Can you help me chose a reading for my cousins wedding?

[Larski]

Hello there,

Next weekend i have to do a reading at my beautiful cousins wedding - I'm nervous but also feel honoured. I haven't chosen it yet, not because I'm slack (!) but because I want it to be perfect and cant find quite the right thing.

The best one I like is the Apache Indian wedding poem for personal reasons (long story) but it is very short - I can only find one verse for it even though I thought it actually had a second one or a longer version.

Can anyone help? What readings have you heard and loved, or had at your own wedding, or plan to have?

Thanks for any advice.

[Larski]

I should add, she wants me to surprise her with it on the day, and that its a garden wedding, by a river.

[zenifa]

Here is a copy of a reading I did for my BIL's wedding (ie DH's brother). He and his wife chose this for me to read at their wedding 18mths ago.

The Art of a Good 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 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 person, it is being the right partner.

[Larski]

Thanks Zenifa, thats really lovely

[pennylane]

This is the reading Im having in my wedding in 4 weeks..

Its not too sappy cuz were both not into overly romantic stuff lol so it wouldnt be 'us' if we had a heaps lovey dovey reading,but i still think its nice :)


"A Marriage"

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
though 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 partners 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.

[mum_I'm_hungry]

I always choose Walt Whitman, but I know it's not for everyone. Personally, I like a reading that is a bit different, that perhaps people haven't heard before and will make them think. I also like to choose readings that aren't too soppy, that are maybe a bit more realistic and show both sides of love and the ups and downs of relationships and marriage. The last wedding I went to, someone read a Maya Angelou poem and it went down very well...

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.

[mum2ethan]

This is what im reading at my brothers wedding in May, he picked it out:


These are the hands of your best friend, strong and full of love for you, holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.

These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future.

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.

These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.

These are the hands that will countless Times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy.

These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children.

These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.

And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.

[ibb]

My cousin asked me to read this at their wedding and i think its beautiful. I think all the verses others have put on here are lovely too.

A Reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians

Corinthians 13: 1-9, 13
I may be able to speak the languages of men and even angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains – but if I have no love, I am nothing.



I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned – but if I have no love, this does me no good.


Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.


Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass. For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial. Meanwhile these three remain; faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.
This is the word of the lord.

All: Thanks be to God