This is a selection of readings and poetry. You may combine or select extracts from any reading or you may wish to provide your own choice, which you or your guests may read aloud as part of your ceremony, up to a maximum of 3 readings. Please ensure that any poem/reading does not include any religious connotation.
- Marriage is a dynamic process of discovery
- When I look at you now
- Love is giving
- Apache Wedding Blessing
- Where there is love
- Love is the most incredible of all the experiences that touch our lives
- If you can always be as close
- The meaning of true love
- The Art of Marriage
- A Marriage
- Marriage is a promise of love
- Marriage is the greatest happiness of all
Marriage is...
Marriage is a dynamic process of discovery, a journey, not an arrival.
It is a partnership in which two people can proclaim their love and commitment to each other.
Marriage is starting to love, over and over again.
It is a life's work requiring trust and respect for one another, thought and effort. In marriage, being the right person is as important as finding the right person.
Marriage means learning to share,
learning to give and receive love generously;
learning to be open, honest and understanding, and
learning to search for the good and the beautiful in yourself and your partner.
When I look at you now
When I look at you now
I see all the hope and promise of our life together
As the love that was always there in us grows stronger still.
I see the wonder, the mystery, the miracle of love and all our dreams waiting to be born.
I see that we've learned what it takes to make a relationship work, and ours does.
Thank you for being you,
And making me feel loved,
Because what we have is special,
And together as husband and wife it will only grow.
Love is Giving
Love is giving, not taking,
Mending, not breaking,
Trusting, believing,
Never deceiving,
Patiently bearing
And faithfully sharing
Each joy, every sorrow,
Today and tomorrow.
Love is kind, understanding,
But never demanding.
Love is constant, prevailing,
Its strength never failing.
A promise once spoken
For all time unbroken,
Love's time is for ever.
(Anon)
Apache Wedding Blessing
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other
Now you will feel no cold for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness.
Now you are two persons but there is only one life before you.
Go now and enter into the days of your life together
And may your days together be good and long upon the earth.
(Apache marriage blessing)
Where There Is Love.
Where there is love the heart is light,
Where there is love the day is bright,
Where there is love there is a song
To help when things are going wrong,
Where there is love there is a smile
To make all things seem more worthwhile,
Where there is love there's quiet peace,
A tranquil place where turmoil's cease - love changes darkness into light
And makes the heart take "wingless flight"
(Helen Steiner Rice)
Love is the most incredible of all the experiences that touch our lives.
It creates for us the world that we want to live in.
From the beginning of our lives, we know that love is the power that comforts and protects us;
It is the one feeling that we can depend upon to help us through life s ups and downs.
Love is the understanding and security that never changes;
It allows us to be ourselves and feel self confident.
Today, as the two of you join together and commit your love to each other, remember the lessons of love that you have always known.
Let your love comfort, support and encourage you.
Let your love be the best part of your lives; always know that it will make everything better and it will make your world a place of happiness.
If you can always be as close
And as happy as today,
Yet be secure enough to grow
And change along the way.
If you can keep for you alone
Your love as man and wife,
Yet find the time to share your joy
With others in your life.
If you can be as one
And walk through marriage hand in hand,
Yet still support the goals and dreams
That each of you have planned.
If you can dare to always go
Your separate ways together,
Then all the wonder of today
Will stay with you forever
The meaning of true love
It is sharing and caring,
Giving and forgiving,
Loving and being loved,
Walking hand in hand,
Talking heart to heart,
Seeing through each other's eyes,
Laughing together,
Weeping together.
For love that is shared is a beautiful thing
It enriches our lives and makes our hearts sing!
The Art of Marriage
A good marriage must be created,
In marriage, the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say I love you at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together and facing the world.
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 a common search for the good and beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right person -
It is being the right partner.
(Anon)
A Marriage
A marriage is a promise
That two hearts gladly make.
A promise to be tender,
To help, to give and take
A marriage is a promise
To be kind and understanding
To be thoughtful and considerate,
Fair and understanding.
A marriage is a promise
To share one life together
A love-filled promise meant to be
Kept lovingly for ever.
Marriage is a promise of love
Marriage is a commitment to life to the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth no other human relationship can equal, a physical and emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime.
Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships. a wife and husband are each other's best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener and critic. There may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love of each other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a child.
Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller; memories are fresher; commitment is stronger; even anger is felt more strongly and passes away more quickly.
Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, now experiences, and new ways of expressing love through the seasons of life.
When two people pledge to love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique to themselves, which binds Them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential, made in the hearts of two people who love, which takes a lifetime to fulfil.
(Edmund O Neill)
Marriage is the greatest happiness of all
In a marriage, two people become as one,
Yet they are individuals,
Each with their own ideas and goals.
In a marriage, two people share their thoughts,
They give advice, sharing their feelings,
Being open and loving.
They must trust each other and hold onto faith,
While going through ups and downs.
They have their smiles,and they have their tears.
When one is low, it is up to the other to support them,
to get them back on the right track.
Communications is the key.
Two people united learn so much.
They learn to depend yet be independent,
Sometimes letting each other have time to themselves.
They care for each other and protect;
They make a family and become a lifeline.
They bring their dreams, their future,
Loving and growing together.
With their commitment and true love
They find happiness.
(Michele Gallagher)