Below you'll find our brand-new list of top wedding readings for 2022 including blessings, poems and even the wedding vows from Game of Thrones!
It was back in 2020 that we last shared an article about wedding readings, which included a list of our top 10 favourites for friends or family, and all of these continue to be super popular amongst couples.
But over the last wonderfully busy 12 months of ceremonies we've come across a whole host of new readings and added some more faves to our selection! Some are comedic, some are romantic and one or two have even captured that wonderful blend of sentiment and humour that really keeps the crowd's attention!
So we thought it was about time we put together a new TOP 10 list and we promise you that all of our picks are modern, unboring, and comfortable to read. What's more, we've watched guests smiling from ear to ear whilst listening to these, if not sheading a tear or two! So all you need to do is decide which reading (or two) you love the most and find a willing friend or family member to step up to the mic!
So without further-a-do here we have it - our Top 10 Modern Wedding Readings 2022! Pop a comment below to let us know which one(s) you've chosen!
EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE
Dolly Alderton
I know that love can be loud and jubilant…It can be dancing in the swampy mud and the pouring rain at a festival and shouting “YOU ARE AMAZING” over the band. It’s introducing them to your colleagues at a work event and basking in pride as they make people laugh and make you look lovable just by dint of being loved by them.
It’s laughing until you wheeze.
It’s waking up in a country neither of you have been in before.
It’s skinny-dipping at dawn. It’s walking along the street together on a Saturday night and feeling an entire city is yours.
It’s a big, beautiful, ebullient force of nature.
I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing.
It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee. It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting.
It’s hanging up their laundry when they leave the house having moronically forgotten to take it out of the washing machine.
It’s saying ‘You’re safer here than in a car’ as they hyperventilate on an EasyJet flight to Dublin.
It’s the texts: ‘Hope your day goes well’, ‘How did today go?’, ‘Thinking of you today’ and ‘Picked up loo roll’.
I know that love happens under the splendour of moon and stars and fireworks and sunsets but it also happens when you’re lying on blow-up airbeds in a childhood bedroom, sitting in A&E or in the queue for a passport, or in a traffic jam.
Love is a quiet, reassuring, relaxing, pottering, pedantic, harmonious hum of a thing; something you can easily forget is there, even though its palms are outstretched beneath you in case you fall.
TIME TRAVELLERS
by Terah Cox
May you take on the world together with all your hopes and dreams, may you be each other’s anchor in smooth or rocky seas.
May you bend to the world’s winds and brave stalls and storms, may you find common ground in all its changing forms.
May you cross stubborn boundaries and turn many a stone, may you find haven for your souls, may you have heart and home.
And if some days are grey and some nights are long and cold, May you be each other’s sun and moon as your destinies unfold.
And should you lose sight of each other and start to drift apart,
may you circle back by following the compass of your hearts.
I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU
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.
THE ONE
Author Unknown
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.
GAME OF THRONES
Khaleesi and Khal Drogos 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.
THE BEAUTY OF UNION
George The Poet
There’s an indescribable beauty in union In two beings forming one new being Entering each other’s world Surrendering each other’s selves Accepting the invitation to be everything to someone else There’s an unparallelled bravery in union In telling the one you love: “The only way that we can truly win Is if I think of you in everything I do And honour every decision you faithfully include me in.” Love gives union true meaning It illuminates the path It wants us to compromise, communicate and laugh It wants us to elevate, appreciate without pride Love is oblivious to the outside Even with an audience of millions Even when that love bears immortal significance All of this is met with cordial indifference By the two people at the heart of it Two individuals when they started it Becoming two halves of one partnership Such is the beauty of union Such is the beauty of union
Excerpt from THE BRIDGE ACROSS FOREVER
Richard Bach
A soulmate 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 truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved 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 soulmate 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 soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.
WHAT IS A SOUL MATE
Emily Matthews
If you have found a smile that is the sweetest one you've known, If you have heard, within a voice, the echoes of your own, If you have felt a touch that stirs the longings of your heart, And still can feel that closeness in the moments you're apart, If you have filled with wonder at the way two lives can blend To weave a perfect pattern that is seamless, end to end, If you believe some things in life are simply meant to be, Then you have found your soul mate, your heart's own destiny.
HERE’S TO RIGHT NOW
Ms. Moem
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.
MAYBE
Anonymous
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.
Photography Credits:
First 4 images by Clearly Wild Photography - https://clearlywildphotography.com/
Final image by Photography by Petrina - https://www.photography-by-petrina.co.uk/