Wedding Readings - Popular Passages

If you're writing your wedding vows or personalizing your wedding ceremony with meaningful readings, delve into the world of literature, poetry, quotes and lyrics for inspiration. Here are some sample passages to get you started...

Note: You can get even more weddings readings information at this complete readings, speeches, and toasts guide.

Poetry

William Shakespeare - "Romeo and Juliet"

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite. William Shakespeare - "Sonnet 116"

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Wilferd Peterson - 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 a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted;
the courtship should not end with the honeymoon,
it should continue through all the years.

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 doing things for each other,
not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,
but in the spirit of joy.

It is speaking words of appreciation,
and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo
or the wife to have the wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience,
understanding and a sense of humor.
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 establishing a relationship in which
the independence is equal, dependence is mutual,
and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner,
it is BEING the right partner.
This is "The Art of Marriage"

Cultural Heritage

Irish Wedding Blessing

May God be with you and bless you
May you see your children's children
May you be poor in misfortunes,
Rich in blessings
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward

Apache Wedding Blessing

Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to each other.
Now there is no more loneliness for you,
For each of you will be comfort to the other.
Though you are two bodies,
There is but one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And, may the days of your life
Be good and long upon the earth.

Hollywood

When Harry Met Sally

I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

To Love and Be Loved

We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

Moulin Rouge

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

The Notebook

The best love is the kind that weakens the soul, that makes us reach for more, that plants fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever.

The Notebook

Poets often describe love as an emotion that we can't control, one that overwhelms logic and common sense. That's what it's like for me. I didn't plan on falling in love with you, and I doubt that you planned on falling in love with me. But once we met, it was clear that neither of us could control what was happening to us. We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created. For me love like that has happened only once, and that's why every minute we spent together has been seared in my memory. I'll never forget a single moment of it.