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Bohemian wedding readings
Bohemian ceremonies tend to make their own weather — mismatched chairs, hand-lettered vows, a friend playing something on a guitar somewhere. The reading wants to sit inside that: unhurried, a little wild, unafraid of feeling.
These are the readings we recommend for boho weddings and anyone writing their own rulebook on the day.
Bohemian readings we love
- 01
Admonitions to a Special Person
by Anne Sexton, 1928 ~ 1974To love another is something like prayer and can't be planned.
Read the full poem → - 02
For a new beginning
by John O'Donohue, 1956 ~ 2008The delight when your courage kindled and out you stepped onto new ground
Read the full poem → - 03
How do I love thee
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 ~ 1861if God choose I shall but love thee better after death
Read the full poem → - 04
How long we were fool'd
by Walt Whitman, 1819 ~ 1892We have voided all but our own freedom, all but our own joy
Read the full poem → - 05
Ideas of right and wrong
by Rumi, 1207 ~ 1273Let the beauty we love be what we do
Read the full poem → - 06
Love Song
by Henry Dumas, 1934 ~ 1968On hands and knees the ocean begs up the beach, then falls at your feet.
Read the full poem → - 07
Love, mere love
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 ~ 1861Let temple burn, or flax and an equal light leaps in the flames from cedar plank or weed. And love is fire.
Read the full poem → - 08
Mysteries, yes
by Mary Oliver, 1935 ~ 2019Let me keep company, always, with those who say 'look' and laugh in astonishment and bow their heads.
Read the full poem → - 09
Now
by Robert Browning, 1812 ~ 1889When ecstasies uptmost we clutch at the core
Read the full poem → - 10
On Love
by Kahlil Gibran, 1883 ~ 1931Let love be a moving sea between the shores of your souls
Read the full poem → - 11
On marriage
by Kahlil Gibran, 1883 ~ 1931Be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night
Read the full poem → - 12
Song of the Open Road
by Walt Whitman, 1819 ~ 1892I give you myself before preaching or law
Read the full poem → - 13
Song of Wandering Aengus
by W.B. Yeats, 1865 ~ 1939We will pluck til times and times are done, the silver apples of the moon, the golden apples of the sun
Read the full poem → - 14
Sonnet 116
by William Shakespeare, 1564 ~ 1616If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved
Read the full poem → - 15
The Beauty we love
by Rumi, 1207 ~ 1273The moment I heard my first love story I went looking for you
Read the full poem → - 16
Touched by an angel
by Maya Angelou, 1928 ~ 2014Love costs all we are and will ever be, but it is only love that will set us free.
Read the full poem → - 17
We are young
by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1892 ~ 1973We have become as one, deep rooted in the soil of Life and tangled in the sweet growth
Read the full poem →
Choosing your reading
How many readings should we have?
One or two is typical for a shorter ceremony; three works well if you'd like to give more guests a role. Vary the tone so the ceremony doesn't sit on one note.
Who should read?
Choose people whose voices you love hearing — siblings, close friends, a parent, a chosen family member. Send the reading in advance so they can practise.