Readings?

Readings add so much to the ceremony. They can be used to impart widsom. They can be used to pledge love. They can be used as an interlude in the service. Yet, they are are integral to the meaning of the service.

Since we are getting married in a church, it's only appropriate that we select a reading from the Bible. The minister suggested a list of appropriate readings. My favourite of that list is I Corinthians 13:1-13.

Here is a highlight from I Corinthians 13:1-13: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [...] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I also like including non-religious readings, love poems written for and inspired by love, including Sonnet 43 from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, Robert Burns's A Red, Red Rose, and Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. Each of those readings has a story behind it, but also stand on their own in just the words.

Highlights from Sonnet 43: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. / I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach [...].

Highlights from A Red, Red Rose: O my luve's like a red, red rose / That's newly sprung in June; / O mu luve's like the melodie / That's sweetly play'd in tune. / As fair art thou, my bonie lass, / So deep in luve am I; / And I will luve thee still, my dear, / Till a' the seas gang dry.

Highlights from Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate: / Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, /
And summer's lease hath all too short a date [...].

You can look them up for the full text by doing a simple google search.

Of course, the ceremony is not anywhere near being finalized ... or even started for that matter. These are just some ideas I have!