Tell me your ceremony readings. Need suggestions/inspiration

My godmother is going to read A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton.

I hate the hands reading (I guess that's an UO). It's repetitive, dull and boring to hear.

go to my pinterest page. There are about 600 readings on there from 12 different officiants.

http://pinterest.com/celiamilton

"?I hereby give myself. I love you. You are the only being whom I can love absolutely with my complete self, with all my flesh and mind and heart. You are my mate; my perfect partner, and I am yours. You must feel this now, as I do. It was a marvel that we ever met. It is some kind of divine luck that we are together now. As we look at each other we verify, we know, the perfection of our love, we recognize each other. Here is my life. " (Iris Murdoch)

"Never, ever, try to impress somebody. Be exactly the person you would be if you were alone or with somebody it was safe to burp around. Be that person. Be the person you are right now alone, reading this book. And then meet people. Then hold out until you meet somebody who is utterly impressed. Because then? You will not have impressed them. They will have been impressed by you.

The difference may seem just a matter of semantics. But it’s not. The difference is finding a person who’s right for you. Not one you think is correct. The other ways won’t work. Even if they work for a while…they will fail. You will always slide back into being who you actually are. And the person you are with will want a refund.

But. If you meet somebody and they love you when you are your true, awful, not-ready-yet, boring, not cool enough, not handsome enough, not pretty enough, too fat, too poor self? And if you love them back so much it makes you calm? And they have flaws and you do not mind a single one of them? If you can say yes, you have found…..IT." From author Augusten Burroughs

Building a wedding -- the bridal party, the families, the guests, the minister, writing the vows, selecting the food -- is like an outdoor sculpture . You're trying to make something beautiful out of unruly and unpredictable elements -- the weather, the nuttier relatives, rivalries, disorders, dreams. Out of mostly old neurotic family and friends, you hope to create something of beauty, a whole. You create it as an act of faith, that for a brief period of time, the love and commitment of two people will bring everyone together, and it will sort of work. Even if the weather or personalities are worrisome, these breezes and water will flow through the structure of your wedding, will sanctify and change it, and it will hold.

That's what's so touching about weddings: Two people fall in love, and decide to see if their love might stand up over time, if there might be enough grace and forgiveness and memory lapses to help the whole shebang hang together.. And the ceremony adds so much hope to it all, but also so much more discomfort, and expense, and your only hope is that here on the big day, all that energy will run through the lightest elements and the heaviest, the brightest, the dullest, the funniest, the most annoying, and the whole range will converge within a ring of celebration.

You celebrate what works -- it's a miracle that so much still does -- and you take tender care of what doesn't and yes, Weddings are about families, and families can be a bit of a mess under stress. But the love that will gathers here is much more important than anything else on earth, and bigger than anything else on earth, too. Because finally, that love is sovereign." These words are from author Anne Lamott, in her book Plan B.

Im thinking The key to love. Not sure who wrote it. Think its Anon.

We aren't doing a reading (or prayer, or unity candle, etc) - is that weird? Are readings the norm?

Here are some of my fav.'s we are starting to write our ceremony and having my FSIL do a reading, we have gotten different feed back. Which do you like best out of the 5 below (sorry not hijacking your post).

1)“The Secrets of a Good Marriage"

They say there's secrets to a good marriage,

That there are rules to obey,

But the most important rules of love,

Are what you two do every day.

It's the 'hey babes' in the morning,

It's how she makes his tea,

It's the way he smiles at her,

Such a sweet thing to see.

It's never being too old to hold hands,

Or to watch movies on the couch,

It's accepting all the flaws,

Even when the other's a grouch.

It's telling him he's not going grey,

It's the 'You look fine in those jeans'

It's ignoring the mid-life crisis,

and all her little 'scenes'.

It's facing the world as one,

And it's more than love at first sight,

It's together being a family,

Each and every day and night.

It's the way he looks into her eyes,

It's the way that she looks too,

It's why they stand before us,

and it's why they’ll say 'I do'.

