A good non-religious reading for a wedding?

Question

Can anybody suggest a good reading for a winter family wedding?

It can't be religious and the groom has asked that it isn't too dramatic!

Any help greatly appreciated!!

Answer 1

My husband and I are not too much for over dramatic readings either, we used this one because it is very realistic:

On The True, Seasoned Marriage

When you love someone you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of the tide of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide of life and resist in terrors it’s ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life, as in love, is growth... is fluidity... is freedom.

-Ann Morrow Lindbergh

Answer 2

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

A good marriage must be created.

In marriage the little things are the big things.

It is never being too old to hold hands.

It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.

It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through all the years.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together facing the world.

It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.

It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.

It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.

It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.

or

Today is a day you will always remember

the greatest in anyone’s life.

You’ll start off the day just two people in love

and end it as husband and wife.

It’s a brand new beginning, the start of a journey,

with moments to cherish and treasure.

And although there’ll be times when you both disagree,

these will surely be outweighed by pleasure.

You’ll have heard many words of advice in the past,

when the secrets of marriage were spoken,

but now you know that the answers lie hidden inside,

where the bond of true love lies unbroken.

So live happy forever as lovers and friends,

it’s the dawn of a new life for you,

as you stand there together with love in your eyes

from the moment you whisper, “I do”.

And with luck, all your hopes, and your dreams can be real,

may success find its way to your hearts.

Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys,

but today is the day it all starts.

Answer 3

I LOVE the first posters idea.  I think I might even use that at my wedding.

______________________________________...

from Captain Corelli's mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres

Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two

When two individuals meet,so do two private worlds. None of our private worlds is big enough for us to live a wholesome life in. We need the wider world of joy and wonder, of purpose and venture, of toil and tears. What are we, any of us, but strangers and sojourners, wandering through the nighttime until we draw together and find the meaning of our lives in one another, dissolving our fears in each other's courage, making music together and lighting torches to guide us through the dark?

- Anthony Powell Davies

SONNET XVII, by Pablo Neruda

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:

I love you as certain dark things are loved,

therefore, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries

Hidden within itself the light of those flowers,

and thanks to your love, darkly in my body

lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where

I love you simply, without problems or pride:

I love you in this way because I don't know another way of loving.

but this, in which there is no I or you,

so intimate that your hand upon my chest in my hand:

so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,

and the life of the candle will not be shortened.

Happiness never decreases by being shared.

--The Buddha

From "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"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. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Answer 4

write your own... :D

Answer 5

im muslim and im 14 so im not qualified but if i were u i'd myself and ask the groom that each of you write your own oaths instead of the regular c**p, it should be romantic i guess

Answer 6

I like this one, it would be nice if you read it for your brothers wedding:

http://www.todays-weddings.com/planning/...

Answer 7

I have seen it before where the bride & groom each write the other a nice letter before-hand, bsaically saying that they love them, why they love them, etc. Then, at the wedding, either they can read them to eachother, or, someone else can read them for them.

Answer 8

If you have seen the notebook think to the part where Ally is finally reading the letters from Noah.  What he says to her in the letter is beautiful, loving and non religious.  Here is what it said.

The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever. I love you.

Answer 9

How Do I Love Thee

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)



How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with a passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Answer 10

we asked my cousin and her 4 year old son (who we are very close to) to do our reading at our wedding but couldn't find anything that we liked that was suitable for a child to read, so we asked them to write their own and it was so moving, much more so that our other reading that which was a scottish blessing.