Wedding reading
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Charles Wesley, 1747
“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” by Charles Wesley, 1747, is a hymn read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about 4 minutes read aloud, usually by everyone together. It is in the public domain, but we do not set the words here — the note below says what to bring instead, and why.
Why the words are not printed here
Public domain. The most-sung hymn at English-speaking church weddings.
Where it comes from
Charles Wesley first published Love Divine, All Loves Excelling in 1747, in his Hymns for those that Seek, and those that Have Redemption. Wesley’s first stanza is modeled on Fairest Isle, a song from Dryden and Purcell’s 1691 semi-opera King Arthur, and the hymn is sung to tunes including Blaenwern and Hyfrydol.
What it says
Love divine, the joy of heaven come down to earth, is asked to make its home in us. The singer asks to be made new, to be changed from glory into glory, until the change is complete in heaven and the singer is lost in wonder, love and praise. It is a hymn about love transforming people over a lifetime, which is why it works so well at the start of a marriage. Wesley took a love song sung by Venus in a Purcell opera and turned it toward God, so the hymn has always sat where human love and divine love meet.
The default church-wedding hymn, and the one guests are most likely to know. Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: a church wedding · traditional · well known · congregational.
Who it suits
A church wedding, especially Methodist, Anglican and other Protestant ceremonies. It is one of the hymns guests are most likely to know, and it has been sung at royal weddings. It suits couples who want a traditional hymn that is about love without being sentimental.
Where it goes in the ceremony
The opening hymn after the bride’s entrance, or a hymn after the vows and rings. The congregation sings, with organ.
Reading it aloud
Sung through by the room, allow about 4 minutes, depending on how many verses the venue’s book carries and how slowly the organist takes it.
- Agree the tune. Blaenwern and Hyfrydol are both common, and a congregation that expects one may falter at the other.
- Agree which verses; three or four are usual.
- The last line, “Lost in wonder, love, and praise”, is the high point. Let the organ finish before you speak.
- As officiant, sing or stand quietly; do not use the hymn to arrange papers at the front.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” take to read aloud?
“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” takes about 4 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 “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”?
Everyone together, rather than one reader. “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” runs about 4 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 “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” be printed in a ceremony script?
Not by us. Public domain. The most-sung hymn at English-speaking church weddings.
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
- Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee3 minutesA big glad hymn for the recessional
- 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a45 secondsLove is patient, the reading most paired with it
- Be Thou My Vision4 minutesAnother hymn that suits a marriage
- The Lord's My Shepherd (Crimond)4 minutesScottish Psalter, 1650
- Sonnet 1855 secondsWilliam Shakespeare
- Sonnet 43a minute and a halfElizabeth Barrett Browning