Wedding reading
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Henry van Dyke, 1907
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” by Henry van Dyke, 1907 is a hymn read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about 3 minutes read aloud, usually by everyone together. It is in the public domain but too long to print in a ceremony script, so this page points at a full text rather than reproducing one.
Why the words are not printed here
Public domain, set to Beethoven. Loud and glad — a good recessional.
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
Beethoven, so the room will carry it even if nobody knows the words.
Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: Ode to Joy · big and glad · a recessional · a full church.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” take to read aloud?
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” takes about 3 minutes 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 “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”?
Everyone together, rather than one reader. “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” runs about 3 minutes and needs the words in front of the room — in an order of service, on a screen, or led line by line by the officiant.
Can “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” be printed in a ceremony script?
Not in full here. Public domain, set to Beethoven. Loud and glad — a good recessional.
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.
Other readings that suit the same service
- The Lord's My Shepherd (Crimond)4 minutesScottish Psalter, 1650
- Be Thou My Vision4 minutesAncient Irish, trans. Mary Byrne 1905
- Love Divine, All Loves Excelling4 minutesCharles Wesley, 1747
- 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a45 secondsKing James Bible
- 1 Corinthians 13:1–13two minutesKing James Bible
- Genesis 2:18–24a minute and a halfKing James Bible