21 beautiful modern wedding readings that celebrate marriage, love and connection
Celebrants share their advice on modern wedding readings, from moving literary passages and contemporary poetry to powerful extracts from TV and film to help you find the right words for your special day.
Read time:
5 minutes
Readings at a wedding create special moments of reflection for the couple and guests, and therefore are usually an important task on a wedding planning checklist. Typically delivered by friends or bridal party members, modern wedding readings tend to be more personal than their traditional wedding counterparts. They're also an easy, effective way to customise the service for those who want to create a memorable and unique wedding ceremony. Couples often look to their favourite novels, poetry, music, and film to find the right words to express their bond. For weddings outside of a church, non-religious wedding readings are a chance to bring some individuality to the ceremony. ‘Wedding readings have evolved to be far more personal, often reflecting the couple's unique personalities through humour and pop culture,’ award-winning celebrant Jennifer Patrice tells us. ‘Couples today seek readings that embrace inclusivity and diversity while being shorter and more dynamic to keep their guests engaged.’
For those opting for a religious ceremony, it’s common to have a mix of religious and non-religious passages throughout the service. For some, a ‘reading’ can take a different form, as Rosalie Kuyvenhoven, a leading celebrant who specialises in multicultural, bilingual ceremonies and destination weddings, explains. ‘For an Asian-English couple, we included a guided meditation followed by a contemplative reading on the famous painting Hokusai’s wave (Hokusai Says by Roger Keyes),’ Kuyvenhoven explains. ‘Couples want their day to reflect them and their beliefs, rather than a bygone age.’
The ceremony is often the most intimate part of a wedding day, and finding the words fitting for such a significant moment can take some thought. With the help of celebrants who have conducted hundreds of weddings, we’ve compiled the most engaging, romantic, and poignant modern readings for a wedding to inspire you.
Credit: Dominika Miechowska
How to choose a modern wedding reading
A good place to start is with words that already mean something to you as a couple. ‘Start by thinking about the poems, songs, odes, or even limericks you like, Patrice explains. If you share a favourite film, consider its emotional moments. Have a shared love of music? Look to the songs that hold significance. Modern poetry has a wealth of musings on love and connection. Kuyvenhoven shares, ‘In my experience, couples often choose readings that reflect not only sentiments about love but also something about them; their sense of humour, a cultural or religious heritage or a theme important to them.’
Patrice also advises considering who you would like to do the reading before assigning the passage. ‘Think about the personality of the person you’d like to read,’ she advises. ‘Are they outgoing and gregarious, or quiet and serious? Choose something meaningful to you and will be delivered well by the person you choose to read.’ The celebrant also suggests that couples could add an element of surprise to the ceremony when thinking about modern wedding readings for friends. ‘Some couples also ask the person speaking to choose a reading and send it directly to the celebrant, so the first time the couple hears it is during the ceremony,’ she tells us. ‘This adds a beautiful element of spontaneity!’ That spontaneity can lead to wonderful, gleeful reactions from the couple and guests — so make sure one of your questions to ask your wedding photographer is how they plan to capture these moments.
Credit: Emily Rose Hamilton
Modern wedding reading ideas
1. Wild Awake by Hilary T Smith
People are like cities: We all have alleys and gardens and secret rooftops and places where daisies sprout between the sidewalk cracks, but most of the time, all we let each other see is a postcard glimpse of a skyline or a polished square. Love lets you find those hidden places in another person, even the ones they didn’t know were there, even the ones they wouldn’t have thought to call beautiful themselves
Credit: Rebecca Searle Photography
2. Love Sonnet 17 by Pablo Neruda
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
3. Reading of Love, by Laura Hendricks
Love is friendship that has caught fire.
It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving.
It is loyalty through good and bad times.
It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.
Love is content with the present, it hopes for the future, and it does not brood over the past.
It’s the day-in and day-out chronicle of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories and working toward common goals.
If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things that are missing.
If you don’t have love in your life, no matter what else there is, it’s not enough.
Credit: Beatrici Photography
4. The Priest’s Speech (from Fleabag), by Stephanie Green
Love is awful. It’s awful. It’s painful. It’s frightening. It makes you doubt yourself, judge yourself, distance yourself from the other people in your life. It makes you selfish. It makes you creepy, makes you obsessed with your hair, makes you cruel, makes you say and do things you never thought you would do. It’s all any of us want, and it’s hell when we get there. So no wonder it’s something we don’t want to do on our own. I was taught if we’re born with love then life is about choosing the right place to put it. People talk about that a lot, feeling right, when it feels right it’s easy. But I’m not sure that’s true. It takes strength to know what’s right. And love isn’t something that weak people do. Being a romantic takes a hell of a lot of hope. I think what they mean is, when you find somebody that you love, it feels like hope.
