Once you've decided on the type of ceremony you're having, it's time to start thinking about wedding readings. Some people think readings are just for church weddings, but that is a myth! We've rounded up our top 10 favourite non-religious wedding readings for your ceremony. These can be read by any of your guests, it doesn't have to be the registrar or someone in your bridal party. Most people choose to have 1-2 readings, but we recommend discussing this with whoever is taking your ceremony.
1. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
I love you also means I love you more than anyone loves you,
or has loved you, or will love you,
and also, I love you in a way that no one loves you,
or has loved you, or will love you, and also,
I love you in a way that I love no one else,
and never have loved anyone else,
and never will love anyone else.
2. A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton
The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was
cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage.
Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kind words
and loving thoughts.
I like this Dinosaur thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny.
He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.
I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur. She is beautiful
and she is different and she smells so nice.
She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.
But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely
Other Dinosaur.
He is also overly fond of things.
Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things?
But her mind skips from here to there so quickly thought the Dinosaur.
She is also uncommonly keen on shopping.
Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?
I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things, thought the Lovely
Other Dinosaur. For they are part of what makes him a richly
charactered individual.
I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought
the Dinosaur. For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful
surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.
Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old.
Look at them.
Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the
warmth of the sun on their backs.
And that, my friends, is how it is with love.
Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.
For the sun is warm.
And the world is a beautiful place.
3. 'Carrie's Poem' from Sex and the City
His hello was the end of her endings
Her laugh was their first step down the aisle
His hand would be hers to hold forever
His forever was as simple as her smile
He said she was what was missing
She said instantly she knew
She was a question to be answered
And his answer was "I do"
4. "The Art of Marriage" by Wilferd A. Peterson
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 speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating
gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to have wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor.
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 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.
5. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de 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 blossom have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.
6. "A Marriage" - Mark Twain
A marriage...makes of two fractional lives a whole;
it gives to two purposeless lives a work, and doubles the strength of each to
perform it;
it gives two questioning natures a reason for living, and something to live for;
it will give a new gladness to the sunshine, a new fragrance to the flowers, a
new beauty to the earth, and a new mystery to life.
7. 'Wild Awake' by Hilary T Smith
“People are like cities: We all have alleys and gardens and secret
rooftops and places where daisies sprout between the sidewalk cracks,
but most of the time all we let each other see is a postcard glimpse of a
skyline or a polished square. Love lets you find those hidden places in
another person, even the ones they didn’t know were there, even the
ones they wouldn’t have thought to call beautiful themselves."
8. Apache Wedding Prayer
“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 each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is 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.”
9. You are the bubbles - Rachel Bright
“Together, you are
the bubbles in one another’s champagne,
the morning sun through the window,
the breaking of a smile.
Together, you are
the one doughnut in the bag with more jam than any of the others,
that photo where everyone looks great,
the know-it-all-sing-out-of-tune-at-the-top-of-your-voice
chorus of a favourite song.
Together you are
the beginnings of a big idea,
the twinkly bits that hang in the sky after the firework goes bang,
the cold thin air at the top of a mountain,
the only two people in a crowded room.
Together you are
that unforgettable day of a holiday,
an accidental adventure, a chocolate chip,
pages ninety-eight to ninety-nine of a well-thumbed Mills & Boon,
a bbq with friends, the spray of the sea,
the nose of the cheese,
a hug, a kiss, a hold-my-hand,
a decision which, looking back, will seem to be
the most excellent you ever made.
Together you are
bubbles,
the unburstable bubbles of the very best things in life,
the only things any of us ever need.”
10. "Love's Philosophy" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single:
All things by a law divine
In another's being mingle—
Why not I with thine?
See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?
And for the Disney fans, we've included 3 sweet bonus readings...
Nightmare Before Christmas
My dearest friend, if you don't mind
I'd like to join you by your side
Where we can gaze into the stars
And sit together, now and forever
For it is plain as anyone can see
We're simply meant to be.
Pocahontas
If I never knew you
If I never felt this love
I would have no inkling of
How precious life can be
And if I never held you
I would never have a clue
How at last I'd find in you
The missing part of me
If I never knew you
I'd be safe but half as real
Never knowing I could feel
A love so strong and true
I'm so grateful to you
I'd have lived my whole life through
Lost forever
If I never knew you.
What’s Mickey without Minnie?
What’s Mickey without Minnie?
What’s Tigger without Pooh?
What’s Donald without Daisy?
What’s me without you?
And when Elmo isn’t ticklish,
And Pooh gear hates honey.
When Tigger stops bouncing,
And Goofy isn’t funny.
When Peter Pan can’t fly,
And Simba never roars,
When Alice in Wonderland
Can’t fit through small doors.
When Dumbo’s ears are small,
And happily ever after isn’t true,
That’s when I’ll stop loving you.
From Brides, With Love xo
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