Wedding Vows & Ceremony Discussions

Your Favorite Readings

Hello Ladies!

I need to finalize my ceremony and need one more reading for my cousin to read. What is your favorite reading? At your wedding? At a friends? 

I am looking for something more spiritual then religious. It can have God in it, but not to a specific religion. And of course about love and spending a lifetime together. About commitment and.... well you get it!

TIA!
image


Anniversary

Re: Your Favorite Readings

  • mlg78mlg78 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    Does it have to be from the Bible? Our minister only wanted biblical readings...
  • nope! It can be from anywhere! My uncle is marrying us (one of those get officiated for the day kind of things) so whatever we wish!
    image


    Anniversary
  • My cousin had my sister do a reading called the oath of friendship.

    Oath of Friendship

     

                  I want to be your friend

                  For ever and ever without break of decay.

                  When the hills are all flat

                  And the rivers are all dry,

                  When it lightens and thunders in winter,

                  When it rains and snows in summer,

                  When Heaven and Earth mingle

                  Not ‘til then will I part from you.




  • An excerpt from "Plato's Symposium" 

    Humans have never understood the power of Love, for if they had they would surely have built noble temples and altars and offered solemn sacrifices; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done, since Love is our best friend, our helper, and the healer of the ills which prevent us from being happy. 

    To understand the power of Love, we must understand that our original human nature was not like it is now, but different. Human beings each had two sets of arms, two sets of legs, and two faces looking in opposite directions. There were three sexes then: one comprised of two men called the children of the Sun, one made of two women called the children of the Earth, and a third made of a man and a woman, called the children of the Moon. Due to the power and might of these original humans, the Gods began to fear that their reign might be threatened. They sought for a way to end the humans’ insolence without destroying them. 

    It was at this point that Zeus divided the humans in half. After the division the two parts of each desiring their other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one. So ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of humankind. 

    Each of us when separated, having one side only, is but the indenture of a person, and we are always looking for our other half. Those whose original nature lies with the children of the Sun are men who are drawn to other men, those from the children of the Earth are women who love other women, and those from the children of the Moon are men and women drawn to one another. And when one of us meets our other half, we are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other’s sight even for a moment. We pass our whole lives together, desiring that we should be melted into one, to spend our lives as one person instead of two, and so that after our death there will be one departed soul instead of two; this is the very expression of our ancient need. And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called Love. 

  • My FI and I are thinking about using this one from The Amber Spyglass. "I will love you forever; whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I'll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again... I'll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you... We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams... And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won't just be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight..." 
    image



    Anniversary
  • Excerpt from 100 Love Sonnets

    BY CHILEAN POET, PABLO NERUDA
    I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

    I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers; thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance, risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

    I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way

    than this: Where “I” does not exist, nor “You”, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.


  • indianswimindianswim member
    First Comment
    edited July 2013

    Bubblegum -  Congrats on your wedding!  The following is a reading I'm using at my wedding next June.  Not sure if it's anything up your alley, but thought I'd share.  Good luck!

    An excerpt "Union" by Robert Fulghum

    You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to the 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 begin 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.<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

  • I had this on the back of my programs for my prior marriage (great wedding, not so great marriage).

    From "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams
    "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 buzz 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 the 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."

    (SOME CUT IT OFF HERE, OTHERS FINISH...)
    "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."

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Our daughters want to do a reading at our wedding - they chose quotes from a.a. milne:

    FI's DD:  “I was walking along looking for somebody, and then suddenly I wasn't anymore.” 

    my DD:  “I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.” 

    FI's DD: “Forever isn't long at all, as long as I'm with you.” 

    my DD: “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.” 

     

  • I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg

    I like you and I know why.
    I like you because you are a good person to like.
    I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it’s special
    And you remember it a long, long time.
    You say, “Remember when you told me something special?”
    And both of us remember

    When I think something is important
    you think it’s important too
    We have good ideas
    When I say something funny, you laugh
    I think I’m funny and you think I’m funny too
    Hah-hah!

    I like you because you know where I’m ticklish
    And you don’t tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes
    But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too

    You know how to be silly
    That’s why I like you
    Boy are you ever silly
    I never met anybody sillier than me till I met you
    I like you because you know when it’s time to stop being silly
    Maybe day after tomorrow
    Maybe never
    Too late, it’s a quarter past silly!

    Sometimes we don’t say a word
    We snurkle under fences
    We spy secret places
    If I am a goofus on the roofus hollering my head off
    You are one too
    If I pretend I am drowning, you pretend you are saving me
    If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag,
    then you are getting ready to jump
    HOORAY!

    That’s because you really like me
    You really like me, don’t you?
    And I really like you back
    And you like me back and I like you back
    And that’s the way we keep on going every day

    If you go away, then I go away too
    or if I stay home, you send me a postcard
    You don’t just say “Well see you around sometime, bye”
    I like you a lot because of that
    If I go away, I send you a postcard too
    And I like you because if we go away together
    And if we are in Grand Central Station
    And if I get lost
    Then you are the one that is yelling for me

    And I like you because when I am feeling sad
    You don’t always cheer me up right away
    Sometimes it is better to be sad
    You can’t stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute
    You want to think about things
    It takes time
    I like you because if I am mad at you
    Then you are mad at me too
    It’s awful when the other person isn’t
    They are so nice and hoo-hoo you could just about punch them in the nose

    I like you because if I think I am going to throw up
    then you are really sorry
    You don’t just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that
    You say, maybe it was something you ate
    You say, the same thing happened to me one time
    And the same thing did

    If you find two four-leaf clovers, you give me one
    If I find four, I give you two
    If we only find three, we keep on looking
    Sometimes we have good luck, and sometimes we don’t
    If I break my arm, and if you break your arm too
    Then it’s fun to have a broken arm
    I tell you about mine, you tell me about yours
    We are both sorry
    We write our names and draw pictures
    We show everybody and they wish they had a broken arm too

    I like you because I don’t know why but
    Everything that happens is nicer with you
    I can’t remember when I didn’t like you
    It must have been lonesome then
    I like you because because because
    I forget why I like you but I do

    So many reasons
    On the 4th of July I like you because it’s the 4th of July
    On the fifth of July, I like you too
    If you and I had some drums and some horns and some horses
    If we had some hats and some flags and some fire engines
    We could be a HOLIDAY
    We could be a CELEBRATION
    We could be a WHOLE PARADE

    See what I mean?
    Even if it was the 999th of July
    Even if it was August
    Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
    Even if it was no place particular in January
    I would go on choosing you
    And you would go on choosing me
    Over and over again

    That’s how it would happen every time
    I don’t know why
    I guess I don’t know why I really like you
    Why do I like you
    I guess I just like you
    I guess I just like you because I like you.

This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards