Top Wedding Poems and Blessings: Religious to Non-Religious, Funny to Romantic, Pop Culture to Movies, from Friendship to Love and Ideal for Children to Read
Planning a wedding is an opportunity to express your love and personality during your wedding ceremony. Whether you are having a Church wedding, Civil or Celebrant-led Wedding Ceremony, a reading also acts as a nice way to separate the special elements within the service. Deciding to have a reading also means you can include family or friends within your ceremony by asking them to read one.
Choosing the right reading for your wedding can make your ceremony unique and personal, thats why Ive listed all the readings that you will ever need to consider all in one place!
For ease, Ive captured them into the following themes:
1.ADVICE ON MARRIAGE - ideal for those looking for inspiration
2.FROM SONGS - ideal for music loving couples and pop culture
3.FROM FILMS, TV OR LITERATURE -ideal for non-traditional
4.ABOUT LOVE - guaranteed to go weak at the knees!
5.ABOUT FRIENDSHIP - take it back to where it all started
6.IDEAL FOR CHILDREN TO READ - suitable for young to older children
7.ROMANTIC - there wont be a dry eye in sight!
8.FUNNY - bring some lighthearted humour into your wedding - without the cheese!
9.ADVENTURES AND NATURE - for those outdoorsy couples
10.IRISH / SCOTTISH / CELTIC - traditional prayers and blessing steeped in history and culture
11.RELIGIOUS - popular faith prayers to add
12. FAQS - advice on how to pick which reading, how many do you need, how to choose which guest to read, do you need a microphone, plus top tips how to get up and actually say a reading
So lets start!....
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READINGS : ADVICE ON MARRIAGE
1.From This Day Forward by Anon
From this day forward,
You shall not walk alone.
My heart will be your shelter,
And my arms will be your home.
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2.Extract from “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks
Marriage is about becoming a team.
You’re going to spend the rest of your life learning about each other, and every now and then, things blow up.
But the beauty of marriage is that if you picked the right person and you both love each other, you’ll always figure out a way to get through it.
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3.Promises of Marriage by Bettie Meeks
Marriage is a promise of companionship, of having someone
to share all of life’s experiences.
Marriage does not promise that there will not be any rough times,
just the assurance that there will always be someone who cares
and will help you through to better times.
Marriage does not promise eternal romance,
just eternal love and commitment.
Marriage can’t prevent disappointments, disillusionment, or grief,
but it can offer hope, acceptance, and comfort.
Marriage can’t protect you from making individual choices
or shelter you from the world, but it will help to reassure you
that there is someone by your side who truly cares.
When the world hurts you and makes you feel vulnerable,
marriage offers the promise that there will be someone waiting
to listen, to console, to inspire.
Marriage is the joining of two people who share the promise
that only marriage can make ~ to share the sunshine and the shadows,
and to experience a richer, more fulfilling life.
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4.Getting Married Means You'll Have by Nicholas Gordon
Getting married means you'll have
Someone's hand to hold,
Even when you're feeling sick,
Even when you're old.
It means when you sit down to eat,
Someone will be there,
So you won't have to tell your day
To an empty chair.
It means that when you need some help,
Someone will help out,
Someone always near to you
So you won't have to shout.
But best of all is when it's time
To turn out all the lights:
You won't have to be alone
Those long and scary nights.
So even though you don't have toys,
You don't have to care:
Once you're married you can be
Each other's teddy bear.
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5.Your walled garden by Anon
Your marriage should have within it a secret and protected space, open to you alone. Imagine it to be a walled garden, entered by a door to which you only hold the key. Within this garden you will cease to be a mother, father, employee, homemaker or any other of the roles which you fulfil in daily life. Here you can be yourselves, two people who love each other. Here you can concentrate on one another’s needs. So take each other’s hands and go forth to your garden. The time you spend together is not wasted but invested – invested in your future and nurture of your love.
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6.Happy Marriage by Dave Willis
A great marriage doesn’t happen by luck or by accident. A great marriage is the result of a consistent investment of time, thoughtfulness, forgiveness, affection, respect, and a rock-solid commitment between two individuals wishing to share their life and future together.
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7.Today I Married My Best Friend by Rachel Elizabeth Cooper
Today I married my best friend,
Our bond complete, it hath no end,
We share one soul, we share one heart,
A perfect time – a perfect start.
With these rings we share together,
Love so close to last forever,
This special day – two special hearts,
Let nothing keep this love apart.
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8.This Day I Married My Best Friend by Anon
This day I married my best friend
The one I laugh with as we share life’s wondrous zest,
as we find new enjoyments and experience all that’s best.
The one I live for because the world seems brighter
as our happy times are better and our burdens feel much lighter.
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9.A Marriage Made for Two by Anon
A successful marriage can learn a lot from bicycle riding.
You should promise each other that you will not be fair weather riders,
but venture out together in the wind and the rain.
Only by braving the storms as a team will you reap the rewards when the sunshine arrives.
Look after each other.
A well oiled bike will run smoothly and change gear easily.
Marriage is like a tandem…keep pedalling or the one at the front shouts at you!
You should promise each other to not only enjoy new adventures and explorations,
but appreciate the same old routes you know and love.
Marriage is a promise to each other to endure the climbs,
so that you may chase the swoops and swerves of perfect single track.
The journey may be long and may have hills ahead,
but if you climb together with love and passion,
you will be able to achieve everything you both desire!
Wishing you all the best from the start line of the greatest endurance event of your lives.
Good luck and may each lap be a great adventure.
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10.Foundations of Marriage by Regina Hill
Love, trust, and forgiveness are the foundations of marriage. In marriage, many days will bring happiness ,while other days may be sad. But together, two hearts can overcome everything... In marriage, all of the moments won't be exciting or romantic, and sometimes worries and anxiety will be overwhelming. But together, twohearts that accept will find comfort together.
Recollections of past joys, pains, and shared feelings will be the glue that holds everything together during even the worst and most insecure moments. Reaching out to each other as a friend and becoming the confidant and companion that the other one needs, is the true magic and beauty of any two people together. It's inspiring in each other a dream or a feeling and having faith in each other and not giving up...even when all the odds say to quit.
It's allowing each other to be vulnerable, to be himself or herself, even when the opinions or thoughts aren't in total agreement or exactly what you'd like them to be. It's getting involved and showing interest in each other, really listening and being available, the way any best friend should be. Exactly three things need to be remembered in a marriage if it is to be a mutual bond of sharing, caring, and loving throughout life: love, trust, and forgiveness.
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11.Marriage is love by Gloria Matthew
If two are caring as they are sharing life’s hopes and fears. If the music of laughter outweighs sadness and tears. Marriage is togetherness. If both derive pleasure from the mere presence of each other, yet when parted no jealousies restrict, worry or smother. Marriage is freedom. If achievements mean more when they benefit two and consideration is shown with each point of view. Marriage is respect. And if togetherness, freedom and respect are combined with a joy that words can never fully define, then marriage is love.
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12. Marriage Joins Two People In The Circle Of Its Love by Edmund O’Neill
Marriage is a commitment to life, the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other relationship can equal. It is a physical and an emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime. Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life’s most important relationships. A wife and a husband are each other’s best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener, and critic. And there may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love of the other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a child. Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller, memories are fresher, commitment is stronger, even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly. Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences ,and new ways of expressing a love that is deeper than life. When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique unto themselves which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential made in the hearts of two people who love each other and takes a lifetime to fulfil.
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13.Marriage Means Being In Love for the Rest of Your Life by Chris Ardis
Marriage is love walking hand in hand together. It’s laughing with each other about silly little things and learning to discuss big things with care and tenderness. In marriage, love is trusting each other when you’re apart. It’s getting over disappointments and hurts, knowing that these are present in all relationships. It’s the realization that there is no one else in this world that you’d rather be with than the one you’re married to. It’s thinking of new things to do together; it’s growing old together. Marriage is being in love for the rest of your life.
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14.Blessing for a Marriage by James Billet Freeman
May your marriage bring you
all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring,
and may life grant you also patience,
tolerance, and understanding.
May you always need one another –
not so much to fill your emptiness
as to help you to know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make the mountain less,
but more; and the valley is more a valley
because it has a mountain towering over it.
So let it be with you and you.
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another,
and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise,
often say, “I love you!”
and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart,
may both of you hope to have good sense enough
to take the first step back.
May you enter into the mystery
which is the awareness of one another’s presence –
no more physical than spiritual,
warm and near when you are side by side,
and warm and near when you are in separate rooms
or even distant cities.
May you have happiness,
and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love,
and may you find it loving one another.
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15.When You Marry by Anon
When you marry her, love her.
After you marry her, study her.
When she is blue, cheer her.
When she is talkative, by all means listen to her. If she dresses well, compliment her.
When she is cross, humour her.
If she is jealous, cure her.
If she is lonely, comfort her.
When she looks pretty, tell her so.
Let her feel you understand her.
But never let her know she isn’t the boss.
When you marry him, love him. After you marry him, study him. When he is secretive, trust him. If he is sad, cheer him.
When he is talkative, listen to him.
When he is quarrelsome, ignore him.
If he is jealous, cure him.
If he cares nought for pleasure, coax him. If he favours society, accompany him. When he deserves it, kiss him.
Let him think you understand him.
But never let him know you manage him.
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16.Marriage Advice by Jane Wells (written in 1886)
Let your love be stronger than your hate and anger.
Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break.
Believe the best rather than the worst.
People have a way of living up or down to your opinion of them.
Remember that true friendship is the basis for any lasting relationship.
The person you choose to marry is deserving of the courtesies and kindnesses you bestow on your friends.
Please hand this down to your children and your children’s children.
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17.A Clock by Gary Walls
A clock is a symbol of marriage.
The clock is a beautiful and useful thing and works well.
It is strong and solid and has a bright and pleasant face.
It is built to last a lifetime.
The hands are joined together but they move independently.
They are equally important.
They move at different speeds and in different circles.
They come together and then pursue their own path.
But they always come back together, soon and often.
The clock is beautiful but it is only useful when the hands work together totell their story.
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13. Extract from The Art of Marriage by William A. Petersen
A good marriage must be created
In the marriage, the little things are the big things
It is never being too old to hold hands
It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once each day,
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values and objectives.
It is standing together and facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful,
It is not only marrying the right person,
It is being the right partner
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19.A Marriage by Mark Twain
A marriage makes of two fractional lives a whole;
It gives two purposeless lives a work,
And doubles the strength of each to perform it.
It gives to two questioning natures a reason for living
And something to live for.
It will give new gladness to the sunshine,
A new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth
And a new mystery to life.
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20.TheRelationship Promise by Luke Wright
I promise, my darling, to be your best friend,
to settle the quarrels before the day ends,
to teach you new things and learn in return,
halve debts, colds and baths, and share laughs and concerns.
I promise, my love, to be silly with you,
to giggle in restaurants and cinema queues,
the romance and hum-drum all blended to bliss,
a life battle-plan that’s sealed with a kiss.
From traffic jams and house work to sweet pillow talk,
from mortgage repayments to long country walks,
a cuppa in bed when the morning begins,
and then when it’s over, I’ll pour you a gin.
