Has anyone got any nice poems I can add to my wedding ceremony?

Question

We are in the process of deciding on the wedding ceremony for our big day. I want to add in a nice poem or saying, that reflects on our love. I would love it to be about love, and prefer non religious. where does one find such a poem? Has anyone got any suggestions for me? I would appreciate having a few to read through. Also would it be okay to just read thru a few verses or a song that we love? Thanks.

Our ceremony is fairly simple and short. I just want to add something a little special to what is in essence a civil ceremony. Thanks.

Answer 1

Here are two different readings. They're from a book 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 2

There are a few other unification ceremonies, sand, unity bouquet, wine, salt, hand, lasso, handfasting, communion. But you are already using the unity candle. Some ministers don't even allow that as they think it takes away from the vows & ring exchange. Rather then a soloist, you could have a musical piece played on a flute, guitar or violin. You really don't need a lot of bells & whistles. With all the decorations & color decisions & flowers, the thing that people will remember the most are the words. See, words mean things. They will remember what the officiant says about marriage. They will remember the words you use to pledge your love. What do you want to say to your guests? To each other & to God about your marriage? What does marriage meant to you? Why are you getting married? Experience tells me that the couples that spend a few extra minutes on the "do you take" part never feel their time was misspent.

Answer 3

You can definately read a song if you want. After all, songs are just poems that have been put to a beat.

Make sure that after all your readings, ceremonies, processional/recessional, any hymns, etc, and the vows that the total time is 1 hour or less. After that guests start to get very bored and uncomfortable (those pews aren't cushy!) If it turns out you have readings that don't fit within that time constraint you can always put them in the programs with a short blurb about why that reading/song is special to you.

Answer 4

Commitment reading of the Pueblo Indian, author unknown


Before we met, you and I were halves unjoined except in the wide rivers of our minds. We were each other's distant shore, the opposite wings of a bird, the other half of a seashell. We did not know the other then, did not know our determination to keep alive the cry of one riverbank to the other. We were apart, yet connected in our ignorance of each other, like two apples sharing a common tree. Remember?


I knew you existed long before you understood my desire to join my freedom to yours. Our paths collided long enough for our indecision to be swallowed up by the greater need of love. When you came to me, the sun surged towards the earth and moon escaped from darkness to bless the union of two spirits, so alike that the creator had designed them for life's endless circle. Beloved partner, keeper of my heart's odd secrets, clothed in summer blossoms so the icy hand of winter never touches us.

I thank your patience. Our joining is like a tree to earth, a cloud to sky and even more. We are the reason the world can laugh on its battlefields and rise from the ashes of its selfishness to hear me say,in this time, this place, this way - I loved you best of all.

Answer 5

"Tis love love, 'tis love that makes the world go round,
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove
And men below and saints above;
For love is heaven and heaven is love.'

Where one goes wrong when looking for the
idea girl is in making one's selection before
walking the full length of the counter . Much Obliged Jeeves,
P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975).

'It is a waste of time to fit Cupid with a pair of spectacles.'
Wits and Their Humor,
Rev. JO Bevan (1911)

"The first bond of society is marriage.'
Cicero (106-43 BC)

'
WHAT WOMAN, HOWEVER OLD, HAS NOT THE BRIDAL FAVOURS AND RAIMENT STOWED AWAY, AND PACKED IN LAVENDER, IN THE INMOST CUPBOARD OF HER HEART.
(William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863 )

Answer 6

An excerpt from "The Prophet" by Khalil Gabran
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Answer 7

Love
By Roy Croft

I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.

I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.


I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.

I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good,
And more than any fate
To make me happy.

You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.

Answer 8

i know you asked for 'non religious', this is from the bible, but it does not mention any beliefs it just simply states how wonderful "LOVE" is..

Love is patient, Love is kind,
It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud, It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil,
but rejoices with the truth.

Love always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.

Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.

L o v e N e v e r F a i l s.

Corinthians 13 : 4 - 8

Answer 9

That is the true season of love
When we believe that we alone can love
That no one has ever loved so before us
& no one will ever love in the same way after us


There's more to it & I think it was written by Gertrude or something like that.

Answer 10

I love you as though a dove sparkles in the sky!
The reason I care is for the love that we share!
I hope you will always be with me forever more!