Dear engaged couple,
I believe that couples should prepare as much of their wedding service as they are able and willing. So, I always ask couples if they want to choose the readings used in their service. Sometimes they have them at the ready. “This quote is important to us,” they say. “It describes the way we feel about each other.” Other times, though, they are in a quandary. So much to choose from! Where to begin? When that happens, I give them a list of readings that I have selected, many of which other couples have given me over the years. I also suggest that they consult weddingreadings.blogspot.com. This site is maintained by a celebrant named Carolyn, who lives in Tuscon, Arizona. In my estimation, Carolyn has done a great job collecting meaningful quotes and short essays for couples’ use.
Couples I have married, though, actually choose their readings from a variety of other sources, too. I want to share three of their choices with you, today, in case you are looking for that special reading for your special day.
My hands down favorite of the moment (and I admit I am fickle when it comes to readings—my own favorites change from day to day) is called Maybe…. By an anonymous author. A bride-to-be chose it and although I don’t know for sure, I assume she pulled it off the web. I hope you find it as breathtakingly honest and as masterfully written as do I:
Maybe….. (Author Unknown)
Maybe…We are supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the
Right one, so that when we finally meet the right person, we will know
how to be grateful for that gift.
Maybe…it is true that we don’t know what we have got until we lose
it, but it is also true that we don’t know what we have been missing
until it arrives
Maybe…the happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of
Everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their Way.
Maybe…the best kind of love is the kind you where you can sit on a sofa
Together never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the
best Conversation you’ve ever had
Maybe…you shouldn’t go for looks; they can deceive. Don’t go for
wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile,
because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.
Maybe…you should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough
trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough
hope to make you happy.
Maybe Love is not about finding the perfect person; it’s about
learning to see an imperfect person perfectly. When you do what you
can, love will do what you can’t.
Another comes from a children’s book. Children’s books actually are a good source for readings—your guests may already be familiar with them so they don’t have to listen too carefully, and the readings often broach topics like love and friendship. This one was read by a groom to the love of his life at their wedding earlier this year. It was written by A.A. Milne, writer of the Winnie the Pooh Series. This particular quote is from Now we are Six.
“A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soul mate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soul mate is the one who makes life come to life.
Finally, I share this with you, from Sara Zarr who is a young novelist from Utah and writer of the acclaimed, Story of a Girl. See if it might not speak to you as it does to the couple I will be marrying this weekend:
“There are certain people who come into your life, and leave a mark…their place in your heart is tender; a bruise of longing, a pulse of unfinished business. Just hearing their name pushes and pulls at you in a hundred different, electric ways, and when you try to define those hundred ways to describe them even to yourself, words are useless.
Amen to that! Happy wedding planning.
Gay Lee Einstein, Wedding Officiant
Amen to that! Happy wedding planning.
Gay Lee Einstein, Wedding Officiant
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