happy marriage Good for: Maid of Honor or Best Man

Image: nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Friendship” by Judy Bielicki

It is often said that it is love that makes the world go round. However, without doubt,

it is friendship which keeps our spinning existence on an even keel. True friendship provides so many of the essentials for a happy life—it is the

foundation on which to build an enduring relationship, it is the mortar which bonds us together in harmony, and it is the calm, warm protection we sometimes need when

the world outside seems cold and chaotic. True friendship holds a mirror to our foibles and failings, without destroying our

sense of worthiness. True friendship nurtures our hopes, supports us in our disappointments, and

encourages us to grow to our best potential. [Bride] and [groom] came together as friends. Today, They pledge to each other not only their love, but also the strength, warmth and, most importantly, the fun of true

friendship.

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Gentle advice for the future

Meaning: All the things that “love” really means Good for: Mother of the bride or groom

To Love (Author Unknown)

To love is to enter a whole New World, a world of togetherness, a world of sharing....

All that is dearest and deepest within your hearts. To love is to remember and keep alive forever all those unique qualities that drew you to one another in the beginning...Those first halting phrases...That wonderful feeling

of oneness when your eyes first met. To love is to constantly search for new ways to bring each other

happiness, to make the most of every moment you share together, and marvel at how your feelings for one another keep rising to new dimensions.

To love is to create an oasis of tranquility for one another and a quiet place, apart from others, where you need not pretend...where you can be yourselves...And know

within your hearts, you will be accepted by one another. To love is to greet each day with anticipation...

Always eager for another opportunity to share new adventures... And gather up new memories together!

To love is to follow the rainbow through the rain, to be able to laugh at yourselves and be willing to say...“I was wrong, I’m sorry”...

To forgive, and more importantly, to forget, and to always believe and trust in one another.

To love is to watch with wonder all the miracles of creation, to find beauty in all the simple things of life, and to find, within yourselves, a deeper appreciation and a new

awareness of how wonderful it is to be alive... To be happy...To be together.

To love is coming together from the pathways of your past and then moving forward...

Hand in hand, along the uncharted roads of your future, ready to risk, to dream, and to dare....

Always believing that all things are possible with faith and love.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Loving advice

Meaning: Be realistic about life, but strive to be kind and happy Good for: Mother of the bride

Desiderata by Max Erhmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in

silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant,

they too have their story. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing

fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high

ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and

disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are

born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have

a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep

peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Bold, loving advice to the couple

Meaning: Creating love Good for: Father of the bride

From The Irrat ional Season by Madeleine L’Engle

Ultimately there comes a time when a decision must be made. Ultimately two people

who love each other must ask themselves how much they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they are willing to take. It is indeed a fearful gamble. Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created. To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take. If

we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of

freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation. It takes a lifetime to learn another person. When love is

not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling.


Meaning: Love does not mean giving things up, but living side-by-side Good for: Mother of the groom

Letters by Rainer Maria Rilke

Marriage is in many ways a simplification of life, and it naturally combines the

strengths and wills of two young people so that, together, they seem to reach farther into the future than they did before. Above all, marriage is a new task and a new

seriousness, a new demand on the strength and generosity of each partner, and a great new danger for both. The point of marriage is not to create a quick commonality by tearing down all boundaries; on the contrary, a good marriage is one in which each partner appoints the other to be the guardian of their solitude, and thus they show

each other the greatest possible trust. A merging of two people is an impossibility, and where it seems to exist, it is a hemming-in, a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties of their fullest freedom and development. But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous

living side by side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole

and before an immense sky.... For the more we are, the richer everything we experience is. And those who want to have a deep love in their lives must collect and

save for it, and gather honey.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Mystical

Meaning: Comparing a good marriage to the magical beauty in nature Good for: Aunt or uncle of the bride or groom

Guardian of Solitude (edited version) Based on a letter in A Bride’s Book of Wedding Traditions by Rainer Marie Rilke

A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude. Each realizes and accepts that even between the closest of human beings, infinite

distances continue to exist. In such a loving and accepting atmosphere, a wonderful living side by side is born and can grow up.

When the partners succeed in loving the distance between them, they see each other whole against the wide sky. Each becomes the treasure beyond measure at the end of

the other’s rainbow.

In their mystical, magical moments together, their rainbows merge to become a full circle around the brilliant morning sun. As the sun and moon merge, their inner senses feel the moon, full and glowing in the starlit sky. They become that which transcends thought. They become that which is perceivable only by the personal

experience of those fortunate enough to find and accept the ultimate treasure that any physical human being can receive—the treasure of shared love.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Uplifting

Meaning: Bringing peace and stability to each other’s lives Good for: Aunt, uncle, or parent of the bride or groom

From A Farewel l to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

At night, there was the feeling that we had come home, feeling no longer alone,

waking in the night to find the other one there, and not gone away; all other things were unreal. We slept when we were tired

and if we woke the other one woke too so one was not alone.

