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Ceremony Readings · 25 readings

Wedding Readings: Prose, Blessings and Philosophy

Prose from novels and letters, philosophy from Plato to Gibran, and blessings from several traditions — for couples who want something other than a poem.

A Prayer of the Elements

Author unknown · 55 sA prayer honoring earth, fire, wind and water for the marriage.

Captain Wentworth’s Letter

Jane Austen · 1 min 40 s“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope” — the most romantic letter in English fiction.

From The Song of Hiawatha

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 15 s“As unto the bow the cord is, so unto the man is woman.”

I Just Wanted to Be Sure of You

A. A. Milne · 15 s“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”

I Love You for What You Are

Attributed to Carl Sandburg · 55 sLove for what you are, and more for what you are going to be.

Love Is a Friendship That Has Caught Fire

Author unknown · 55 sLove as quiet understanding, and the day-in, day-out chronicle of a life together.

Love Is a Great Thing

Thomas à Kempis · 1 min 15 sThomas à Kempis: love makes the heavy light, and bears evenly all that is uneven.

Love Is the Salutation of the Angels

Victor Hugo, translated by Isabel F. Hapgood · 2 min 05 s“Love, that is the only thing that can occupy and fill eternity” — Marius’s love notes to Cosette.

Love Song

Traditional, Inuit · 20 s“My feet shall run because of you” — a short traditional love song.

Never Marry but for Love

William Penn · 1 min 40 sWilliam Penn’s advice: never marry but for love, but see that thou lovest what is lovely.

No Woman Was Ever Nearer to Her Mate

Charlotte Brontë · 1 min 20 s“To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company.”

On Friendship, from The Prophet

Kahlil Gibran · 2 min 00 sKahlil Gibran on friendship: “your friend is your needs answered.”

On Marriage, from The Prophet

Kahlil Gibran · 1 min 20 s“Let there be spaces in your togetherness” — Gibran’s most-read passage.

Speak to Us of Love, from The Prophet

Kahlil Gibran · 3 min 35 sGibran’s full chapter on love: “when love beckons to you, follow him.”

The Little Boat

Leo Tolstoy, translated by Constance Garnett · 1 min 15 sTolstoy’s Levin discovers that marriage is like getting into a little boat: delightful, and difficult.

The Most Wonderful of All Things in Life

Sir Hugh Walpole · 35 sHugh Walpole on love as “a sort of divine accident.”

The Only Love Which Is Strong as Death

Thomas Hardy · 1 min 15 sThomas Hardy on camaraderie: the friendship-love that many waters cannot quench.

The Symposium

Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett · 45 sPlato’s Aristophanes on finding your other half — the origin of the phrase.

Treat Yourselves and Each Other with Respect

Author unknown · 1 min 00 sRemember what brought you together, and focus on what is right between you.

We Are but Shadows

Nathaniel Hawthorne · 1 min 30 s“We are but shadows … till the heart is touched. That touch creates us.”

What Greater Thing Is There for Two Human Souls

George Eliot · 35 sGeorge Eliot on being joined for life — to strengthen, rest on and minister to each other.

What Is Love?

Author unknown · 50 sLove is more than verses on valentines — it is here and now, real and true.

What Is Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit

Margery Williams · 1 min 40 sThe Skin Horse explains what it means to become Real.

Wheresoever She Was, There Was Eden

Mark Twain · 1 min 55 sEve can’t explain why she loves Adam, and doesn’t need to — Mark Twain at his most tender.

You Can Give Without Loving

Author unknown · 35 sYou can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.

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