Readings For Ceremony Help Needed Please

Don't know that its different but we had an excerpt from Captain Correllis mandolin, I really loved the words and they meant something to us.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres

Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being "in love" which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.

Hey martyne sorry dont have any ideas i was hoping to get a few ideas myself sorry to crash your thread xx

I like the poem above. Sorry I cannot be of any help, I am totally stuck myself! ?

I am having a extract from the Velveteen Rabbit for one reading, (which me & bridesmaids thought was romantic and about unconditional love, and H2B just read it and said 'what have rabbits got to do with weddings?') lol

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that move inside you and a stick-out handle?" "Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." "Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That*s why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don*t understand." "I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled. "The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

For the second reading as I wanted something no one else would have, I have written my own, taking lyrics from Manic St Preacher songs as they are our fav band ever and we are seeing them the day after the wedding!

Great idea about the manic street preacher lyrics....

I found a bunch on Wedding magazines website:

http://www.weddingmagazine.co.uk/articles/receptions/369799/wedding-readings.html

Were having On your wedding day, which I think is quite popular and...

I’ll be there
I’ll be there my darling, through thick and through thin When your mind’s in a mess and your head’s in a spin When your plane’s been delayed, and you’ve missed the last train. When life is just threatening to drive you insane When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page When somebody tells you, you’re looking your age When your coffee’s too cool, and your wine is too warm When the forecast said “Fine”, but you’re out in a storm When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum And your holiday photos show only your thumb When you park for five minutes in a resident’s bay And return to discover you’ve been towed away When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste
Just stick on your hips and don’t reach round your waist When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes
So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear... When you break a rule, when you act the fool When you’ve got the flu, when you’re in a stew When you’re last in the queue, don’t feel blue ‘cause I’m telling you, I’ll be there.

There are loads on that link though xxx

This one is from when harry met sally its quite cute... wasnt right for us but it is sweet

I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out.
 I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich.


I love that you get a little crinkle in your nose 
when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend day with you,
 I can still smell your perfume on my clothes.


And I love that you are the last person
 I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night.
 And it’s not because I’m lonely,
 and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve.

I came here tonight because when you realize
 you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody,
 you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

Ooh I really like that one thanks x

Thats ok looking at peoples threads is how ive got most of my ideas lol xx

what about something from shakespere, or one of wordsworth's sonnets!? Theres a few poems at the bottom of this... http://www.weddingsday.co.uk/civil-wedding-readings/

Marriage Joins Two People In The Circle Of Its Love by Edmund O'Neill

Marriage is a commitment to life, the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other relationship can equal. It is a physical and an emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime.
Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships. A wife and a husband are each other's best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener, and critic. And there may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love of the other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a child.
Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller, memories are fresher, commitment is stronger, even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly.
Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences, and new ways of expressing a love that is deeper than life.
When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique unto themselves which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential made in the hearts of two people who love each other and takes a lifetime to fulfill.

Love is just not looking at each other and saying "You're wonderful".
There are times when we are anything but wonderful.
Love is looking out in the same direction.
It is linking our strength to pull a common load.
It is pushing together towards the far horizons, hand in hand.
Love is knowing that when our strength falters, we can borrow the strength of someone who cares.
Love is a strange awareness that our sorrows will be shared and made lighter by sharing;
that joys will be enriched and multiplied by the joy of another.
Love is knowing someone else cares that we are not alone in life

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 Dinosaur 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 thoughts 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 friends, 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.

Thanks sam thats loads x

I read this poem at my mum's wedding then my friend had it at hers. I got choked up reading it towards the end but managed to finish it.

On Your Wedding Day
Author Unknown

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 it's way to your hearts
Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys
But today is the day it all starts.

Same here ?

Hi girls

Havw found some good readings tonight so thought id share them,let me know what you think

martyne x

'I Love You'

I love you not only for what you are,
But for what I am when I am with you
I love you not only for what you have made of yourself
But for what you are making me
I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
I love you for passing over all my foolish and weak traits,
That you can’t help but see
I love you for drawing out into the light my beauty,
That no one else had looked quite far enough to din
I love you.

A Walled Garden
'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 hold the key.
Within this garden, you will cease to be a mother, father, employee,
homemaker or any other of the roles which you fulfill in everyday 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.

"Today...
I look into the eyes of my best friend
The one with whom I can share anything with
My deepest hopes and heart-filled dreams
Inner fears and sheltered insecurities
My most warming joys and overwhelming triumphs
All future journeys that I have left to encounter
This and more I know I can share with you

Today...
I take pride in my best friend
With admiration I look upon you and smile
For all that you are and all that you do that makes me so proud
Every part of you that I have come to adore
And for all those parts I have not yet learned
I will live each day from now on cherishing you with honor

Today...
I share my soul to my best friend
My most prized possession which no other has been given
I give it with great confidence and trust
Because with you I am at peace and I know with you it is safe
You give to me a warmth that I keep with me always
And what else can I give to someone who has given me so much
For you have opened my eyes to see a love, which before you I was blind to

Today...
I am marrying my best friend
For I know now God put you here to be my partner
Knowing even before I,
that you were the one I would live to love Guiding me to this aisle,
He knew your hand would be waiting here for
me to hold
Graciously leading me here to you and allowing us to share this moment together
So I could begin the rest of my journeys through life, happily ever after with you

“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?

ONe of my readins has been written by my sister, the other my Mum is reading, is by my cousin who writes poetry...

is there anyone in your family that can write? That might be a good place to start?

Just another idea to what the ladies have mentioned

x

Wow Ladies. Thank You, Thank You! So may lovely readings.. Blackkat I love the one you put.

Going to sit down tonight with H2B and and a read through with him.

Thankyou for posting the thread to begin with.

Nicole.x

Hiya,

I think Im goign to go for these two, do you think they are ok together or that one should be a bit slushier?

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres

Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being "in love" which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.

A Walled Garden
'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 hold the key.
Within this garden, you will cease to be a mother, father, employee,
homemaker or any other of the roles which you fulfill in everyday 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.

Thanks Martyne x

Good choice Martyne, they were my favourites too I'm def gonna keep the Captain Corellis Mandolin one in mind when I decide mine x