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Rustic wedding readings
Rustic ceremonies tend to feel most themselves when the words match the room — plainspoken, unfussy, quietly beautiful. No baroque flourishes; just something true, said well, under a wooden beam.
These are the readings we recommend for barn weddings, farmhouse services and anywhere a bit of hay is doing the decorating.
Rustic readings we love
- 01
Habitation
by Margaret Atwood, b. 1939With wonder at having survived this far, we are learning to make fire
Read the full poem → - 02
House of Stone
by Carmen Bugan, b. 1970May your tears and your smiles happen always face to face.
Read the full poem → - 03
I love you
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1850 ~ 1919I love your eyes when the lovelight lies lit with a passionate fire
Read the full poem → - 04
Love
by "Roy Croft" (disputed attribution)You are helping me to make out of the lumber of my life, not a tavern, but a temple
Read the full poem → - 05
Marriage Morning
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1809 ~ 1892This is the golden morning of love, and you are his morning star
Read the full poem → - 06
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 → - 07
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 → - 08
Song of the Open Road
by Walt Whitman, 1819 ~ 1892I give you myself before preaching or law
Read the full poem → - 09
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 → - 10
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 → - 11
When faces called flowers
by e.e. cummings, 1894 ~ 1962Alive; we’re alive, dear: it’s(kiss me now)spring!
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.