Help - wedding reading

[Atticus]

Have to give one on Sat and have a blank canvas, only stipulation is to keep it short.

I did have this which I liked but it's a religious ceremony...

I cannot exist without you. I am forgetful of everything but seeing you again. My life seems to stop there, I see no further. You have absorb'd me. I have a sensation at the present moment as though I were dissolving. I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion... I have shudder'd at it... I shudder no more. I could be martyr'd for my religion: Love is my religion. I could die for that. I could die for you. My creed is love, and you are its only tenet. You have ravish'd me away by a power I cannot resist.

Any pointers gratefully received, could be nice song lyrics (apart from Groovy kind of love)

Thanks in advance...

[pebbles]

With our church wedding we only had to have one religious reading so perhaps you could check if you are able to do a non religious reading?

My brother's reading was Guess How Much I Love You which is a chilren's book by Sam McBratney. Basically it's about a baby hare and mummy hare increasing how much they love each other with great actions like up to the top of my ears and back, up to the stars and back again - it was changed to be 2 adults hares but it's the one reading that really really stands out. My bros mate who read it really got into the mood and did all the actions - just fabulous and made everyone smile and the sentiments were perfect.

I've got a copy if you would like to borrow it for the wedding?

[Vickster]

We had the passage from Captain Corelli's Mandolin, where the father talks to his daughter about love

http://www.itakeyou.co.uk/wedding-ideas/wedding-readings-poems/captain-corelli's-mandolin.htm

[Jeremy]

Atticus - don't you think it's a bit too heavy??

[Atticus]

Yep, sure do. Hence the cry for help.

[Alan Medic]

This is from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. Was read in two languages at our wedding years ago.

Marriage

Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"

And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.

Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together, yet not too near together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

[mockney piers]

Wise words from a sage....

"Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred."

Pooh thought a little. "How old shall I be then?"

"Ninety-nine."

Pooh nodded. "I promise," he said.

Still with his eyes on the world, Christopher Robin put out a hand and felt for Pooh's paw.

[christina&charlie]

Atticus - this is a beautiful poem - my brother, Christina's cousin and another friend had this - it's lovely

I love you

Not only for what you are,

But for what I am

When I am with you.

I love you,

Not only for what

You have made of yourself,

But for what

You are making of me.

I love you

For the part of me

That you bring out;

I love you

For putting your hand

Into my heaped-up heart

And passing over

All the foolish, weak things

That you can't help

Dimly seeing there,

And for drawing out

Into the light

All the beautiful belongings

That no one else had looked

Quite far enough to find

I love you because you

Are helping me to make

Of the lumber of my life

Not a tavern

But a temple.

Out of the works

Of my every day

Not a reproach

But a song.

I love you

Because you have done

More than any creed

Could have done

To make me good.

And more than any fate

Could have done

To make me happy.

You have done it

Without a touch,

Without a word,

Without a sign.

You have done it

By being yourself.

Perhaps that is what

Being a friend means,

After all.

by Roy Croft

[Twirly]

We had this at our wedding last year. MrTwirly is a great baker, so it seemed apt. A friend was doing the reading, so I didn't want something that said "I love you this way and that" as it seemed a bit weird. I'll send you via PM if I can a large document full of wedding readings that I was sent when we were planning. If anyone else wants it, PM me.

Recipe for a Happy Marriage (Author Unknown)

A Good Wedding Cake.

1lb butter of youth.

4lbs of love.

1lb of good looks,

1lb of sweet temper.

3lb of self forgetfulness.

1lb of pounded wit.

1lb of blindness of faults.

1lb of good humour.

1 tablespoon of sweet argument.

1 pint of rippling laughter.

1 wine glass of common sense.

1oz of modesty.

Put the love, good looks and sweet temper into a well furnished house. Beat the butter of youth to a cream, and mix well together with the blindness of faults. Stir the pounded wit and good humour into the sweet argument, then add the rippling laughter and common sense. Work the whole together until everything is well mixed, and bake gently for ever.

[bookhopper]

LOVE this poem. Do not care what you think you should read it anyway (ha)

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

"I carry your heart" by EE Cummings

[christina&charlie]

http://www.itakeyou.co.uk/wedding-ideas/love-poems-romantic-wedding-readings.htm

[Dee Woffaz]

I always find John Cooper Clarke has a poem for every occasion. This would be my choice...... but then again it wouldnt do if we were all alike eh? Enjoy a bit of classic JCC

I wanna be your vacuum cleaner

breathing in your dust

I wanna be your Ford Cortina

I will never rust

If you like your coffee hot

let me be your coffee pot

You call the shots

I wanna be yours

I wanna be your raincoat

for those frequent rainy days

I wanna be your dreamboat

when you want to sail away

Let me be your teddy bear

take me with you anywhere

I don?t care

I wanna be yours

I wanna be your electric meter

I will not run out

I wanna be the electric heater

you?ll get cold without

I wanna be your setting lotion

hold your hair in deep devotion

Deep as the deep Atlantic ocean

that?s how deep is my devotion

[Atticus]

Many, many thanks to you all some great stuff here...