Readings
Wedding ceremony readings
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94 readings
Type a word, or press a tag. All 94 readings are listed further down either way.
A wedding ceremony usually has one or two readings, each running between about thirty seconds and two minutes, read by a guest rather than by the officiant. The readings that are out of copyright can be printed in full in the ceremony script; the rest are named here, and the reader brings a printed copy.
Almost everything written about wedding readings stops at the words. This is organised around what happens to them in the room — so every entry leads with how long it runs out loud, who usually delivers it, and whether the words come with it.
The spoken lengths are real. They are calculated at a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, and they are the same figures the run-sheet uses to work out when the ceremony actually ends.
Browse by kind
- Bible verses for a wedding ceremony291 Corinthians 13 is the passage most often read at weddings, and Genesis 2, Ruth 1, Song of Solomon 8, Ecclesiastes 4 and Colossians 3 are the others that come up again and again.
- Poems for a wedding ceremony23The wedding poems that are out of copyright, and therefore printable in a ceremony script, are mostly Elizabethan and Victorian: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, Burns’s “A Red, Red Rose”, Anne Bradstreet, Spenser’s Sonnet 75, Whitman.
- Non-religious wedding readings45A non-religious wedding reading is one that works in a ceremony with no religious framing at all — no scripture, no prayer, no blessing invoked.
Every reading, shortest first
- 10 secondsA Word to HusbandsOgden Nash · Four lines of marriage advice, and the shortest laugh available. Bring it printed.Reader brings a copy
- 15 secondsJeremiah 29:11King James Bible · One verse, and one many couples can already say from memory.
- 15 secondsRomans 13:8King James Bible · A single line: the one debt worth carrying is loving each other.
- 15 seconds1 Corinthians 16:13–14King James Bible · Four short commands, then charity. "Quit you like men" is King James for "be brave".
- 15 secondsfrom Les Misérables — the supreme happinessVictor Hugo, tr. Isabel F. Hapgood · One sentence, fifteen seconds, and it holds the whole argument for marrying somebody. Worth knowing: "to love another person is to see the face of God" is from the 1985 musical rather than from Hugo, so it is not here.
- 15 secondsThe stars about the fair moonSappho, tr. Henry Thornton Wharton · Twenty-five words of Sappho, and every one of them is a compliment. The shortest thing on the shelf — made for a child reader, or a reader who wants one sentence and no more.
- 15 secondsfrom The House at Pooh Corner — "I just wanted to be sure of you"A. A. Milne · Four lines, and they hold what the vows are about to say at length. Worth knowing before somebody asks: "as soon as I saw you, I knew a grand adventure was about to happen" and the "hundred minus one day" line are not in Milne — this is.
- 15 secondsThe Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26)King James Bible · Fifteen seconds, three thousand years old, and it closes anything.
- 20 secondsMark 10:6–9King James Bible · Mark's shorter version of the same passage.
- 20 seconds1 Peter 4:8–10King James Bible · Twenty seconds, and it covers hospitality and forgiveness.
- 20 secondsMay the Road Rise Up to Meet YouTraditional Irish · Ends warm and ends fast. Works at both a wedding and a funeral.
- 25 secondsMatthew 19:4–6King James Bible · Where "let no man put asunder" comes from.
- 25 secondsBrihadaranyaka Upanishad I.4.3 — the Self falls in twoThe Upanishads, tr. Max Müller (1884) · Older than every other reading on this shelf, and it says the same thing in three sentences: one was lonely, so one became two. Twenty-five seconds.
- 25 secondsfrom Song of the Open RoadWalt Whitman · Twenty-five seconds, and it ends on a question the couple answer with the vows.
- 25 secondsfrom a letter to Fanny Brawne, 13 October 1819John Keats · Keats wrote it to one person and never meant it to be heard, which is exactly how it reads. Twenty-five seconds, and it does not hedge once.
- 25 secondsDeep Peace (from the Invocation of Peace)Fiona Macleod (William Sharp) · Barely religious, deeply calming. The real Gaelic-revival poem, not the choral version.
- 30 secondsRuth 1:16–17aKing James Bible · Said between two women, and the most quoted promise in scripture.