Often a man wishes to be alone and a woman wishes to be alone too

and if they love each other they are jealous of that in each other, but I can truly say we never felt that.

We could feel alone when we were together, alone against the others.

We were never lonely and never afraid when we were together.


Meaning: Maintain your own identities as you join your lives together Good for: Mother of the bride

From The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

When you find someone you can love and who can love you, then love one another.

And, as you love one another, remember this: Make your love a joyous, freedom-loving adventure. Let your love be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Sing, dance, and be joyous together, and yet, let each of you have moments alone. Let there be spaces in your togetherness so that the winds of the heavens dance

between you.

Remember, the strings of the lute are together, yet alone as they quiver with the same music. As the pillars of the temple stand apart, they serve a common goal. Fill each other’s cup, and yet, allow each to drink at their own choosing. Give one another of

you bread, while allowing each to season it to their own taste.

Give your hearts to each other, while providing space for each other's heart to be free, for there is much in life to be loved. Let your lover’s heart be free to answer

the call of life.

Stand together, yet not too near each other, for in the garden of life, the oak tree and the cypress each have air to breathe and a little earth to call their own, where the sun

can reach down and touch them bringing forth the hidden beauty that lies within each one. Yes, be together, and be yourself. Be free, and always be together.


Meaning: Love might be hard, but it is ultimately joyful Good for: Minister or officiant


Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy; To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.


Meaning: Maintain your own identities as you join your lives together Good for: Mother of the bride


You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone. Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.


Meaning: Treat your spouse as well as you would a friend Good for: Friend of the couple


Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and

reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you with hold the “aye.” And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; for without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are

born and shared, with joy that is unclaimed.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not; for that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love

that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth; and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of

pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Serious

Meaning: Love will carry you through the hard times Good for: Officiant

Title Unknown by George Elliot

What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life, to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the

moment of the last parting?

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Poetic and unusual

Meaning: Each love is unique; God loves everyone Good for: Friend of the couple

“The Cyclops Episode” From Ulysses by James Joyce

Love loves to love love. Nurse loves the new chemist. Constable 14A loves Mary

Kelly. Gerty MacDowell loves the boy that has the bicycle. M.B. loves a fair gentleman. Li Chi Han loves up kissy Cha Pu Chow. Jumbo, the elephant, loves Alice, the elephant. Old Mr. Verschoyle with the ear trumpet loves old Mrs. Verschoyle with

the turned-in eye. The man in the brown macintosh loves a lady who is dead. His Majesty the King Loves Her Majesty the Queen. Mrs. Norman W. Tupper loves

officer Taylor. You love a certain person. And this person loves that other person because everybody loves somebody but God loves everybody.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: A voice of experience

Meaning: Building a deep, rich, lasting love Good for: Older relative of the bride or groom

Image: Nick Coombs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

From Captain Core l l i ’ s Mandol in

by Louis Bernieres

Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they

are one tree and not two.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Poetic description of the bonds of love

Meaning: Many things go into building a marriage Good for: Aunt or cousin of bride or groom

From A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

One recognizes the truth of Saint Exupery’s line: Love does not consist in gazing at each other. But in looking outward together in the same direction. For in fact, man and woman are not only looking outward in the same direction, they are working

outward. Here one forms ties, roots, a firm base.... Here one makes oneself part of the community of men, of human society. Here the bonds of marriage are formed.

For marriage, which is always spoken of as a bond, becomes actually, in this stage,

many bonds, many strands, of different texture and strength, making up a web that is taut and firm. The web is fashioned of love. Yes, but many kinds of love: romantic love first, then a slow-growing devotion and, playing through these, a constantly

rippling companionship. It is made of loyalties, and interdependencies, and shared experiences. It is woven of memories of meetings and conflicts; of triumphs and

disappointments. It is a web of communication, a common language, and the acceptance of lack of language too, a knowledge of likes and dislikes, of habits and

reactions, both physical and mental. It is a web of instincts and intuitions, and known and unknown exchanges.

The web of marriage is made by propinquity, in the day-to-day living side by side,

looking outward and working outward in the same direction. It is woven in space and in time of the substance of life itself.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Loving, poetic advice

Meaning: Love requires flexibility Good for: Mother of the bride or groom

From A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of

life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on

continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity—in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they

pass, but partners in the same pattern.

The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the

present relationship and accepting it as it is now.

Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits—islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and

continually visited and abandoned by the tides.

Literary Wedding Reading Tone: Serious, religious advice

Meaning: Marriage should be based on the spiritual, not the physical Good for: Officiant

“Duad” by Joseph Campbell

What is marriage? The myth tells us what it is. It’s the reunion of the separated duad.

