A collection of our favourite wedding readings and poems for your wedding ceremony
Wedding readings and poems are a great way to add personality and a point of difference to your ceremony. Even a short and simple elopement can benefit from adding some specially selected words in this way. You want to choose a reading and/or poem for your ceremony that suits you and your wedding day vibe. This could mean options for a fun wedding reading, a romantic wedding poem, or a kid friendly wedding reading. But, one internet search can have you easily overwhelmed with options and leave you putting off this important wedding ceremony decision.
So, we’ve collected and categorised the best wedding readings and poems to make your ceremony planning easy. With inspiration from books, films, music, poetry and TV, plus kid friendly options and fun ways to honour your fur babies, we hope you find a wedding reading or poem that suits you…
Fun wedding readings
Give your guests a giggle with these fun and quirky wedding readings and poems…
MUTUAL WEIRDNESS – DR SEUSS
“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
Yes, I’ll Marry You – Pam Ayres
“Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear,
And here’s the reason why;
So I can push you out of bed
When the baby starts to cry,
And if we hear a knocking
And it’s creepy and it’s late,
I hand you the torch you see,
And you investigate.
Yes I’ll marry you, my dear,
You may not apprehend it,
But when the tumble-drier goes
It’s you that has to mend it,
You have to face the neighbour
Should our labrador attack him,
And if a drunkard fondles me
It’s you that has to whack him.
Yes, I’ll marry you,
You’re virile and you’re lean,
My house is like a pigsty
You can help to keep it clean.
That sexy little dinner
Which you served by candlelight,
As I do chipolatas,
You can cook it every night!
It’s you who has to work the drill
and put up curtain track,
And when I’ve got PMT it’s you who gets the flak,
I do see great advantages,
But none of them for you,
And so before you see the light,
I do, I do, I do!”
SOME THINGS GO TOGETHER – CHARLOTTE ZOLOTOW
“Pairs of things that go together.
Pigeons with park
Stars with dark
Sand with sea
and you with me.
… Hats with heads
Pillows with beds
Sky with blue
and me with you.”
Wedding readings for kids
These wedding readings and poems are short, sweet and perfect for your younger weddings guests to read during your ceremony…
From Winnie the Pooh – A. A. Milne
Piglet: “How do you spell love?”
Pooh: “You don’t spell it, you feel it”
Another excerpt from Winnie the Pooh – A. A. Milne
“’If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.’
A Lovely Love Story – 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.”
Wedding readings about love and marriage
Turn up the romance without getting too soppy with these wedding readings about love and marriage…
Why Marriage? – Dena Acolatse
Because of the depths of me, I long to love one person,
With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body…..
Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me,
Who won’t hold them against me,
Who loves me when I’m unlikable,
Who sees the small child in me,
and Who looks for the divine potential of me……
Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night,
With someone who is thankful for me,
With someone I feel blessed to hold……
Because marriage means opportunity
To grow in love in friendship……
Because marriage is a discipline
To be added to a list of achievements…….
Because marriages do not fail, people fail
When they enter into marriage
Expecting another to make them whole……
Because, knowing this, I promise myself to take full responsibility
For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness I create me,
I take half of the responsibility for my marriage
Together we create our marriage…..
Because with this understanding
The possibilities are limitless and our love will last forever…..
What is Love – Unknown
“Sooner or later we begin to understand that love is more than verses on valentines and romance in the movies. We begin to know that love is here and now, real and true, the most important thing in our lives. For love is the creator of our favorite memories and the foundation of our fondest dreams. Love is a promise that is always kept, a fortune that can never be spent, a seed that can flourish in even the most unlikely of places. And this radiance that never fades, this mysterious and magical joy, is the greatest treasure of all – one known only by those who love.”
One Hundred Love Sonnets: “XVII” – Pablo Neruda
“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you directly without problems or pride: I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love, except in this form in which I am not nor are you, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, so close that your eyes close with my dreams.”
“Love Is Friendship Set On Fire” – Laura Hendricks
“Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past. It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough.”
Song lyrics as wedding readings
Song lyrics are great inspiration for wedding readings… Just please don’t ask us to sing them!
