Readings for Civil Ceremony?

I wanted to make our ceremony a bit longer so we were defintiely going for 1 reading and we have recently added another as well, we are having Union by Robert Fulgham and a thing about why wedding rings are on the 3rd finger based on Chinese beliefs (no link to China in our falilies, it's just a lovely metaphor!) I think the registrar will just speak at normal pace to be honest, that reading would be lovely and not too long or slushy!

That sounds totally appropriate. TBH we're having a civil ceremony and haven't decided on readings or even music yet.

I've noted down a few verses I like but nothing that I think would appeal to anyone but us.

I'll be watching this thread with interest!

Hi

I am planning on having a reading as I feel the ceremony part will go very quickly and would like to 'embrace' it more, I really like he's not perfect by Bob marley, I think the one you picked sounds lovely and would be very appropriate! X

We've picked one poem and have written our own vows to say after the registrar legal bit, you don't have to do it but its nice to personalise it a little bit

Aww, that's lovely ?

The ceremony will be a bit longer if you choose the traditional vows. We don't get to write our own, so we're looking at having a reading. Think we're only allowed one though. As we're not allowed personalised vows, this is a way of making it more 'us'. There are plenty of different things you could use as a reading if you're not too keen on the more usual choices

I think readings add a personal touch to a very scripted ceremony. Also as you said, without readings the ceremony will be very short. We are having 2 readings by Bridesmaids, I've told them to pick them and leave it as a suprise for us on the day x

We don't want mushy ones and reading most on the internet make me feel nothing at all but there are 2 that have caught my eye. I can't quite remember what they are called, I think one is the art of marriage, not sure on the other one.

Not sure if this helps, but we're having 2 and we were thinking of these:

Before vows:

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 promises and agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks — all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” — 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 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, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last few years. Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this is my husband, this is my wife.

After vows:

I wanna make you smile,

Whenever you're sad.

Carry you around when your arthritis is bad.

All I wanna do,

Is grow old with you.

I'll get you medicine,

When your tummy aches.

Build you a fire if the furnace breaks.

Oh it could be so nice,

Growin' old with you.

I'll miss you, kiss you,

Give you my coat when you are cold.

Need you, feed you.

Even let you hold the remote control.

So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink.

Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink.

Oh I could be the man,

Who grows old with you.

I wanna grow old with you.

We are only having one secular reading as we're marrying in church, but we're not mushy people so decided on this from Captain Correlli's Mandolin. Not read the book or watched the film, but i think its pretty perfect.

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.

We aren't having any readings. We have picked the music and are having the longer length vows but there isn't anything I particularly want read out, and OH is the same. I really love "To my dear and loving husband" ad have had the first line engraved inside his ring as a surprise, but I think I would be mortified if it was read out. I know that is rather silly, but although I am very loving to my OH, I struggle with public declarations of love and the vows will be enough for me

I think the reading you picked is really nice. I like the idea of readings, but I don't think you have to have them. Our ceremony will be pretty short but that's what we want. I think the one you suggested is lovely if you want to lengthen yours a bit.

I like your choice of reading! I think it's appropriate. Me and the OH are also against mushy, lovey, dovey, readings and poems. However, we knew that without readings the ceremony would be over pretty sharpish! We've opted for 'He's not perfect' by Bob Marley as one of ours. It's so us and shouldn't make the guests reach for their sick buckets

Sung in the style of Robbie Hart?

OP I think that is a lovely reading.

We had three and one was very long (from Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome), one was very sweet ("Maybe') and one was funny ('I rely on You' by Hovis Presley).

I rely on you
like a Skoda needs suspension
like the aged need a pension
like a trampoline needs tension
like a bungee jump needs apprehension
I rely on you
like a camera needs a shutter
like a gambler needs a flutter
like a golfer needs a putter
like a buttered scone involves some butter
I rely on you
like an acrobat needs ice cool nerve
like a hairpin needs a drastic curve
like an HGV needs endless derv
like an outside left needs a body swerve
I rely on you
like a handyman needs pliers
like an auctioneer needs buyers
like a laundromat needs driers
like The Good Life needed Richard Briers
I rely on you
like a water vole needs water
like a brick outhouse needs mortar
like a lemming to the slaughter
Ryan's just Ryan without his daughter
I rely on you

Were having a reading from The Alchmist, future FIL is a wonderful speaker and we know that he would love to be involved in that way so its perfect. Were also having a Unity candle and are going to write our own vows (I think)

Thanks Ladies for your feedback and all your suggestions ? Keep them coming!