Originally you were one. You are now two in the world but the recognition of the spiritual identity is what marriage is. It’s different from a love affair. It has nothing to do with that. It’s another mythological plane of experience. When people get married because they think it’s a long-time love affair, they’ll be divorced very soon, because

all love affairs end in disappointment. But marriage is recognition of a spiritual identity. If we live a proper life, if our minds are on the right qualities in regarding the

person, we will find our proper counterpart. But if we are distracted by certain sensuous interests, we’ll marry the wrong person. By marrying the right person, we

reconstruct the image of the incarnate God, and that’s what marriage is.

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Classy and romantic

Meaning: Shakespeare compares unchanging love to charting a course on a boat via the unchanging North star

Good for: Best man

Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds. Or bends with the remover to remove:

O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests and is not shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom,

If this be error, and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Romantic and passionate

Meaning: Wanting to give your spouse everything their heart desires Good for: Friend of the bride or groom

Image: Tom Curtis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

by: Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods or steep mountain yields. And we will sit upon the rocks,

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds’ swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May morning:

If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love.

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Romantic

Meaning: Comparing love to the beauties of nature Good for: Uncle of the bride or groom

“A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns

O my luve’s like a red, red rose,

That’s newly sprung in June; O my luve’s like the melodie That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

As fair thou art, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I; And I will love thee still, my Dear

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; I will love thee still, my Dear

While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve! And fare thee weel, a while!

And I will come again, my Luve, Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Serious but poetic

Meaning: The foundation of love is fidelity Good for: Father of the bride or groom

Image: Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Fidelity”

by D.H. Lawrence

Man and woman are like the earth that brings forth flowers in summer, and love,

but underneath is rock. Older than flowers,

older than ferns, older than foraminiferae,

older than plasm altogether is the soul underneath.

And when, throughout all the wild chaos of love slowly a gem forms,

in the ancient, once-more-molten rocks of two human hearts,

two ancient rocks, a man’s heart and a woman’s,

that is the crystal of peace, the slow hard jewel of trust,

the sapphire of fidelity. The gem of mutual peace

emerging from the wild chaos of love.


Meaning: Positive ways love propels you into action Good for: Maid of honor

From The Prophet On Love by Kahlil Gibran

(Edited version, with the last two lines by Rumi)

Love has no desire other than to fulfill itself. But if your love must have desires, let these be yours:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody into the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And still give from that wound, willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart

and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon’s hour and meditate on love’s ecstasy; To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.


Meaning: One partner brings out the best in the other Good for: Bride or groom

“I Love You” by Roy Croft

(edited version)

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 looking deeply into my heaped-up heart and gently passing over all the foolish and 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 through your touch, through your looks,

through your words, and through your very being. You have done it simply by being yourself.

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Understanding

Meaning: Being there for each other Good for: Friend of the couple

“In a Simple Way, I Love You”

by Gretchen Cryer & Nancy Ford (Fiddler Back Music, 1978) Sung by Alliance on their album titled Songs from the Heart

In a simple way I love you. That’s something I can do.

I’ll make music while you sing your song. When I can, I’ll join in and sing along.

I’m filled with love, I care for you And I understand what you are going through.

In a simple way I love you, That’s so easy for me to do.

When you reach out to take my hand. I’ll be there and beside you stand

Because you’ve made a friend of me. I’ll help you become whomever you shall choose to be.

I hear your voice as it sings out. Speak your piece and let it go

I’ll give you room to breathe, and space to grow.

In a simple way I love you. I’m here to see you through.

I’ll make music while you sing your song. While you do whatever you choose to do.

I’ll stand beside you rain or shine. Love has many faces, and one of them is mine.

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Passionate

Meaning: Live lift to the fullest, and embrace love Good for: Writers, word-lovers

Image: Tom Curtis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

[since feeling is first]

by e.e. cummings

since feeling is first who pays any attention to the syntax of things

will never wholly kiss you; wholly to be a fool

while Spring is in the world my blood approves,

and kisses are a far better fate than wisdom lady i swear by all flowers.

don’t cry --the best gesture of my brain is less than your eyelids’ flutter

which says we are for each other: then laugh, leaning back in my arms

for life’s not a paragraph and death i think is no parenthesis

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Romantic, with an unusual style

Meaning: Nothing can come between your love Good for: Friend of the couple

Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)

by e.e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling. i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Wildly romantic

Meaning: Brought together in love by the powers of fate/the universe Good for: Aunt of the bride or groom

“Dedication to My Love” Written by a bride for her soon-to-be husband (edited slightly)

From The Life Center Wedding Files

I love you because the Earth turns around the sun; Because the north wind blows north;

Because winter flows into spring, And the air clears after a storm;

I love you because only my love for you

despite the charms of gravity keep me from falling off the Earth

into another dimension.