I Wanna Be Yours – John Cooper Clarke
I wanna be your vacuum cleaner breathing in your dust
I wanna be your Ford Cortina I will never rust
If you like your coffee hot let me be your coffee pot
You call the shots
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your raincoat for those frequent rainy days
I wanna be your dreamboat when you want to sail away
Let me be your teddy bear take me with you anywhere
I don’t care
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your electric meter I will not run out
I wanna be the electric heater you’ll get cold without
I wanna be your setting lotion hold your hair in deep devotion
Deep as the deep Atlantic ocean
that’s how deep is my devotion
I Will Be Here – Steven Curtis Chapman
Tomorrow morning if you wake up,
And the sun does not appear
I, I will be here
If in the dark we lose sight of love,
Hold my hand, and have no fear
Cause I, I will be here
I will be here when you feel like being quiet
When you need to speak your mind,
I will listen and
I will be here when the laughter turns to cryin’
Through the winning, losing and tryin’
We’ll be together ’cause I will be here
Tomorrow morning if you wake up,
And the future is unclear
I, I will be here
As sure as seasons are made for change,
Our lifetimes are made for years
So I, I will be here
I will be here and you can cry on my shoulder,
When the mirror tells us we’re older,
I will hold you and
I will be here to watch you grow in beauty
And tell you all the things you are to me
I will be here
I will be true to the promise I have made
To you and to the One who gave you to me
I, I will be here
And just as sure as seasons are made for change
Our lifetimes are made for years
So I, I will be here we’ll be together
Wedding readings from books
You don’t have to be an avid reader to appreciate the sentiment in these excerpts from books that make great wedding readings…
The Bridge Across Forever – Richard Bach
“A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.”
Allegiant – Veronica Roth
“I fell in love with him. But I don’t just stay with him by default as if there’s no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.”
The Amber Spyglass – Phillip Pullman
“I will love you forever; whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again… I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you… We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me.”
Wedding readings from movies and TV
From the Wedding Singer to Sex In The City and everything in between, you really can find wedding reading inspiration on the big and small screen…
THE HALF OF IT – ELLIE’S SPEECH
“Love isn’t patient and kind and humble. Love is messy and horrible and selfish and bold. It’s not finding your perfect half. It’s the trying and the reaching and failing. Love is being willing to ruin your good painting for the chance at a great one.”
SEX AND THE CITY – CARRIE’S POEM
“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.'”
THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE – SPOKEN BY HENRY
I want to tell you, again, I love you. Our love has been the thread through the labyrinth, the net under the high-wire walker, the only real thing in this strange life of mine that I could ever trust. Tonight I feel that my love for you has more density in this world than I do, myself: as though it could linger on after me and surround you, keep you, hold you.
Wedding readings for animal lovers
Honour your pet babies and furry friends in your wedding ceremony with a wedding reading inspired by our love of animals…
Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog – Taylor Mali
“On cold winter nights, love is warm. It lies between you and lives and breathes and makes funny noises. Love can wake you up all hours of the night with its needs. Love can give you a sense of security: When you’re walking down the street late at night and you have a leash on love, ain’t no one gonna mess with you. Love needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy. Love does not like being left alone for long. But come home and love is always happy to see you. Love may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life, but you can never be mad at love for long. Love leaves you little surprises here and there. Love makes messes. Sometimes you just want to get love fixed. Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper and swat love on the nose, But then love gives you big kisses, And you laugh at the little things. Sometimes love just wants to play. Running you around the block, leaving you panting. It pulls you in several different directions at once, or winds around and around you, until you’re all wound up and can’t move. And love brings you together. People who have nothing in common but love stop and talk and greet each other on the street. Most importantly, love needs love, and lots of it. And in return, love loves you and loves you and never stops.”
OTHER WEDDING READINGS & POEMS
Blessing of the Hands – Unknown
“These are the hands of your partner, young and strong and full of love, holding your hands 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 hold you and comfort you in grief and uncertainty. These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes, tears of sorrow and joy. These are the hands that will hold your family as one. These are the hands that will give you strength. And 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.”
“Union” – Robert Fulghum
“You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks — all those conversations that began with, ‘When we’re married’, and continued with ‘I will’ and ‘you will’ and ‘we will’ — all those late night talks that included ‘someday’ and ‘somehow’ and ‘maybe’ — and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.
The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, ‘You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed — well, I meant it all, every word.’
Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.
For after today, you shall say to the world — This is my husband. This is my wife.”