Wedding reading
To My Dear and Loving Husband
Anne Bradstreet
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet is a poem read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about 45 seconds read aloud, usually by a guest reader. It is in the public domain, so the full text is printed on this page and goes straight into a ceremony script.
The full text
If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quench, Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense. Thy love is such I can no way repay, The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. Then while we live, in love let's so persever That when we live no more, we may live ever.
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
What it is about
Written in 1670 and still the plainest statement of the thing.
Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: plain devotion · two made one · short · the first American poet · a second marriage.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “To My Dear and Loving Husband” take to read aloud?
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” takes about 45 seconds 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 “To My Dear and Loving Husband”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “To My Dear and Loving Husband” runs about 45 seconds, 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 “To My Dear and Loving Husband” be printed in a ceremony script?
Yes. It is in the public domain, so the full text is on this page and can be printed in a script or an order of service.
Where this text was checked
Checked word for word against a full-text edition that is itself the authority — a Project Gutenberg or Wikisource transcription, a publisher’s own edition, or the issuing body’s page.
Checked
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.