I love you because it is the natural order of things.

I am helpless in my love for you. It makes me so happy to hear you call my name.

I am amazed you can resist

Locking me in an echo chamber Where your love reverberates

Through the four walls Sending me into spasmodic streams of ecstasy.

I love you because it has been so good for so long.

That if I didn’t love you I’d have to be born again.

The Angels tell me love is so simple, And yet, I’m almost pitiful in my love for you.

The very thought of you

Sends incredibly delicious, multitudinous thrills throughout and through my body.

I love you because no two snowflakes are alike

and because it is possible, if you stand tippy toes, to walk between the raindrops.

I love you because I am afraid of the dark

and can’t sleep in the light. Because I rub my eyes

when I wake up in the morning and find you there beside me.

Because you, with all your magic powers, determined that I should love you.

Because there is nothing else for you but that I would love you.

I love you because you made me want to love you.

More than I love My privacy My freedom

My commitments And responsibilities.

I love you because I’ve changed my life to love you.

Because you saw me one fateful night and decided that I would love you.

I love you more than any words can say, I love you!

Yes, indeed, I do love you!

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Hopeful

Meaning: Life is easier with a traveling companion Good for: Father of the bride or groom

Image: Evgeni Dinev / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Untitled

by Walt Whitman

Listen, I will be honest with you I do not offer the old smooth prizes,

But offer rough new prizes, These are the days that must happen to you: You shall not heap up what is called riches,

You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve. However sweet the laid-up stores,

However convenient the dwellings, You shall not remain there. However sheltered the port,

And however calm the waters, You shall not anchor there.

However welcome the hospitality that welcomes you You are permitted to receive it but a little while Afoot and lighthearted, take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before you, The long brown path before you,

leading wherever you choose. Say only to one another:

Camerado, I give you my hand! I give you my love, more precious than money,

I give you myself before preaching or law: Will you give me yourself?

Will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Sweet and romantic

Meaning: Love includes both the little things and the big things Good for: Bride or groom


Friends & Lovers

based on two short poems by Maureen Donnelly & Barry DeFreeze From The Life Center Wedding Files

We are lovers because of the love we make,

the love we have, and the love we share.

We are friends because of the laughs we spend and the tears we save.

I love being near you

for the thoughts we share and for the words

we never have to speak

When we are apart, I do miss you

because of what we do together, but, mostly, I miss you

because of what we are together.

I know that love is tucking you in and kissing you “good night”

no matter how young or how old you are.

Love is listening, laughing

and asking questions no matter how silly

those questions may sound.

Love is commitment to you responsibility with you

and most of all, love is fun because love is

you and me together.


Meaning: When you’re in love, it doesn’t matter how dark the night gets Good for: Best Man

“Love Is Enough” by William Morris

Love is enough:

though the World be a-waning, And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining,

Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,

Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder And this day draw a veil over all deeds pass’d over,

Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter; The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter

These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Serious but hopeful

Meaning: A couple working together to create a home and life together Good for: Relative of the bride or groom

“A Marriage”

by Michael Blumenthal

You are holding up a ceiling with both arms. It is very heavy, but you must hold it up, or else

it will fall down on you. Your arms are tired, terribly tired,

and, as the day goes on, it feels as if either your arms or the ceiling

will soon collapse. But then,

unexpectedly, something wonderful happens:

Someone, a man or a woman, walks into the room

and holds their arms up to the ceiling beside you.

So you finally get to take down your arms. You feel the relief of respite,

the blood flowing back to your fingers and arms.

And when your partner’s arms tire, you hold up your own to relieve him again.

And it can go on like this for many years

without the house falling.

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Idealistic love

Meaning: Love is better than anything else in the world (images of nature) Good for: Maid of honor

“Love’s Philosophy” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the rivers

And the rivers with the oceans, The winds of heaven mix forever

With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine In one spirit meet and mingle.

Why not I with thine? See the mountains kiss high heaven And the waves clasp one another;

No sister-flower would be forgiven If it disdained its brother,

And the sunlight clasps the earth And the moonbeams kiss the sea: What is all this sweet work worth

If thou kiss not me?

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Passionate and romantic

Meaning: A deep, rich, never-ending love Good for: Friend of the couple

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sonnet XLIII from “The Portuguese”

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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 candle-light. 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 better after death.

Poetic Wedding Reading Tone: Sweet and loving

Meaning: Being yourself with the person you love Good for: Aunt of the bride or groom

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Words on Feeling Safe”

by George Elliot

Oh the comfort of feeling safe with a person;

having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words,

but to pour them all out just as chaff and grain together,

knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them,

keeping what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness,

blow the rest away.