And now I stand here today,

On this important moment in life,

With two people very in love,

Soon to be husband and wife.

2) Frederick Buechner:

"They say they will love, comfort, honor each other to the end of their days. They say they will cherish each other and be faithful to each other always. They say they will do these things not just when they feel like it, but even -- for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health -- when they don't feel like it at all. In other words, the vows they make could hardly be more extravagant. They give away their freedom. They take on themselves each other's burdens. They bind their lives together... The question is, what do they get in return?

"They get each other in return... There will always be the other to talk to, to listen to... There is still someone to get through the night with, to wake into the new day beside. If they have children, they can give them, as well as each other, roots and wings. If they don't have children, they each become the other's child.

"They both still have their lives apart as well as a life together. They both still have their separate ways to find. But a marriage made in heaven is one where a man and a woman become more richly themselves together than the chances are either of them could ever have managed to become alone."

3) "On Your Wedding Day" - Anon

Today is a day you will always remember

The greatest in anyone’s life

You’ll start off the day just two people in love

And end it as Husband and Wife

It’s a brand new beginning the start of a journey

With moments to cherish and treasure

And although there’ll be times when you both disagree

These will surely be outweighed by pleasure

You’ll have heard many words of advice in the past

When the secrets of marriage were spoken

But you know that the answers lie hidden inside

Where the bond of true love lies unbroken

So live happy forever as lovers and friends

It’s the dawn of a new life for you

As you stand there together with love in your eyes

From the moment you whisper ‘I do’

And with luck, all your hopes, and your dreams can be real

May success find its way to your hearts

Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys

But today is the day it all starts!

4)

"There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We were born with it, it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies. We are often unaware of it, but it is always awake. It is the human desire for love. Every person in this earth yearns to love, to be loved, to know love. Our true identity, our reason for being, is to be found in this desire...

“...love is the 'why' of life: why we are functioning at all, what we want to be efficient for... I am convinced [love] is the fundamental energy of the human spirit, the fuel on which we run, the wellspring of our vitality. And grace, which is the flowing, creative activity of love itself, is what makes all goodness possible.

“Love should come first; it should be the beginning of and the reason for everything."

-- Gerald May

5) Richard Bach’s “The Bridge Across Forever”,

“A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soul mate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soul mate is the one who makes life come to life.”

Thanks!

Brittany, i think FH would be perfectly happy without a reading, but I'd like one and it gives my brother a job (he's not a groomsman and I feel ever so slightly guilty about it).

Colleen I love that Secrets one, it's great! Sorry for bumping the hell out of this thread lol

Well now after reading "Secrets of a good marriage" I might have to have one. That's funny and endearing!

Keep in mind that rhyming things are very hard to read without sounding sing-songy.

Readings should be included if they express your personality and further the trajectory of the narrative. Which is why I hate most of them.

@Celia - I LOVE that one by Augusten Burroughs.

I'm leaning toward Rumi.

JEEZ CELIA. I'm on your board ugly-happy crying because you've got the piece from His Dark Materials.

ETA: Apparently the board edits out the less-than sign. My comment was supposed to end with less-than-three because I heart that speech so much.

Oh gosh... I never even thought of this... wedding I 22 days... not adding it!

"Union" by Robert Fulghum

Celia, I went for ceremony readings and stayed for "Vow-wow-wows"

Ha ha ha!

"When We Marry Wisely" I am only having the one reading and my 17 year old son will be doing the reading. I found most readings cheesy and was not going to have one at all, however this one is perfect.

This thread has been SUPER helpful! We've been discussing having a reading and weren't sure how many is enough/too many? I was thinking just one (if any!) but my fiancé is thinking we need to "balance it out" with 2...neither of us has any idea really haha

I have Celia's wedding vows and readings Pinterest page bookmarked on Google. My favorite so far is a quote from Albert Einstein

"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."

Very Helpful thread! I just went through pages and pages to find it again!!