10 Non Religious Wedding Readings to Add to Your Ceremony

Spruce up a simple wedding ceremony script with these inspired readings

 

 

One of the simplest ways to create a unique wedding ceremony is by customizing an existing ceremony script. 

 

Instead of starting from scratch, start with a classic wedding ceremony template from our Wedding Ceremony Script Library. 

 

Then, add one of these 10 non religious wedding readings – inspired by song lyrics, literature, film, and a few of our favorite television romances.

 

Next, ask a friend or relative to get ordained online to officiate your wedding. 

 

Or visit our Wedding Officiant Training resources to learn how to officiate a wedding. 

 

 

 

1. “All of Me,” 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'”

 

2. Everyday, excerpt, David Levithan

 

“The moment you fall in love feels like it has centuries behind it, generations –  all of them rearranging themselves so that this precise, remarkable intersection could happen. In your heart, in your bones, no matter how silly you know it is, you feel that everything has been leading to this, all the secret arrows were pointing here, the universe and time itself crafted this long ago, and you are just realizing it, you are just arriving at the place you were always meant to be.”

 

3. Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy in the 2005 film adaptation

 

“You have bewitched me body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. And wish from this day forth never to be parted from you.”

 

4. “The Art of Marriage,” Wilferd A. Peterson

 

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. 
A good marriage must be created. 
In 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 a day.
It is never going to sleep angry. 
It is at no time taking the other for granted; 
the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, 
it should continue through all the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. 
It is standing together facing the world. 
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family. 
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation, and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. 
It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to have the wings of an angel. 
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour. 
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. 
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is finding room for the things of the Spirit. 
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. 
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual, and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner. 

 

5. “what does love look like,” Nayyirah Waheed 

 

“she asked ‘you are in love what does love look like’ to which i replied ‘like everything i’ve ever lost come back to me.”

 

6. Boy Meets World, Topanga and Cory 

 

Topanga: “I wasn't sure this day would ever come, but you were. I wasn't sure love could survive everything we put it through, but you were. You were always strong and always sure. And now I know I want you to stand beside me for the rest of my life. That's what I'm sure of.”

 

Cory: “Ever since I was young, I never really understood anything about the world, and I never understood anything that happened in my life. The only thing that ever made sense to me was you and how I felt about you. That's all I've ever known, and that's enough. That's enough for me, for the rest of my life.”

 

7. “Love Sonnet XVII,” Pablo Neruda 

 

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride. I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.”

 

8. Friends, Monica to Chandler

 

“For so long I wondered if I would ever find my prince, my soul mate. 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 soul mate, my friend.”

 

9. Romeo and Juliet, 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.” 

 

10. “i carry your heart with me,” 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)

 

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• Offbeat Wedding Welcome & Opening Remarks: Examples for a Non-traditional Ceremony

 

• 12 Love Poems for Your Wedding Ceremony

 

• Dark Love Poems & Wedding Readings for a Goth Inspired Ceremony

 

• A Wedding Ceremony Script Based on the Best Wedding Movies of All Time (Take One)
   

 

See all articles on Wedding Readings

 

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