{"id":31953,"date":"2014-01-07T03:35:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T16:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/au\/articles\/wedding-readings\/"},"modified":"2021-11-10T02:07:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T15:07:27","slug":"wedding-readings","status":"publish","type":"au-article","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/articles\/wedding-readings\/","title":{"rendered":"Wedding readings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you are having a church wedding or a civil service<\/a>, including some readings in your ceremony can be a great way to personalize your wedding, and make it really meaningful to you as a couple. Many brides choose a serious reading about love, or marriage, or perhaps a romantic poem<\/a>. Some opt for humorous readings to keep the tone light.<\/p>\n

\"wedding<\/p>\n

Bible readings for weddings<\/h3>\n

Even if you are having a civil ceremony you might want to consider some of the classic biblical readings that are particularly relevant to marriage. A popular choice is Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 which is perfect for a wedding ceremony because it talks about how two people are stronger than one.<\/p>\n

For a more romantic bible reading, you might want to consider Corinthians 13:1-13, which is a reading about love. It ends with the well known phrase ‘And now those three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’<\/p>\n

Wedding poetry<\/h3>\n

There are so many poems about love, romance, and marriage, that you will be spoilt for choice. Indulge yourself and spend a weekend reading through love poems with your fiance, but keep the tissues handy to mop up those tears.<\/p>\n

Some popular wedding poems:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • She walks in beauty, by Lord Byron<\/li>\n
  • My Luve, by Robert Burns<\/li>\n
  • To be one with each other, by George Eliot.<\/li>\n
  • Sonnets from the Portuguese, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, particularly the one which begins ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.’<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \n

    For a truly personal and intimate touch to your ceremony, why not write a poem of your own? If you don’t feel confident about doing this perhaps you have a friend or relative who is talented at writing, and could produce a really unique reading for your wedding.<\/p>\n

    Light hearted wedding readings<\/h3>\n

    To keep your ceremony jovial, there are a number of light hearted or humorous poems and reading you could include. Two of these are:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Blessing for a marriage, by James Dillet Freeman<\/li>\n
    • Recipe for Love, by Anonymous which begins ‘Put the love, good looks and sweet temper into a well furnished house,’ and ends ‘and bake gently for ever.’<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      \n

      If you are asking a friend or family member to do a reading, they may be more comfortable with an informal poem than a serious passage about love.<\/p>\n

      \"wedding<\/p>\n

      Literary readings about love<\/h3>\n

      Shakespearian readings are still very popular for wedding ceremonies. Favourites include:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • Sonnet 18, which begins ‘Shall I compare thee to a summers day?’<\/li>\n
      • Sonnet 116 which includes the familiar phrase ‘love is not love which alters when it alterations finds, or bends with the remover to remove.’<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        You do not have to stick to Shakespeare, however, you can select a passage from any book that has meaning to you and your fiance. For example:<\/p>\n

          \n
        • Gift From The Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, has a wonderful extract about the changing nature of love.<\/li>\n
        • The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams has a section that describes how love makes you real.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Remember that the readings and any other elements that you include in your wedding ceremony are entirely your choice, and you shouldn’t feel restricted by tradition. If there is a particular piece of literature, or a poem that is special to you as a couple, there should be no reason not to include it in your wedding service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2614,"template":"","au_article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-31953","au-article","type-au-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","au_article_category-marriagecelebrant"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-article\/31953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/au-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-article\/31953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"au_article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au_article_tag?post=31953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}