Your wedding ceremony deserves words that capture the depth of your love story.
While traditional vows are beautiful, adding a meaningful reading can transform your ceremony into something truly unforgettable—whether it’s delivered by a cherished friend, family member, or even yourselves.
The right reading becomes a moment your guests will remember long after the last dance. Here are ten powerful options that go beyond the expected, each offering its own emotional resonance for your special day.
1. The Art of Marriage by Wilferd Arlan Peterson
This classic reading speaks to marriage as an ongoing creation rather than a destination. Peterson’s words remind us that love isn’t just about finding the right person—it’s about becoming the right partner.
“The art of marriage is to be practiced every day. It is the art of being kind when you are irritated, patient when you are tired, and forgiving when you are hurt. It is the art of making a house into a home, a family into a sanctuary, and everyday life into a celebration.
The art of marriage is not about finding the perfect person, but about seeing an imperfect person perfectly. It is about creating something beautiful together, something that neither of you could create alone. It is about choosing each other, not just once, but every single day. It is about growing together, learning together, and building a life that reflects the best of both of you.
The art of marriage is practiced in the small moments—the morning coffee shared in comfortable silence, the gentle touch during a difficult day, the laughter that fills empty spaces. It is about being present for each other’s joys and sorrows, dreams and fears. It is about creating a love that is both a safe harbor and an adventure, both a foundation and a journey.”
This reading works beautifully when delivered by someone who has witnessed your relationship grow. Consider having your parents or longtime friends share these words—their personal connection to your story will add extra weight to Peterson’s wisdom.
The beauty lies in its practical honesty. It doesn’t promise fairy-tale perfection but celebrates the daily choice to love well.
2. From “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran
Gibran’s timeless words about love and marriage have graced countless ceremonies, but they never lose their power. His perspective on maintaining individual identity within partnership resonates deeply with modern couples.
“Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together, for the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
These words challenge the notion that marriage means losing yourself in another person. Instead, Gibran celebrates the strength found in two whole individuals choosing to build something together.
The imagery is stunning—moving seas, temple pillars, mighty trees. It’s poetry that acknowledges both the beauty of union and the importance of personal growth within that union.
3. Apache Wedding Blessing
This traditional Native American blessing brings ancient wisdom to your modern celebration. Its imagery of natural elements reflects the enduring, cyclical nature of true love.
“Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth for the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you.
May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years. May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.
Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness, and kindness that your connection deserves.
When frustration, difficulties, and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong.”
The blessing’s structure creates a powerful rhythm that builds emotional momentum. Each “now” statement transforms potential hardship into shared strength.
Consider having this read by someone who represents wisdom in your life—a grandparent, mentor, or spiritual leader. The ancient words carry extra weight when delivered by someone whose own life reflects their truth.
4. From “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Rilke’s profound meditation on love challenges surface-level romance in favor of something deeper and more transformative. His words speak to couples ready to embrace love as a catalyst for personal growth.
“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.
For the future enters into us, in order to transform us, long before it happens. And that is why the external future is so important: because we can influence it through our inner transformation. The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.
And what is greater than love? Love consists in this: that two solitudes protect and border and greet each other. It is not a merging or a surrender, but a meeting of two complete beings who choose to journey together while remaining themselves.”
This reading suits couples who view their relationship as a journey of mutual growth rather than simple companionship. Rilke doesn’t promise easy comfort—he promises transformation.
The concept of “two solitudes” greeting each other offers a beautiful counterpoint to traditional merger imagery. It honors both togetherness and individual identity.
5. From “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams
Don’t let the children’s book origin fool you—this passage contains profound wisdom about authentic love. The Skin Horse’s explanation of becoming “real” through love resonates powerfully with couples ready to be vulnerable with each other.
“Real isn’t how you are made. It’s a thing that happens to you. When someone loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real. It doesn’t happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time.
That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.
But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand. Once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”
This reading works especially well for couples who have weathered challenges together or are entering marriage later in life. The acknowledgment that real love makes us “shabby” but beautiful resonates with anyone who understands love’s transformative power.
The childlike wisdom cuts through pretense to reveal love’s essential truth. Real love doesn’t preserve us in perfect condition—it makes us authentically ourselves.
6. From “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” by Louis de Bernières
De Bernières’ distinction between love and falling in love offers mature wisdom for couples ready to commit to something deeper than initial passion. These words acknowledge both the thrill of attraction and the choice of lasting love.
“Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the minute. That is just being in love, which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away.
Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But it is. Love is when you notice that someone’s absence makes your life feel empty. Love is when their happiness matters more than your own.
Love is when you would rather be nowhere else than wherever they are. Love is patient and forgiving. Love is when you can sit in comfortable silence together. Love is when you still choose each other after seeing each other at your worst.
Love is when you build something together that is bigger than either of you alone. This is how you can know that you love someone: their presence makes you feel more like yourself, not less.”
This reading suits couples who want to acknowledge that they’re choosing something deeper than infatuation. It’s honest about the difference between passion and commitment without diminishing either.
The practical examples make abstract concepts concrete. Everyone can relate to comfortable silence or choosing someone after seeing them at their worst.