Poetic Wedding Reading

“The Good-Morrow” by John Donne

I wonder by my troth, what thou and I Did, till we loved?

were we not weaned till then? But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den ? ’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be;

If ever any beauty I did see, Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls, Which watch not one another out of fear; For love all love of other sights controls,

And makes one little room an everywhere. Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone;

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown; Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;

Where can we find two better hemispheres Without sharp north, without declining west?

Whatever dies, was not mixed equally; If our two loves be one, or thou and I

Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.


“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

and sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.


“Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms” by Thomas Moore

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,

Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,

Live fairy-gifts fading away, Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,

Let thy loveliness fade as it will, And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

Would entwine itself verdantly still. It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,

And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear, That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known,

To which time will but make thee more dear! No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close, As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets The same look which she turned when he rose!


“Meaning of Love” by Rumi

Both light and shadow are the dance of Love.

Love has no cause; it is the astrolabe of God’s secrets. Lover and Loving are inseparable

and timeless. Although I may try to describe Love when I experience it I am speechless.

Although I may try to write about Love I am rendered helpless;

my pen breaks and the paper slips away at the ineffable place

where Lover, Loving and Loved are one. Every moment is made glorious

by the light of Love. Stay inspired and stay in love!


“Loving Somewhere” (Source Unknown)

Somewhere between friends came conversations touching new ways of seeing each other

Somewhere beyond admiration

eyes met and looks lingered And the moment shimmered with magic;

Somewhere between laughing and liking

barriers fell away and two souls met revealing secrets and dreams

Somewhere beneath

the sharing and the smiles the warmth and the words

there emerged love.


“Sonnet LXIX” by Pablo Neruda

Maybe nothingness is to be without your presence,

without you moving, slicing the noon like a blue flower, without you walking later through the fog and the cobbles,

without the light you carry in your hand, golden, which maybe others will not see, which maybe no one knew was growing

like the red beginnings of a rose. In short, without your presence: without your coming

suddenly, incitingly, to know my life, gust of a rosebush, wheat of wind: since then I am because you are, since then you are, I am, we are,

and through love I will be, you will be, we’ll be.

Ethnic Wedding Reading (African-American) Tone: Hopeful

Meaning: Love sets us free Good for: Friend of the bride or groom

Image: domdeen / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Touched By an Angel”

by Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight to liberate us into life.

Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls. We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love’s light we dare be brave

And suddenly we see that love costs all we are

and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.

Ethnic Wedding Reading (Native American)

Cherokee Prayer

God in heaven above please protect the ones we love. We honor all you created as we pledge our hearts and lives together.

We honor mother-earth and ask for our marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons;

We honor fire—and ask we sail through life safe and calm as in our father’s arms; We honor water—to clean and soothe our relationship—

that it may never thirst for love; With all the forces of the universe that you created, we pray for harmony and true

happiness as we forever grow young together. Amen.

Ethnic Wedding Reading (Native American)

Excerpt from “A Song for Hiawatha”

Come join us in celebration, those who love sunshine on meadow Who love shadow of the forest, love the wind among the branches and the palisades of pine trees, and the thunder in the mountains whose innumerable echoes flap like

eagles in their eries. Listen to this song of marriage. How, from another tribe and country came a young man, “give me as my wife this maiden, and our hands be clasped more closely, and

our hearts be more united.” Thus it is, our daughters leave us, those we love and those who love us. When a youth with flaunting feathers beckons to the fairest maiden. From the sky the sun benignant

looked upon them through the branches, Saying to them, “oh, my children life is checkered shade and sunshine.”

The two figures man and woman Standing hand in hand together, with their hands so clasped together that they seem

in one united. And the words thus represented are, “I see your heart within you.” Sing them songs of love and longing Now, let’s feast and be more joyous.

Ethnic Wedding Reading (Native American) Tone: Blessing for the couple

Meaning: Two lives becoming one—and being the better for it Good for: Older relative of the bride or groom

“The Blessing of The Apaches” (short version) Author unknown

Now you will feel no rain,

For each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold,

For each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no more loneliness for you,

For each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two bodies,

But there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling place,

To enter into the days of your togetherness. And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

Ethnic Wedding Reading (Native American) Tone: Blessing for the couple

Meaning: Two lives becoming one—and being the better for it Good for: Older relative of the bride or groom

“Apache Wedding Blessing” (Long version/edited) Author unknown

Now you will feel no storms,

for each of you will be shelter to the other.

Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there is no loneliness,

for each of you is companion to the other,

You are two persons, but there is one life before you, and one home.

Turn together to look at the road you traveled,

to reach this—the hour of your happiness. It stretches behind you into the past.

Look to the future that lies ahead.

A long and winding, adventure-filled road, whose every turn means discovery, new hopes, new joys, new laughter,

and a few shared tears.

May happiness be your companion, May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead;

And through all the years to come.

Go this day to your dwelling place and enter into your days together.

May your days be good and long upon the earth.

