Poetic Wedding Ceremony Script with Readings from Rumi & Kahlil Gibran

Procession / processional

• Ceremony begins and the couple enters

Officiant

Please rise in honor of the bride.

Invocation

Officiant

Beloved family and friends, we come together on this day to celebrate one of life’s greatest moments and give recognition to the worth and beauty of love as we join (Partner A) and (Partner B) in marriage. We are grateful to all those who have traveled near and far to be here today. We bring our hearts and minds together to be truly present for these unfolding moments, knowing we are blessed to be here.  

Wedding Reading 1 

• The first reading is a Recitation of the poem 'On Love' by Kahlil Gibran.  this poem is from 'The Prophet' and is in the public domain.

Officiant to the couple

(Partner A) and (Partner B), when someone asked poet and mystic, Kahlil Gibran, to "Speak to us of Love," he said:

"When love beckons to you, follow him,
     Though his ways are hard and steep.
     And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
     Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
     And when he speaks to you believe in him,
     Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

     For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
     Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
     So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
     Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself
     He threshes you to make your naked.
     He sifts you to free you from your husks.
     He grinds you to whiteness.
     He kneads you until you are pliant;
     And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

     All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

     But if in your heart you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
     Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
     Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
     Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
     Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
     For love is sufficient unto love.

     When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”
     And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

     Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
     But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
     To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
     To know the pain of too much tenderness.
     To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
     And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
     To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
     To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
     To return home at eventide with gratitude;
     And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips."

 

charge to couple & wedding reading 2

• The second wedding reading is comprised of two rumi poems about the nature of love. 

Officiant to the couple

These words remind us to yield to love as the highest North Star, to respect the cycles of love, yourselves, and each other and to remind yourselves often how precious you are to one other.

Give highest priority to treating one another with kindness and tenderness. For after all, as the poet Rumi says, 

“The moment I read my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing 
how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. 
They’re in each other all along.”

Rumi tells us, there is no separation between beloveds. When your beloved one is light and free, you are light and free. When hardship arises, remember to focus on what is good between you, not only the parts needing improvement. If each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be graced with abundance and joy. Rumi goes on to say,

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field, I’ll meet you there. 
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about. 
Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
doesn’t make any sense.” 

(Partner A) and (Partner B), love has found the two of you, in this ceremony today, you are committing to more fully find love. A true lover realizes always what matters most – your love. Melting like the running brook, your hearts and minds flow with gratitude for the gift that stands beside you.

Please turn towards one another as we exchange intentions and vows.

Declaration of Intent & Exchange of vows

Officiant to Partner A

(Partner A), do you take (Partner B) to be your (wife / husband / spouse)?

Partner A

I do.

Officiant to Partner A

Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect (her / him / them / Name), realizing the gift that (he / she/ they) is?

Partner A

I do.

Officiant to Partner B

(Partner B), Do you take (Partner A) to be your (wife / husband / spouse)?

Partner B

I do. 

Officiant to Partner B

Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect (her / him / them / Name), realizing the gift that he / she/ they) is?

Partner B

I do. 

Officiant to whoever has the rings

May I please have the rings? 

Officiant

These rings are a symbol that you are connected to one another. Your commitment is solid and never ending, just like this circular ring embracing you. 

Officiant to Partner A

(Partner A), please repeat after me, then place (Partner B)’s ring on the third finger of her left hand.

I, (Partner A), take thee, (Partner B), to be my wife, for richer or for poorer, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live, I will be a sanctuary and refuge for you. With this ring, I thee wed.

• The officiant pauses after each line, as Partner A repeats it. Partner A places the ring on Partner B's finger. 

Officiant to Partner B

(Partner B), please repeat after me, then place (Partner A)’s ring on the third finger of his left hand.

I, (Partner B), take thee, (Partner A), to be my husband, for richer or for poorer, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live, I will be a sanctuary and refuge for you. With this ring, I thee wed.

• The officiant pauses after each line, as Partner A repeats it. Partner A places the ring on Partner B's finger. 

Pronouncement 

Officiant to couple

It gives me great joy, along with your loved ones, by the power vested in me by the State of (Wedding State), to pronounce you (wife and husband / married / partners for life).

Please seal your marriage with a kiss!

Recession / Recessional 

• Ceremony ends