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.
Where it comes from
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams was published in 1922 with illustrations by William Nicholson.
What it says
A new toy rabbit asks the oldest toy in the nursery, the Skin Horse, what it means to be Real. The Skin Horse explains that it is not about how you are made; it is something that happens when someone loves you for a long time, not just to play with, but really loves you. The rabbit asks whether it hurts. Sometimes, the horse says, but when you are Real you do not mind. It does not happen all at once, he adds. You become. It takes a long time. At a wedding the passage says that love is not a moment but a long wearing-in, and that being known well, faults and all, is what makes it real.
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.
Who it suits
Couples who want a gentle, unsentimental reading about lasting love, couples with children, and blended families where a child can read it. It suits second marriages and couples who have already been through hard times together, because it admits that love can hurt. It is secular and fits any ceremony. Couples who want romance and passion may find it too homely.
Where it goes in the ceremony
A good first reading, especially when read by a child or teenager, followed by a more traditional piece. It also works as the main reading in a small, informal ceremony. If a child reads it, place it early, before nerves build, and have an adult nearby.
Reading it aloud
The text on this page is 106 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about 50 seconds of reading.
- It is a dialogue between the Rabbit and the Skin Horse. Mark the switch with a small change of pace rather than doing voices.
- The Skin Horse is old, wise and patient. Read his lines slowly and kindly.
- “You become. It takes a long time.” Give each of those short sentences room, and end there without hurrying back to your seat.
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
- from The House at Pooh Corner — "I just wanted to be sure of you"15 secondsAnother children’s-book passage, four lines long
- from Jane Eyre — ten years marrieda minute and a halfWhat a marriage looks like after many years
- 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a45 secondsScripture on love that bears all things
- On Marriage, from The Propheta minute and a halfKahlil Gibran
- from Les Misérables — the supreme happiness15 secondsVictor Hugo, tr. Isabel F. Hapgood
- A Lovely Love Storya minute and a halfEdward Monkton