Your adventure has just begun!

Ethnic Wedding Reading (Hispanic) Tone: Deeply sensual and romantic

Meaning: Loving wholeheartedly Good for: Friend of the couple

Excerpt from 100 Love Sonnets by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire

shoots off. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the light of hidden

flowers; thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance, risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you

straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way than this: Where “I” does not exist, nor “You,” so close that your hand on

my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Ethnic Wedding Reading (Irish) Tone: Blessing for the couple

Meaning: Wishing the couple love and luck Good for: Father of the bride or groom

“Irish Wedding Blessing” Author unknown

May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you; May you see your children's children. May you be poor in misfortune,

Rich in blessings, May you know nothing but happiness

From this day forward. May the road rise to meet you May the wind be always at your back

May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on, May blue be the skies above you,

May pure be the joys that surround you, May true be the hearts that love you.

Religious Wedding Reading (Jewish) Custom: Recited under a chuppah, over a glass of wine

Image: Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“The Seven Blessings” from The New Jewish Wedding

by Anita Diamant

We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, expressing our appreciation for this wine, symbol and aid of our rejoicing.

We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, realizing that each separate moment and every distinct object points to and shares in this oneness.

We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, recognizing and appreciating the blessing of being human.

We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, realizing the special gift of awareness that permits us to perceive this unity and the wonder we experience

as a man and a woman joined to live together. May rejoicing resound throughout the world as the homeless are given homes,

persecution and oppression cease, and all people learn to live in peace with each other and in harmony with their environment.

From the Divine, source of all energy, we call forth an abundance of love to envelop this couple. May they be for each other lovers and friends, and may their love partake of the same innocence, purity, and sense of discovery that we imagine the first couple

to have experienced. We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, and we highlight

today joy and gladness, bridegroom and bride, delight and cheer, love and harmony, peace and companionship.

May we all witness the day when the dominant sounds through the world will be these sounds of happiness, the voices of lovers, the sounds of feasting and singing.

Praised is love; blessed be this marriage. May the bride and bridegroom rejoice together.

Religious Wedding Reading Tone: Searching for peace and understanding

Meaning: Asking God to make your lives useful Good for: Catholic wedding

“The Prayer” St. Francis of Assisi (patron saint of animals and the environment)

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is discord, union;

Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, Grant that we may not so much seek To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Religious Wedding Reading Tone: Strong

Meaning: Love is like a flame, overcoming any obstacle Good for: Catholic wedding

“On Love” by Brother Thomas a Kempis

Love is a mighty power, a great and complete good.

Love alone lightens every burden, and makes rough places smooth. It bears every hardship as though it were nothing, and renders all bitterness sweet and

acceptable. Nothing is sweeter than love, Nothing stronger,

Nothing higher, Nothing wider, Nothing more pleasant,

Nothing fuller or better in heaven or earth; for love is born of God. Love flies, runs and leaps for joy. It is free and unrestrained. Love knows no limits, but ardently transcends all bounds.

Love feels no burden, takes no account of toil, attempts things beyond its strength.

Love sees nothing as impossible, for it feels able to achieve all things. It is strange and effective,

while those who lack love faint and fail. Love is not fickle and sentimental, nor is it intent on vanities.

Like a living flame and a burning torch, it surges upward and surely surmounts every obstacle.

Religious Wedding Reading Tone: Sweet and romantic

Meaning: God has brought you together Good for: Protestant wedding

Image: Evgeni Dinev / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Heaven Sent”

by Cheyenne Cole

Love ruled the day when the angels came to meet sweeping them up and off their feet

neither of them knowing what the future would bring two hearts together and one diamond ring. Today it’s a promise, so sweet and so pure

together forever, for love shall endure. A blessing from above, this story is told.

A love to last a lifetime, and a hand to hold. It was no accident that this came to be

now you must realize that it really takes three. So go hand in hand to a future unknown

knowing that with the lord, you will never be alone. With the angels so near and dear to the heart

this couple shall prosper and never grow apart. For it’s not always the eye that is first to see

what really matters in life, and what is meant to be. So remember that to love is time well spent

and what brought you two together is heaven sent.

Religious Wedding Reading

“Footprints” Author unknown

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed that he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky, flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two

sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in

his life.

This really bothered him, and he questioned the Lord about it, “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that

during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed you the most, you would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then

that I carried you.”


“Wedding Prayer” by Robert Louis Stevenson

Lord, behold our family here assembled.

We thank you for this place in which we dwell, for the love that unites us,

for the peace accorded us this day, for the hope with which we expect the morrow,

for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful;

for our friends in all parts of the earth. Amen.


Loving Thoughts Inspired by “The Lord’s Prayer” From The Life Center Wedding Files by Rev. Robert E. Cote (April 1998)

Our Father, Mother,

Sister, Brother who are the source of heaven

Hallowed are Thy names.

