Wedding reading
How Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog
Taylor Mali
“How Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog” by Taylor Mali is a poem read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about 3 minutes 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. Mali wrote it in 1998 for a friend’s wedding and collected it in What Learning Leaves — print it from there or from his own site, and note the title is often shortened to "Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog", which is not what he called it. It is spoken-word, so give the reader time with 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
The dog one. Several minutes long, and it earns them — but your reader needs to rehearse it.
Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: falling in love is like owning a dog · spoken word · dog people · funny and then unexpectedly moving · a long reading · a modern favourite.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “How Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog” take to read aloud?
“How Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog” 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 “How Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “How Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog” runs about 3 minutes, 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 “How Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog” 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. Mali wrote it in 1998 for a friend’s wedding and collected it in What Learning Leaves — print it from there or from his own site, and note the title is often shortened to "Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog", which is not what he called it. It is spoken-word, so give the reader time with 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.