Wedding reading
Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Dr. Seuss
“Oh, the Places You'll Go!” by Dr. Seuss is a prose reading read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about a minute and a half 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, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises enforces it hard — do not reproduce any of it, including in a printed order of service. Read the passage straight out of a bought copy of the book, which also looks better than a sheet of paper.
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
Read from the book itself, not a printout — the rights here are actively enforced.
Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: oh the places you'll go · setting off together · usually excerpted rather than read whole · children present · a young couple · buoyant.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Oh, the Places You'll Go!” take to read aloud?
“Oh, the Places You'll Go!” takes about a minute and a half 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 “Oh, the Places You'll Go!”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “Oh, the Places You'll Go!” runs about a minute and a half, 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 “Oh, the Places You'll Go!” 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, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises enforces it hard — do not reproduce any of it, including in a printed order of service. Read the passage straight out of a bought copy of the book, which also looks better than a sheet of paper.
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
- On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit55 secondsMargery Williams
- A Lovely Love Storya minute and a halfEdward Monkton
- On Marriage, from The Propheta minute and a halfKahlil Gibran
- from Extracts from Adam's Diary — selected entriesa minute and a halfMark Twain
- from The Importance of Being Earnest, Act Itwo minutesOscar Wilde
- On marriage, from The Devil's Dictionary — five definitionsa minute and a halfAmbrose Bierce