- 30 secondsSong of Solomon 8:6–7King James Bible · Fierce rather than sweet. "Many waters cannot quench love."
- 30 secondsPhilippians 2:2–4King James Bible · Three verses on putting the other person first. Names no doctrine at all.
- 30 secondsProverbs 30:18–19King James Bible · Four things too wonderful to explain, and love is the fourth.
- 30 secondsSurah Ar-Rum 30:21 — the verse of love and mercyThe Qur’an · The wedding verse — love and mercy ordained between two people. Paste in the couple’s own translation and it prints in full.Words not set here
- 30 secondsA BirthdayChristina Rossetti · Pure gladness, and over in half a minute.
- 30 secondsA Closing, with no prayerOfficiantScript · Ours. Closes a service without a blessing, and gives the room a job.
- 30 secondsHabitationMargaret Atwood · Nine lines, none of them cosy. For a couple who would rather have it said straight.Reader brings a copy
- 35 secondsEcclesiastes 4:9–12King James Bible · Plain and practical. Works at a service with almost no religious framing.
- 35 secondsJohn 15:9–12King James Bible · A gospel reading, short enough to sit anywhere in the ceremony.
- 35 secondsPsalm 100King James Bible · Short, glad, and useful right at the top of a service.
- 35 secondsProverbs 3:3–6King James Bible · Mercy and truth, bound about the neck and written on the heart.
- 35 secondsSurah An-Nisa 4:1 — created from a single soulThe Qur’an, tr. Marmaduke Pickthall (1930) · The verse the khutbah opens with at a nikah. Pickthall’s 1930 English, which is the wording most families already have on the shelf.
- 40 secondsSong of Solomon 2:10–13King James Bible · The one that sounds like a love letter, because it is one.
- 40 secondsPsalm 128King James Bible · The household psalm — the responsorial at most Catholic weddings.
- 40 secondsEphesians 4:2–6King James Bible · Patience first, then unity — and it gathers both families into one line.
- 40 secondsTobit 8:5–8King James Bible · The Catholic favorite — "that we may become aged together."
- 40 secondsThe Lord's PrayerMatthew 6, King James Bible · Say the first line alone, then let the room carry it. Warn them it is coming.
- 40 secondsApache Wedding BlessingTraditional, widely anthologised · Often asked for. Its origin story is not what people think — worth knowing.Reader brings a copy
- 40 secondsThe Summer DayMary Oliver · Ends on "your one wild and precious life" — which is the line the couple are asking for.Reader brings a copy
- 40 secondsTouched by an AngelMaya Angelou · Angelou on love arriving and setting people free. Short, and it fills a room.Reader brings a copy
- 40 secondsLove Is Friendship Caught FireAttributed to Ann Landers · Often asked for, and nobody can show who wrote it. Read it — just do not credit it.Reader brings a copy
- 45 seconds1 Corinthians 13:4–8aKing James Bible · The short form — the one most people mean by "the love passage".
- 45 secondsA Red, Red RoseRobert Burns · Scots dialect. Give the reader the words in advance so it does not ambush them.
- 45 secondsTo My Dear and Loving HusbandAnne Bradstreet · Written in 1670 and still the plainest statement of the thing.
- 45 secondsi carry your heart with meE. E. Cummings · Short and much loved. The punctuation trips readers — rehearse it.Reader brings a copy
- 45 secondsThis MarriageRumi, in Coleman Barks’s rendering · The most-asked-for Rumi at a wedding. The reader brings a licensed copy — and it is worth naming Barks when you introduce it, because the English is his.Reader brings a copy
- 45 secondsWild GeeseMary Oliver · Opens by letting everyone off the hook, and ends on belonging. A room settles under it.Reader brings a copy
- 45 secondsHe’s Not PerfectAuthor unknown — widely misattributed to Bob Marley · Everyone has seen it with Bob Marley’s name on it. He did not write it — say so, or say nothing.Reader brings a copy
- 50 secondsEphesians 3:14–19King James Bible · "Rooted and grounded in love" — and it names both families at once.
