Wedding reading

[jacks09]

Some very good friends of mine have asked me choose and perform a reading during their ceremony. It will be non religious and I was thinking maybe something about friendship.

Any ideas??

[SebsC]

I read 'An Irish Blessing' at a very good friends wedding. As it was a non religious wedding I substituted the word God for Love and it read really nicely.

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you;

May you see your children's children.

May you be poor in misfortune,

Rich in blessings,

May you know nothing but happiness

From this day forward.

May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home

And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,

May blue be the skies above you,

May pure be the joys that surround you,

May true be the hearts that love you.

[Siduhe]

I like "Us Two" by A A Milne:

?Wherever I am, there?s always Pooh,

There?s always Pooh and Me.

Whatever I do, he wants to do,

?Where are you going today?? says Pooh:

?Well, that?s very odd ?cos I was too.

Let?s go together,? says Pooh, says he.

?Let?s go together,? says Pooh?

?Let?s look for dragons,? I said to Pooh.

?Yes, let?s,? said Pooh to Me.

We crossed the river and found a few-

?Yes, those are dragons all right,? said Pooh.

?As soon as I saw their beaks I knew.

That?s what they are,? said Pooh, said he.

?That?s what they are,? said Pooh.

?Let?s frighten the dragons,? I said to Pooh.

?That?s right,? said Pooh to Me.

?I?m not afraid,? I said to Pooh,

And I held his paw and I shouted ?Shoo!

Silly old dragons!? - and off they flew.

?I wasn?t afraid,? said Pooh, said he,

?I?m never afraid with you.?

So wherever I am, there?s always Pooh,

There?s always Pooh and Me.

?What would I do?? I said to Pooh,

?If it wasn?t for you,? and Pooh said: ?True,

It isn?t much fun for One, but Two,

Can stick together,? says Pooh, says he. ?That?s how it is,? says Pooh.?

[????]

Marlowe - The passionate shepherd to his Love

Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove,

That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the Rocks,

Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow Rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing Madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of Roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and Ivy buds,

With Coral clasps and Amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.

The Shepherds? Swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May-morning:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me, and be my love.

[Alan Medic]

At our wedding we had a part of The Prophet read in Spanish & English. I think it was this...

Kahlil Gibran

On Marriage

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

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

Ay, 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.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Dinah Maria Mulock, from 'A Life for a Life':

'Oh, the comfort ? the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person ? having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.'

[Otta]

Had I the heavens? embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

[gemo]

I carry your heart with me (E.E Cummings)

?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)?

[helena handbasket]

An Arundel Tomb by Philip Larkin. It has personal significance to us, but it's a love story that isn't obvious, which was appealing. Also I love that someone as unsentimental as Larkin was struck by the simple beauty of it.

[citygirl999]

Sorry to interrupt but OMG they are all beautiful readings!!!

I really want a wedding now :)

My favourite is 'i carry your heart with me'.

Good luck & let us know how you got on Jacks09

[madmum]

We had this reading at our wedding:

The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage.

Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur. The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur?s cage with kind words and loving thoughts.

?I like this Dinosaur,? thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. ?Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever, though I will not tell him this for now.?

?I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur,? thought the Dinosaur. ?She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.?

?But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times,? thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. ?He is also overly fond of things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things??

?But her mind skips from here to there so quickly,? thought the Dinosaur. ?She is also uncommonly keen on shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping??

?I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things,? thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. ?For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.?

?I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping,? thought the Dinosaur. ?For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.?

Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old. Look at them. Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.

And that, my friends, is how it is with love. Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together. For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place

Good Luck

[AMFM]

We had this at our wedding

Patagonia ? Kate Clanchy

I said perhaps Patagonia, and pictured

a peninsula, wide enough

for a couple of ladderback chairs

to wobble on at high tide. I thought

of us in breathless cold, facing

a horizon round as a coin, looped

in a cat?s cradle strung by gulls

from sea to sun. I planned to wait

till the waves had bored themselves

to sleep, till the last clinging barnacles,

growing worried in the hush, had

paddled off in tiny coracles, till

those restless birds, your actor?s hands,

had dropped slack into your lap,

until you?d turned, at last, to me.

When I spoke of Patagonia, I meant

skies all empty aching blue. I meant

years. I meant all of them with you.

[AMFM]

And this too

Atlas ? U A Fanthorpe

There is a kind of love called maintenance,

which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it;

which checks the insurance, and doesn?t forget

the Milkman; which remembers to plant bulbs;

which answers letters; which knows the way

the money goes; which deals with dentists

and Road Fund Tax and meeting trains,

and postcards to the lonely; which upholds

the permanently rickety elaborate

structures of living; which is Atlas.

And maintenance is the sensible side of love,

which knows what time and weather are doing

to my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring;

laughs at my dry rotten jokes; remembers

my need for gloss and grouting; which keeps

my suspect edifice upright in air,

as Atlas did the sky.

[LadyNorwood]

We had this at our wedding in 2001, it was originally a WWII code and featured in the film "Carve Her Name With Pride" about Violette Szabo (she is commemorated in a mural near Stockwell station).... I'd been fairly calm all through the ceremony until my friend read this and then I blubbed (I wasn't the only one)....

The Life That I Have (Yours) - Leo Marks

The life that I have is all that I have

And the life that I have is yours

The love that I have of the life that I have

Is yours and yours and yours

A sleep I shall have

A rest I shall have

But death will be put a pause

For the peace of my years

In the green green grass

Will be yours and yours and yours

[Andybol]

I recently got married to my wonderful wife and a freined read this:

Reading : A Lovely Love Story

The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice.

Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage.

Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.

The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur?s cage with kind words and loving thoughts.

I like this Dinosaur thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.

Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny.

He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.

I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur.

She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice.

She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.

But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.

He is also overly fond of things.

Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things?

But her mind skips from here to there so quickly thought the Dinosaur.

She is also uncommonly keen on shopping.

Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?

I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.

For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.

I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur.

For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises. Besides,

I am not unkeen on shopping either.

Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old.

Look at them.

Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.

And that, my friends, is how it is with love.

Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.

For the sun is warm.

And the world is a beautiful place

The whole crowd bawled their eye out !!!

[Robert Poste's Child]

Are you married to Madmum?

[Andybol]

nope lol

well she's not a mum yet anyways !