Wedding Readings

Most ceremonies have one to three readings, and two is the most common: often one religious and one secular, or one classic and one modern. A Catholic wedding Mass usually has three (an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading and a Gospel read by the priest), plus a psalm.

One to two minutes is ideal, which is roughly 130 to 250 words at a comfortable speaking pace. Every reading in our library shows its read-aloud time. If a favorite is longer, read an excerpt.

Readers are usually people the couple want to honor who are not otherwise in the wedding party: siblings, grandparents, godparents, close friends. Choose people who are comfortable speaking in public, give them the text at least two weeks ahead, and ask them to practice aloud.

The perennial favorites are 1 Corinthians 13 (“Love is patient, love is kind”), Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee?”, Ruth 1:16–17, the Song of Songs, Kahlil Gibran’s “On Marriage” from The Prophet, the Skin Horse passage from The Velveteen Rabbit, Robert Burns’s “A Red, Red Rose” and the Irish blessing.

Often, yes, but ask first. Many Protestant churches welcome a secular poem alongside scripture; a Catholic wedding Mass takes its readings from an approved lectionary, though a poem may be allowed at another point, such as after communion or at the reception. Civil ceremonies in some places require the opposite: no religious content at all.

You can print any reading in the public domain, which includes everything printed in full on Today’s Weddings. Modern poems and prose still under copyright should be listed by title and author only; see our guide to modern wedding readings.