I always encourage my couples to include a reading or poem into their wedding ceremony, and here are the main reasons why: It lengthens the ceremony a little further, it makes it all that much more personal and it is a great way to give a guest some involvement in the ceremony. Here are a few of my favourites at the moment...
The One
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.
Falling in love is like owning a dog
Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog
First of all, it’s a big responsibility, So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security: when you’re walking down the street late at night and you have a leash on love ain’t no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable. Who knows what love could do in its own defence? 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 for a nice long walk. Because love loves exercise. It runs you around the block and leaves you panting. It pulls you in several different directions at once, or winds around and around you until you’re all wound up and can’t 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.
Mayonnaise Jar
When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar.
a professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. when the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. he then asked the students if the jar was full. they agreed that it was.
the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. he shook the jar lightly. the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. he then asked the students again if the jar was full. they agreed it was.
the professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. of course, the sand filled up everything else. he asked once more if the jar was full. the students responded with an unanimous "yes".
“now,” said the professor, “i want you to recognise that this jar represents your life. the golf balls are the important things–your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions–and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
the pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.
the sand is everything else–the small stuff. “if you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. the same goes for life. if you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are most important to you.
“pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. spend time with your children, say i love you, take time out of your week to have picnics, go for walks and enjoy others' company. take your other half out to dinner. play another 18 holes, have another cup of coffee with friends. there will always be time to clean the house and fix the creaking doors. take care of the golf balls first–the things that really matter. set your priorities as a couple and family. the rest is just sand.”
A Marriage Made For Two
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 pedaling 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 singletrack. 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.
Marriage Blessing
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.
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice, but not compel one another.
May you embrace, 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.