Still searching for a reading that's right for your big day? Looking for something which will give your guests a smile?
Here is another selection of light-hearted readings which will brighten your wedding ceremony, and help to reflect your personalities. Long or short, well-known or more unusual - choose something that's absolutely right for you!
I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg
I like you and I know why I like you because you are a good person to like I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it’s special And you remember it a long, long time You say, Remember when you told me something special And both of us remember
When I think something is important you think it’s important too We have good ideas When I say something funny, you laugh I think I’m funny and you think I’m funny too Hah-hah!
I like you because you know where I’m ticklish And you don’t tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too You know how to be silly – that’s why I like you If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag, then you are getting ready to jump HOORAY!
I like you because when I am feeling sad You don’t always cheer me up right away Sometimes it is better to be sad You can’t stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute You want to think about things It takes time
I like you because if I am mad at you Then you are mad at me too It’s awful when the other person isn’t They are so nice and oooh you could just about punch them on the nose
I can’t remember when I didn’t like you It must have been lonely then
Even if it was the 999th of July Even if it was August Even if it was way down at the bottom of November I would go on choosing you And you would go on choosing me Over and over again And that’s how it would happen every time
Gravitation by Albert Einstein
“Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?
Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.”
Love Monkey by Edward Monkton
It was once the custom that every monkey would carve for himself a wooden heart. And the heart that Love Monkey carved was the most beautiful of all. Its contours were soft and rounded, like an ancient pebble sculpted by the oceans. Its surface was smooth and shiny like liquid silk, and it shone as bright as a ruby in the desert sun. “Take your hearts with you wherever you go,” said their teacher. “Nurture them as a mother nurtures her new-born baby. For when you want to give of yourself fully, your heart is the only true gift you will have.”
That night, Love Monkey had a dream. He dreamt of a monkey whose smile lit up his soul like sunshine. He held out his heart to her, so radiant, so splendid and so new. She took him in her arms and he felt truly, perfectly, at peace. When Love Monkey awoke he resolved that, from that day forward, he would search for his Dream Monkey until he could stand before her and give to her his perfect heart.
He travelled through deserts…and climbed over mountains. He trekked across forests…and sailed many oceans. Love Monkey looked after his heart as best he could, but the storms that he endured on his travels chipped away at its surface and each new adventure reshaped it. By the time he arrived on the last distant shore, his heart was so changed by the patina of time that it barely resembled his old heart at all.
And then, he saw her. Standing before him, as radiant and as beautiful as the sunshine, was his Dream Monkey. At first he could not speak. But then, from somewhere deep inside himself, he found a voice. “I have travelled the world over to find you, and to give you my heart,” he said. “But now that I am finally with you, I see how foolish I have been. You are so beautiful, so perfect. And my heart that was once so smooth, so bright and so new is now not something that I could even bring myself to show you,” and he turned to go. “Let me see it,” said Dream Monkey. She took his heart and held it up to the light.
“Nothing to me is more beautiful. Every fissure tells a story. Every blemish makes you more real. All my life I have been waiting for a heart like this; a heart that speaks the truth.” “Come here,” she said. “I have something for you too.” In her hand was a tiny golden heart. It was as worn and as scratched as Love Monkey’s own…and it was the most precious thing that he had ever seen.
Love Monkey put his arms around her and they held each other for a long, long time. “I shall treasure this heart for as long as I live,” said Dream Monkey, running her fingers over its ridged and dimpled surface. Then they looked into each other’s eyes and, feeling the joy of truth in their souls for the first time, they began to laugh. And often they sit together still, holding each other’s hearts in their warm hands, lifting them to the light…and laughing. Always laughing.
The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger
“And then, high up on an icy branch, a scarlet flash.
One more leaf holding tight.
‘You’re here?’ called the Little Yellow Leaf.
‘I am,’ said the Little Scarlet Leaf.
‘Like me!’ said the Little Yellow Leaf.
Neither spoke.
Finally…
‘Will you?’ asked the Little Scarlett Leaf.
‘I will!’ said the Little Yellow Leaf.
And one, two, three, they let go and soared.”
Marriage is Like My Old Car by Marie April Gismondi
“The way I see it, marriage is like my old car.
When I bought it new from the dealership,
everyone around me was saying; “Wow that’s a nice car!”
