Wedding reading
The Country of Marriage
Wendell Berry
“The Country of Marriage” by Wendell Berry is a poem read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about a minute and a half read aloud, usually by a guest reader. It is still in copyright, so the words are not reprinted here — the reader brings a printed copy.
Why the words are not printed here
Still in copyright. Print it from a licensed collection. It is long — pick the section with the couple rather than reading all of it.
Pieces still in copyright are listed by title and author only — we name them and tell you where to get them, but we do not reproduce the words. Public-domain text is printed in your script in full.
What it is about
For a couple who want something with more weight than the standards.
Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: marriage as a place · farming · long marriage · literary.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “The Country of Marriage” take to read aloud?
“The Country of Marriage” takes about a minute and a half read aloud at a ceremony pace, which is slower than conversation — roughly 130 words a minute. That is the figure the run-sheet uses when it works out the timing for the whole service.
Who usually reads “The Country of Marriage”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “The Country of Marriage” runs about a minute and a half, which is a manageable amount to hand to a friend or family member. Give them a printed copy of their own, in a size they can read without their glasses, and tell them where to stand and how you will introduce them.
Can “The Country of Marriage” be printed in a ceremony script?
Not by us. It is still in copyright, so we name it and point you at a copy rather than reprinting the words. Still in copyright. Print it from a licensed collection. It is long — pick the section with the couple rather than reading all of it.
A reading is two minutes of the hour.
The rest is the welcome, the vows, the ring exchange, the pronouncement — and the timing that holds them together. Answer some questions about the couple and get the whole ceremony, written out, with this reading in its place.