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Ceremony Readings
Not everyone has poetry or
compelling passages of prose
floating around in their heads.
Not everyone can spout lines   
rote. But this should not stop
you from having moving and
appropriate readings included
as part of your ceremony. We
have gathered some of our
favorites here for you.

Love has been a universal
theme in poetry since human
beings began putting ink to
paper (even chisel to stone). If
you have a favorite poet, read
his or her works to find love-
themed poetry. The poetry
you choose need not mention
weddings.

The readings we have
gathered here are not always
the complete poem or
passage, but we’ve provided
the title and author for your
reference. All of these citations
are available at your local
bookstore or library. At the
library, you can copy down
the passages to save yourself
the cost of purchasing the
complete books.
Religious (15 readings)
Colossians 3:12-14
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Ephesians
Genesis 1:26-31
Genesis 2:18-24
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Mark 10:6-9
Perfect Love
  Author Unknown
Psalm 128:1-4
Seven Blessings, The ~ From "The New Jewish Wedding"  
Anita Diamant
The Jerusalem Bible, Song of Songs -
2:8-10, 14, 16a; 8:6-7a
The Prayer
   St. Francis of Assisi
Traditional Irish Blessing
Wedding Prayer
POETRY (32 readings)
A New Beginning
  Gwen Frostic
Bridal Song
  John Ford
Dove Poem
Excerpts from 100 Love Sonnets
  Pablo Neruda
Fidelity
  D.H. Lawrence~
Hope is the Thing With Feathers
  Emily Dickinson
Hindu Marriage Poem
How Do I Love Thee?
  Elizabeth Barrett Browning
If Thou Must Love Me
  Elizabeth Barrett Browning
In Love Made Visible
  Mary Swanson
Love
  Roy Croft
Love Lives
  John Clare
Love's Philosophy
  Percy Shelle
Marriage
   Mary Weston Fordham
My Love
  Linda Lee Elrod
My True Love
  Sir Phillip Sydney
Passionate Shepherd to His Love, The
 Christopher Marlowe
She Walks In Beauty
  Lord Byron
Somewhere I Have Never Travelled
   E.E. Cummings
Sonnet 18
  William Shakespeare
Sonnet 116
  William Shakespeare
Sonnet LXIX
  Pablo Neruda
Sudden Light
  Dante Gabriel Rossetti
'Til Death Do Us Part
   Carol D. Bos
To Althea, from Prison (Last Stanza)
  Richard Lovelace
Touched   an Angel
  Maya Angelou
True Love
  Author Unknown
Untitled
  Christina Rossetti
Untitled
  Walt Whitman
Why Marriage?
  Author Unknown
Other (33 readings)
A Gift From The Sea (Excerpt)
   Anne Morrow Lindbergh
A History of Love
  Diane Ackerman
A Marriage
  Michael Blumenthal
Apache Marriage Blessing
Art of Marriage, The
  Author Unknown
Blessing For A Marriage
  James Dillet Freeman
Bridge Across Forever, The (Excerpt)
  Richard Bach
Cherokee Prayer
Country of Marriage, The (Excerpt)
  Wendell Berry
Eskimo Wedding Song
Excerpts from "A Song For Hiawatha"
Foundations of Marriage
  Regina Hill
I Ching (Excerpt)
I Promise
  Dorothy Colgan
Letters
  Rainer Maria Rilke
Love
  Author Unknown
Love Is A Great Thing
  Thomas a Kempis
Marriage Joins Two People In The Circle Of Its Love
  Edmund O'Neill
Most Wonderful Of All Things In Life, The
  Sir Hugh Walpole
Never Marry But For Love
  William Penn
On Love
  Thomas a Kempis
On Marriage ~ From The Prophet  
 Kahlil Gilbran
Prophet, The (Excerpt)
  Kahlil Gilbran
Sound of Silence
  Raymond J. Baughan
Speak to Us of Love ~ From The Prophet  
 Kahlil Gilbran
Symposium, The
  Plato
Tuesdays With Morrie (Excerpt)
  Mitch Albom
Untitled
  Carl Sandburg
Untitled
  Author Unknown
Untitled
  Author Unknown
The Velveteen Rabbit (Excerpt)
  Margery Williams
What Is Love?
  Author Unknown
What of Marriage? ~ From The Prophet
   Kahlil Gilbran
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