I promise I’ll seek to avoid nasty schisms,
I know that at times we’ll need two televisions,
I love you so much that whenever we fight,
I’ll learn to repeat: I was wrong, you were right.
I promise, my darling, I’ll give you your space,
when you’re on the phone, dear, I’ll spare you my face,
but know that I’ll be there when your spirit sinks,
to match you for messiness, cuddles and drinks.
I love you, my darling, and will leave you never
But will stack days into decades to make our forever.
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21.How Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog" by Taylor Mali
On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.
Love doesn’t like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.
Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.
Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know, "Don't you ever do that again!"
Sometimes love just wants to go out for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise. It will run you around the block
and leave you panting, breathless. Pull you in different directions
at once, or wind itself around and around you
until you're all wound up and you cannot move.
But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.
Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.
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22.Marriage is One Long Conversation by Robert Louis Stevenson
The disputes are valueless, they but ingrain the difference
The heroic heart of woman prompting her at once to nail her colours to the mast
But the intervals, almost unconsciously and with no desire to shine
The whole material of life is turned over and over
Ideas are struck out and shared
The two persons more and more adapt
Their notions one to suit the other
And in process of time, without sound of trumpet
They conduct each other into new worlds of thought
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23.What does marriage mean in today’s world? By Teresa Ling
But We live in a world where the old-fashioned social pressures to conform have all but gone
No longer does a young woman wait for her husband to give her a new independence from her parents’ home. And society no longer frowns upon couples who choose not to marry.
So why get married at all?
Perhaps when two people decide that, in the absence of these conformities, this is something they actually want to do – for themselves, for their families and for its own sake, that the meaning of marriage has shifted to the same extent as times have moved on.
Now, a cynic might say that a piece of paper alone will not guarantee that two people will stay together for life …and a cynic might have a point.
But ridden of any outside pressure, the vows and intentions are totally pure and unadulterated.
There cannot really be a better guarantee than this.
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24.HABITATION BY MARGARET ATWOOD
Marriage is not
a house, or even a tent
it is before that, and colder:
the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back, where we squat
outdoors, eating popcorn
where painfully and with wonder
at having survived
this far
we are learning to make fire
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25.The Blessing Of The Apaches by Anon
Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness for you,
For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is only one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth
READINGS : FROM SONGS (for music loving couples)
1.My Love is Your Love by Whitney Houston
If tomorrow is judgement day,
And I’m standing on the front line,
And the Lord asks me what I did with my life,
I will say I spent it with you.
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2.She’s Not Perfect by Bob Marley
She’s not perfect – you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together – but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold on to her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break – her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyse and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.
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3.In my Life by The Beatles
There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more
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4.I Love You Because by Jim Reeves
I love you because you understand, dear
Every single thing I try to do
You’re always there to lend a helping hand, dear
I love you most of all because you’re you.
No matter what the world may say about me
I know your love will always see me through,
I love you for the way you never doubt me
But most of all I love you ’cause you’re you.
I love you because my heart is lighter
Every time I’m walking by your side,
I love you because the future’s brighter,
The door to happiness you opened wide.
No matter what the world may say about me
I know your love will always see me through,
I love you for a hundred thousand reasons
But most of all I love you ’cause you’re you.
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5.Crazy Love by Van Morrison
I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles,
And when I come to her that’s where I belong
Yet I’m running to her like a river’s song.
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love,
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love.
She’s got a fine sense of humor when I’m feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down,
Take away my trouble, take away my grief,
Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief.
Yes, I need her in the daytime,
Yes, I need her in the night,
Yes, I want to throw my arms around her,
Kiss her, hug her, kiss her, hug her tight.
And when I’m returning from so far away,
She gives me some sweet lovin’ brighten up my day,
Yes, it makes me righteous, yes, it makes me feel whole,
Yes, it makes me mellow down in to my soul.
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6.You Make Loving Fun by Fleetwood Mac
Sweet wonderful you,
You make me happy with the things you do,
Oh, can it be so,
This feeling follows me wherever I go.
I never did believe in miracles,
But I’ve a feeling it’s time to try.
I never did believe in the ways of magic,
But I’m beginning to wonder why.
Don’t, don’t break the spell,
It would be different and you know it will,
You, you make loving fun,
And I don’t have to tell you you’re the only one.
You make loving fun.
You make loving fun.
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7. Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars
Oh, her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they’re not shinin’,
Her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her tryin’,
She’s so beautiful
And I tell her everyday.
Yeah, I know, I know, when I compliment her, she won’t believe me,
And it’s so, it’s so sad to think that she don’t see what I see,
But every time she asks me, do I look okay?
I say,
When I see your face
There’s not a thing that I would change,
‘Cause you’re amazing
Just the way you are.
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for awhile,
‘Cause girl, you’re amazing
Just the way you are.
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8.Allof Me by John Legend
Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
Give your all to me
I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginnin'
Even when I lose, I'm winnin'
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9.Your Song by Elton John
I hope you don't mind
that I put down in words
how wonderful life is while you're in the world
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10.YouSend Me by Sam Cooke
At first, I thought it was infatuation...but, oh, it's lasted so long.
Now, I find myself wanting to marry you, and take you home...
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READINGS : FROMFILMS, TV OR LITERATURE
1. Extract from ‘Meet Joe Black’ (1998) by William Parish
Love is passion, obsession, someone you can’t live without. I say, fall head over heels. Find someone you can love like crazy and who will love you the same way back.
How do you find him? Well, you forget your head, and you listen to your heart. Cause the truth is, there’s no sense living your life without this.
To make the journey and not fall deeply in love, well, you haven’t lived a life at all. But you have to try, ‘cause if you haven’t tried, you haven’t lived.
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2. Extract from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. We pardon to the extent that we love. Love is knowing that even when you are alone, you will never be lonely again. And great happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. Loved for ourselves. And even loved in spite of ourselves.
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3. Extract From Pocohontas
If I never knew you
If I’d never felt this love
I would have no inkling of
How precious life can be
And if I never knew you
I would never have a clue
How at last I’d find in you
The missing part of me.
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4. Excerpt from The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
He smiled understandingly - much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced - or seemed to face - the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished - and I was looking at an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, who see laborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. Some time before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care.
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5. Us Two by AA Milne (From his collection Now we are six)
Wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
"Where are you going today?" says Pooh:
"Well, that's very odd 'cos I was too.
Let's go together," says Pooh, says he.
"Let's go together," says Pooh.
"What's twice eleven?" I said to Pooh.
("Twice what?" said Pooh to Me.)
"I think it ought to be twenty-two."
"Just what I think myself," said Pooh.
"It wasn't an easy sum to do,
But that's what it is," said Pooh, said he.
"That's what it is," said Pooh.
"Let's look for dragons," I said to Pooh.
"Yes, let's," said Pooh to Me.
We crossed the river and found a few-
"Yes, those are dragons all right," said Pooh.
"As soon as I saw their beaks I knew.
That's what they are," said Pooh, said he.
"That's what they are," said Pooh.
"Let's frighten the dragons," I said to Pooh.
"That's right," said Pooh to Me.
"I'm not afraid," I said to Pooh,
And I held his paw and I shouted "Shoo!
Silly old dragons!"- and off they flew.
"I wasn't afraid," said Pooh, said he,
"I'm never afraid with you."
So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said: "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two,
Can stick together, says Pooh, says he. "That's how it is," says Pooh.
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6. The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’
Pussy said to the Owl, ‘You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?’
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
‘Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?’ Said the Piggy, ‘I will.’
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
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7. The Caterpillar and The Butterfly by Anon
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared in the cocoon. Fascinated, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. The nit seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther.
After waiting for some time, the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.
But alas, it did not unfurl its wings and fly gracefully away. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly hoping that the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings. It was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
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8. Abstract from Sleepless In Seattle
It was a million tiny little things that, when you added the mall up, they meant we were supposed to be together … and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home … only to no home I’d ever known … I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like … magic.
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9. Extract from Game of Thrones - Khaleesi and Khal Drogo's Wedding Vows
As you are the Moon of his life, he shall be your Sun and Stars. Your love shall be as ever present as those two celestial bodies...even though they are sometimes hidden from one another's sight. Your love will be the guiding force that charts the course of your tomorrows, holds your world together in difficult times, and will make life itself shine bolder and brighter than we human beings have a right to dream of.
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10. Extract from How I Met Your Mother
When you love someone you just…don’t stop. Ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy. Even then. Especially then. You just…you don’t give up… If I could just, you know, take the whole world’s advice and move on and find someone else, that wouldn’t be love. That would be…some other disposable thing that is not worth fighting for. But that is not what this is.
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11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
I have for the first time found what I can truly love — I have found you. You are my sympathy—my better self—my good angel—I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wraps my existence about you—and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one. It was because I felt and knew this, that I resolved to marry you.
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12. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
At night, there was the feeling that we had come home, feeling no longer alone, waking in the night to find the other one there, and not gone away; all other things were unreal. We slept when we were tired and if we woke the other one woke too so one was not alone. Often a man wishes to be alone and a woman wishes to be alone too and if they love each other they are jealous of that in each other, but I can truly say we never felt that. We could feel alone when we were together, alone against the others. We were never lonely and never afraid when we were together.
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13. Extract from Frozen
We’re not saying you can change them, ‘cuz people don’t really change We’re only saying that love’s a force that’s powerful and strange People make bad choices if they’re mad, or scared, or stressed Throw a little love their way (throw a little love their way) and you’ll bring out their best. True love brings out their best!
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14. Extract from Harry Potter
A chilly breeze that seemed to emanate from the heart of the Forest lifted the hair at Harry’s brow. He knew that they would not tell him to go, that it would have to be his decision.
‘You’ll stay with me?’
‘Until the very end,’ said James.
‘They won’t be able to see you?’ asked Harry.
‘We are part of you,’ said Sirius. ‘Invisible to anyone else.’ Harry looked at his mother.
‘Stay close to me,’ he said quietly.”
And he set off. The dementors’ chill did not overcome him. He passed through it with his companions and they acted like patronuses to him.And together they marched through the old trees that grew closely together,their branches tangled, their roots gnarled and twisted underfoot.
Harry clutched the cloak tightly around him tightly around him in the darkness, traveling deeper and deeper into the forest with no idea exactly where Voldemort was, but sure that he would find him.
Beside him, making scarcely a sound, walked James, Sirius,Lupin, and Lily. And their presence was his courage, and he was able to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
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15. Extract 2 from Harry Potter
So then I thought, I’d like you to have something to remember me by, you know, if you ever meet some veela when you’re off doing whatever you’re doing.’
I think dating opportunities are going to be pretty thin on the ground, to be honest.’
There’s a silver lining I’ve been looking for,’ she whispered, and then she was kissing him as she never kissed him before, and Harry was kissing her back, and it was a blissful oblivion, better than fire whiskey; she was the only real thing in the world, Ginny, the feel of her, one hand on her back, the other in her long sweet-smelling hair…
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16. Extract from Friends
It is a love based on giving and receiving. As well as having and sharing, And the love that they give and have is shared and received. And through this having and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have and receive… When I think of the love that these two givers and receivers share, I cannot help but envy the lifetime ahead of having and loving and giving and… And then I can’t think of a good word for right here.
