Here you will find some poems that can be incorporated into your ceremony, if desired.Â
Reading from "Captain Corelli's Mandolin"
(Louis de Bernières 1994 novel, 2001 film)
This is a favorite of mine:
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.
I Love You
(Author Unknown)
I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard, when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard. These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life.
What Greater Thing
(George Eliot)
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 ...
Apache Wedding Prayer
_____and _____Now you will feel no rain,
for each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there will be no loneliness,
for each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two persons,
but there is only one life before you.
May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead
and through all the years.
May happiness be your companion,
and your days together be good and long upon the earth.
Apache Wedding Prayer- Long Version
Now you will feel no storms,
for each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no loneliness,
for each of you is companion to the other,
You are two persons, but there is one life before you, and one home.
Turn together to look at the road you traveled,
to reach this—the hour of your happiness.
It stretches behind you into the past.
Look to the future that lies ahead.
A long and winding, adventure-filled road,
whose every turn means discovery,
new hopes, new joys, new laughter,
and a few shared tears.
May happiness be your companion,
May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead;
And through all the years to come.
Go this day to your dwelling place
and enter into your days together.
May your days be good and long upon the earth.
Your adventure has just begun!
To Love is Not to Possess
by James Kavanaugh
To love is not to possess,
To own or imprison,
Nor to lose one's self in another.
Love is to join and separate,
To walk alone and together,
To find a laughing freedom
That lonely isolation does not permit.
It is finally to be able
To be who we really are
No longer clinging in childish dependency
Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,
It is to be perfectly one's self
And perfectly joined in permanent commitment
To another–and to one's inner self.
Love only endures when it moves like waves,
Receding and returning gently or passionately,
Or moving lovingly like the tide
In the moon's own predictable harmony,
Because finally, despite a child's scars
Or an adult's deepest wounds,
They are openly free to be
Who they really are–and always secretly were,
In the very core of their being
Where true and lasting love can alone abide.
Time Travelers, by Terah Cox
May you take on the world together
with all your hopes and dreams,
may you be each other’s anchor
in smooth or rocky seas.
May you bend to the world’s winds
and brave stalls and storms,
may you find common ground
in all its changing forms.
May you cross stubborn boundaries
and turn many a stone,
may you find haven for your souls,
may you have heart and home.
And if some days are grey
and some nights are long and cold,
May you be each other’s sun and moon
as your destinies unfold.
And should you lose sight of each other
and start to drift apart,
may you circle back by following
the compass of your hearts.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use In my old grief’s, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.
Reading by Mark Twain:
This will be the mightiest day in the history of our lives, the holiest, and the most generous toward us both -- for it makes of two fractional lives a whole;
It gives to two purposeless lives a work,
And doubles the strength of each whereby to perform it;
It gives to two questioning natures a reason for living,
And something to live for;
It will give a new gladness to the sunshine,
A new fragrance to the flowers,
A new beauty to the earth, a new mystery to life;
And it will give a new revelation to love,
And a new depth to sorrow, a new impulse to worship.
On this day the scales will fall from our eyes and we shall look upon a new world.
Take a moment wedding day reading
(Author unknown)
Before I pronounce you married partners; I have just one more thing I want to do. Your wedding day is one that seems to fly. It’s a day filled with emotion, friend’s, rings and dances. Many people remember how fleeting their own wedding day was. So I want you to take a few seconds to look into each other’s eyes. Think about the happiness that you are feeling in this place, in this moment. Really let that feeling register in your heart and your mind. Now, I want you to think about your life together in 20 years. Where are you? What are you doing? We all know that your visions of the future are not identical but always complementary. John Lennon once said “A dream you dream alone is only a dream, a dream you dream together THAT is reality” That new reality starts now.
Why Marriage?
By, Mari Nichols-Haining
Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person,
With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body...
Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me,
Who won't hold them against me,
Who loves me when I'm unlikable,
Who sees the small child in me, and
Who looks for the divine potential of me...
Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night
With someone who thanks God for me,
With someone I feel blessed to hold...
Because marriage means opportunity
to grow in love in friendship...
Because marriage is a discipline
to be added to a list of achievements...
Because marriages do not fail, people fail
when they enter into marriage
expecting another to make them whole...
Because, knowing this,
I promise myself to take full responsibility
For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness
I create me, I take half of the responsibility for my marriage
Together we create our marriage...