Credit: Helen Abraham
5. A Vow, by Wendy Cope
I cannot promise never to be angry;
I cannot promise always to be kind.
You know what you are taking on, my darling
It’s only at the start that love is blind.
And yet I’m still the one you want to be with
And you’re the one for me – of that I’m sure.
You are my closest friend, my favourite person,
The lover and the home I’ve waited for.
I cannot promise that I will deserve you
From this day on. I hope to pass that test.
I love you and I want to make you happy.
I promise I will do my very best.
6. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
I will love you forever; whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again… I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you… we’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… and when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we’ll be joined so tight…
Credit: Tom Durn Photography
7. The Beauty of Union, by George The Poet
There’s an indescribable beauty in union
In two beings forming one new being Entering each other’s world
Surrendering each other’s selves
Accepting the invitation to be everything to someone else
There’s an unparallelled bravery in union In telling the one you love: The only way that we can truly win
As if I think of you in everything I do
And honour every decision you faithfully include me in.
Love gives union true meaning
It illuminates the path
It wants us to compromise, communicate and laugh
It wants us to elevate, appreciate without pride
Love is oblivious to the outside
Even with an audience of millions Even when that love bears immortal significance
All of this is met with cordial indifference
By the two people at the heart of it
Two individuals when they started it
Becoming two halves of one partnership
Such is the beauty of union
Such is the beauty of union
Credit: Deborah Grace
8. Harry’s Speech, from When Harry Met Sally
I love that you get cold when it’s seventy-one degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
9. Let There Be Spaces In Your Togetherness, by Kahlil Gibran
Let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the 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.
10. Gravitation, by Albert Einstein
Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.
Credit: Deborah Grace
More ideas for modern readings for a wedding
Always, by Lang Leav - a simple and romantic look at love from Leav's first book, Love and Misadventure.
Here’s To Right Now, by Ms. Moem - a modern English poem about living in the moment and excitement for the future.
I’d Rather Rise In Love With You, by Jana Lynne Umipig - a feminist reading that celebrates equality between a couple.
Love Me When I'm Old, by Bee Rawlinson, is a raucous and humorous poem that challenges perceptions of love among the older generation.
I Love You, by Roy Croft - a simple and heartfelt poem about the true meaning of love.
The First Love Story, by Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi - a short and poignant poem that makes a profound point about love.
The Art of Marriage, by Wilferd A. Peterson - billed as one of the greatest odes to matrimony, this sentimental modem reading examines what marriage really means.
The Bridge Across Forever, by Richard Bach - a romantic reading from American writer Richard Bach about what it means to find one’s soulmate.
Time Travellers, by Terah Cox - a reading for the realists about the ups and downs of love, told passionately and romantically.
Scaffolding, by Seamus Heaney - this iconic poem is a good choice for those who don’t want anything too sentimental, and a great nod to Irish culture if that holds significance for a couple.
You Are The Bubbles, by Rachel Bright - a sweet and lighthearted poem for couples who are fond of champagne.
Credit: Chloë Lowe
How many readings should you have at a wedding?
This is largely down to personal preference, but considering that wedding ceremonies usually last between 30 minutes and an hour, there’s not much time for numerous lengthy passages. ‘Two to four readings usually work well, Patrice explains. ‘Personally, I think three is the sweet spot. It strikes a nice balance without overwhelming the moment.’
Who should deliver the wedding reading?
You can ask any guest(s) to deliver the reading, but couples often opt for a close friend or family member to do the honour - perhaps someone who would have been included in the bridal party if numbers had allowed. Think about which guests are confident public speakers and who would be comfortable giving the reading. Some personalities will help passages to really shine. Your celebrant, priest, vicar, or another officiant will also be able to deliver readings upon request.
Credit: Kat Gillespie
How long should wedding readings last?
As a guide, wedding readings typically last between one and three minutes, but some can be as short as a few lines. It would be recommended not to go over five minutes, particularly if having more than one reading during the ceremony. It takes, on average, just under a minute to say 100 words (try a free online speech calculator to gauge how long your wedding readings will take) - therefore, a 500-word passage would take roughly four minutes. People who aren’t used to public speaking may speed up due to nerves, so some good advice is to ask your chosen speakers to take their time.
When it comes to modern wedding readings, there are no hard and fast rules - the most important thing is that the words mean something special to you. More unusual wedding readings, such as song lyrics, famous love letters or extracts from modern TV shows, are also great options to bring colour to your ceremony. It’s a chance to get creative and share with your guests the themes and concepts around love that define you as a couple.
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