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17. Extract from Cinderella
So this is love,
So this is love,
So this is what makes life divine,
I’m all aglow,
And now I know,
The key to all heaven is mine,
My heart has wings,
And I can fly,
I’ll touch ev’ry star in the sky,
So this is the miracle that I’ve been dreaming of,
So this is love.
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18. Extract from Toy Story
You’ve got a friend in me,
You’ve got a friend in me,
When the road looks rough ahead,
And you’re miles and miles,
From your nice warm bed,
You just remember what your old pal said,
Boy, you’ve got a friend in me,
Yeah, you’ve got a friend in me,
You’ve got troubles, and I’ve got ’em too,
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you,
We stick together and can see it through,
‘Cause you’ve got a friend in me,
You’ve got a friend in me…
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19. Extract from Tangled
And at last I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last I see the light
And it's like the sky is new
And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted
All at once everything looks different
Now that I see you.
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20. Extract from Bambi
Love is a song that never ends
Life may be swift and fleeting
Hope may die yet love's beautiful music
Comes each day like the dawn
Love is a song that never ends
One simple theme repeating
Like the voice of a heavenly choir
Love's sweet music flows on.
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21. Extract from Robin Hood
It seems like only yesterday
You were just a child at play
Now you're all grown up inside of me
Oh how fast those moments flee
Once we watched a lazy world go by
Now the days seem to fly
Life is brief, but when it's gone
Love goes on, and on, and on
Love will live
Love will last
Love goes on, and on, and on
Once we watched a lazy world go by
Now the days seem to fly
Life is brief, but when it's gone
Love goes on, and on.
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22. Extract from Pete’s Dragon
I'll be your candle on the water.
My love for you will always burn.
I'll be your candle on the water
This flame inside of me will grow
Keep holding on you'll make it
Here's my hand so take it
Look for me reaching out to show
As sure as rivers flow
I'll never let you go.
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23. Extract from Star Trek
Commander, I don’t think you can analyze love.
It’s the greatest mystery of all.
No one knows why it happens or doesn’t.
Love is a chance combination of elements.
Any one thing might be enough to keep it from igniting—a mood, a glance…A remark.
And if we could define love…predict it…it would probably lose its power.
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24. Extract from The Lord of the Rings
I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.
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25. Extract from The Nightmare Before Christmas
My dearest friend, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you by your side. Where we can gaze into the stars, and sit together, now and forever. For it is plain as anyone can see, we're simply meant to be.
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26. Extract from Pride and Prejudice
You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.
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27. Extract from Big Bang Theory
We are made of particles that have existed since the moment the universe began. I like to think those atoms traveled fourteen billion years through time and space to create us, so that we could be together and make each other whole.
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28. Extract from West Side Story
Make our lives one life,
Day after day, one life.
Now it begins, now we start
One hand, one heart;
Even death won’t part us now.
Mark of our lives one life,
Day after day, one life.
Now it begins, now we start
One hand, one heart,
Even death won’t part us now.
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29. Carrie’s Poem – A Wedding Reading(Sex & The City)
His hello was the end of her endings,
Her laugh was their first step down the aisle,
His hand would be hers to hold forever,
His forever was as simple as her smile.
He said she was what was missing,
She said instantly she knew,
She was a question to be answered,
And his answer was ‘I do’.
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30. Extract from Disney's UP
Carl sighs. He managed to bring the house to the falls, but Ellie never made it.
He closes the book. But as he does, Carl sees something he hadn’t before.
The blank pages at the end are no longer blank.
A Wedding Photo of the two of them.
On a picnic. Celebrating birthdays. Another and another…
Carl’s face warms. Ellie lived the life she wanted: she saw adventure in everyday life.
A photo of the two of them sitting side by side, together, in their chairs. Beneath it, Ellie had written:
“THANKS FOR THE ADVENTURE”.
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31. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
She was more than human to me. She was a Fairy, a Sylph, I don’t know what she was – anything that no one ever saw, and everything that everybody ever wanted. I was swallowed up in an abyss of love in an instant. There was no pausing on the brink; no looking down, or looking back; I was gone, headlong, before I had sense to say a word to her.
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32. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
My generosity to you is as limitless as the sea, and my love is as deep. The more love I give you, the more I have. Both loves are infinite.
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33.Extract from Spike - Buffy The Vampire Slayer
When I say, 'I love you,' it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman. You're the one.
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33. Extract from Edward- Twilight
It's an extraordinary thing to meet someone who you can bare your soul to, and who will accept you for what you are. I've been waiting, what seems like a very long time, to get beyond what I am. And [now] I feel like I can finally begin...No measure of time with you will be long enough. But let's start with forever.
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READINGS: ABOUT LOVE
1. I Love you for what you are by Carl Sandburg
I love you for what you are, but I love you yet more for what you are going to be.
I love you not so much for your realities as for your ideals.
I pray for your desires that they may be great, rather your satisfactions,
which may be so hazardously little.
A satisfied flower is one whose petals are about to fall.
The most beautiful rose is one hardly more than a bud where in the pangs and ecstasies of
desire are working for a larger and finer growth.
Not always shall you be what you are now.
You are going forward toward something great.
I am on the way with you and therefore I love you.
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2. Most Importantly Love by Rupi Kaur
most importantly love
like it’s the only thing you know-how
at the end of the day all this
means nothing
this page
where you’re sitting
your degree
your job
the money
nothing even matters
except for love and human connection
who you loved
and how deeply you loved them
how you touched the people around you
and how much you gave them.
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3. Privileged Lovers by Rumi
The moon has become a dancer at this festival of love.
This dance of light, this sacred blessing, this divine love,
It beckons us to a world beyond only lovers can see with their eyes of fiery passion.
They are the chosen ones who have surrendered.
Once they were particles of light, now they are the radiant sun.
They have left behind the world of deceitful games.
They are the privileged lovers who create a new world with their eyes of fiery passion.
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4. Love by Barbara Cage
Love is a partnership of two unique people who bring out the very best in each other, and who know that even though they are wonderful as individuals, they are even better together.
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5. Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
People are like cities: We all have alleys and gardens and secret rooftops and places where daisies sprout between the sidewalk cracks, but most of the time all we let each other see is is a postcard glimpse of askyline or a polished square. Love lets you find those hidden places in another person, even the ones they didn’t know were there, even the ones they wouldn’t have thought to call beautiful themselves.
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6. And I Have You by Nikki Giovanni
Rain has drops
Sun has shine
Moon has beams
That makes you mine
Rivers have banks
Sands for shores
Hearts have heartbeats
That make me yours
Needles have eyes
Though pins may prick
Elmer has glue
To make things stick
Winter has Spring
Stockings feet
Pepper has mint
To make it sweet
Teachers have lessons
Soup du jour
Lawyers sue bad folks
Doctors cure
All and all
This much is true
You have me
And I have you
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7. Where I’ll always be by MS Moem
I could never hope to find
Someone who fits me better
I swear I made a wish and it was answered to the letter
I‘m sure you feel just the same
In fact I know you do
I swear I had a dream one night and now its coming true
You’re all Iever wanted
And you’re all I ever will
My love in it happy place and growing greater still
As every day I spend with you
I see more that I like
You could make the greyest day, feel sunny warm and bright
You’re such a special person
And you mean the world to me
So any time or place you are that’s where I’ll always be
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8. Love Is Friendship Caught Fire – Laura Hendricks
Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times.
It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past.
It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals. If you havelove in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack.
If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough.
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9. Maybe – Anon
Maybe we are supposed to meet the wrong people before we meet the right
one so when they finally arrive we are truly grateful for the gift we have been
given.
Maybe it’s true that we don’t know what we have lost until we lose it but it is
also true that we don’t know what we’re missing until it arrives.
Maybe the happiest of people don’t have the best of everything, but make the
best of everything that comes their way.
Maybe the best kind of love is the kind where you sit on the sofa together, not
saying a word, and walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you ever
had.
Maybe once in a lifetime you find someone who not only touches your heart but
also your soul, someone who loves you for who you are and not what you could
be.
Maybe the art of true love is not about finding the perfect person, but about
seeing an imperfect person perfectly.
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10. Here’s to right now
You’re surrounded by your loved ones
And all are wishing you well,
As you create a brand-new chapter
In the story that’s yours to tell.
We talk about the memories
You have yet to make together
And the moments you’ve already shared
To be carried with you forever.
But take the time to live today
As your marriage begins,
Look around and soak it up;
the moment we are in.
For this is where the magic starts
When you both say your vows.
You pledge to spend your lives as one
Because of the love you feel now.
So yes, here’s to a future
that is bright and warm and clear.
But more than that, here’s to right now
And what it means to be here.
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11. Love is an Adventure by Pierre Tielhart de Chardin
Love is an adventure and a conquest. It survives and develops like the universe itself only by perpetual discovery. The only right love is that between couples whose passion leads them both, one through the other, to a higher possession of their being. Put your faith in the spirit which dwells between the two of you.You have each offered yourself to the other as a boundless field of understanding, of enrichment, of mutually increased sensibility. You will meet above all by entering into and constantly sharing one another’s thoughts, affections, and dreams. There alone, as you know, in spirit, which is arrived through flesh, you will find no disappointments, no limits. There alone the skies are ever open for your love; there alone lies the great road ahead.
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12.LoveIs by Nikki Giovanni
Some people forget that love is
tucking you in and kissing you
'Good night'
no matter how young or old you are
Some people don't remember that
love is
listening and laughing and asking
questions
no matter what your age
Few recognize that love is
commitment, responsibility
no fun at all
unless
Love is
You and me
Love isn’t always perfect.
It isn’t a fairytale or a storybook.
And it doesn’t always come easy. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on & never letting go.
It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, & impossible to live without.
Love is work, but most of all, Love is realising that every hour, every minute, & every second was worth it because you did it together.
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13.Love Me When I’m Old and Shocking by Bee Rawlinson
Love me when I’m old and shocking
Peel off my elastic stockings
Swing me from the chandeliers
Let’s be randy bad old dears.
Push around my chromed Bath Chair
Let me tease your white chest hair
Scaring children, swapping dentures
Let us have some great adventures.
Take me to the Dogs and Bingo
Teach me how to speak the lingo
Bone my eels and bring me tea
Show me how it’s meant to be.
Take me to your special places
Watching all the puzzled faces
You in shorts and socks and sandals
Me with warts and huge love-handles.
As the need for love enthralls
Wrestle with my damp-proof smalls
Make me laugh without constraint
Buy me chocolate body paint.
Hold me safe throughout the night
When my hair has turned to white
Believe me when I say it’s true
I’ve waited all my life for you.
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14.One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Madly in love after so many years … they enjoyed the miracle of loving each other as much at the table as in bed, and they grew to be so happy that even when they were two worn-out old people they kept on blooming like little children and playing together like dogs.
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15.Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
A photograph couldn’t ever tell its story. It’s like something you have to live to understand. One of those freak collisions offizzing meteors and looming celestial bodies and floating debris and one single beautiful red ball that bursts into your life and through your body like an enormous firework.
Where things shift into focus for a moment, and everything makes sense. And it becomes one of those things inside you, a pearl among sludge, one of those big exaggerated memories you can invoke at any moment to peel away a little layer of how you felt, like a lick of ice cream. The flavour of grace.
