Home › Collections › Modern wedding readings
Modern wedding readings
Modern readings tend to sit closer to the way we actually talk. The rhythms are conversational, the images are drawn from recognisable lives — kitchens, cities, small ordinary weekdays — and the emotional honesty lands harder because of it.
These are the contemporary pieces we reach for when a couple wants their ceremony to feel like now, not a period drama.
Modern readings we love
- 01
About Marriage
by Denise Levertov, 1923 ~ 1997I would be met, and meet you so, in a green airy space, not locked in.
Read the full poem → - 02
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 → - 03
Book of Genesis
by Kei Miller, b. 1978Untill even silent dreams had been allowed
Read the full poem → - 04
Epiphany
by Sophie Strand, contemporaryMy heart was made to be split open, like the milkweed pod, and scattered
Read the full poem → - 05
Gift from the Sea
by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1906 ~ 2001The only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity – in freedom
Read the full poem → - 06
Habitation
by Margaret Atwood, b. 1939With wonder at having survived this far, we are learning to make fire
Read the full poem → - 07
I carry your heart
by e.e. cummings, 1894 ~ 1962This is the wonder that is keeping the stars apart.
Read the full poem → - 08
Love is like owning a dog
by Taylor Mali, b. 1965Love makes you meet people wherever you go
Read the full poem → - 09
Most like an arch
by John Ciardi, 1916 ~ 1978All I do at piling stone on stone apart from you is roofless around nothing
Read the full poem → - 10
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 → - 11
The master speed
by Robert Frost, 1874 ~ 1963Once you agree that life is just life forevermore, together, wing to wing and oar to oar
Read the full poem → - 12
When faces called flowers
by e.e. cummings, 1894 ~ 1962Alive; we’re alive, dear: it’s(kiss me now)spring!
Read the full poem → - 13
Wishing Well
by Gregory Pardlo, b. 1968I cough up daylight like I've just been dragged ashore
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.