10 of the Best Wedding Readings

10 of the Best Wedding Readings

Choosing the right reading for your wedding ceremony is all about making it personal and meaningful. A great reading gives ALL the feels and creates a bit of magic, whether you want to express heartfelt sentiments, share a laugh, or nod to your heritage.

But I totally get it—the thought of finding the perfect reading sounds lovely, and then the Googling begins, and suddenly the stress kicks in. Remember, you’re not alone in this! The wonderful thing about an independent celebrant-led ceremony is the freedom to create something uniquely yours—no rules, no limits, anything is possible!

And if you’ve chosen a celebrant, you have someone right there to help, offer advice, and search alongside you. (I love sending a cheeky Insta DM with a fab reading I’ve stumbled upon just for you!)

The secret? Just make sure you love every word. If it doesn’t feel right, give it the boot and keep looking!

So, to help you along the way, here are a few of my favs…

Being asked to read at your wedding is a great honour. It shows you've picked them for a special reason, which feels magical! Photo by Marta D Photography 

1: The Wedding Poem, by Whitney Hanson Poetry

They say that sometimes
love starts with a spark.

And that might be true,
but if I were to wish you a love,
I wouldn't wish fire for you.

You see, fire is powerful.
It burns bright and then it's gone.
It's beautiful and warm,
but it doesn't last long.

So instead of wishing you a love that burns,
I wish you a love like a river twists and turns.
It changes and it flows,
It is powerful and free.
But it consistently finds its way back to the sea.

And so like the water,
I hope your love is ever growing, ever changing.
I hope your love is powerful and free,
And may you always find each other,

Like a river finds the sea.

2: Maybe, by Anon.

Maybe we are supposed to meet the wrong people before we meet the right one so when they finally arrive we are truly grateful for the gift we have been given. 

Maybe it's true that we don’t know what we have lost until we lose it but it is also true that we don’t know what we’re missing until it arrives. 

Maybe the happiest of people don’t have the best of everything, but make the best of everything that comes their way. 

Maybe the best kind of love is the kind where you sit on the sofa together, not saying a word, and walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you ever had. 

Maybe once in a lifetime, you find someone who not only touches your heart but also your soul, someone who loves you for who you are and not what you could be. 

Maybe the art of true love is not about finding the perfect person, but about seeing an imperfect person perfectly. 

3: I Want to Grow Old with You, from The Wedding Singer

I want to make you smile whenever you're sad
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad
All I want to do is grow old with you
I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks
Oh it could be so nice, growing old with you
I'll miss you, kiss you, give you my coat when you are cold
Need you, feed you, even let you hold the remote control
So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed if you've had too much to drink
I could be the man who grows old with you
I want to grow old with you.

4: Love is Like a Curry, by Pam Ayres

Love is like a curry, and I’ll explain it to you

that love comes in three temperatures, cold, hot and vindaloo

of course it’s like a curry, it cannot be denied.

For both are full of spice, and both have dishes on the side.

A Reader delivering the beautiful Whitney Hanson Poem, not a dry eye in the house! Photo by Ivy and Pine Photography 

5: Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog, by Taylor Mali

First of all, it’s a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you’re walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain’t no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn’t like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don’t you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go out for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise. It will run you around the block
and leave you panting, breathless. Pull you in different directions
at once, or wind itself around and around you
until you’re all wound up and you cannot move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