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16.On Love by Thomas A Kempis
Love is a mighty power,
a great and complete good.
Love alone lightens every burden, and makes rough places smooth.
It bears every hardship as though it were nothing, and renders
all bitterness sweet and acceptable.
Nothing is sweeter than love,
Nothing stronger,
Nothing higher,
Nothing wider,
Nothing more pleasant,
Nothing fuller or better in heaven or earth; for love is born of God.
Love flies, runs and leaps for joy.
It is free and unrestrained.
Love knows no limits, but ardently transcends all bounds.
Love feels no burden, takes no account of toil,
attempts things beyond its strength.
Love sees nothing as impossible,
for it feels able to achieve all things.
It is strange and effective,
while those who lack love faint and fail.
Love is not fickle and sentimental,
nor is it intent on vanities.
Like a living flame and a burning torch,
it surges upward and surely surmounts every obstacle.
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17.I Will Be Here by Steven Curtis Chapman
If in the morning when you wake,
If the sun does not appear, I will be here.
If in the dark we lose sight of love,
Hold my hand and have no fear, I will be here.
I will be here,
When you feel like being quiet,
When you need to speak your mind I will listen.
Through the winning, losing, and trying we’ll be together,
And I will be here.
If in the morning when you wake,
If the future is unclear, I will be here.
As sure as seasons were made for change,
Our lifetimes were made for years,
I will be here.
I will be here,
And you can cry on my shoulder,
When the mirror tells us we’re older.
I will hold you, to watch you grow in beauty,
And tell you all the things you are to me.
We’ll be together and I will be here.
I will be true to the promises I’ve made,
To you and to the one who gave you to me.
I will be here.
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18.Love One Another by Anon
If you can love each other through the sunshine and the storm
And keep the flame of true devotion glowing bright and warm
If you can give each other room to grow and change and learn
Yet still hold one another close in mutual concern
If you can be both lovers and the very best of friends
And face together hand in hand the challenges life sends
If you can offer patience, comfort and real understanding
Encourage one another’s efforts, yet be understanding
If you can show true love and faith in everything you do
Then married life will surely hold much joy for both of you.
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19.I am Love by Anon
Some say I can fly on the wind, yet I haven’t any wings.
Some have found me floating on the open sea, yet I cannot swim.
Some have felt my warmth on cold nights, yet I have no flame.
And though you cannot see me, I lay between two lovers at the hearth of fireplaces.
I am the twinkle in your child’s eyes.
I am hidden in the lines of your mother’s face.
I am your father’s shield as he guards your home.
And yet… Some say I am stronger than steel, yet I am as fragile as a tear.
Some have never searched for me, yet I am around them always.
Some say I die with loss, yet I am endless.
And though you cannot hear me, I dance on the laughter of children.
I am woven into the whispers of passion.
I am in the blessings of Grandmothers.
I embrace the cries of newborn babies.
And yet… Some say I am a flower, yet I am also the seed.
Some have little faith in me, yet I will always believe in them.
Some say I cannot cure the ill, yet I nourish the soul.
And though you cannot touch me, I am the gentle hand of the kind.
I am the fingertips that caress your cheek at night.
I am the hug of a child. I am love.
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20.I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg
I like you and I know why
I like you because you are a good person to like
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it’s special
And you remember it a long, long time
You say, Remember when you told me something special
And both of us remember
When I think something is important you think it’s important too
We have good ideas
When I say something funny, you laugh
I think I’m funny and you think I’m funny too
Hah-hah!
I like you because you know where I’m ticklish
And you don’t tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes
But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too
You know how to be silly – that’s why I like you
If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag,
then you are getting ready to jump
HOORAY!
I like you because when I am feeling sad
You don’t always cheer me up right away
Sometimes it is better to be sad
You can’t stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute
You want to think about things
It takes time
I like you because if I am mad at you
Then you are mad at me too
It’s awful when the other person isn’t
They are so nice and oooh you could just about punch them on the nose
I can’t remember when I didn’t like you
It must have been lonely then
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me
Over and over again
And that’s how it would happen every time
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21.Love Monkey by Edward Monkton
It was once the custom that every monkey would carve for himself a wooden heart. And the heart that Love Monkey carved was the most beautiful of all. Its contours were soft and rounded, like an ancient pebble sculpted by the oceans. Its surface was smooth and shiny like liquid silk, and it shone as bright as a ruby in the desert sun. “Take your hearts with you wherever you go,” said their teacher. “Nurture them as a mother nurtures her new-born baby. For when you want to give of yourself fully, your heart is the only true gift you will have.”
That night, Love Monkey had a dream. He dreamt of a monkey whose smile lit up his soul like sunshine. He held out his heart to her, so radiant, so splendid and so new. She took him in her arms and he felt truly, perfectly, at peace. When Love Monkey awoke he resolved that, from that day forward, he would search for his Dream Monkey until he could stand before her and give to her his perfect heart.
He travelled through deserts…and climbed over mountains. He trekked across forests…and sailed many oceans. Love Monkey looked after his heart as best he could, but the storms that he endured on his travels chipped away at its surface and each new adventure reshaped it. By the time he arrived on the last distant shore, his heart was so changed by the patina of time that it barely resembled his old heart at all.
And then, he saw her. Standing before him, as radiant and as beautiful as the sunshine, was his Dream Monkey. At first he could not speak. But then, from somewhere deep inside himself, he found a voice. “I have travelled the world over to find you, and to give you my heart,” he said. “But now that I am finally with you, I see how foolish I have been. You are so beautiful, so perfect. And my heart that was once so smooth, so bright and so new is now not something that I could even bring myself to show you,” and he turned to go. “Let me see it,” said Dream Monkey. She took his heart and held it up to the light.
“Nothing to me is more beautiful. Every fissure tells a story. Every blemish makes you more real. All my life I have been waiting for a heart like this; a heart that speaks the truth.” “Come here,” she said. “I have something for you too.” In her hand was a tiny golden heart. It was as worn and as scratched as Love Monkey’s own…and it was the most precious thing that he had ever seen.
Love Monkey put his arms around her and they held each other for a long, long time. “I shall treasure this heart for as long as I live,” said Dream Monkey, running her fingers over its ridged and dimpled surface. Then they looked into each other’s eyes and, feeling the joy of truth in their souls for the first time, they began to laugh. And often they sit together still, holding each other’s hearts in their warm hands, lifting them to the light…and laughing. Always laughing.
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22.Blessing of the Hands by Rev Daniel L Harris (ideal with handtying ritual)
These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.
These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future.
These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.
These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.
These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy.
These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children.
These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one.
These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.
And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.
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23.ILoved You First by Christina Rossetti
I loved you first: but afterwards your love
Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song
As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove.
Which owes the other most? my love was long,
And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong;
I loved and guessed at you, you construed me
And loved me for what might or might not be –
Nay, weights and measures do us both a wrong.
For verily love knows not ‘mine’ or ‘thine;’
With separate ‘I’ and ‘thou’ free love has done,
For one is both and both are one in love:
Rich love knows nought of ‘thine that is not mine;’
Both have the strength and both the length thereof,
Both of us, of the love which makes us one.
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24.OneHundred Love Sonnets: XVII by Pablo Nuruda
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
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25.Once in a lifetime by Anon
Once in a lifetime you find someone
Who touches not only your heart but also your soul
Once in a lifetime you discover someone who stands beside you, not over you
You find someone who loves you for who you are
And not for who you could be
Once in a lifetime, you find someone as you/we have found each other
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26.I Love You by Anon
The nicest feeling Ive ever known is being in love with you
And I want to thank you for these feelings
For bringing me happiness as though it were a gift, I could open every day, I thank you
For listening to all the words, I want to be able to say, I appreciate you
For letting me share the parts of your world
And for welcoming me with your eyes,I am grateful to you
For being the wonderful kind giving person you are…I admire you
For being the most beautiful light in my life, I desire you
For being everything, you are to me and for doing it all so beautifully, I love you
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READINGS : ABOUT FRIENDSHIP
1.Love Is Friendship Caught Fire by Laura Hendricks
Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past. It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough.
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2.A Forever Friend by Anon
Sometimes in life you find a special friend
Someone who changes your life just by being part of it
Someone who makes you laugh until you cant stop
Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world
Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door
Just waiting for you to open it
There is a Forever Friend
When you’re down and the world seems dark and empty
Your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world
Suddenly seem bright and full
Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times,
and the confused times
Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay
And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry
You have a forever friend for life, and forever has no end
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3.Sharing by Anon
There is no greater happiness than that of sharing life
With all its joys and all it’s cares, of a loving husband and wife
For love gives life new meaning and has a special way
Of growing stronger and deeper, with every passing day
Yes, life is so much happier and brighter when you’re sharing
The very special joys that come, with loving and giving and caring.
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4.My Friend by Anon
I love you
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am when I am with you.
I love you
Not only for what you have made of yourself,
But for what you are making of me.
I love you
Because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good,
And more than any fate could have done to make me happy.
You have done it without a touch,
Without a word, without a sign.
You have done it By being yourself.
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5.Soul Mates by Lang Leav
I don’t know how you are so familiar to me — or why it feels less like I am getting to know you and more as though I am remembering who you are. How every smile, every whisper brings me closer to the impossible conclusion that I have known you before, I have loved you before — in another time, a different place, some other existence.
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6.Friendship by Judy Bielicki
It is often said that it is love that makes the world go round. However, without doubt, it is friendship which keeps our spinning existence on an even keel.
True friendship provides so many of the essentials for a happy life—it is the foundation on which to build an enduring relationship, it is the mortar which bonds us together in harmony, and it is the calm, warm protection we sometimes need when the world outside seems cold and chaotic.
True friendship holds a mirror to our foibles and failings,without destroying our sense of worthiness. True friendship nurtures our hopes,supports us in our disappointments, and encourages us to grow to our best potential.
Bride and Groom came together as friends. Today, they pledge to each other not only their love, but also the strength, warmth and, most importantly, the fun of true friendship.
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7.Extract from Muhammad Ali
Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.
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8.Extract from Monica from Friends
For so long I wondered if I would ever find my prince, my soulmate.Then three years ago, at another wedding, I turned to a friend for comfort. And instead, I found everything that I’d ever been looking for my whole life. And now here we are with our future before us, and I only want to spend it with you, my prince, my soulmate, my friend.
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9.Extract from The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach
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 true selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can beloved 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.
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10.True Friendship by Judy Bielicki
It is often said that it is love that makes the world go round. However, without doubt, it is friendship which keeps our spinning existence on an even keel. True friendship provides so many of the essentials for a happy life — it is the foundation on which to build an enduring relationship,it is the mortar which bonds us together in harmony, and it is the calm, warm protection we sometimes need when the world outside seems cold and chaotic. True friendship holds a mirror to our failings, without destroying our sense of worthiness. True friendship nurtures our hopes, supports us in our disappointments, and encourages us to grow to our best potential. Bride and Groom came together as friends. Today,they pledge to each other not only their love, but also the strength,warmth and, most importantly, the fun of true friendship.
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READINGS : IDEAL FOR CHILDREN TO READ
1.My Advice by Anon
Mum and Dad Get married Today,
I’d like to help them on their way.
So here’s some special advice from me,
To help them with our family.
