Examples
of Wedding Ceremony Readings
When preparing a wedding ceremony
reading for a reader, open up the font
to 18 points like this.
Notice how it's easier to read?
Your reader shouldn't have to
squint at 12 point type when reading in front of 200 guests!
Also, to make that reading a little more special- laminate
it. Give it the stiffness and consistency of a restaurant menu.
It gives what's being read a certain "elegance",
which is much different than your reader, stepping up in front
of your guests and unfolding some piece of paper out of his
or her pocket.
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#1. So
may this shining hour be an open door through which _______
and
________
will go forth to build that dearest of all relationships, a
happy marriage. May the years deal gently with them; walking
together may they find far more in life than either would have
found alone; and even more fully may they come to know this
one supreme truth:
That caring is sharing…
That living is giving…
That life is eternal…
And that love is its crown.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#2. We have
come here together that this man and this woman might bear
witness before you and to the world of the oneness that has
grown up between them; that they might affirm this oneness
and this dedication here, as they have affirmed it to each
other. As they now exist as one in their own eyes, so may they
exist in your eyes. The mysterious union of two persons in
marriage has already occurred in them in the giving and receiving
of their love. In witness to this mystery, they do pledge their
love and the sharing of their lives.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#3. May these
two souls
Find a communion of ideal being and perfect grace.
May their love reach the level of every day's
Most quiet need. By sun and candlelight,
May they love freely as men strive for right.
May they love purely as men turn from praise.
May they find strength to meet the adversities;
Tolerance for the prejudices,
Reverence For the Beauties,
Respect for the Truths,
And Faith for the Uncertainties
Which will come their way.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#4. Throughout
the memory of man, the founding of a new home has been noted
as an act of a high and holy order. It has been celebrated
with a service of marriage-in sacred groves, in humble meeting
houses, under vaulted arches, in temples with ancient rites,
and in bombed-out cellars with hurried words.
Yet neither state, church, nor family relations can by the sole weight of tradition,
ceremony, or expectation create a genuine joining of man and woman. Such a
wedlock comes only through the ripening of love freely given.
[Speaking to the couple] It is in your power, therefore, and your power alone
to bless this service- by the sincerity of your purpose, the strength of your
common devotion, and the enduring character of your dedication.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#5. These are
two individual souls, who nonetheless embody certain universal
and enduring truths: that we need each other, that we can achieve
unity only through tenderness, and that the protection of one
human being by another is a solemn responsibility.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#6. This marriage
is an event in the lifetime of a love. Neither we nor all society
can join these two lovers today. Only they could do what they
have chosen. They have joined themselves, each to the other.
As they have found union with one another, they proclaim that
union today and pledge its future. We by our participation
in this celebration do but recognize and honor their intention
to dwell together as husband and wife.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#7. May your
ring be always the symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Love
freely given has no beginning and no end. Love freely given
has no giver and no receiver. You are each the giver and each
the receiver. May your ring always call to mind the freedom
and the power of this love.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#8. And may
they look beyond the limits of their own existence to the larger
family of humankind, realizing its just claim upon them. For
no marriage ought to be celebrated, nor none fulfilled lest
a portion of its end be directed toward the ennoblement of
all mankind.
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#9. To _______and
_______who gather to pledge their love and join their lives:
May theirs always be a shared adventure, rich with moments
of serenity, as well as excitement; vital with problems that
test, as well as successes that lift; marked by a sense of
personal freedom, as well as mutual responsibility.
May they find in each other companionship as well as love; understanding as
well as compassion; challenge as well as agreement.
May the home they establish be an island where the pressures of a cluttered
world can be sorted out and brought into focus; where accumulated tensions
can be released and understood; where personal needs do not tower over concern
for others and where the immediate does not blur more distant goals; where
the warmth of humor and love puts both crisis and dullness into perspective.
And above all, may they find an ever richer meaning and joy in the high adventure
of lifelong loving and learning together.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#10. In every
passing era, new challenges are revealed to those who strive
for a larger determination of their destinies. This is as true
of marriage as it is for any other part of life's adventure.
A husband and father can no longer expect his position to be one of unquestioned
authority. Nor can a woman expect the full measure of those words -wife and
mother-to be hers as her due.
Each worthwhile goal must be earned by the degree of insight and unbounded
love which we bring to it. So may you continue to grow in separateness and
togetherness that your marriage may truly illuminate the challenges of your
years.
_________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#11. As we stand
here at the altar of life, where life is touched by love, and
love by life, we share with these who are taking their marriage
vows, their newfound happiness. We see the door open for comradeship
and mystery, for growth and fulfillment.
So we pray that each may bring his whole and best self to the other. May they
bring intelligence as well as faith, to the task that is set before them. May
they maintain enduring trust and respect, remembering that to understand all
is ever to forgive all.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#12. What greater
thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are
joined for life, to strengthen each other in all labor, to
rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other
in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable
memories at the moment of the last parting.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#13.Believe
in what is yours.
Believe in who you are.
Believe in the richness and the power
of what lies in the depths you share.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#14. Love does
not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward
together in the same direction. There is no comradeship except
through union in the same high effort.
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#15. A heart
alone is not a heart
Until it is one with all hearts
And your body is every star
In a sky full of stars
In the orbit of a movement
From your eyes to all eyes
Gleaming with a patina of loveliness
Whose light is the weight of the earth.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#16. We are
gathered here to join __________ and ____________ in marriage.
It is fitting and appropriate that you, the families and friends
of _____________ and ____________ be here to witness and to
participate in their wedding, for the ideals, the understanding,
and the mutual respect which they bring to their marriage have
their roots in the love, friendship, and guidance you have
given them. Marriage makes us aware of the changes wrought
by time, but the new relationship will continue to draw much
of its beauty and meaning from the intimate associations of
the past.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#17. Not from
pride, but from humility
As mortals, with human weaknesses
And strengths
You stand alone today
And promise faith.
Your faith you find as you live,
Each moment consecrated to
A search for Truth
And for that Good
Whose presence you have deeply felt.
From this time, until
The time you must rejoin the
Earth from which you came,
Love the love in you that underlies
Your actions.
And with each other,
Share your wonder at the beauty
That you find
As Man and Wife.
__________
Wedding Ceremony Reading
#18. When two
individuals meet, so do two private worlds. None of our worlds
is big enough for us to live a wholesome life in. We need the
wider world of joy and wonder, of purpose and venture, of toil
and tears. What are we, any of us, but strangers and sojourners
forlornly wandering through the nighttime until we draw together
and find the meaning of our lives in one another, dissolving
our fears in each other's courage, making music together and
lighting torches to guide us through the dark? We belong together.
Love is what we need. To love and to be loved. Let our hearts
be open; and what we would receive from others, let us give.
For what is given still remains to bless the giver-when the
gift is love.
Note: Day of Dreams is not the
copyright holder of these writings.
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