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Wedding Readings: Thoughts on Love and Marriage by Famous Authors

When it comes time for you to stand up and deliver a speech or toast on the day of the wedding ceremony or reception of your friend, son, or daughter, all grown up, you may want to opt for quotes from famous authors and do what are called wedding readings. Let the music die down and hush the joyous conversations of all participants, then perhaps take a page from the extensive poetry of love written by the bard of Avalon, Shakespeare:

"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."
(Sonnet 116)

Remember that traditional wedding readings should be considered a gift of thoughts from your heart to the blessed couple on their special day. Write some words of your own as an introduction to make this a personal acknowledgment of the beauty surrounding the wedding ceremony. Then you may want to read from Kahlil Gibran:

"Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips."

This is such a special day in the life of everyone who loves this beautiful couple, you may want to read from the bible, if it would be appropriate. Some passages to choose from might include:

Genesis 2:18-24
Ruth 4
Proverbs 5:15-19
Proverbs 18:22
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Matthew 19:5-6
Mark 10:6-9
John 2:1-11
I Corinthians 7
I Corinthians 11:3
I Corinthians 11:8-9
I Corinthians 13:1-13
II Corinthians 6:14
Ephesians 5:22-33
Colossians 3:18-19
Hebrews 13:4
I Peter 3:1-7
Revelation 19:7-9

Wedding readings can set a beautiful romantic mood for the special wedding day, so choose carefully and select something that reflects what is in your heart.

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