- 50 secondsSonnet 130William Shakespeare · Thirteen lines of insults, then a last couplet that beats every compliment in the book. It teases the sonnets sitting next to it.
- 50 secondsMake Me an Instrument of Your PeaceAttributed to St Francis of Assisi · First printed in 1912 and not actually by St Francis — but it is the one people want.
- 50 secondsSonnet XVII — "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose"Pablo Neruda · Ask which translation. They are not interchangeable.Reader brings a copy
- 55 seconds1 John 4:7–12King James Bible · The passage that says plainly where the tradition thinks love comes from.
- 55 secondsEshet Chayil — A Woman of Valour (Proverbs 31, JPS 1917)JPS 1917 translation · Sung on Shabbat, read at the funeral of a mother or grandmother.
- 55 secondsSonnet 18William Shakespeare · "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Everyone half-knows it, which is a help.
- 55 secondsSonnet 43Elizabeth Barrett Browning · "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." The most requested after Sonnet 116.
- 55 secondsOn Becoming Real, from The Velveteen RabbitMargery Williams · Good for a child reader, and for a couple who have already been through something.
- a minute and a halfProverbs 31:10–12, 25–31King James Bible · Read at weddings, and often at the funeral of a mother or grandmother.
- a minute and a halfSonnet 116William Shakespeare · "Let me not to the marriage of true minds." Warn your reader: the last two lines need slowing down.
- a minute and a halfSonnet 75Edmund Spenser · "One day I wrote her name upon the strand." She gets the better of him halfway through.
- a minute and a halfOn marriage, from The Devil's Dictionary — five definitionsAmbrose Bierce · This one bites — mordant, not gently teasing, and only for a couple with a dry, self-aware sense of humour. Read all five before you offer it: the entry on marriage makes an 1881 joke about masters and slaves.
- a minute and a halfUnionRobert Fulghum · The best-known modern wedding reading. Your reader brings the book.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfOn love, from Letters to a Young PoetRainer Maria Rilke · The "two solitudes" passage. Which translation matters a great deal here.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfOn love, from All About Love: New Visionsbell hooks · Love as a verb, argued rather than declared. Pick the paragraphs with the couple.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfThe Art of a Good MarriageWilferd Arlan Peterson · The classic — and it usually arrives with the wrong name on it. Peterson wrote it.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfMarry Your Best FriendN’tima Preusser · A modern favorite that almost always arrives uncredited. Say her name when you read it.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfA Lovely Love StoryEdward Monkton · The dinosaur one. A minute long, and about as easy as a reading gets.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfThe Impressive Clergyman’s speech — "Mawage"William Goldman, for the 1987 film of The Princess Bride · Everyone asks. It is film dialogue, not the novel — nod to it in your own words instead.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfColossians 3:12–17King James Bible · About the daily work of it — forbearing and forgiving.
- a minute and a halfIsaiah 55:10–12King James Bible · Ends on the hills singing and the trees clapping — good for a recessional cue.
- a minute and a halffrom Obergefell v. HodgesJustice Anthony Kennedy · The closing paragraph of the 2015 marriage decision, ending on the line the whole country quoted. It carries further from the officiant than from a guest reader.
- a minute and a halfGenesis 2:18–24King James Bible · The oldest answer to why anyone marries: it is not good to be alone.
- a minute and a halfRomans 12:9–18King James Bible · "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."
- a minute and a halfPhilippians 4:4–8King James Bible · "Rejoice in the Lord alway", and the peace that passeth all understanding.
- a minute and a halfLove Is a Temporary MadnessLouis de Bernières · The unsentimental one, about what is left after the fireworks.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfThe Road Not TakenRobert Frost · The last three lines are why anybody asks for it. Frost is looking back at a choice from years down the road, which is the view a wedding is borrowing.
- a minute and a halfThe Metta Sutta — loving-kindness (verses 4–9)The Sutta-Nipâta, tr. V. Fausböll (1881) · The loving-kindness sutta, and the reading a Buddhist couple is most likely to want — it blesses the whole room, not just the two of them. This is Fausböll’s 1881 English, the one that is ours to print; where a couple say a version at their own temple, paste theirs in and it prints instead.
