Those who are having a church wedding! :)

We're having 'Letter to the Hebrews' and then 'I will be here' by Stephen Curtis Chapman as our non-religious reading.

Were having :

A Reading from the letter to the Ephesians 5:2, 21-33

And walk in love,
as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,
a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour.
As the church is subject to Christ,
so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives,
as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
that he might sanctify her,
having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
that he might present the church to himself in splendour,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish.

Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no man ever hates his own flesh,
but nourishes and cherishes it,
as Christ does the church,
because we are members of his body.
"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh."

This mystery is a profound one,
and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church;
however, let each one of you love his wife as himself,
and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

This is the word of the Lord

And Shakespeare Sonnet 116

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.

We are having the Apachi Prayer its very simple but meaningful

Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there is no more loneliness,
For each of you will be companion to the other.

Now you are two bodies,
But there is one life before you.

Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

and we are having a poem the art of a good marriage

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.
A good marriage must be created.
In 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 a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted;
the courtship should not end
with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,
but in the spirit of joy. It is speaking words of appreciation
and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience,
understanding and a sense of humor.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,
dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.

We are also having this as our non-biblical reading and having the Song of Solomon as our biblical reading.

HTH

xxx

We're using a shortened version of the words of "I will be here" by Stephen Curtis Chapman as 'additional vows to each other'.

For Bible readings in our blessing ceremony, we're having Genesis 2 v 18-24

18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

and Ecclesiastes 4 v 9-12. The "third strand" is, of course, God, and of relevance to how we see marriage and our future lives together - I realise it won't fit everyone's tastes.

9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

I want this to be one of our readings, but I'm worried it might be a bit depressing for any single/recently-dumped guests...

We wanted corinthians too but it had been the reading at the last 5 weddings we'd been to, so after extensive research we came up with the one below - and the captain corelli one, i knew i wanted before he even proposed!!

~ READING: From Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

“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.”

~ READING: 1 John 4:7-12 ~

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us”

We haven't chosen a biblical reading yet but my sister who doesn't want to be my bridesmaid is hopefully going to read 'The Owl and the Pussycat'. ?

The whole wedding itself is probably fairly depressing for any "single/recently dumped guests" if people are sensitive about that sort of thing, so I wouldn't let it influence you in your choice of readings.