Wedding reading

Union

Robert Fulghum

“Union” by Robert Fulghum is a prose reading read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about a minute and a half read aloud, usually by a guest reader. We do not reprint the words here — the note below says why, and what to bring instead.

Why the words are not printed here

Still in copyright. Print it from True Love or a licensed copy and have the reader bring it — they will need it in their hand anyway.

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.

Where it comes from

Fulghum’s books include True Love and All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, both listed on Robert Fulghum’s own site.

What it says

Union starts from an unusual premise for a wedding: the ceremony does not create anything. By the time two people stand up in front of their families, the piece argues, the promises have already been made between them in private, over months or years. The wedding is the moment those private promises are said out loud, with witnesses, so that everyone present knows what the couple already know. It speaks plainly and warmly, with no religious language, and it turns the guests into part of the point: they are there to hear it and hold the couple to it.

The best-known modern wedding reading. Your reader brings the book. Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: you cannot join what was never separate · plain modern language · a popular modern reading.

Who it suits

Couples who have lived together, built a home or raised children before the wedding, because it honors the life that already exists instead of pretending this is day one. It sits easily in a civil or humanist ceremony and in a mixed-faith family where scripture would divide the room. It is so widely read that a couple who want something nobody has heard may pass on it.

Where it goes in the ceremony

Most often the main reading, just before the vows, because its whole argument leads into the couple saying their promises aloud. A close friend, sibling or the officiant reads it. If there are two readings, put a shorter romantic poem first and this one second.

Reading it aloud

Allow about a minute and a half at a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, from the reader’s first word to their last.

It is prose, written to be spoken, so read it like a short speech rather than a poem. Look up at the end of each paragraph; the piece works when the reader is clearly talking to the room.
The turn is where it says the couple are already joined. Slow down there and let it land before you go on to the part about the witnesses.
At about a minute it is easy to rush. Time a practice run; if it comes in well under a minute, you are going too fast.

Questions about reading it aloud

How long does “Union” take to read aloud?

“Union” 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 “Union”?

Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “Union” 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 “Union” be printed in a ceremony script?

Not by us. Still in copyright. Print it from True Love or a licensed copy and have the reader bring it — they will need it in their hand anyway.

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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