Gay marriage readings

You’ll lead the recessional down the aisle, followed by your wedding party and all other guests. To Love is Not to Possess by James Kavanaugh

To love is not to possess,
To own or imprison,
Nor to lose one’s self in another.
Love is to join and separate,
To walk alone and together,
To find a laughing freedom
That lonely isolation does not permit.
It is finally to be able
To be who we really are
No longer clinging in childish dependency
Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,
It is to be perfectly one’s self
And perfectly joined in permanent commitment
To another–and to one’s inner self.
Love only endures when it moves like waves,
Receding and returning gently or passionately,
Or moving lovingly like the tide
In the moon’s own predictable harmony,
Because finally, despite a child’s scars
Or an adult’s deepest wounds,
They are openly free to be
Who they really are–and always secretly were,
In the very core of their being
Where true and lasting love can alone abide.

4.

Pronouncement

The officiant will pronounce you legally wed, followed by your first kiss as a married couple.

7. This is everything I’ve learned about marriage: nothing.

Only that the world out there is complicated, and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain, and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes, is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze, and not to be alone.

It’s not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it’s what they mean.

For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow;  but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow;  but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. So I ask you:

Do you, [Partner 1], take [Partner 2] to be your lawfully wedded spouse?

how much better is thy love than wine! By itself it makes that is heavy light; and it bears evenly all that is uneven.

It carries a burden which is no burden; it will not be kept back by anything low and mean; it desires to be free from all wordly affections, and not to be entangled by any outward prosperity, or by any adversity subdued.

Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. We shall be
Part of the mighty universal whole,
And through all Aeons mix and mingle with the Kosmic Soul!

We shall be notes in that great Symphony
Whose cadence circles through the rhythmic spheres,
And all the live World's throbbing heart shall be
One with our heart, the stealthy creeping years
Have lost their terrors now, we shall not die,
The Universe itself shall be our Immortality!

All About Love by bell hooks

The moment we choose to love, we begin to move against domination, against oppression.

The formatting of every ceremony will differ based on a variety of things, but here is a general format that’ll give you a better idea of what you want to incorporate.

1. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

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. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person, we’re safe in our own paradise. Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Featuring passages written by LGBTQ+ authors and love letters with gender neutral language, check out our 10 wonderful LGBTQ+ wedding ceremony readings below to include in your special day with pride and joy.

LGBTQ+ Wedding Ceremony Readings

Dear One by Mary Lambert

Where did you come from, bright star?
What heaven did you leap from, dear love?
How can I spell your name
Without the sound of Autumn
Underneath my tongue,
Without acknowledging the lovers who bent me in half
Bless them for bringing me to you
How can I say your name
Without also breathing the words
My god, I found you.
How can I ever speak again with this mouth
When it has found where it belongs
When you touch me, I am a bed of calla lilies
I will build a house and fill it with evergreens
I will paint sunsets on every wall
So you can only see beautiful things
How can I say love
Without wanting to fold myself into you
Like a thousand paper cranes?
Dear one,
I was halved the moment I was born
Either piece of me is inside of your mouth
And I was found whole the moment you spoke.

I Belong In Your Arms by Deborah Brideau

Finally I have found a place
Into which I fit perfectly, safely and securely
With no doubts, no fears, no sadness, no tears.
This place is filled with happiness and laughter,
Yet it is spacious enough to allow me the freedom to move around, To live my life and be myself.
This wonderful place, which I never believed really existed,
I have found, finally,
Inside your arms, Inside your heart, Inside your love

You are the Bubbles by Rachel Bright

Together, you are the bubbles in one another’s champagne
The morning sun through a window
The breaking of a smile.

Together, you are the one doughnut in the bag with more jam than all the others.
That photo where everybody looks great.
The know-all-the-words, sing-out-of-tune chorus of your favourite song.

Together, you are the beginnings of a big idea.
The twinkly bits that hang in the sky after the firework goes bang.
The cold, thin air at the top of a mountain.
The only two people in a crowded room.

Together, you are that unforgettable day of the holiday.
An accidental adventure.
Chocolate chip.
The last two pages of your favourite book.
A BBQ with friends.
The spray of the sea.
The nose of the cheese.
A kiss.
A hug.
A hold-my-hand.
A decision which, looking back, will seem to be the most excellent one you’ve ever made.

Together you are bubbles.
The unburstable bubbles of the very best things in life.
The only things any of us ever really need.

We Are Made One with What We Touch and See by Oscar Wilde

We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring-impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.

And we two lovers shall not sit afar,
Critics of nature, but the joyous sea
Shall be our raiment, and the bearded star
Shoot arrows at our pleasure!

Mat 8:13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials. These rings are symbols of your love and commitment. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

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. [Partner 1] and [Partner 2] met [insert personal story or anecdote about how they met, their relationship, etc.].

When it comes to ceremony readings, some couples choose to have their readings done by close friends or family members.