What is everyone using for ceremony readings?

kmstev03

So I need to come up with some ideas for ceremony readings... What is everyone doing (if you are using readings)? Does anyone have ideas for a poem or something similar? Thanks!

clcranda

We are reading Ephesians 5:22-33, Love is a Great Thing by Thomas A Kempis and The Prayer of St. Francis of Assissi

kmstev03

I LOVE the St. Francis one, I have it framed in my bedroom. Great idea 

jemmini6

We used Union by Robert Fulghum

MiksChick23

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_what-is-everyone-using-for-ceremony-readings?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:7004cce6-8872-48f4-ab9d-531661997aaaPost:b3e230e9-79e6-4596-bbc4-bc206054b78e">Re: What is everyone using for ceremony readings?</a>:
[QUOTE]We used Union by Robert Fulghum
Posted by jemmini6[/QUOTE]

This one.

And, "Blessing for a Marriage" by James Dillet Freeman

karenmruff

We are using a passage from Corelli's Mandolin starting 'Love is a temporary madness.'  I like it because it has some sense of 'marriage is hard work' while still being a beautiful passage.

ElisabethJoanne

http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Marriage.htm
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm#Marriage

Also, I Cor. 13

All required by the church

mbatzlaff

We are planning to use a passage from Winnie the Pooh. One of the quotes is something to the effect of, "If you live to be a hundred I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you." We may end up finding a different passage from one of A.A. Milne's books instead of that one, but that gives you an idea.

HobokensFury

We used "The Art of Marriage", an Irish Wedding Blessing and Corinthians 13.

mrszeno34

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_what-is-everyone-using-for-ceremony-readings?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:10Discussion:7004cce6-8872-48f4-ab9d-531661997aaaPost:b3e230e9-79e6-4596-bbc4-bc206054b78e">Re: What is everyone using for ceremony readings?</a>:
[QUOTE]We used Union by Robert Fulghum
Posted by jemmini6[/QUOTE]

We are using this one as well, and FI is choosing a Biblical one, probably the Corinthian's Love is Patient reading.  We are also using Thoughts from a Garden by Gernhardt...

calliopeia2013

Mine are the "Many Waters" passage from Song of Solomon, an excerpt from Kahlil Gibran on love, and the passage from John Stuart Mill's On the Subjection of Women about the ideal marriage.  I also really wanted to use ee cumming's "i carry your heart," but FI thinks it's too complex for people listening to the poem being read aloud to understand it.  Even though it is obviously the best love poem in the world. 

PopPow

A poem Neil Gaiman wrote for a friends wedding:
This for you, for both of you,
a small poem of happiness
filled with small glories and little triumphs
a fragile, short cheerful song
filled with hope and all sorts of futures
Because at weddings we imagine the future
Because it's all about "what happened next?"
all the work and negotiation and building and talk
that makes even the tiniest happily ever after
something to be proud of for a wee forever
This is a small thought for both of you
like a feather or a prayer,
a wish of trust and love and hope
and fine brave hearts and true.
Like a tower, or a house made all of bones and dreams
and tomorrows and tomorrows and tomorrows

nitecheese

The two readings that I've selected so far are Robert Fulghum's Union and the Taylor Mali poem "Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog". The verdict is still out on the third.

Any suggestions for something that isn't religious, or too cheesy?

Penguin8412

I love penguins (they are my favorite animal) and just before my FI proposed he gave me a pebble and a story about how male penguins will choose the perfect pebble to present to their female mates and if the female approves they will mate for life.

We are having our pastor read the pebble and the penguin story since it fits us so well. Just an idea. It doesn't have to be something straight out of a book that means nothing to you. It should be something personal. Something that you and your FI both relate to.

Lolagirl2012

We are using a passage from Ruth. It's about commitment and undying devotion. While Ruth is referring to her mother in law in the passage, we love the meaning behind it and it fits perfectly with how we feel our marriage should be. Ruth - Chapter 1:16-17 But Ruth replied "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."