Keep our house filled with laughter
Let’s have fun forever after.
Keep the drawer filled up with sweets,
And give us children lots of treats.
Make sure you spend time together,
To keep your happiness forever.
Make sure you spend lots on us,
And then us kids won’t make a fuss.
But the most important thing for you,
Is to show your love in all you do.
A caring word, a kiss, a touch,
And those family cuddles that mean so much.
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2.So Come With Me from Peter Pan
So come with me
Where dreams are born,
And time is never planned
Just think of happy things
And your heart will fly on wings
Forever, in Never Never Land
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3.A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton
The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice.
Although it was cold he was happy in there.
It was, after all, his cage.
Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kindwords and loving thoughts.
I like this Dinosaur, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny.
He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this fornow.
I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur.
She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice.
She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.
But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
He is also overly fond of things.
Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things?
But her mind skips from here to there so quickly thought the Dinosaur.
She is also uncommonly keen on shopping.
Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?
I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things,thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.
I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur.
For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises.
Besides, I am not un-keen on shopping either.
Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old.
Look at them.
Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories
and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.
And that, my friends, is how it is with love.
Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.
For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place.
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4.Some Things Go Together by Charlotte Zolotow
Pairs of things that go together
Pigeons with park
Stars with dark
Sand with sea
and you with me.
Hats with heads
Pillows with beds
Sky with blue
and me with you.
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5.Oh the Place’s You’ll Go by Dr Seuss
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
You’ll look up and down streets. Look’em over with care.About some, you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down a not-so-goodstreet.
And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide-open air.
Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew.Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.
Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.
You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.
I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.
You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.
You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.
And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun.Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re dark. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?
And if you go in, should you turn left or right…orright-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused that you’ll start in to the race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to goor the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow.Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for the wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.
No! That’s not for you!
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flopping,once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!
Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t.
I’m afraid that sometimes you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ’cause you’ll play against you.
All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.
And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.
But on you will go through the weather is foul. On you will go through your enemies prowl. On you will go through the Hakken-Kraks howl.Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and faceup to your problems whatever they are.
You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ per cent guaranteed.)
Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale VanAllen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!
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6.From ‘Winnie the Pooh’, by A.A. Milne
If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.’
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. ‘Pooh?’he whispered. ‘Yes, Piglet?’
‘Nothing,’ said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand.‘I just wanted to be sure of you.’
‘We’ll be friends forever, won’t we, Pooh?’asked Piglet.
‘Even longer,’ Pooh answered. ‘If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together…there is something you must . You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.
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7.Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
Little Nutbrown Hare, who was going to bed, held on tight to Big Nutbrown Hare's very long ears. He wanted to be sure that Big Nutbrown Hare was listening.
"Guess how much I love you," he said.
"Oh, I don't think I could guess that," said Big Nutbrown Hare.
"This much," said Little Nutbrown Hare, stretching out his arms as wide as they could go.
Big Nutbrown Hare had even longer arms. "But I love YOU this much," he said.
Hmm, that is a lot, thought Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you as high as I can reach." said Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you as high as I can reach," said Big Nutbrown Hare.
That is quite high, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I had arms like that.
Then Little Nutbrown Hare had a good idea. He tumbled upside down and reached up the tree trunk with his feet.
"I love you all the way up to my toes!" he said.
"And I love you all the way up to your toes," said Big Nutbrown Hare, swinging him up over his head.
"I love you as high as I can HOP!" laughed Little Nutbrown Hare, bouncing up and down.
"But I love you as high as I can hop," smiled Big Nutbrown Hare - and he hopped so high that his ears touched the branches above.
That's good hopping, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I could hop like that.
"I love you all the way down the lane as far as the river,"cried Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you across the river and over the hills,"said Big Nutbrown Hare.
That's very far, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. He was almost too sleepy to think any more. Then he looked beyond the thorn bushes, out into the big dark night. Nothing could be further than the sky.
"I love you right up to the MOON," he said, and closed his eyes.
"Oh, that's far," said Big Nutbrown Hare."That is very, very far."
Big Nutbrown Hare settled Little Nutbrown Hare into his bed of leaves. He leaned over and kissed him good night.
Then he lay down close by and whispered with a smile, "I love you right up to the moon - AND BACK.
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8.Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton
I like you a lot
You’re funny and kind
So let me explain
What I have in mind.
I want to be Your Personal Penguin
I want to walk right by your side
I want to be Your Personal Penguin
I want to travel with you far and wide.
Wherever you go, I’ll go there too
Here and there and ev’rywhere
And always with you.
I want to be Your Personal Penguin
From now on.
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9.The Secret Garden by Frances Hogdson Burnett
One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one’s head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvellous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one’s heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun—which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands of years.
One knows it then for a moment or so. And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries.Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark blue at night with the millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in someone’s eyes.
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10.Getting Married Means You'll Have by Nicholas Gordon
Getting married means you'll have
Someone's hand to hold,
Even when you're feeling sick,
Even when you're old.
It means when you sit down to eat,
Someone will be there,
So you won't have to tell your day
To an empty chair.
It means that when you need some help,
Someone will help out,
Someone always near to you
So you won't have to shout.
But best of all is when it's time
To turn out all the lights:
You won't have to be alone
Those long and scary nights.
So even though you don't have toys,
You don't have to care:
Once you're married you can be
Each other's teddy bear.
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11.Anextract from All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Give them to someone who feels sad. Live a balanced life.
Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day.
Take a nap every afternoon.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
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12.Extract from The Princess Bride by William Goldman
I have not known a moment in years when the sight of you did not send my heart careening against my rib cage. I have not known a night whenyour visage did not accompany me to sleep. There has not been a morning when you did not flutter behind my waking eyelids.
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13.The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket
I will love you as a drawer loves a secret compartment, and as a secret compartment loves a secret, and as a secret loves to make a person gasp, and as a gasping person loves a glass of brandy to calm their nerves, and as a glass of brandy loves to shatter on the floor, and as the noise of glass shattering loves to make someone else gasp, and as someone else gasping loves a nearby desk to lean against, even if leaning against it presses a lever that loves to open a drawer and reveal a secret compartment. I will love you until all such compartments are discovered and opened, and until all the secrets have gone gasping into the world.
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14.The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
I will love you forever; whatever happens.
Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again…
I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment.
And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart.
Every atom of me and every atom of you…
We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams…
And when they use our atoms to make new lives,they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you an done of me, we’ll be joined so tight.
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15.Family Comes Together by Glaedr
Family comes together
For always and forever
In sickness and in health
In poverty or in wealth
Family comes together
For always and forever
Without any reason
Anytime or any season
Family comes together
For always and forever
In death or in life
In happiness or in strife
Family comes together
For always and forever
In anger or in kindness
Whether all seeing or in blindness
Family comes together
For always and forever
Whether for work or for play
They somehow find a way
For family to come together
Because families are forever
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ROMANTIC READINGS:-
1.I Promise by Dorothy R. Colgan
I promise to give you the best of myself
and to ask of you no more than you can give.
I promise to respect you as your own person
and to realize that your interests, desires and needs
are no less important than my own.
I promise to share with you my time and my attention
and to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.
I promise to keep myself open to you,
to let you see through the window of my world into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.
I promise to grow along with you,
to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting.
I promise to love you in good times and bad,
with all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how —completely and forever.
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2.Love by Rod McKuen
Love puts the music in laughter, the beautyin song,
The warmth in a shoulder, the gentle instrong.
Love puts the magic in memories, the sunshine in skies,
The gladness in giving, the starlight in eyes.
Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart,
The hope in tomorrow, the joy in the heart.
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3.Partnership is More by Anon
Partnership is more than standing here side by side,
Exchanging looks full of love, full of pride.
It’s more than the ceremony, which lasts just a while,
It’s a promise that’s shared, it’s an intimate smile.
It’s a personal bond that you know will not end,
The knowledge that someone your love willde fend.
It’s a vow of commitment, special and true,
It’s a hope and a dream of love endless for you. It’s a personal bond that you know will not end,
The knowledge that someone your love willde fend.
It’s a vow of commitment, special and true,
It’s a hope and a dream of love endless for you. I will be here
If in the morning when you wake, if the sun does not appear,
I will be here.
If in the dark we lose sight of love, hold my hand and have no fear.
I will be here. I will be here,
When you feel like being quiet when you need to speak your mind
I will listen,
Through the winning, losing and trying we’ll be together,
and I will be here.
If in the morning when you wake, if the future is unclear,
I will be here.
As sure as seasons were made for change, our life times were made for years,
I will be here.
I will be here,
and you can cry on my shoulder,
when the mirror tells us we’re older.
I will hold you, to watch you grow in beauty,and tell you all the
things you are to me.
We’ll be together and I will be here.
I will be true to the promises I’ve made to you, and to the one
who gave you to me.
I will be here.
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4.Destiny by Anon
Destiny is a mysterious thing.
No matter what you do or where you go, you cannot avoid it.
And, no matter how hard you try, even putting forth your greatest effort, you can’t force it to happen before its time.
This occasion we witness today is the destiny of two souls.
There is not a force in the universe that could have kept you apart, and there is nothing they could have done to come together sooner.
Each of you had to live your lives, lives that were steppingstones that have led to this moment in time, this uniting of hearts and minds that shall be forevermore.
This occasion we celebrate today is the destiny of two souls.
Yes, destiny is a marvellous and mysterious thing.
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5.I’ll be therefor you by Louise Cuddon
I’ll be there my darling, through thick and through thin
When your mind’s in a mess and your head’s in a spin
When your plane’s been delayed, and you’ve missed the last train.
When life is just threatening to drive you insane
When your thrilling who dun it has lost its last page
When somebody tells you, you’re looking your age
When your coffee’s too cool, and your wine is too warm
When the forecast said “Fine”, but you’re out in a storm
When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum
And your holiday photos show only your thumb
When you park for five minutes in a resident’s bay
And return to discover you’ve been towed away
When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste
Just stick on your hips and don’t reach round your waist
When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes
When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes
So my darling,my sweetheart, my dear…
When you break a rule, when you act the fool
When you’ve got the flu, when you’re in a stew
When you’re last in the queue, don’t feel blue
’cause I’m telling you, I’ll be there.
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6.The One by Cheryl Barclay
When the one whose hand you’re holding
Is the one who holds your heart,
When the one whose eyes you gaze into
Gives your hopes and dreams their start,
When the one you think of first and last
Is the one who holds you tight
And the things you plan together
Make the whole world seem just right,
When the one whom you believe in
Puts their faith and trust in you,
You’ve found the one and only love
You’ll share your whole life through
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7.It is Here by Harold Pinter
What sound was that?
I turn away, into the shaking room.
What was that sound that came in on the dark?
What is this maze of light it leaves us in?
What is this stance we take,
To turn away and then turn back?
What did we hear?
It was the breath we took when we first met.
Listen.It is here.
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8.On Marriage by Kahlil Gibran
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you
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 onecup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, butlet 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.
_____________________________________________________
9.The Future by Emma Salmon
In my future I see you and me,
And a house and garden filled with trees.
I see dinner parties surrounded by friends,
And a vegetable patch we love to tend.
I see cosy nights in front of the fire,
And a four-poster bed for when we tire.