7. From “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Saint-Exupéry’s beloved tale offers wisdom about the time and attention that create true bonds. The fox’s lesson about taming—creating ties—speaks to the intentional nature of lasting love.
“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important. People have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You have tamed me, and now you are responsible for me.
What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well. What is essential is invisible to the eye. And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart. One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
This reading celebrates the investment of time and attention that creates deep bonds. The concept of being “responsible” for someone you’ve tamed reframes commitment as privilege rather than burden.
The imagery of hidden wells and invisible essentials reminds us that the most important aspects of love can’t be photographed or displayed. They exist in the space between two hearts.
8. From “A Severe Mercy” by Sheldon Vanauken
Vanauken’s memoir about love and loss offers profound insights into the nature of deep partnership. His concept of “inloveness” as a choice rather than just a feeling resonates with couples ready for intentional commitment.
“The best argument for marriage is not that it is a sacrament, though it is, but that it is an adventure. It is going out into an unknown country to live with a person you love but do not yet fully know. It is the decision to grow old together, to share whatever may come.
It is the promise to be present for each other’s joys and sorrows, successes and failures, health and sickness. It is the commitment to choose love even when feelings fade, to choose kindness even when patience runs thin, to choose forgiveness even when hurt runs deep.
Marriage is the decision to build something together that neither of you could build alone—not just a life, but a love that becomes a refuge for others, a light in the darkness, a testament to the possibility of lasting commitment in a world that often seems to have forgotten how to keep promises.”
This reading frames marriage as an adventure rather than a destination. The acknowledgment that you’re marrying someone you “love but do not yet fully know” captures the beautiful uncertainty of commitment.
The emphasis on choice over feeling offers mature wisdom for couples who understand that lasting love requires intention as much as emotion.
9. From “The Irrational Season” by Madeleine L’Engle
L’Engle’s reflection on love’s ability to expand rather than diminish us offers a beautiful perspective on partnership. Her words celebrate love as a force that makes us more ourselves, not less.
“We are not meant to be alone. We are meant to be together, but together in a way that makes us more ourselves, not less. Love does not diminish us but expands us. It does not make us smaller but larger.
When we love truly, we become more than we were before. We become capable of things we never thought possible. We become kinder, braver, more generous, more patient. We become the people we were meant to be.
This is the miracle of love—not that it makes us perfect, but that it makes us real. Not that it solves all our problems, but that it gives us the courage to face them. Not that it eliminates all pain, but that it makes pain bearable because it is shared.
Love is not a feeling that comes and goes like the weather. It is a decision we make every day. It is a commitment we renew with each sunrise. It is a promise we keep not because it is easy, but because it is worth it.”
This reading suits couples who view their relationship as a catalyst for personal growth. L’Engle’s emphasis on becoming “more ourselves” rather than losing ourselves in another person offers a healthy perspective on partnership.
The acknowledgment that love doesn’t eliminate problems but gives us courage to face them together provides realistic hope for the challenges ahead.
10. From “The Book of Joy” by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
The wisdom of these two spiritual leaders offers insights into the joy that comes from deep connection. Their words celebrate love as a source of both personal happiness and service to others.
“Joy is not the absence of suffering. Joy is the presence of love. And love is not just an emotion—it is a way of being in the world. When we love truly, we become a source of joy for others.
We become a light in the darkness, a refuge in the storm, a reason to hope when hope seems lost. The greatest joy comes not from what we receive, but from what we give. Not from being loved, but from loving. Not from being served, but from serving.
This is the paradox of love—the more we give it away, the more we have. The more we share it, the more it grows.
When two people commit to loving each other in this way, they become more than just partners. They become co-creators of joy, not just for themselves, but for everyone whose lives they touch.
Their love becomes a gift to the world, a testament to the power of human connection, a reminder that we are all part of something larger than ourselves.”
This reading frames your marriage as a gift not just to each other but to your community. The emphasis on service and joy offers a perspective that extends beyond personal happiness.
The concept of becoming “co-creators of joy” elevates your partnership to something that serves others. It’s perfect for couples who see their love as having purpose beyond their own fulfillment.
Choosing Your Perfect Reading
The best ceremony reading reflects your unique love story while speaking to universal truths about commitment.
Consider your relationship’s journey—are you childhood sweethearts or found each other later in life? Have you weathered challenges together or are you just beginning your adventure?
Think about who will deliver your chosen reading. A grandparent sharing wisdom about lasting love carries different weight than a best friend celebrating your journey together. The reader’s relationship to your story should complement the words they’re sharing.
Making It Truly Yours
Don’t feel bound by these exact words—adapt them to reflect your beliefs and values. Remove references that don’t resonate, or combine elements from different readings to create something uniquely yours.
Consider the ceremony’s overall tone and flow. A deeply spiritual reading might feel out of place in a casual beach ceremony, while lighthearted words might not suit a formal church setting.
Your wedding ceremony reading should feel like a natural extension of your love story, not a performance piece. Choose words that make you both nod in recognition—these are the words that will transform your ceremony from beautiful to unforgettable.