Thy kingdom this day is in my heart. Thy will is now by me done

Here on Earth as it is in heaven.

Thank you for this day and for my daily bread.

Thank you for guiding me with your love and wisdom;

and for forgiving me my trespasses.

Thank you for filling me with kindness, love, and freedom;

and for teaching me how to love and forgive those

who have trespassed against me.

Thank you for leading me along the path of right action,

and for guiding me into joy, love, and wholesomeness.

For Thy Love is the Kingdom, in which Wisdom is the Power,

Truth is the Glory, and Freedom is the Joy.

forever and ever.

Amen.

Biblical Wedding Reading

This Corinthians passage is the most famous biblical wedding reading because it speaks directly of love. Often just an excerpt of this passage is read.

1st Corinthians–Chapter 13 (New King James Version)

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have

become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not

love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all

things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will fail; where there are tongues, they will cease; where there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be

done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is

love.


1st Corinthians–Chapter 13 (excerpt) (New King James Version)

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all

things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


1st Corinthians–Chapter 13 (New American Standard Version)

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know

all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and

if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with

the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a

child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the

greatest of these is love.


1st Corinthians–Chapter 13

(New Living Translation Version)

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such

faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about

it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It

does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become

useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full

understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and

incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of

these is love.

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Hopeful and strengthening

Meaning: If a couple is bound with God, their bond is unbreakable Good for: Catholic or Protestant weddings

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 (New King James Version)

Two are better than one,

Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his companion.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.

Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm, But how can one be warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Traditional

Meaning: A connection through God is more powerful than any Earthly force Good for: Catholic weddings

Mark 10: 6–9 (King James Version)

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this

cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God

has joined together, let not man put asunder.

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Religious

Meaning: A man and woman form a new union in marriage Good for: Catholic weddings

Genesis 2:20–24 (King James Version)

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of

the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and

closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she

was taken out of Man. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Miraculous and divine Meaning: Wedding miracles

Good for: Catholic weddings

John 2:1–11 (King James Version)

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when

they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His

mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews,

containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast

had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his

glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Miraculous and divine Meaning: Wedding miracles

Good for: Protestant wedding

John 2:1–11 (New American Standard Version)

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was

there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.

When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet

come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out

now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him.

When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and

when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee,

and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.


Many people love this reading from the Book of Ruth because it focuses on a woman, plus it’s a meaningful and heartfelt message about commitment.

The Book of Ruth 1:16–17 (New Life Version)

But Ruth said, “Do not beg me to leave you

or turn away from following you. I will go where you go.

I will live where you live. Your people will be my people. And your God will be my God.

I will die where you die, and there I will be buried. So may the Lord do the same to me, and worse,

if anything but death takes me from you.”


1st John–Chapters 3, 4 (excerpts) (New American Standard Bible)

For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.... We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide

in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.... You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is

He who is in you than he who is in the world....

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for

God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for

our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is

perfected in us.

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.... There

is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear...and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Romantic

Meaning: A time of hope, renewal, and celebration Good for: Friend of the bride/groom

Song of Solomon 2: 10–13 (New King James Version)

My beloved spoke, and said to me,

“Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.

For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove

Is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes

Give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one,

And come away!

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Romantic and sensual

Meaning: Love is sweeter than anything else on Earth Good for: Groom

Image: nokhoog_buchachon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Song of Solomon 4:10–11 (New Living Translation)

Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride.

Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices.

Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue.

Your clothes are scented like the cedars of Lebanon.

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Poetic/Romantic

Meaning: The strength of love Good for: Older relative of the couple

Song of Solomon 8:6–7 (New King James Version)

Set me as a seal upon your heart,

As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire,

A most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love,

Nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised.

Biblical Wedding Reading Tone: Prayer

Meaning: A blessing for the couple Good for: Officiant

Ephesians 3:14–19

(New International Version)

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may

have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—

that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


Colossians 3:12–15 (New King James Version)

Therefore...put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in

your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.


Colossians 3:12–17 (New International Version)

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the

Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were

called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and

songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to

God the Father through him.


Ephesians 5:25, 28, 31, 33 (New King James Version)

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his

wife loves himself. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Nevertheless let each one of

you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.


Psalm 100:1–5 (English Standard Version)

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.


Proverbs 31:10–31 (New International Version)

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her

female servants. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple. Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of

the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be

praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the

city gate.

Lighthearted Wedding Reading

“Us Two” from Now We Are Six by 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.


Excerpt from The Velve teen Rabbit by Margery Williams

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near

the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you.