Because of this understanding
The possibilities are limitless.
The Promise
by Heather Berry
Within this blessed union of souls,
Where two hearts intertwine to become one,
There lies a promise perfectly born,
Divinely created, and intimately shared,
It is a place where the hope and majesty of beginnings reside.
Where all things are made possible by the astounding love shared by two spirits.
As you hold each others hands in this promise,
And eagerly look into the future in each others eyes,
May your unconditional love and devotion take you to places were you’ve both only dreamed.
Where you’ll dwell for a lifetime of happiness,
Sheltered in the warmth of each others arms.
Gift From The Sea
by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
​
When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand.
We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity – in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern.
The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even.
Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits – islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.
What If All We Ever Wanted
By Tyler Knott Gregson
What if all we have ever wanted isn't hiding in some secret and far away dream,
But inside of us now as we breathe one another
And find home in the way our arms seem to fit perfectly around the spaces between us?
What if we are the answer and love was the question?
What if all this time it was us you were supposed to find?
I am filled with wonderings, questions, and doubt.
But one of these things I am certain:
It will always be you that gives flight to the butterflies inside me,
Calm to the sea I have become,
And hope to the darkness all around us.
It is you and it has always been you.... you.
You that soothes and excites and spreads joy like rainfall on the already damp earth;
You that pulled me from the longest sleep and kissed my eyelids awake.
If life is a question mark, then you, my love, are the proud and bold period that is typed with certainty.
Marriage Blessing
by Joanna Fuchs
May your marriage always be blessed
with the pure and profoundly loving feelings
drawing you so closely together now:
extraordinary communication,
listening and understanding,
putting yourselves in the other’s place,
as well as expressing your own needs;
eagerness to compromise,
because you love so much, you want to give
whatever is needed, wanted, for happiness;
and deep commitment to do whatever it takes
to maintain the strong bond
present on your wedding day.
May your marriage always be blessed, now and forever.
Blessing
May you never take each other for granted but always experience the wonders of your union. May your love consist not only in gazing into each other’s eyes, but also in looking outward in the same direction. May your life together be a source of strength and inspiration to yourselves, your families and your friends. May you never forget the beginning of your love for one another, take care of it, nurture it, and allow it to grow strong and firm in the years that are to come. May you always concentrate on making each other happy and secure in your commitment to one another and always rely on your ability to keep the promises you have made to one another today throughout the thick and thin of life’s experiences. And may you always be in love. May your love be as beautiful each day you share as it is on this day of Your Wedding and may all of your wishes come true.
"Loves Journey”
by Amanda Prescott
The road to happiness is laden with twists and turns, sharp and winding. The obstacles never-ending. Each day gives us hope for a brighter tomorrow, new beginnings. The promise of things to come. Our hopes and dreams never-fading, nor will we allow it.
When the days wear long and it seems I can barely hold on, I close my eyes and think of you. And just as the warmth of the sun touches my skin, I recall how you have touched my heart.
I take a deep breath and sigh. I picture your smile, the innocence in your laughter. I think of how you have brought so much love, faith, hope and happiness into my life. Proving that true love really does exist. I think of your touch, the warmth in your embrace. I feel your strength in everything that you do. And it gives me the strength and courage to push forward. I’ve never felt so complete or so alive till I found you.
I open my eyes, smiling. Knowing nothing can bring me down. The road to happiness has been long. Sometimes taking us down a worn and beaten path. Our faith in love has pulled us through, showing us the way. And so, we shall walk side by side, eternally, through our loves journey.
Marriage Blessing
by Joanna Fuchs
May your marriage always be blessed
with the pure and profoundly loving feelings
drawing you so closely together now:
extraordinary communication,
listening and understanding,
putting yourselves in the other’s place,
as well as expressing your own needs;
eagerness to compromise,
because you love so much, you want to give
whatever is needed, wanted, for happiness;
and deep commitment to do whatever it takes
to maintain the strong bond
present on your wedding day.
May your marriage always be blessed, now and forever.
Richard Bach on Soulmates
“A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.”
The Art of Marriage
“A good marriage must be created.
In the art of 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 each day.
It is never going to sleep angry
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 in the whole family
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow
It is finding room for the things of the spirit
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful
It is not only marrying the right partner
It is being the right partner