I see our kitchen which will be the heart of the home,
And a Victorian bath brimming with foam.
I see muddy wellies by the front door,
And the kids eating cookies and asking for more.
I see nights in the garden camping under the stars,
And shelves full of mismatching local jam jars.
I see family picnics outside with the dog,
And a little blue shed containing the logs.
I see us sat by the window watching the snow,
And reading the papers and learning to grow.
I see pictures of family in quirky frames,
And letters on the kids’ doors spelling out their names.
I see laughter, pain, kisses and tears,
And helping each other to confront our fears.
I see you as my friend and also my lover,
Your confidant and your children’s mother.
I see a wonderful future for you and I,
And it’s cloaked in love until we die.
_____________________________________________________
10.Let’s grow old together by Anon
Let’s grow old together
Hand in hand you and me
Sharing life’s great moments
Keeping each other company
Living, loving, laughing
Smelling roses as we go
Even when our eye sight dims
And the steps we take are slow
No matter where life leads us
Remember this is true
Today, tomorrow, forever
I’ll always love you.
_____________________________________________________
11.I Will Be There by Steven Curtis Chapman
If in the morning when you wake
If the sun does not appear
I will be here
If in the dark we lose sight of love
Hold my hand and have no fear
I will be here.
I will be here
When you feel like being
When you feel like being quiet
When you need to speak your mind I will listen
Through the winning, losing, and trying we’ll be together
And I will be here
If in the morning when you wake
If the future is unclear
I will be here
As sure as seasons were made for a change
Our lifetimes were made for years
I will be here.
_____________________________________________________
12.Sonnet 65 by William Shakespeare
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea
But sad mortality o’er-sways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
O, how shall summer’s honey breath hold out
Against the wrackful siege of batt’ring days,
When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
Nor gates of steel so strong, but Timedecays?
O fearful meditation! where, alack,
Shall time’s best jewel from time’s chest liehid?
Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?
Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?
O, none, unless this miracle have might,
That in black ink my love may still shine bright.
_____________________________________________________
13.The Apache wedding prayer
Now you will feel no rain, For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold, For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness, For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies, But there is one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place, To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.
_____________________________________________________
14.From The Gift of the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
When you love someone, you do not love the mall the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility.It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand.We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love,is in growth, in fluidity — in freedom in the sense that dancers are free barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern. The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what it was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation but in living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now.Relationships must be like islands; one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits… islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea,and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.
_____________________________________________________
15.Irrational Season by Madeleine L’Engle
But ultimately there comes a moment when a decision must be made. Ultimately two people who love each other must ask themselves how much they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they are willing to take…It is indeed a fearful gamble… Because it is of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together we become a new creature. To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take…If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom;rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation…It takes a lifetime to learn another person…When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is often rejected.
_____________________________________________________
16.We Two Boys Together Clinging by Walt Whitman
We two boys together clinging,
One the other never leaving,
Up and down the roads going—North and South excursions making,
Power enjoying—elbows stretching—fingers clutching,
Arm’d and fearless—eating, drinking,sleeping, loving, 5
No law less than ourselves owning—sailing,soldiering, thieving, threatening,
Misers, menials, priests alarming—airbreathing, water drinking, on the turf or the sea-beach dancing,
Cities wrenching, ease scorning, statute smocking, feebleness chasing,
Fulfilling our foray.
_____________________________________________________
17.I Carry Your Heart with Me by E.E.Cummings
I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you
Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)
_____________________________________________________
18.Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Not lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long as lives this, and this gives life to thee.
_____________________________________________________
19.Love by Roy Croft.
I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am, when I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what you have made of yourself,
But for what you are making of me.
I love you for
the part of me that you bring out;
I love you for
putting your hand into my heaped-up heart
And passing over all the foolish, weak things
that you can’t help dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out into the light
All the beautiful things
that no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.
I love you because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good,
And more than any fate could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it by being yourself
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means, after all
_____________________________________________________
20.Extract from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis DeBernieres
Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision.You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is in conceivable that you should ever part. because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.
_____________________________________________________
21.Not Love Perhaps by Arthur Seymour John Tessimond
This is not Love, perhaps,
Love that lays down its life,
that many waters cannot quench,
nor the floods drown, but something written in lighter ink,
said in a lower tone, something, perhaps, especially our own.
A need, at times, to be together and talk,
And then the finding we can walk
More firmly through dark narrow places,
And meet more easily nightmare faces;
A need to reach out, sometimes, hand to hand,
And then find Earth less like an alien land;
A need for alliance to defeat
The whisperers at the corner of the street.
A need for inns on roads, islands in seas,
Halts for discoveries to be shared,
Maps checked, notes compared;
A need, at times, of each for each,
Direct as the need of throat and tongue for speech.
_____________________________________________________
22.The Best is Yet To Be by Joanna
On your wedding day,
You begin a brand new life.
Friends and family give their gifts
To joyful husband, blissful wife.
But the greatest gift you'll ever get,
A gift from heaven above,
Is love forever, ending never,
Everlasting love.
You'll share life's joy and pleasure;
You'll have plenty of that, it's true.
But love is the real treasure
For your new spouse and you.
And if life hands you challenges,
As it does to one and all,
Your love will hold you steady
And never let you fall.
Your wedding day is full of joy;
Tomorrow you cannot see.
But one thing's sure for the two of you:
The best is yet to be.
_____________________________________________________
23.Today by Anon
Today is a day you will always remember
The greatest in anyone’s life
You’ll start off the day just two people in love
And end it as Husband and Wife
It’s a brand new beginning the start of a journey
With moments to cherish and treasure
And although there’ll be time when you both disagree
These will surely be outweighed by pleasure
You’ll have heard many words of advice in the past
When the secrets of marriage were spoken
But you know that the answers lie hidden inside, where the bond of true lovelies unbroken
So live happy forever as lovers and friends
It’s the dawn of a new life for you
As you stand there together with love in your eyes
From the moment you whisper ‘I do ’And with luck, all your hopes, and your dreams can be real
May success find its way to your hearts
Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys
But today is the day it all starts.
_____________________________________________________
24.The Promise by Eileen Rafter
The sun danced on the snow with a sparkling smile;
As two lovers sat quietly, alone for a while.
Then he turned and said, with a casual air
(though he blushed from his chin to the tips of his hair),
“I think I might like to get married to you.”
“Well then,” she said, “there’s a thought.
But what if we can’t promise to be all that we ought?
Can you promise me, say, that you won’t rage and shout,
If I’m late yet again, when we plan to go out,
For I know I can’t promise I’ll learn to ignore
Dirty socks or damp towels strewn all over the floor.
So if we can’t vow to be all that we should
I’m not sure what to do though the idea’s quite good.”
But he gently smiled and tilted his head
Till his lips met her ear and softly he said
“I promise to weave my dreams into your own,
that wherever you breathe will be my heart’s home.
I promise that, whether with rags or with gold I am blessed,
Your smile is the jewel I will treasure the best.
Do you think then, my love, we should marry – do you?”
“Yes, she said smiling, “I do.”
_____________________________________________________
25.In Your Light I Learn How to Love by Rumi
In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest, where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.
_____________________________________________________
26.Devoted by Lori Eberhai
My heart can be your home,
my soul can be your refuge.
You can turn to me when you are weak,
you can call to me when the way is not clear.
I will be your promise and your prayer,
I will always be there,
Constant and complete.
Run to me,
reach out for me,
and I will love you in a unique and tender way.
Bring your love to me,
share your love with me,
sing your love to me,
and I will offer you peace, ease and comfort.
_____________________________________________________
27.New Beginnings by Barbara Crooker
May this be a day of new beginnings
the sun, like a fragrant apple; the summer air,
soft on your hands as the kiss of a child.
May berries melt like honey on your tongue.
May your heart rise in wonder
at the clouds drifting across the sky.
May the trails under your boots
be covered in pine quills,
let the leaves rain down
like memories
in the autumn of your heart.
May the snow beneath your skis
run as fast as watered silk,
may the cold air kiss your cheeks,
turn them red as summer's roses.
May the rivers always flow
with their unexpected beauty,
the first freshets of snowmelt,
the rush of early spring.
May you always walk in gladness
through whatever path or highway;
may you always walk within the golden circle of your love.
_____________________________________________________
28.To Love is Not to Possess by James Kavanagh
To love is not to possess,
To own or imprison,
Nor to lose one's self in another.
Love is to join and separate,
To walk alone and together,
To find a laughing freedom
That lonely isolation does not permit.
It is finally to be able
To be who we really are
No longer clinging in childish dependency
Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,
It is to be perfectly one's self
And perfectly joined in permanent commitment
To another–and to one's inner self.
Love only endures when it moves like waves,
Receding and returning gently or passionately,
Or moving lovingly like the tide
In the moon's own predictable harmony,
Because finally, despite a child's scars
Or an adult's deepest wounds,
They are openly free to be
Who they really are–and always secretly were,
In the very core of their being
Where true and lasting love can alone abide.
_____________________________________________________
29.Love Sonnet 17 by Pablo Neruda
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
_____________________________________________________
30.The Anactoria Poem
Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen
on the black earth is an array of horsemen;
some, men marching; some would say ships; but I say
she whom one loves best
is the loveliest. Light were the work to make this
plain to all, since she, who surpassed in beauty
all mortality, Helen, once forsaking
her lordly husband,
fled away to Troy—land across the water.
Not the thought of child nor beloved parents
was remembered, after the Queen of Cyprus
won her at first sight.
Since young brides have hearts that can be persuaded
easily, light things, palpitant to passion
as am I, remembering Anaktória
who has gone from me
and whose lovely walk and the shining pallor
of her face I would rather see before my
eyes than Lydia's chariots in all their glory
armored for battle.
_____________________________________________________
31.For the grateful – by E.M.G. Somerwill - The Wild Night’s Bloom
Thank you for never
Making my story
About you.
Thank you for never
Breaking my heart, for
Humbling yourself,
For loving me the way you do.
Thank you for letting me feel
Everything.
You never wanted me to change for you,
You just wanted me happy.
All our marriage vows you kept
Long before we were wed,
When we were just two little heart
Feeling the earth quake by
Holding hands.
_____________________________________________________
32.Temporary and Permanent by Nikita Gill
Most people in your life
Were only meant
For dreams,
And summer laughter.
They stay till the wind changes,
And tides turn,
Or disappear
With the first snow.
And then there are some
That were forged
To weather blizzards
And pain with you.
They were cast in iron,
Set in gold
And never ever leave you
To face anything alone.
Know who those people are
And love them the way they deserve.
Not everyone in your life is temporary.
A few are as permanent as love is old.
_____________________________________________________
33.Anextract from The Prophet by Kahil Gibran
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.
_____________________________________________________
34.Our Family by Anon
Our family is a circle of love and strength.
With every birth and every union, the circle grows.
Every joy shared adds more love.
Every obstacle faced together makes the circle stronger.
_____________________________________________________
35.The One by Anon
When the one whose hand you’re holding
is the one who holds your heart,
When the one whose eyes you gaze into
gives your hopes and dreams their start,
When the one you think of first and last
is the one who holds you tight,
And the things you plan together
make the world seem just right,
When the one whom you believe in
puts their faith and trust in you,
You’ve found the one and only love
you’ll share your whole life through.