6: Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton

I know that love can be loud and jubilant...It can be dancing in the swampy mud and the pouring rain at a festival and shouting “YOU ARE AMAZING” over the band. It’s introducing them to your colleagues at a work event and basking in pride as they make people laugh and make you look lovable just by dint of being loved by them.
It’s laughing until you wheeze.
It’s waking up in a country neither of you have been in before.
It’s skinny-dipping at dawn.
It’s walking along the street together on a Saturday night and feeling an entire city is yours.
It’s a big, beautiful, ebullient force of nature.
I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing.
It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee.
It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting.
It’s hanging up their laundry when they leave the house having moronically forgotten to take it out of the washing machine.
It’s saying ‘You’re safer here than in a car’ as they hyperventilate on an EasyJet flight to Dublin. It’s the texts: ‘Hope your day goes well’, ‘How did today go?’, ‘Thinking of you today’ and ‘Picked up loo roll’. I know that love happens under the splendour of moon and stars and fireworks and sunsets but it also happens when you’re lying on blow-up airbeds in a childhood bedroom, sitting in A&E or in the queue for a passport, or in a traffic jam.
Love is a quiet, reassuring, relaxing, pottering, pedantic, harmonious hum of a thing; something you can easily forget is there, even though its palms are outstretched beneath you in case you fall.

7: Love Me When I’m Old, by Bee Rawlinson

Love me when I’m old and shocking
Peel off my elastic stockings
Swing me from the chandeliers
Let’s be randy bad old dears.

Push around my chromed Bath Chair
Let me tease your white chest hair
Scaring children, swapping dentures
Let us have some great adventures

Take me to the Dogs and Bingo
Teach me how to speak the lingo
Bone my eels and bring me tea
Show me how it’s meant to be

Take me to your special places
Watching all the puzzled faces
You in shorts and socks and sandals
Me with warts and huge love-handles

As the need for love enthralls
Wrestle with my damp proof smalls
Make me laugh without constraint
Buy me chocolate body paint

Hold me safe throughout the night
When my hair has turned to white
Believe me when I say it’s true
I’ve waited all my life for you

Your wedding readers will feel so proud! Kelly Weech Photography beautifully captured this uncle walking away beaming! 

8: When I Hear You Laugh, by Anon

When we share a secret
When your eyes sparkle
When we're just us
When we don't have to talk
When I watch you sleeping
When you remember
When I don't have to explain

When you walk into the room
When we are in a crowd
When I am by myself
When you are just being you
When you make me giggle
When I hear your heartbeat
When you reach for me

Even when you're not looking
That's when I love you.

9: These I Can Promise, by Anon

I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.

But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.

10: Love Isn’t Always Perfect, by Anon

Love isn’t always perfect. It isn’t a fairytale or a storybook. And it doesn’t always come easy. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on & never letting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, & impossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, Love is realising that every hour, every minute, & every second was worth it because you did it together.

11: (And one for luck!) Marriage Is Not Beautiful, by Anon

(I would edit parts of this to ensure it refers to both of “you.” Let’s talk if you need help with this!)

Marriage is ugly, you see the absolute worst in someone.

You see them when they’re mad, sad, being stubborn, when they’re so unlovable they make you scream.

But you also get to see them when they are laughing so hard that tears run down their face, and they can’t help but let out those weird gurgling noises.

You see them at 3am when the world is asleep except you two, and you’re eating in the middle of the kitchen floor.

You get to see the side of them that no one else does, and it’s not always pretty. It's snorting while laughing, it’s the tears when it feels like it’s all crashing down, it’s the farting, it’s the bedhead and bad breath, it’s the random dances, it’s the anger and the joy.

Marriage isn’t a beautiful thing, but it is amazing.

It’s knowing that someone loves you so much, and won’t leave you even though you said something nasty.

It’s having someone have your back no matter what.

It’s fights over stupid things, like someone not doing the dishes or picking up after themselves.

And it’s those nights you fall asleep in each other’s arms, feeling like there will never be enough time with them.

It’s cleaning up their vomit, or just rubbing their back when they’re sick.

It’s the dirtiest, hardest, most rewarding job there is.

Because at the end of the day you get to crawl into bed with your best friend, the weirdest, most annoying, loving, goofy, perfect person that you know.

Marriage is not beautiful, but it’s one heck of a ride.

To Finish…

Remember, as a celebrant, I absolutely love helping you choose readings that are uniquely “you.” It’s all part of the package! So don’t hesitate to get in touch—I’d love to chat about creating your dream ceremony together.

And don’t miss my next blog post, where I’ll share my top Wedding Reading Dos and Don’ts!