Wedding reading

A Closing, with no prayer

OfficiantScript

“A Closing, with no prayer” (OfficiantScript) is a blessing read at weddings and funerals alike. It takes about 35 seconds read aloud, usually by the officiant. 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

about 35 secondsofficiant

Before you go — take a moment to look around this room at everybody in it. Every person here is here for the same reason. That is not nothing. Keep hold of each other after today, not just this week but in a month, and in a year, when it has gone quiet and people have stopped asking. Thank you for being here. Take care of each other on the way out.

Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.

What it says

A closing for a ceremony that does not end with a prayer. It asks everyone to look around the room and notice who is there, all for the same reason. Then it gives them a job: keep hold of each other after today, not only this week but in a month and a year, when things have gone quiet. It ends with thanks and a reminder to look after each other on the way out. It is short, practical and warm, and it turns the end of the service into a beginning.

Ours. Closes a service without a blessing, and gives the room a job. Read at weddings and funerals alike. Themes: closing a secular service · no God mentioned · short · sending people out · humanist.

Who it suits

Secular and humanist funerals and memorials, where the family want a send-off without a blessing. It also works at a wedding, where keeping hold of each other means supporting the couple through the years. It suits mixed rooms of believers and non-believers. At a funeral the line about people having stopped asking is pointed at the weeks after, so it is especially apt where the bereaved will be alone.

Where it goes in the ceremony

The last words of the ceremony, before the closing music or the recessional. The officiant says it.

Reading it aloud

The text on this page is 71 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about 35 seconds of reading.

Pause after “take a moment to look around this room”. Let people actually look.
Slow down on “in a month, and in a year”. Those are the words people will remember.
At a wedding, change “when it has gone quiet and people have stopped asking” to something about the years ahead, so it does not sound like a funeral.
End warmly and step back. Cue the music the moment you finish.

Questions about reading it aloud

How long does “A Closing, with no prayer” take to read aloud?

“A Closing, with no prayer” takes about 35 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 “A Closing, with no prayer”?

Usually the officiant rather than a guest reader. “A Closing, with no prayer” runs about 35 seconds, which sits inside the part of the service the officiant is already leading, and keeping it there means it is carried by the person who has rehearsed it.

Can “A Closing, with no prayer” 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

No source recorded.

Written by us, so there is nothing to check it against.

Checked Mon, October 19, 2026

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.

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