_____________________________________________________
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READINGS : FUNNY
1.Yes, I’ll Marry You by Pam Ayres
Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear,
And here’s the reason why;
So I can push you out of bed
When the baby starts to cry,
And if we hear a knocking
And it’s creepy and it’s late,
I hand you the torch, you see,
And you investigate.
Yes I’ll marry you, my dear,
You may not apprehend it,
But when the tumble-drier goes
It’s you that has to mend it,
You have to face the neighbour
Should our labrador attack him,
And if a drunkard fondles me
It’s you that has to whack him.
Yes, I’ll marry you,
You’re virile and you’re lean,
My house is like a pigsty
You can help to keep it clean.
That sexy little dinner
Which you served by candlelight,
As I do chipolatas,
You can cook it every night!
It’s you who has to work the drill
and put up curtain track,
And when I’ve got PMT it’s you who gets the flak,
I do see great advantages,
But none of them for you,
And so before you see the light,
I do, I do, I do!
_____________________________________________________
2.I Rely On You by Hovis Presley
I rely on you
like a camera needs a shutter
like a gambler needs a flutter
like a golfer needs a putter
like a buttered scone involves some butter
I rely on you
like an acrobat needs ice cool nerve
like a hairpin needs a drastic curve
like an HGV needs endless derv
like an outside left needs a body swerve
I rely on you
like a handyman needs pliers
like an auctioneer needs buyers
like a laundromat needs driers
like The Good Life needed Richard Briers
I rely on you.
_____________________________________________________
3.I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke
I wanna be your vacuum cleaner
Breathing in your dust
I wanna be your Ford Cortina
I will never rust
If you like your coffee hot
Let me be your coffee pot
You call the shots
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your raincoat
For those frequent rainy days
I wanna be your dreamboat
When you want to sail away
Let me be your teddy bear
Take me with you anywhere
I don’t care
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your electric meter
I will not run out
I wanna be the electric heater
You’ll get cold without
I wanna be your setting lotion
Hold your hair in deep devotion
Deep as the deep Atlantic ocean
That’s how deep is my devotion
I wanna be yours
_____________________________________________________
4.Be My Homer by Anon
Be my Homer
I wanna be your Marge.
If I’m your Norfolk Broads
Will you be my barge?
Let’s please be Tom and Barbara,
I will show you The Good Life.
Even though we’re not yet married
I would love to be your wife.
I’ve the passion Lily Munster
has for her dear Herman.
I would love you if you were ginger,
I would love you if you were German.
Like Mr and Mrs Huxtable,
We’d smooch even when we’re wrinkly.
I’ll even consider ironing your shirts,
But I hope you like them crinkly.
Like Mr and Mrs Incredible
I’m flexible and you’re tough.
But if you promise to be my true love
That will always be enough.
Like Bonny and that Clyde guy
without all the dying.
Like Gwyneth and that Coldplay man
without all the crying.
My partner in crime, the love of my life.
_____________________________________________________
5.He never leaves the seat up by Anon
He never leaves the seat up
Or wet towels upon the floor
The toothpaste has the lid on
And he always shuts the door!
She’s very clean and tidy
Though she may sometimes delude
Leave your things out at your peril
In a second they’ll have moved!
He’s a very active person
As are all his next of kin
Whereas she likes lazy days
He’ll still drag her to the gym!
He romances her and dines her
Home cooked dinners and the like
He even knows her favourite food
And spoils her day and night!
She’s thoughtful when he looks at her
A smile upon his face
Will he look that good in 50 years
When his dentures aren’t in place?!
He says he loves her figure
And her mental prowess too
But when gravity takes her over
Will she charm with her IQ?
She says she loves his kindness
And his patience is a must
And of course she thinks he’s handsome
Which in her eyes is a plus!
They’re both not wholly perfect
But who are we to judge
He can be pig headed
Whereas she won’t even budge!
All that said and done
They love the time they spent together
And I hope as I’m sure you do
That this fine day will last forever.
He’ll be more than just her husband
He’ll also be her friend
And she’ll be more than just his wife
She’s be his soul mate – till the end.
_____________________________________________________
6.Love is by Adrian Henri
Love is feeling cold in the back of vans
Love is a fan club with only two fans
Love is walking holding paint stained hands
Love is fish and chips on winter nights
Love is blankets full of strange delights
Love is when you don’t put out the light
Love is the presents in Christmas shops
Love is when you’re feeling Top of the Pops
Love is what happens when the music stops
Love is white panties lying all forlorn
Love is pink nightdresses still slightly warm
Love is when you have to leave at dawn
Love is you and love is me
Love is prison and love is free
Love’s what’s there when you are away from me
_____________________________________________________
7.Grow Old With You by The Wedding Singer
I wanna make you smile whenever you’re sad
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad
All I wanna do is grow old with you
I’ll get your medicine when your tummy aches
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks
Oh, it could be so nice, growing old with you
I’ll miss you
Kiss you
Give you my coat when you are cold
Need you
Feed you
Even let you hold the remote control
So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed when you’ve had too much to drink
Oh, I could be the man who grows old with you
I wanna grow old with you
_____________________________________________________
8.Marriage is Madness by Anon
Marriage is about giving and taking, forging,and forsaking, kissing and loving, pushing and shoving, caring and sharing,screaming and swearing. About being together whatever the weather. About being driven to the end of your tether. About sweetness and kindness. And wisdom and blindness. Its about being strong when you are feeling quite weak. Its about saying nothing when you are dying to speak. Its about being wrong when you know you are right. Its about giving in, before there’s a fight. It’s about you two living as cheaply as one (you can give us a call if you know how that’s done)! Never heeding advice that was always well meant. Never counting the cost until its all spent. And for you two, today,its about to begin. And for all that the two of you had to put in, some days filled with joy and some days with sadness,its too late, you will discover that marriage is madness!
_____________________________________________________
9.Recipe For Love by Anon
Put the love,good looks and sweet temper into a well furnished house. Beat the butter of youth to a cream, and mix well together with the blindness of faults.
Stir the pounded wit and good humour into the sweet argument, then add the rippling laughter and common sense. Work the whole together until everything is well mixed and bake gently for ever.
_____________________________________________________
10.I’ll Be Here For You by Louise Cuddon
I’ll be there, my darling, through thick and through thin
When your mind’s in a mess and your head’s in a spin
When your plane’s been delayed, and you’ve missed the last train.
When life is just threatening to drive you insane
When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page
When somebody tells you, you’re looking your age
When your coffee’s too cool, and your wine is too warm
When the forecast said, “Fine,” but you’re out in a storm
When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum
And your holiday photos show only your thumb
When you park for five minutes in a resident’s bay
And return to discover you’ve been towed away
When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste
Just stick on your hips and don’t reach round your waist
When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes
When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes
So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear…
When you break a rule, when you act the fool
When you’ve got the flu, when you’re in a stew
When you’re last in the queue, don’t feel blue
’cause I’m telling you, I’ll be there.
_____________________________________________________
11.Happiness Cake by Anon
Take: 1 heaped portion of True Love
1heaped cup of perfect trust and confidence
1 heaped cup of tenderness
(the most tender available)
1 heaped cup of good humour
1 tablespoon of good spirits
Blend well with:
1 heaped cup of unselfishness
A dash of interest in all one does
and a good helping of work.
Mix all ingredients with a pint of sympathy
and understanding combined.
Flavour with loving companionship.
Bake well all your life.
Ice with kisses, fond hope and tender words
This cake keeps well and should be served often
_____________________________________________________
12.Marriage is Like My Old Car by Marie April Gismondi
The way I see it, marriage is like my old car.
When I bought it new from the dealership,
everyone around me was saying; “Wow that’s a nice car!”
It was all bright and shiny and worthy of admiration.
And then as the years went by…
there were places where the paint was starting to peel off.
It got a little dent and a scratch or two here and there…
and once it was over a decade old…
People started saying; “Why are you still driving that old thing?”
But my car ran like a top and would never leave me high and dry.
Every time something sounded a little off, or needed attention,
I got to work on it and fixed whatever needed fixing immediately,
knowing that you get what you give.
And then, when she became “a classic”,
it was off to the body shop she went for a new paint job.
People once again began saying; “Wow, that’s a really nice car!”
But what they didn’t know was that all the things that really matter,
were always things that nobody could see from the outside.
A marriage is like my old car.
It’s the maintenance you do between the high of the wedding day,
and gaining the admiration your grandchildren
by being the couple who still laughs and shares secrets,
and still holds hands after all these years.
So don’t worry so much about what people think or say.
Just do your oil changes, keep up with your maintenance,
get out and have fun,
don’t be afraid to blow the dust off now and then,
and fix whatever breaks as soon as it happens.
This is my advice for a marriage
that will motor successfully on down the highway of life.
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13.The Romance by Shel Silverstein
Said the pelican to the elephant,
“I think we should marry, I do.
’Cause there’s no name that rhymes with me,
And no one else rhymes with you.”
Said the elephant to the pelican,
“There’s sense to what you’ve said,
For rhyming’s as good a reason as any
For any two to wed.”
And so the elephant wed the pelican,
And they dined upon lemons and limes,
And now they have a baby pelican,
And everybody rhymes.
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14.When I’m Sixty Four by The Beatles
When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine
If I'd been out 'til quarter to three
Would you lock the door
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four
You'll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you
I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four
Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck and Dave
Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four
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15.A Good Wedding Cake by Anon
4Lb of love
1/2Lb of sweet temper
1Lb of butter of youth
1Lb of blindness of faults
1Lb of pounded wit
1Lb of good humour
2Lbs of sweet argument
1 Pint of rippling laughter
1 Wine glass of common sense
A dash of modesty
Put the love, good looks and a sweet temper into a well-furnished house. Beat the butter of youth into a cream and mix well together with the blindness of faults. Stir the pounded wit and good humour into the sweet argument, then add the rippling laughter and common sense. Work the whole together until everything is well mixed and bake gently for ever.
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16.Love Me by Bee Rawlinson
Love me when I'm old and shocking
Peel off my elastic stockings
Swing me from the chandeliers
Let's be randy bad old dears.
Push around my chromed Bath Chair
Let me tease your white chest hair
Scaring children, swapping dentures
Let us have some great adventures.
Take me to your special places
Watching all the puzzled faces
You in shorts and socks and sandals
Me with warts and huge love-handles.
As the need for love enthralls
Wrestle with my damp proof smalls
Make me laugh without constraint
Buy me chocolate body paint.
Hold me safe throughout the night
When my hair has turned to white
Believe me when I say it's true
I've waited all my life for you.
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17.Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
If my like for you was a football crowd,
you’d be deaf ‘cause of the roar.
And if my like for you was a boxer,
there’d be a dead guy lying on the floor.
And if my like for you was sugar,
you’d lose your teeth before you were twenty.
And if my like for you was money,
let’s just say you’d be spending plenty.
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READINGS : ADVENTURES/ NATURE
1.Quotefrom Bear Grylls
Life tells us we have to be more sensible, and you’ve got to do that, and we grow out of our kid selves and life is a journey about not growing out of it really.But the thing is, you don’t have to climb Everest. Adventures don’t have to be super extreme to get what the heart of adventure is about. To me, adventure has always been to me the connections and bounds you create with people when you’re there. And you can have that anywhere.
