I am reading at a close friend's wedding and want something unique (not religious). Something different...

Answer 1

Well, I must admit that I'm stealing someone else's answer here...A similar question was posed recently, and I liked the answer enough that I save it. Here are a few options:

In marriage, we marry a mystery, an other, a counterpart. In a sense the other person we marry is a stranger about whom we have a magnificent hunch. The person we choose to marry is someone we love, but his depths, her intimate intricacies, we will come to know only in the long unraveling of time. We know enough about our beloved to know that we love him, to imagine that, as time goes on, we will come to enjoy her even more, become even more of ourselves in her presence. To our knowledge, we add our willingness to embark on the journey of getting to know him, of coming to see her, ever so wonderfully more
- author unknown

Love is temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion...that is just being "in love" which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and fortunate accident. When roots grow towards each other underground and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from the branches, you find that you are one tree and not two.
-from Corelli's Mandolin

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever. These are the hands that will work alongside yours as together you build your future. These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch will comfort you like no other.
These are the hands that will hold you when fear of grief wracks your mind. These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes. Tears of sorrow and tears of joy.
These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children. These are the hands that will help you hold your family as one.
These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.
And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.
-The Hands of the Bride and Groom

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.
- Irish Wedding Blessing

Answer 2

From “The Irrational Season” by Madeleine L’Engle
“But ultimately there comes a moment when a decision must be made. Ultimately two people who love each other must ask themselves how much they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they are willing to take…It is indeed a fearful gamble…Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together we become a new creature.

“To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take…If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation…It takes a lifetime to learn another person…When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is often rejected.”

Answer 3

You should check with the bride and groom, normally they pick out their own readings. However, if they asked you to pick out a reading how about one of the following by Mercedes Lackey?

This bond, this joining, is not meant to be a fetter. A joining is a partnership, not two people becoming one. Two minds cannot fuse, two souls cannot merge, two hearts cannot keep to the same time. If two are foolish enough to try this, one must overwhelm the other, and that is not love, nor is it compassion, nor responsibility. You are two who choose to walk the same path, to bridge the differences between you with love. You must remember and respect those differences and learn to understand them, for they are part of what made you come to love in the first place. Love is patient, love is willing to compromise—love is willing to admit it is wrong. There will be hard times; you must face them as bound warriors do, side by side, not using the weapon of your knowledge to tear at each other. There will be sadness as well as joy, and must support one another through the grief and sorrow. There will be pain—but pain shared is pain halved, as joy shared is joy doubled, and you each must sacrifice your own comfort to share the pain of the other. And yet, you must do all this and manage to keep each other from wrong actions, for a joining means that you also pledge to help one another at all times. You must lead each other by example. Guide and be willing to be guided. Being joined does not mean that you accept what is truly wrong, being joined means that you must strive that you both remain in the light and the right. You must not pledge yourselves thinking that there will be no strife between you. That is fantasy, for you are two and not one, and there will inevitably come conflict that it will be up to you to resolve. You must not pledge yourselves thinking that all will be well from this moment on. That is a dream, and dreamers must eventually wake. You must come to this joining fully ready, fully committed, and fully respectful of each other.

Now you will no longer fear the storm, for you find shelter in each other.
Now the winter cannot harm you, for you warm each other with love.
Now when strength fails, you will be the wind to each other’s wings.
Now the darkness holds no danger, for you will be the light to each other’s path.
Now you will defy despair, for you will bring hope to each other’s heart.
Now there will be no more loneliness, for there will always be a hand reaching out to aid you when all seems darkest.
Where there were two paths, now there is one.
May your days together be long upon the earth, and each day blessed with joy in each other.

Answer 4

At my wedding we had two readings:
The bargain, by sir Phillip Sydney
My love is like a red red rose by Rabbie burns

The former basicaly goes
my true love hath my heart, and I have his
but just exchange one for the other given

Tis a really nice poem.

Answer 5

May you two _____ and ______ walk each day hand in hand side by side in love Each night when you get ready for bed make sure that you rest together in peace and do not go to bed angry. Try your best to discuss each event that takes place as equal partners. May your marriage be blessed with many long years of happiness.

Answer 6

E.E. Cummings i Carry your heart

Answer 7

http://www.churchofancientways.org

My readings section is HUGE

Good Luck!

Answer 8

I saw this on Frazier, yea the t.v. show...
What ever you decide to read... read it in Kling-on.

What a hooot...