readings for a civil ceremony

We are having:

These I Can Promise
Author Unknown

I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.
But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.

And:

On your wedding day

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 time 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.

Did you not receive a pack from the registrars when you booked your ceremony?

We did, and you can download the Hampshire County Council list of automatically approved readings they suggest from the right hand side of https://www3.hants.gov.uk/registration/marriage/wedding-readings.htm as a PDF file.

As always you need to check with your own registrars but it's a fairly safe bet that any of those Hampshire are happy with should be ok with your own county council's registrars.

As a general rule you aren't allowed anything with religious references or religious texts, like music, but if you do find something you like I'm sure most of us will be able to hazard a good guess as to whether your registrars will reject it.

We're having "I will be there" as our additional vows - taking alternate lines each - and "Thank you my soul mate" as we met through the internet, as our two ceremony readings - both can be found in the Hampshire pack.

We had this one, after a friend suggested it, everyone still remembers it from our wedding and you can see on the dvd we are laughing to ourselves..

A Lovely Love Story ~ by Edward Monkton ~

The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, HIS cage.

Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.

The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur's cage with kind words and loving thoughts.

I like this Dionsaur, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.

I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur. She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.

But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.

He is also overly fond of Things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of Things?

But her mind skips from here to there so quickly, thought the Dinosaur. She is also uncommonly keen on Shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?

I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for Things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.

I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur. For she fills our life with beautiful thought and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.

Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old. Look at them.

Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.

And that, my frends, is how it is with love. Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.

For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place.

We had Lovely Love Story too. It had everyone giggling and crying all at the same time. My brother read it and did an amazing job.

There is a small section on hitched with readings, also if you google it there are a few other wedding websites - I think the Glasgow Girls Wedding website has lots on it.

We were having the dinosaur one but getting less keen by the day. My schoolteacher MOH is doing it and I know she's got the confidence and timing to do a proper Jackanory with it, probably with boy and girl voices as well. But it just seems so ubiquitous these days - how many of you have been to a ceremony where it's been used? Our second reading is Scaffolding by Seamus Heaney " Masons, when they start upon a building, Are careful to test out the scaffolding; Make sure that planks won't slip at busy points, Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints, And yet all this come down when the job's done, Showing off walls of sure and solid stone. So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be Old bridges breaking between you and me Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall Confident that we have built our wall."

How lovely!!!..xx

We had this one:

Union by Robert Fulghum

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 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 – 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.

Have a look at this website: http://creditcrunchbride.wordpress.com/category/readings/

They have quite a few pages of unusual/different readings.

We're having The Promise by Eileen Rafter, we haven't agreed on any more yet!

AB

We were suggested Khalil Gibrian (or something like that) - he has some beautiful prose that has been writtten into poems. He wrote The Prophet and I found him via good old Google

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, its such a huge decision i just want to get it right. I love the dinosaur poem but my future brother and sister in law had it at their wedding last summer so thats kinda out.