Wedding Ceremony Inspiration – Readings & Poetry

Should you choose to have a friend or family member read a beautiful poem, or a special excerpt, there are a number of modern and traditional verses and prose to consider.

Other options could be a specific verse chosen from a favourite song, that means something to you, and – instead of being sung – the words are spoken as a reading.

Below is a selection of 7 readings for inspiration, and I have many more options for you to select from, when we meet together.

And remember – if you are selecting a reading – to always choose a reading because those words matter to YOU.

Afterall; this is YOUR special day!

~ Beverley

The Perfect Love, The Perfect Friend by Renee Duvall

Because you are my love…
I know the joy that comes from feeling closer to someone than I’ve ever felt before
Because you are my love…
I know the passion of wanting to share everything I have, everything I an with you and only you
Because you are my friend…
I know that I can count on you to hold my hand through the rough times and to be there to share the good times too
Because you are my friend…
I’ll always have someone to make me smile, just when I need it most, and to encourage me when I’m feeling confused or doubtful
I know that I must be one of the luckiest people in the world to have someone like you
The perfect love.
The perfect friend.

Always by Author Unknown

I will always accept the way you are
I fell in love with you for the qualities, abilities and the outlook on life that you have
And I won’t try to reshape you in a different image.
I will always respect you as a person with your own interests, desires and needs
And to realise that those are sometimes different …but no less important than my own.
I will always share with you, my time, my close attention
And to bring joy and strength and imagination to our relationship.
I will always pledge to keep myself open to you,
To let you see through the window of my personal world
Into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.
I will always promise to grow along with you
And to be willing to face changes as we both change in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting.
I will always love you in good times and in bad, with all I feel inside …in the only way I know how, completely and forever .

I Love You by Carl Sandberg

I love you for what you are, but I love you yet more for what you are going to be.
I love you not so much for your realities as for your ideals. I pray for your desires that they may be great, rather than for your satisfactions, which may be so hazardously little.
A satisfied flower is one whose petals are about to fall. The most beautiful rose is one hardly more than a bud wherein the pangs and ecstasies of desire are working for a larger and finer growth. Not always shall you be what you are now. You are going forward toward something great. I am on the way with you and therefore I love you.

Excerpt from the Hindu Marriage Ritual

We have taken the seven steps. You have become mine forever. Yes, we have become partners. I have become yours. Hereafter, I cannot live without you. Let us share the joys. We are word and meaning, united. You are thought, and I am sound.
May the nights be honey-sweet for us; may the mornings be honey-sweet for us, may the earth be honey-sweet for us; may the heavens be honey-sweet for us.
May the plants be honey-sweet for us; may the sun be all honey for us, may the cows yield us honey-sweet milk!
As the heavens are stable, as the earth is stable, as the mountains are stable, as the whole universe is stable, so may our union be permanently settled.

‘Forever’ by Beverley Etherington

You mean the world to me
And I want the world to know
That since the day I met you
I’ve wanted time to pass so slow
Every minute of every hour
Every day that dawns anew
I treasure every precious moment
Of time, since I found you.
If I only knew the secret
To slow the hands of time
Then our days would last forever
The clocks would never chime
And with forever in the distance,
I’ll love you more each day,
With every passing moment
My love is here to stay
I love you, now and forever
Know these words are true,
Forever isn’t long enough
When I love someone like you.

‘Love Is (Found) Is Love’ by Jo Lynn Ehnes

Love is found; enraptured are two, then shared are understanding and trust entwined with truth.
Defined are dreams and romance; aroused are emotions inside; whenever destiny is working.

Working is destiny whenever inside emotions are aroused. Romance and dreams are defined. Truth with entwined trust and understanding are shared, then two are enraptured; found is love.

‘Time in a Bottle’ by Jim Croce

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day
‘Til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I’d save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I’ve looked around enough to know
That you’re the one I want to go
Through time with
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I’ve looked around enough to know
That you’re the one I want to go
Through time with