Classic Wedding Poems

There is a reason Sonnet 116 has been read at more weddings than any other poem: the classics have been tested by generations of nervous readers and teary grandparents, and they hold. Every guest will recognize “How do I love thee?” or “O my Luve is like a red, red rose,” and there is comfort in words that have been said at a thousand weddings before yours.

All of these are in the public domain and printed in full. Each has a note on where it comes from, what it actually says, and who tends to read it well — because a few of the most famous lines at weddings come from poems that are not quite about what couples think they are.