It was all bright and shiny and worthy of admiration.
And then as the years went by…
there were places where the paint was starting to peel off.
It got a little dent and a scratch or two here and there…
and once it was over a decade old…
People started saying; “Why are you still driving that old thing?”
But my car ran like a top and would never leave me high and dry.
Every time something sounded a little off, or needed attention,
I got to work on it and fixed whatever needed fixing immediately,
knowing that you get what you give.
And then, when she became “a classic”,
it was off to the body shop she went for a new paint job.
People once again began saying; “Wow, that’s a really nice car!”
But what they didn’t know was that all the things that really matter,
were always things that nobody could see from the outside.
A marriage is like my old car.
It’s the maintenance you do between the high of the wedding day,
and gaining the admiration your grandchildren
by being the couple who still laughs and shares secrets,
and still holds hands after all these years.
So don’t worry so much about what people think or say.
Just do your oil changes, keep up with your maintenance,
get out and have fun,
don’t be afraid to blow the dust off now and then,
and fix whatever breaks as soon as it happens.
This is my advice for a marriage
that will motor successfully on down the highway of life.”
All I Know About Love by Neil Gaiman
This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing.
This is everything I've learned about marriage: nothing.
Only that the world out there is complicated,
and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,
and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,
is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze,
and not to be alone.
It's not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it's what they mean.
Somebody's got your back.
Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn't want to rescue you
or send for the army to rescue them.
It's not two broken halves becoming one.
It's the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home
because home is wherever you are both together.
So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: nothing,
like a book without pages or a forest without trees.
Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.
Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials.
Because nobody else's love, nobody else's marriage, is like yours,
and it's a road you can only learn by walking it,
a dance you cannot be taught,
a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.
And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,
not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.
And your hands will meet,
and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.
And that's all I know about love.
Love Me When I’m Old and Shocking by Bee Rawlinson
Love me when I’m old and shocking
Peel off my elastic stockings
Swing me from the chandeliers
Let’s be randy bad old dears.
Push around my chromed Bath Chair
Let me tease your white chest hair
Scaring children, swapping dentures
Let us have some great adventures.
Take me to the Dogs and Bingo
Teach me how to speak the lingo
Bone my eels and bring me tea
Show me how it’s meant to be.
Take me to your special places
Watching all the puzzled faces
You in shorts and socks and sandals
Me with warts and huge love-handles.
As the need for love enthralls
Wrestle with my damp-proof smalls
Make me laugh without constraint
Buy me chocolate body paint.
Hold me safe throughout the night
When my hair has turned to white
Believe me when I say it’s true
I’ve waited all my life for you.
Some Things Go Together, by Charlotte Zolotow
Pairs of things that go together
Pigeons with park
Stars with dark
Sand with sea
and you with me.
Hats with heads
Pillows with beds
Sky with blue
and me with you.
The Relationship Promise by Luke Wright
I promise, my darling, to be your best friend, to settle the quarrels before the day ends, to teach you new things and learn in return, halve debts, colds and baths, and share laughs and concerns.
I promise, my love, to be silly with you, to giggle in restaurants and cinema queues, the romance and hum-drum all blended to bliss,
a life battle-plan that’s sealed with a kiss.
From traffic jams and house work to sweet pillow talk,
from mortgage repayments to long country walks, a cuppa in bed when the morning begins, and then when it’s over, I’ll pour you a gin.
I promise I’ll seek to avoid nasty schisms, I know that at times we’ll need two televisions,
I love you so much that whenever we fight, I’ll learn to repeat: I was wrong, you were right.
I promise, my darling, I’ll give you your space, when you’re on the phone, dear, I’ll spare you my face,
but know that I’ll be there when your spirit sinks, to match you for messiness, cuddles and drinks.
I love you, my darling, and will leave you never But will stack days into decades to make our forever.
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
I know that love can be loud and jubilant…I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing. It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee. It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting.
It’s saying ‘You’re safer here than in a car’ as they hyperventilate on an EasyJet flight to Dublin. It’s the texts: ‘Hope your day goes well’, ‘How did today go?’, ‘Thinking of you today’ and ‘Picked up loo roll’.
Love is a quiet, reassuring, relaxing, pottering, pedantic, harmonious hum of a thing; something you can easily reach forget is there, even though its palms are outstretched beneath you in case you fall.