Sums2b - I understand your point of view as that is what we originally thought too. Provisional choices for music have been selected and we thought the music would help personalise the ceremony, but looking through the draft ceremony script with breaks appropriate for readings made me think twice. Perhaps we had been too hasty in ruling out readings when we should at least look at our options first. Getting the first line of "To my dear and loving husband" engraved on your OH's ring is a nice touch.

MrsB88 - I hope you have some fantastic surprises on the day!

I think the OH is becoming open to the idea of possibly having readings. Bets2015 - I shown him 'He's not perfect' and he liked it. He didn't like the lyrics from 'Better Together' by Jack Johnson (I really like that song) or Ogden Nash's short poem 'A Word to Husbands'.

Are you suppose to mention the title of readings, author and source publication/album/film etc during the ceremony?

WinterWeddingBec - Who are you choosing to do your readings?

To get a balance, would it be best to have one female and one male reader (our ceremony allows 2 readings max)? Our ceremony room can hold up to 114 people which I imagine can be nervewracking so a certain amount of confidence is required.

I don't have any suggestions but this thread has been very useful as we don't want any mushy, lovey dicey readings. It's just not us.

I love the Bob Marley, that is exactly the tone I'm after.

We're having 2 readings. One from The Alchemist and 'Maybe' - both resonate with us well :-)

We are having two. The first is A Lovely Love Story:

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

Our other reading is the lyrics to English Rose by The Jam. We will have this as part of our wedding music too.

English Rose by The Jam... what a wonderful idea!

I have a couple to recommend that are not too slushy and ideal if you are a little geeky (like myself).

Neil Gaiman's The Day The Saucers Came is a classic https://gravitando.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/the-day-the-saucers-came-by-neil-gaiman/

and Tim Pratt's Scientific Romance Redux http://www.timpratt.org/?p=1223

I spent yesterday looking for a Terry Pratchett reading...I do like the one people have found from Thief of Time:

“Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, re-created anew. Therefore, he understood, there is, in truth, no Past, only a memory of the Past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.”

I think civil ceremonies go really quickly so will bulk ours out with readings. We have only chosen one so far which is If by Rudyard Kipling as it's his favourite poem - it's not really about love or marriage so not slushy. Maybe you could pick something a bit off the wall? Just something you find funny that actually has nothing to do with love or romance, just something that makes you both laugh x

We're having two readings. One is a Polish poem called Love at first sight because we always joke about the fact that our first date lasted over 10 hours and we we've been inseparable since. ? Mushy for some, but we love it. Another is a passage from a book about what a soul mate is. Our siblings will be reading them and we'll have English/Polish translations in our program.

My name is Chelsea and I'm a hopeless romantic ?

I've always thought readings and personal vows were a nice way to make your ceremony personal. This is the most important part of the day after all.

x

Love it! I've been an avid reader of TP since goodness knows when (on original publication timescale, not coming to it after years - I'm THAT old). I've filed this one.

SparklingTeaCups, you and me both on the 'that' old!

I now have a job to convince my h2b on this quote as:

1. He thinks it's very geeky and doesn't share my love of fantasy, sci-fi or, in fact, reading in general

2. I had already chosen 'my' reading and we have sent them to the registrars.

I had also been hoping for something from Vimes or Moist Von Lipwig as they are my favourite characters (I always imagine Sean Pertwee as a gruff rough and ready Vimes. Moist, I'm not sure...maybe the Cumberbatch could turn his hand to)

*Hugs* Awesome hugs at that!

I think I need to do a re-read - its been a while and it would be a fitting tribute to a great!

We;ve said no to readings, but i think they might be needed - no idea what though!!

I saw the Lovely love story on rock and roll bride and it was lovely in the video Thought I might suggest it as its dinosaurs lol..