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Designing Your Ceremony
Writing Your Own Wedding Vows
Using Music Effectively
Entering with Flowers
Presenting Flowers
Involving Readers in Your Ceremony
Sample Readings to Consider
Including Parental Vows
Ceremonial Certificates
Using Bubbles and Flower Petals
Lighting aUnity Candle
Blending Sand Crystals
Wine Sharing
Including the 2nd Kiss
Taking Vows By Candlelight
Doves and Butterflies
Telling Your Story
The Wedding Tree

Ceremony Advice & How To’s:
The Top 5 Considerations
Why Most Wedding Ceremonies Fail
Introducing Innovation in Your Ceremony
Facing Your Guests
Signing Documents
Using Ushers and Escorts Effectively
Escorting the Bride
Using a Limousine
Arriving by Boat
Using a Carriage
Using an Aisle Runner
Promoting Your Wedding

Ceremony Considerations:
Effective Seating
Environmental Issues
Protecting Your Entrance
Honouring Your Culture
Creativity and Style
Remembering Loved Ones
Helping Your Photographers
Making the Most of Lighting
The Ceremony Order of Events
Making Your Ceremony Program

Resources and Links

Prepare a reading by copying it to a word processing program on your computer.  Then, increase the text to an Arial font size of 14 or 16 which will make reading it so much easier.  Print the reading on a  heavy stock piece of paper or regular paper and then perhaps laminate it - giving it the consistency of a restaurant menu.  The document to be read will be much more elegant looking in the hands of the reader and should never be something taken out of a pocket and unfolded.

Here is a collection of 33 assorted readings used in wedding ceremonies. We have many more to offer you including some which are much more contemporary:

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.

*   *   *

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.

*   *   *

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.

*   *   *

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.

*   *   *

5
Take Time while Time doth last,
Mark how Fair fadeth fast,
Beware if Envy reign,
Take heed of proud Disdain.
Hold fast now in thy youth,
Regard thy vowed Truth,
Lest when thou waxeth old
Friends fail and Love grow cold.

*   *   *

6
We pray for concord and creativity as well as for love and laughter in their life together; and when there is pain, may there be peace that passes not away. We pray for joy that they will share with other people, and for their home; may it be a temple for that which is beautiful and good and true. As they share the richer experiences of life, so may their hearts and minds and souls be knit ever more closely together. And yet may their bonds of sympathy strengthen their separate personalities. We pray for courage for them when the road is rough, and for humility for them when fortune favors them. May they carry the past gratefully with them in all the years of their sojourn, and with an equal measure of hope ever face the future unafraid.

*   *   *

7
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.

*   *   *

8
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 honour their intention to dwell together as husband and wife.

*   *   *

9
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.

*   *   *

10
Death is a mystery we see and meet, but love is a mystery in which we live and breathe and have our being. It is an eternal truth which surrounds us to be touched and treasured and known of man. It is an abiding element which has no bounds of time, no limits to its generous outpouring, no fears to make it weak.
It is our great adventure of faith, our lifelong giving and receiving of the unending blessings of life.

*   *   *

11
" And so, all who passed spoke of Love as the image of their hopes and frustrations, leaving it a mystery as before.
Then I heard a voice within the temple:

"Life is divided into two halves, one frozen, the other aflame; the burning half is Love."
From The Prophet
-KAHLIL GIBRAN

*   *   *

12
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And you were given this swiftness, not for haste, Nor chiefly that you may go where you will,
But in the rush of everything to waste,
may have the power of standing still-
Off any still or moving thing you say.
Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life forevermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar.

*   *   *

13
Out of all the hosts of earth, these two have come, have looked in each other's faces, and have seen their uniqueness and their oneness. Here they have pledged each to the other, to make their future common. Out of the depth of their love they will make their home and in it rear their children. Out of their wisdom they will face the varied experiences of life and draw from each event of the day that which will make them stronger for the next day's adventure. Out of their faith in the love with which they make this venture, may they find growing a courage sufficient to meet all the perilous chance and change which must touch us all.
May all their living be so bright and shining that no darkness about, no sorrow or separation, ever dim the light by which they walk on life's road. Throughout all the days of their years may they remember this day with tenderness and joy, remember it as the day when the glory and the beauty of our precious mortality began to open before them.

*   *   *

 14
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.

*   *   *

15
Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good-fame,
Plans, credit and the Muse,
Nothing refuse.
'Tis a brave master;
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope.
It was never for the mean;
It requireth courage stout.
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending,
It will reward,-
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.

*   *   *

16
The secret of love and marriage is that of religion itself; it is the emergence of the larger self; it is the finding of one's life by losing it. Such is the privilege of husband and wife-to be each himself, herself, and yet another; to face the world strong with the strength of two, wise with the wisdom of two, and brave with the courage of two. And the high and fine art of married life is in this mutual enrichment, mental and spiritual, this give and take between two personalities.

*   *   *

17
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.

*   *   *

18
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.

*   *   * 

19
Here in the space between us and the world
lies human meaning.
Into the vast uncertainty we call.
The echoes make our music,
sharp equations which can hold the stars,
and marvelous mythologies we trust.
This may be all we need
to lift our love against indifference and pain.
Here in the space between us and each other
lies all the future
of the fragment of the universe
which is our own.

*   *   *

20
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.

*   *   *

21
This is Love's nobility,-
Not to scatter bread and gold,
Goods and raiment bought and sold;
But to hold fast his simple sense,
And speak the speech of innocence,
And with hand and body and blood,
To make his bosom-counsel good.
He that feeds men serveth few;
He serves all who dares be true.

*   *   *

22
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.

*   *   *

23
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.

*   *   *

24
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.

*   *   *

25
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.

*   *   *

26
Ah, this star we live on is burning full in danger.
All we know is this: across existence
and across its lapse passes something unknown.
We name it love. And, love, we pray to you.
-It takes only a second to walk around a man.
Whoever wishes to circle the soul of a lover
needs longer than his pilgrimage of years.

*   *   *

27
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.

*   *   *

28
My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given:
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven:
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.
His heart in me keeps him and me in one,
My heart in him his thought and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own,
I cherish his, because in me it bides:
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.

*   *   *

29
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.

*   *   *

30
If life has meaning to us at all, it possesses it because of love. It is that which enshrines and ennobles our human experience. It is the basis for the peace of family and the peace of the peoples of the earth. The greatest gift bestowed upon humans is the gift not of demanding but of giving love between man and woman.

*   *   *

31
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.

*   *   *

32
But of deep love is the desire to give
More than the living touch of warmth and fire,
More than the shy comfort of the little flesh and hands;
It is the need to give
Down to the last dark kernel of the heart,
Down to the final gift of mind;
It is a need to give you that release which comes
Only of understanding, and to know
Trust without whimpering doubt and fear.

*   *   * 

33
An old willow with hollow branches
slowly swayed his few high bright tendrils
and sang:
Love is a young green willow
shimmering at the bare wood's edge.