- a minute and a halfOn Marriage, from The ProphetKahlil Gibran · The Prophet entered the public domain, so this one we can print in full.
- a minute and a halffrom Jane Eyre — ten years marriedCharlotte Brontë · Jane at the end of the book, describing the marriage from inside it. The rare reading that is about being married rather than about getting married.
- a minute and a halffrom Extracts from Adam's Diary — selected entriesMark Twain · Adam is baffled by Eve for four entries and then says the truest thing in the book. Tell the reader to slow right down for the last one.
- a minute and a halfThe Country of MarriageWendell Berry · For a couple who want something with more weight than the standards.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfAll I Know About LoveNeil Gaiman · Written for a friend’s wedding in 2017, and published by the author himself.Reader brings a copy
- a minute and a halfOh, the Places You'll Go!Dr. Seuss · Read from the book itself, not a printout — the rights here are actively enforced.Reader brings a copy
- two minutesfrom the Symposium — the speech of AristophanesPlato, tr. Benjamin Jowett · Where "your other half" comes from, in the passage that put it there. Nearly two minutes of one unbroken sentence-chain — give the reader the page a week early.
- two minutesThe Owl and the Pussy-catEdward Lear · Nonsense verse the whole room half-remembers, and the one piece here nobody has ever objected to. Made for a child reader.
- two minutesfrom The Importance of Being Earnest, Act IOscar Wilde · Dialogue, so it wants two readers or one who can mark the switch. Algernon has nothing kind to say about marriage, including a line on the Divorce Court — that is the joke, but know it is coming.
- two minutes1 Corinthians 13:1–13King James Bible · The whole chapter, including "through a glass, darkly".
- two minutesYes, I'll Marry You, My DearPam Ayres · A crowd-pleaser at British weddings. Bring a properly sourced copy — the versions online differ.Reader brings a copy
- 3 minutesHow Falling in Love Is Like Owning a DogTaylor Mali · The dog one. Several minutes long, and it earns them — but your reader needs to rehearse it.Reader brings a copy
- 3 minutesJoyful, Joyful, We Adore TheeHenry van Dyke, 1907 · Beethoven, so the room will carry it even if nobody knows the words.Sung, not printed
- 4 minutesLove Divine, All Loves ExcellingCharles Wesley, 1747 · The default church-wedding hymn, and the one guests are most likely to know.Sung, not printed
- 4 minutesThe Lord's My Shepherd (Crimond)Scottish Psalter, 1650 · Psalm 23 to a tune. Confirm the tune, not just the hymn.Sung, not printed
- 4 minutesBe Thou My VisionAncient Irish, trans. Mary Byrne 1905 · One of the few that sits comfortably at both a wedding and a funeral.Sung, not printed
- 4 minutesA recorded songThe family’s choice · For anything modern. Add the title, and the run-sheet gives it a cue and a slot.Played, not printed
- 4 minutesA live performanceA family member or musician · Someone performing live. Plan for the possibility they cannot get through it.Played, not printed
- 5 minutesSheva Brachot — the Seven BlessingsTraditional, Hebrew · Usually shared among seven people. Get the text and the order from the couple.Words not set here
- 8 minutesMusic as people arriveThe venue · You say nothing. It is on the run-sheet so the clock tells the truth.Played, not printed
Questions
How many readings should a wedding ceremony have?
A wedding ceremony usually has one or two readings, each running between about thirty seconds and two minutes, read by a guest rather than by the officiant. The readings that are out of copyright can be printed in full in the ceremony script; the rest are named here, and the reader brings a printed copy.
Can these readings be printed in the ceremony script?
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.
How long does a reading take out loud?
Between about twelve seconds for a short blessing and four minutes for a congregational hymn, with most readings landing between forty seconds and two minutes. Every entry here carries its own figure, calculated at a ceremony pace of roughly 130 words a minute.
The reading is two minutes. The ceremony is the rest of it.
Answer some questions about the couple and get the whole thing written out — the welcome, their story, the vows, the ring exchange, the pronouncement — with your chosen readings already in place and the timing worked out around them.
Start your ceremony scriptReady in 15 minutes · no sign-up · read your draft first