Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: LadyJean
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 08:48 PM

Browning's "Rabbi Ben Ezra" "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be."

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: vectis
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 05:30 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 03:34 PM

If you gave a passionate, heartfelt, and soulful rendering of "Row Your Boat," I think it would be a big hit..........short anyway, and nobody really listens to that stuff.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: vectis
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 03:24 PM

That site is a really useful link to some lovely readings. Thank you

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: GUEST,Guest, Marnie
Date: 12 Oct 10 - 09:39 AM

Good variety here:

http://www.pensacolaphoto.com/weddinginfo/readings.htm

A cousin read the following at my son's wedding ten days ago:
from a Navajo Wedding Ceremony

"Now you have lit a fire and that fire should not go out. The two of you now have a fire that represents love, understanding and a philosophy of life. It will give you heat, food, warmth and happiness. The new fire represents a new beginning - a new life and a new family. The fire should keep burning; you should stay together. You have lit the fire for life, until old age separates you."

This followed the lighting of candles by the mothers and the couple.

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 12 Oct 10 - 09:27 AM

Rumi?

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: maeve
Date: 12 Oct 10 - 08:59 AM

Many possibilities:
http://www.todays-weddings.com/planning/readings.html

http://weddings.about.com/od/weddingreadings/a/poemwedreadings.htm

http://www.hitched.co.uk/speeches/poems/poems_3.aspx#eskimo

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: maeve
Date: 12 Oct 10 - 08:54 AM

1 Corinthians 13 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=NIV                        (New International)
Love
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Oct 10 - 07:34 AM

Corinthians verse 14??? or thereabouts is all about what love is and isn't.

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: Anne Lister
Date: 12 Oct 10 - 03:07 AM

We found plenty of choice in the work of Pablo Neruda - and we also used the bit from "The Velveteen Rabbit" about love, although it's probably most appropriate for people like us who marry relatively late in life!

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Oct 10 - 11:16 PM

I posted this a long time ago; wrote it for my daughter and have since had several folks who've read it in my book, ask for permission to use it. Not knowing their preferences about these types of things it, may not be the right slant, but you're welcome to it, if so. Regardless, have a wonderful day!

ON THIS DAY

On this day, I wish for you,
Clear skies full of promise,
Pledges of love and prosperity in all ways.

Through the years,
I ask for cleansing winds
To tatter any clouds of sorrow,

I ask the Great Spirit to
Guide your minds and hearts
To think before speaking,
To love without judgement,
To cherish in all ways,
To respect with honour,
For in the division of hurts,
There is no honour.

May you walk in balance
With our Grandfather Sky to watch over you;
Our Mother Earth to hold you safe within her folds;
Brother Sun to spread his warmth across your shoulders
And into your hearts,
And Sister Moon, to bless your sleep with unending
Dreams of happiness.

©1995 Kathleen LaFrance

Subject: RE: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: Effsee
Date: 11 Oct 10 - 10:34 PM

Gibran?

Love


Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them.
And with a great voice he said:
When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Subject: Reading or poem for a wedding? HELP!
From: vectis
Date: 11 Oct 10 - 06:55 PM

I have been asked to do a reading at my son's wedding.

I have looked at Shakespeare and loads of poets for something but can't find anything that grabs my imagination.

My best bet so far is Christopher Marlow's "Passionate Shepherd to His Love".

It is a summer wedding, hopefully outdoors, in the Southern Hemisphere.

Anyone got any ideas or great readings they have used?

If this forum remains true to form someone out there will know of something very special.