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2. 21 Love Poems by Adrienne Rich
Whenever in this city, screens flicker
with pornography, with science-fiction vampires,
victimized hirelings bending to the lash,
we also have to walk…if simply as we walk
through the rain soaked garbage, the tabloid cruelties
of our own neighbourhoods.
We need to grasp our lives inseparable
from those rancid dreams, that blurt of metal, those disgraces,
and the red begonia perilously flashing
from a tenement sill six stories high,
or the long-legged young girls playing ball
in the junior high school playground.
No one has imagined us. We want to live like trees,
sycamores blazing through the sulfuric air,
dappled with scars, still exuberantly budding,
our animal passion rooted in the city.
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3.OurGreat Adventure by Pamela Dugdale
We are today still dizzy with the astonishment of love.
We are surrounded by affection – by smiles and kindliness,
By flowers and music and gifts and celebration.
Yet they enclose a silence
Where we are close with one another.
My eyes see only you.
I hear nothing but the words
We speak to one another
This is the day we start our life together.
This is our new beginning.
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4. Extract from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep, darlings,till the summer comes again.
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5.Extractfrom Across the Universe by Beth Revis
The glitter in the sky looks as if I could scoop it all up in my hands and let the stars swirl and touch one another, but they are so distant, so very far apart,that they cannot feel the warmth of each other, even though they are made of burning.
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6.Extract from Wild Awake by Hilary T Smith
People are like cities, we all have alleys and gardens and secret rooftops and places where daisies sprout between the sidewalk cracks, but most of the time all we let each other see if a postcard glimpse of a skyline or a polished square. Love lets you find those hidden places in another person, even the ones they didn’t know were there,even the ones they wouldn’t have thought to call beautiful themselves.
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7.The Sun has Burst the Sky by Jenny Joseph
The sun has burst the sky
Because I love you
And the river its banks
The sea laps the great rocks
Because I love you
And takes no heed of the moon dragging it away
And saying coldly ‘constantly is no for you’
The blackbird fills the air
Because I love you
With spring and lawns and shadows falling on lawns
The people walk in the street and laugh
I love you
And far down the river ships sound their hooters
Crazy with joy because I love you
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8. High Land by Jackie Kay
I don’t remember who kissed who first
Who touched you first, who anything to whom
All I remember in the highland night –
The sheep loose outside
The full moon smoking in the sky
And that you led me and I led you
And all of a sudden, we were in a small room
In a big house with the light coming in
And your legs open; mine too
And it was this swirling, twirling thing
Its hard to fasten it down
It is hard to remember what was what
Who was who when the wind was coming in
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9. Extract from The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White
I didn't fall in love with you. I walked into love with you,with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way. I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we are only fated to do the things that we'd choose anyway. And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you
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10. The Light of the Moon and the Sun by Joel Rosenberg
Be the light of the moon
like the light of the sun,
and the light of the sun
like the light of the moon,
and the light of them both
like the light of the One
who was before the moon and sun.
And the flame of the lamp
like the light of the seers,
and the eyes of the just
like the bloom of the field,
and the coal and the flame
like the beam of the soul
before it leaves the grove of souls.
And the kiss of the wise
like the pillars of dawn
and the blue of the fringe
like the white of the shawl,
and the silver of mind
like the gold of the heart
when the vessels were still
unbroken and whole. Come,
my beloved, my sister, my bride.
0, come, my bridegroom, brother
flame, to my side. Let our light
reunite, let our flame be as one,
like the light of the moon
with the light of the sun.
And may Ishmael's lamp
shine with Isaac's as one,
and may Abraham's wing
fly the arc of our hope.
Let the veils fall away,
let us stand face-to-face
with the splendor of opaline seas.
Let the mouth of the poor
taste the food of the rich,
let the void of the cup
bear the juice of the vine,
let the seventy tongue
speak the language of God.
Let the lion lie down with the lamb.
And the light of the moon
join the light of the sun,
and the river of tale
meet the oceans of song,
and the prophets declare,
and the lovers rejoice,
in the light of the moon and the sun,
in the light of the Boundless — the One.
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11.Stars Ready by Carl Sagan
All that you see, all that we can see exploded out of a star billions of years ago, and the particles slowly arranged themselves into living things, including all of us. We are made of star stuff. We are the mechanism by which the universe can comprehend itself. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth. We should remain grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.
The sum of all our evolution, our thinking and our accomplishments is love. A marriage makes two fractional lives a whole.It gives to two questioning natures a renewed reason for living. It brings anew gladness to the sunshine, a new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth, and a new mystery to life.
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READINGS : IRISH / SCOTTISH/ CELTIC
Peace of the running water to you,
Peace of the flowing air to you,
Peace of the quiet earth to you,
Peace of the shining stars to you,
and the love and the care from us all to you.
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2.The Lark in The Clear Air by Anon
Dear thoughts are in my mind
And my soul soars enchanted,
As I hear the sweet lark sing
In the clear air of the day.
For a tender beaming smile
To my hope has been granted,
And tomorrow she shall hear
All my fond heart would say.
I shall tell her all my love,
All my soul's adoration,
And I think she will hear
And will not say me nay.
It is this that gives my soul
All its joyous elation,
As I hear the sweet lark sing
In the clear air of the day
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May God go with you and bless you,
May you see your children's children,
May you be poor in misfortune and rich in blessings,
May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.
May joy and peace surround you both,
Contentment latch your door,
And happiness be with you now And God Bless you Evermore.
May you live you life with trust,And nurture lifelong affection,
May your lifelong dreams come true for you, Move ever that direction.
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
May the light of friendship guide your paths together,
May the laughter of children grace the halls of your home.
May the joy of living for each
other trip a smile from your lips,a twinkle from your eye.
And when eternity beckons,
at the end of the life heaped high with love,
May the good Lord embrace you
with the arms that have nurtured you
the whole length of your joy-filled days.
May the gracious God hold you both
in the palm of His hands.
And, today, may the Spirit of Love
find a dwelling place in your hearts.
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4.Celtic Blessing (3)by Anon
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
May God be with you and bless you;
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.
May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.
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5.Celtic Blessing (4)by Anon
You cannot possess me for I belong to myself.
But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give.
You cannot command me, for I am a free person.
But I shall serve you in those ways you require,
And the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand.
I pledge to you that yours will be the name I cry aloud in the night,
And the eyes into which I smile in the morning.
I pledge to you the first bite of my meat and the first drink from my cup.
I pledge to you my living and mydying, each equally in your care.
I shall be a shield for your back and you for mine.
I shall not slander you, nor you me.
I shall honor you above all others,and when we quarrel we shall do so in
Private and tell no strangers our grievances.
This is my wedding vow to you
This is the marriage of equals.
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6.Celtic Blessing (5)by Anon
You are the star of each night,
You are the brightness of every morning,
You are the story of each guest,
You are the report of every land.
No evil shall befall you, on hill nor bank,
In field or valley, on mountain or in glen.
Neither above, nor below, neither in sea,
Nor on shore, in skies above,
Nor in the depths.
You are the kernel of my heart,
You are the face of my sun,
You are the harp of my music,
You are the crown of my company.
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7. Rainbow by Anon
Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through.
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8.Scottish Blessing(1)
Lord help us to remember when
We first met and the strong
love that grew between us.
To work that love into
practical things so that nothing
can divide us.
We ask for words both kind
and loving and hearts always
ready to ask forgiveness
as well as to forgive.
Dear Lord, we put our
marriage into your hands.
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9.Maythe blessing of light be on you - Scottish Blessing (2)
May the blessing of light be on you, light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it. And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,like a candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm. And may the blessing of the rain be on you, may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines, and sometimes a star. And may the blessing of the earth be on you, soft under your feet as you pass along the roads, soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day; and may it rest easy over you when,at last, you lie out under it. May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God. And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly.
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10.A Righteous Heart - Scottish Blessing (3)
If there is righteousness in the heart
If there is righteousness in the heart,
there will be beauty in the character.
If there is beauty in the character,
there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home,
there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
there will be peace in the world.
So let it be. Amen.
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READINGS : RELIGIOUS
1.Corinthians 13:4-12
Love is patient and kind; love does not envyor boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things,believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child,I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,even as I have been fully known.
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2.Genesis 1:27-28
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of theheavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
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3.Colossians 3:14
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity
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4.Ecclesiastes 4:9
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labour: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
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5.Song of Songs 8:6-7
Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm,
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.
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6.Prayer of Love by Anon
That you will always remember the qualities
that attracted you to each other when you first met
and how you felt as your feelings of attraction
turned into respect, admiration and finally love.
That you will work hard to turn your feelings of love
into acts of love so that nothing and no one can divide you.
That you will always have kind and loving hearts
that are quick to ask for forgiveness when you are wrong
as well as to forgive when your partner is wrong.
That your love might grow to hear all things,
believe all things, and hope for all things, endure all things.
we pray you place your marriage in God’s hands,
and that your love increases and overflows,
beyond anything you can yet imagine.
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7.Mark 10:6-9, 13-16
But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, who ever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it. And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
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8.Colossians3:12-17
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And bethankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns,and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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FAQS
Ive listed below frequent questions Im asked about readings:
How do I choose a Reading?
Find ones that suit your personality, that resonate with you. Ive put these into sections above for example, friendship, love, marriage advice,humorous.
If you are having more than 1, consider having a flow. For example, one about love, one on marriage, then conclude with the future (the best it yet to come)
How many should you Choose?
If you would like to add a reading,I would recommend a maximum of 3
Who should say the reading?
You could ask any of your family or guests to do this, or I can do this during my officiating the service (I would always have a copy of the reading(s) as a back up plan just in case guest change their mind.
Whats the best advice for anyone giving our Reading?
Choose someone who is comfortable getting up and doing this
Ask them to practice and say it out loud, and to focus on slowing down their words
Discuss with whoever is conducting your wedding ceremony about using microphones, as guest may have to hold one, or have one clipped on their clothing
And Finally
Please get in touch if you need help planning or you cant choose what reading is right for you. Why not read my useful article on When should I have a Reading during my Wedding Ceremony and Overcoming fear when Speaking at a Wedding Ceremony
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Amanda-Louise is the creative director of her UK award winning business, Amanda-Louise Knight Weddings Proposals & Events. She provides advice to modern couples who want unforgettable weddings that set the tone about their celebrations and love.
Amanda-Louise is a current celebrant, and has been involved in the events industry for over 30 years. Her love for logistics, she is wedding and marriage proposal planner in the South West of England. A dog lover herself, she is owner of Somerset Wedding Day Dog Chaperone Service ensuring furry babies are included or cared for by her team.
She is mentor to other celebrants and venue consultant to her corporate business clients dedicating her time to helping them grow their own businesses.
And it all starts with making a date with Amanda-Louise!
Blog Disclaimer - the article is opinion based by the author only, the content is for information purposes only, and as such is not guaranteed. Whilst its intended to be accurate there may be some unintentional errors, mistakes or omissions and therefore may be subject of updating. In accordance with any advice articles should the reader wish to rely on this information, they do so at their own risk. Any prices quoted are accurate at time of writing content.