When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real

you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp

edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get all loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you

can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”


“The Mirror” from When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

Between the woods the afternoon

Is fallen in a golden swoon. The sun looks down from quiet skies

To where a quiet water lies, And silent trees stoop down to trees. And there I saw a white swan make

Another white swan in the lake; And, breast to breast, both motionless,

They waited for the wind’s caress... And all the water was at ease.


“Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog” by Taylor Mali, a contemporary spoken-word artist

First of all, it’s a big responsibility,

especially in a city like New York (or Minneapolis!) So think long and hard before deciding on love.

On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security: when you’re walking down the street late at night

and you have a leash on love ain’t no one going to mess with you.

Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable. Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.

It lies between you and lives and breathes and makes funny noises.

Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs. It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn’t like being left alone for long.

But come home and love is always happy to see you. It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,

but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No! Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.

Love leaves you little surprises here and there. Love needs lots of cleaning up after.

Sometimes you just want to get love fixed. Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper

and swat love on the nose, not so much to cause pain,

just to let love know—Don’t you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk. Because love loves exercise.

It runs you around the block and leaves you panting. It pulls you in several different directions at once,

or winds around and around you until you’re all wound up and can’t move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.

People who have nothing in common but love stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,

again, and again, and again. But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.

And in return, love loves you and never stops.


A Good Wedding Cake Author Unknown

4lb of love

1 lb butter of youth 1/2 lb of good looks

l lb sweet temper 1 lb of blindness for faults 1 lb of self forgetfulness

l lb of pounded wit 1 lb of good humor

2 tablespoons of sweet argument 1 pint of rippling laughter

1 wine glass of common sense 1 oz modesty

Put in the love, good looks and sweet temper into a well-furnished house. Beat the

butter of youth to a cream, and mix well together with the blindness of faults. Stir the pounded wit and good humor into the sweet argument, then add the rippling laughter and common sense. Work the whole together until everything is well mixed, and bake

gently forever.


A scene from Shal l We Dance

When asked “Why do you think people get married?” she replies:

People get married “Because we need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on the planet,

I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything;

the good things, the bad things, the mundane, and the joyful.

All of it, all the time. Every day, you’re saying,

‘Your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it.

Your life will not go un-witnessed, because I will be your witness.’”

A Reading from the Wedding of Prince William & Catherine Middleton Read by: Catherine’s brother, James Middleton

Romans 12: 1, 2, 9–18

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so

that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one

another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to

strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of

all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

A Prayer from the Wedding of Prince William & Catherine Middleton Read by: The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dr. Richard Chartres, K.C.V.O.

Written by: Prince William and Catherine Middleton, for their wedding

“God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage. In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy. Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask

this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

A Reading from the Wedding of Prince William & Catherine Middleton Read by: The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dr. Richard Chartres, K.C.V.O.

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena

whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and

truest selves.

Many are full of fear for the future of the prospects of our world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one—this is a

joyful day! It is good that people in every continent are able to share in these celebrations because this is, as every wedding day should be, a day of hope.

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into

the future. William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of

Jesus Christ.

And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another.

A spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and

committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go

beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.

It is of course very hard to wean ourselves away from self-centredness. And people

can dream of doing such a thing but the hope should be fulfilled it is necessary a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of

generous love.

You have both made your decision today—“I will”—and by making this new relationship, you have aligned yourselves with what we believe is the way in which life

is spiritually evolving, and which will lead to a creative future for the human race.

We stand looking forward to a century which is full of promise and full of peril. Human beings are confronting the question of how to use wisely a power that has

been given to us through the discoveries of the last century. We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase

of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.

Marriage should transform, as husband and wife make one another their work of art. It is possible to transform as long as we do not harbour ambitions to reform our

partner. There must be no coercion if the Spirit is to flow; each must give the other space and freedom. Chaucer, the London poet, sums it up in a pithy phrase:

‘“Whan maistrie [mastery] comth, the God of Love anon,

Beteth his wynges, and farewell, he is gon.”

As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply

meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, we

need mutual forgiveness, to thrive.

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This

leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practise and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate

the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

I pray that all of us present and the many millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today, will do everything in our power to support and uphold you in your new life. And I pray that God will bless you in the way of life that you have chosen,

that way which is expressed in the prayer that you have composed together in preparation for this day:

“God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the

joy of our marriage. In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy. Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask

this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Short Readings/Quotes Good for: Wedding Program or Website

From Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.

I Ching When two people are at one in their inmost hearts, they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze. And when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts,

their words are sweet and strong, like the fragrance of orchids.

Eskimo Love Song You are my husband, you are my wife

My feet shall run because of you My feet dance because of you

My heart shall beat because of you My eyes see because of you

My mind thinks because of you And I shall love, because of you.

From Walt Whitman’s “Will You Give Me Yourself?” I give you my love, more precious than money,

I give you myself before preaching or law; Will you give me yourself?

Will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Good … · Wedding Reading About Marriage Tone: Good wishes...

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