Readings for Your Wedding

I always encourage couples to select a minimum of two readings for their wedding ceremony. Readings can be one of the most effective ways of couples expressing who they are in their wedding. I’ve seen couples use readings to uniquely communicate who they are in their wedding. It’s like the criteria of a good newspaper article is that it covers who, what, when and where.

Who? Who reads the readings can have a huge impact on your guests. Often I’ll read them. Sometimes couples want to give family or friends a special honor by having them read. Make sure who you select is comfortable reading in public. This past summer one couple had wanted four very significant people to read- each of their two siblings. The challenge was they had decided to have only two readings. They arrived at a simple solution - each pair of siblings read alternating lines of their assigned reading. I’d never seen this done before. It flowed beautifully and was quite moving. There was a deeper level of significance to each of the readings.

What? Couples can choose some traditional religious readings or something romantic or more contemporary or creative, or a mix. I believe couples are best served by providing them with many options to select from.

When? Many couples choose their readings early in our ceremony planning process. Some couples choose their readings a few weeks before their wedding. If a couple is looking for a high level of personalization, they may miss some opportunities, like providing their potential readers with enough notice to feel prepared and comfortable or for themselves to have enough time to reflect and discover which readings are “them”, if they wait until the last minute to select their readings.

Where? Usually readings are somewhere in the beginning of the wedding ceremony. If the couple is going to have Unity Ceremony as well, they can alternate or bookend it with two readings. It makes for a good balance and rhythm pleasing to their guests.
Recently a couple came upon two readings they loved so much, they combined them for their Final Blessing. They put ‘Today I Married My Best Friend’ with ‘From This Day Forward’. It worked out wonderfully!

If you’re looking to make your wedding your own, consider all these ways to best use readings in your wedding ceremony.