Ceremony Readings
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Ceremony Readings 📖
If you’re wanting to incorporate something a bit special into your ceremony - I've got a fabulous collection of non-religious wedding readings, poems, and quotes to share with you!
These are some of my absolute faves, but I've got plenty more up my sleeve. Let's find the perfect ones to make your special day even more amazing!
Be In Love - Donna Ashworth
Be in love with your life. Every minute - Its your trail.
Blaze it and blaze it brightly.
Be in love with yourself. Think of how you'd like to be loved
And make it happen.
If I Say I Love You - Ellen Everett
Love hurts because it can be lost
And because it can be forged to begin with.
"I love you" is too effortlessly slipped from lips.
It is undemanding.
It is simple to say, but challenging to mean.
It glides off crooked tongues
and anchors itself onto honest ones.
It is painless to say with deceit
And strenuous to say with sincerity.
I want to say "I love you: but only if I can say it wholly.
If I say, "I love you,", I want it to be unrelated to time,
and measured only by the joining of your heart and mine,
the moment when two lives become one.
A Little Life by Tanya Yanagihara (excerpt)
The only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are—
not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving—
and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you,
and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be,
and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.”
The Meaning of Love - Krina Shah
To love is to share life together,
to build special plans just for two,
to work side by side,
and then smile with pride,
as one by one, dreams all come true.
To love is to help and encourage
with smiles and sincere words of praise,
to take time to share,
to listen and care
in tender, affectionate ways.
To love is to have someone special,
one on whom you can always depend
to be there through the years,
sharing laughter and tears,
as a partner, a lover, a friend.
To love is to make special memories
of moments you love to recall,
of all the good things
that sharing life brings.
Love is the greatest of all.
I've learned the full meaning
of sharing and caring
and having my dreams all come true;
I've learned the full meaning
of being in love
by being and loving with you.
A Vow - Wendy Cope
I cannot promise never to be angry;
I cannot promise always to be kind.
You know what you are taking on, my darling –
It’s only at the start that love is blind.
And yet I’m still the one you want to be with
And you’re the one for me – of that I’m sure.
You are my closest friend, my favourite person,
The lover and the home I’ve waited for.
I cannot promise that I will deserve you
From this day on. I hope to pass that test.
I love you and I want to make you happy.
I promise I will do my very best.
True Love – Bryan L. Harvey
True love is a sacred flame That burns eternally,
And none can dim its special glow
Or change its destiny.
True love speaks in tender tones
And hears with gentle ear,
True love gives with open heart
And true love conquers fear.
True love makes no harsh demands
It neither rules nor binds,
And true love holds with gentle hands
The hearts that it entwines.
From Cosmos - Carl Sagan
Our ancestors groped in darkness to make sense of their surroundings. Powerless before nature, they invented rituals and myths, some desperate and cruel, others imaginative and benign. As long as there have been humans, we have searched for our place in the cosmos.
Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions, and by the depth of our answers.
All of the rocks we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star-stuff.
For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.
When we look out at the stars, and the amazing intricacies of life, when we wonder what it all means and why we matter, somehow the simple act of loving transcends all of it and gives us a place of belonging, a reason for being.
Habitation by Margaret Atwood
Marriage is not a house or even a tent
It is before that, and colder:
The edge of the forest, the edge of the desert
The unpainted stairs at the back where we squat outside, eating popcorn
The edge of the receding glacier, where painfully, and with wonder, at having survived even this far,
We are learning to make fire.
The One - Unknown
When the one whose hand you’re holding
is the one who holds your heart,
When the one whose eyes you gaze into gives your hopes and dreams their start, When the one you think of first and last
is the one who holds you tight,
And the things you plan together makes the whole world seem just right,
When the one whom you believe in puts their faith and trust in you,
You’ve found the one and only to share your whole life through.
Marry Your Best Friend - Anonymous:
Marry your best friend.
I do not say that lightly.
Really, truly find the strongest,
Happiest friendship
In the person you fall in love with.
Someone who speaks highly of you.
Someone you can laugh with.
The kind of laughs that make
Your belly ache, and your nose snort.
The embarrassing, earnest, healing kind of laughs.
Wit is important.
Life is too short not to love someone
Who lets you be a fool with them.
Make sure they are somebody
Who lets you cry, too.
Despair will come.
Find someone that you want
To be there with you
Through those times.
Most importantly,
Marry the one that makes passion,
Love, and madness combine
And course through you.
A love that will never dilute -
Even when the waters get deep, and dark.
Marriage. From a Cat's Perspective by Rachael Meyer
We choose each other.
I stay because I like you. Remember this.
You are my warmth, my comfort. My provider.
You are mine. I am yours.
In the sunshine, we walk. We travel. We play.
Alert. Agile, we bask in the light.
But nothing is forever. I grace you with my presence.
We watch with caution, the world.
As fragile as a butterfly.
And we keep one eye open for the bees, the birds.
I am wild at heart. Independent. An adventurer.
With stealth and focus, I watch.
A steady gaze. A slow blink. Skilful. Hungry. Patient.
Pouncing when you least suspect.
I carry home my offering. Like a lion. I drop it with pride.
For you. As a symbol of my devotion.
I give you my gift of love. And you reciprocate.
My affection. Your prize.
We lay. Outstretched and vulnerable. We trust.
Hearts beat in time. Sometimes slow, sometimes fast.
We can relish the silence. Just us. Just breathing.
I won’t come running but I will follow.
And I will fight.
Arching my back and baring my teeth. Talons poised.
In fear, but with bravado, I will hiss. And howl. And scratch.
To protect us. To keep us safe.
With darkening skies and gathering storms, you search for me.
You let me in. I don’t like the cold.
And when we curl up, I’m at peace.
With my engine quietly purring.
You tell me I’m beautiful; a fine cat.
And your fingers reach out to touch me. I bask in the glory.
You rile me, to make me play. And I oblige. Claws in.
Or you give me a treat.
And when I purr louder, you’re content. We are one.
You are mine. I am yours.
A moment. Nothing lasts forever.
Remember this.
I choose not to walk alone. I choose love. I choose you.
And I will stay with you always. Not because I have to. But because I want to.