Wedding Ceremony Readings You Haven't Heard Yet

“Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” Sound familiar? I am willing to bet that you are involuntarily finishing the rest of this well-known verse. As beautiful and meaningful as this reading is from First Corinthians, it's become an expected, almost redundant staple of wedding ceremonies. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love this Bible verse, but when it came to my wedding, I wanted something different. I felt the same way about my wedding vows. Although there is something to be said for the traditional wedding readings and vows, I wanted to stand at the altar and say things to my soon-to-be-husband that hadn't been said by anyone else in the world. Why? Because our relationship isn't like anyone else's in the world. It's ours. Uniquely and preciously, ours.

I love words. I love how words are strung together, especially the ones that consume you and swallow you up. If you're not a writer, sometimes it's hard to find words that convey the intensity and passion at that right moment. And then there is the beauty of coming across a song lyric, a spoken quote, or written words that say everything you have been trying to say—even though you were sure you were the only one that felt that immeasurable, intense feeling. If you can't impart that in your own words, fortunately, there are countless writers out there who have pieced your thoughts into the perfect words to be spoken at your wedding.

These are two of my favorite wedding ceremony readings that are not nearly as popular as the traditional ones, but are every bit as powerful.

“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 of 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; an 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." - “Union” by Robert Fulghum

“When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror at its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity—in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern. 

The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits—islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.” - “Gift from the Sea” by Anne Morrow Lindberg