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Romantic wedding readings
Some couples want the ceremony to feel exactly like what it is: two people, deeply in love, saying so out loud. These readings lean into that — tender, warm, unafraid of the big feelings.
A romantic reading works best when it's read by someone who isn't afraid to feel it either. Choose your reader carefully; rehearse together once.
Romantic readings we love
- 01
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 → - 02
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 → - 03
I want to die while you love me
by Georgia Douglas Johnson, 1880 ~ 1966Who would care to live til love has nothing more to ask, and nothing more to give.
Read the full poem → - 04
Ideas of right and wrong
by Rumi, 1207 ~ 1273Let the beauty we love be what we do
Read the full poem → - 05
Invitation to love
by Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1872 ~ 1906Come, O Love, whenever you may, and you are welcome, welcome
Read the full poem → - 06
Now
by Robert Browning, 1812 ~ 1889When ecstasies uptmost we clutch at the core
Read the full poem → - 07
Oh, the places you will go!
by Dr. Seuss, 1904 ~ 1991Things can happen and frequently do, to people as brainy and footsy as you
Read the full poem → - 08
Song of the Open Road
by Walt Whitman, 1819 ~ 1892I give you myself before preaching or law
Read the full poem → - 09
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 → - 10
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 → - 11
The Beauty we love
by Rumi, 1207 ~ 1273The moment I heard my first love story I went looking for you
Read the full poem → - 12
The kiss
by Rabindranath Tagore, 1861 ~ 1941Love is writing a song in a delicate script, kiss-calligraphy on lips
Read the full poem → - 13
The Truelove
by David Whyte, b. 1955You’ve simply had enough of drowning and you want to live and you want to love and you will walk across any territory and any darkness however fluid and however dangerous to take the one hand you know belongs in yours.
Read the full poem → - 14
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
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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.