Photo credit: Ayelle Photography
When it comes to choosing great wedding readings for your Civil Ceremony it can be difficult to know where to start. You want something that reflects you as a couple and that fits in with your ceremony. If you are brave, you could opt to give the choice to whoever you have asked to read at your ceremony and allow them to pick your wedding reading for you. If you want to choose your wedding readings yourself, then perhaps find a selection of great readings online and spend an evening with your partner reading them together over dinner.
To help you out we have chosen 5 great wedding readings that would be perfect for your civil ceremony, perhaps one of these is right for you.
1. A Walled Garden (Anon)
“Your marriage”, he said, “Should have within it A secret and protected place, open to you alone. Imagine it to be a walled garden, Entered by a door to which only you have the key. Within this garden you will cease to be a mother, father, employee, Homemaker or any other roles which you fulfil in daily life. Here you are yourselves, two people who love each other. Here you can concentrate on one another’s needs. So take my hand and let us go back to our garden. The time we spend together is not wasted but invested. Invested in our future and the nurture of our love”. Anon
2. Love (unknown)
“Love is enduring and patient and
kind. It judges all things
with the heart not the mind,
love can transform the most
commonplace into a beauty, splendor,
sweetness with grace. For love is
unselfish, giving more than it takes,
no matter what happens love never
forsakes, it is faithful, trusting,
believing, guiltless, honest and never
deceiving. Yes! Love is beyond what
man can define, for love is immortal
and the gift it divine.”
3. The Art of Marriage (Wilfred A. Peterson)
“A good marriage must be created.
In the marriage, the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once each day,
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values and objectives.
It is standing together and facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each person can grow.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right person
It is being the right partner.”
4. Sonnet 116 (William Shakespeare)
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:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
5. 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!”
Have you already chosen the wedding readings for your civil ceremony? Tell us what they are in the comments below!
Are you getting married in a church? Make sure you check out our recent post ‘5 Great Bible readings for your church wedding’ to see more great wedding reading ideas.
Haha … love the last one 🙂 … but some lovely sentiments here. Great blog x