Wedding reading
On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit
Margery Williams
“On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams is a prose reading read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about 55 seconds read aloud, usually by a guest reader. 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
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day. "Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." "Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time."
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
What it is about
Good for a child reader, and for a couple who have already been through something.
Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: becoming real · being loved a long time · wearing out · a second marriage · children present.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit” take to read aloud?
“On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit” takes about 55 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 “On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit” runs about 55 seconds, 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 “On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit” 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
Checked word for word against a full-text edition that is itself the authority — a Project Gutenberg or Wikisource transcription, a publisher’s own edition, or the issuing body’s page.
Checked
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 Marriage, from The Propheta minute and a halfKahlil Gibran
- A Lovely Love Storya minute and a halfEdward Monkton
- Oh, the Places You'll Go!a minute and a halfDr. Seuss
- 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