Recommended wedding readings

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"I know they have both put a tremendous amount of effort in to the planning of this wedding, and can only hope that, apart from this speech, everything has ..."

Wedding readings can be prayers, quotations, book excerpts, poems or even song lyrics. Some wedding readings focus on the couple, while others speak about the blending of two families or focus solely on the bride. Readings can be repeated by the officiant of the wedding or by a family member. They can be read during the ceremony, before the couple takes their vows, or as a toast during the reception.

1. Poems

   • The poem "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron is a common reading at a wedding, as it describes a beautiful woman. It begins, "She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies, and all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes, thus mellowed to that tender light which heaven to gaudy day denies." The poem "On Marriage" by Kahlil Gibran is often read at weddings as well. It begins, "You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days." It continues to say, "Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup."

   Sonnets

   • Sonnets, particularly those by the ever-romantic William Shakespeare, are commonly read during wedding ceremonies or receptions. Sonnet 18 begins, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May and summer's lease hath all too short a date." In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare begins, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds or bends with the remover to remove." Shakespeare then writes, "Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out, even to the edge of doom."

   Prayers and Blessings

   • A common prayer that's read at weddings is by Bud Henry Bowmen. It says, "Help them to hug each other often, talk and laugh a lot. Help them to continue to enjoy each other as they did when they first met." The rest of the prayer asks God to help the couple love, respect and enjoy each other. The Hebrew wedding prayer begins, "Blesses art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hath created joy and gladness, bridegroom and bride, mirth and exultation, pleasure and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship."

   Scripture

   • Readings taken directly from the Bible are popular in either Jewish or Christian marriage ceremonies. A Jewish marriage will most likely select a passage from the Old Testament, which is the Hebrew section of the Bible. Christian or mixed ceremonies would have readings from either the Old Testament or the New Testament. Often, more than one reading is selected from the Bible. The Song of Solomon 2:10-13 says, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers have already appeared in the land." I Corinthians 13:1-13 begins, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."

Source: www.ehow.com

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