Ceremony Readings, they are a great way to show someone how much they mean to you and your spouse.  You think people may not be fond of public speaking, but there are times that even the fear isn’t enough for someone to say no.  The honor and love you show your reader will shine through while they are speaking.

Readings can evoke laughter, joy, tears, sentiment, advice, and more.  It is certainly something that should be talked about and added to any ceremony.  We decided to find a few that are great for any couple, or even a starting point to finding the right one.  Keep in mind when asking your readers; do you have a reading in mind?  Do they have a reading in mind? Do you want them to create something personal?

Enjoy the readings 🙂 Have a great day!

 1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-8a:  Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.

An excerpt from “The Master Speed” by Robert Frost:  Two such as you, with such a master speed, Cannot be parted nor be swept away, From one another once you are agreed, That life is only life forevermore, Together wing to wing and oar to oar.

Scottish Wedding Prayer:  Lord help us to remember when, We first met and the strong, love that grew between us. To work that love into, practical things so that nothing, can divide us. We ask for words both kind, and loving and hearts always, ready to ask forgiveness, as well as to forgive. Dear Lord, we put our, marriage into your hands.

THE SEVEN BLESSINGS:  From “The New Jewish Wedding” By Anita Diamant ~

“-We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, expressing our appreciation for this wine, symbol and aid of our rejoicing.  -We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, realizing that each separate moment and every distinct object points to and shares in this oneness.  -We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, recognizing and appreciating the blessing of being human.  -We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, realizing the special gift of awareness that permits us to perceive this unity and the wonder we experience as a man and a woman joined to live together.  -May rejoicing resound throughout the world as the homeless are given homes, persecution and oppression cease, and all people learn to live in peace with each other and in harmony with their environment.  -From the Divine, source of all energy, we call forth an abundance of love to envelop this couple. May they be for each other lovers and friends, and may their love partake of the same innocence, purity, and sense of discovery that we imagine the first couple to have experienced.  -We acknowledge the Unity of all within the sovereignty of God, and we highlight today joy and gladness, bridegroom and bride, delight and cheer, love and harmony, peace and companionship. May we all witness the day when the dominant sounds through the world will be these sounds of happiness, the voices of lovers, the sounds of feasting and singing.  -Praised is love; blessed be this marriage. May the bride and bridegroom rejoice together.”

 ECCLESIASTES 4:9-12:  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow;  but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone?   And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him.

“Wedding Prayer” by Robert Lewis Stevenson:  Lord, behold our family here assembled.  We thank you for this place in which we dwell, for the love that unites us, for the peace accorded us this day, for the hope with which we expect the morrow, for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Amen

“To Be One With Each Other” by George Eliot:  What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow, to share with each other in all gladness, to be one with each other in the silent unspoken memories?