A collection of beautiful romantic readings perfect for your wedding ceremony.
Blessing Of The Hands
These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your
wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.
These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future.
These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch,
will comfort you like no other.
These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.
These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy.
These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children.
These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one.
These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.
And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the
same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.
Desiderata
Max Erhmann (1927)
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible
without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even
to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the
spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser
persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however
humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the
world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and
everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in
the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not
distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be
here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace
with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
A Gift From The Sea
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
One recognizes the truth of Saint Exupery’s line: Love does not consist in gazing at each other. But in looking outward
together in the same direction. For in fact, man and woman are not only looking outward in the same direction, they
are working outward. Here one forms ties, roots, a firm base….
Here one makes oneself part of the community of men, of human society. Here the bonds of marriage are formed. For
marriage, which is always spoken of as a bond, becomes actually, in this stage, many bonds, many strands, of
different texture and strength, making up a web that is taut and firm. The web is fashioned of love. Yes, but many
kinds of love: romantic love first, then a slow-growing devotion and, playing through these, a constantly rippling
companionship. It is made of loyalties, and interdependencies, and shared experiences. It is woven of memories of
meetings and conflicts; of triumphs and disappointments. It is a web of communication, a common language, and the
acceptance of lack of language too, a knowledge of likes and dislikes, of habits and reactions, both physical and
mental. It is a web of instincts and intuitions, and known and unknown exchanges. The web of marriage is made by
propinquity, in the day to day living side by side, looking outward and working outward in the same direction. It is
woven in space and in time of the substance of life itself.
Friendship
Judy Bielicki
It is often said that it is love that makes the world go round. However, without doubt, it is friendship which keeps our
spinning existence on an even keel. True friendship provides so many of the essentials for a happy life-it is the
foundation on which to build an enduring relationship, it is the mortar which bonds us together in harmony, and it is
the calm, warm protection we sometimes need when the world outside seems cold and chaotic. True friendship holds
a mirror to our foibles and failings, without destroying our sense of worthiness. True friendship nurtures our hopes,
supports us in our disappointments, and encourages us to grow to our best potential. (Bride) and (Groom) came
together as friends. Today, they pledge to each other not only their love, but also the strength, warmth and, most
importantly, the fun of true friendship.
I Am Love
Author Unknown
Some say I can fly on the wind, yet I haven’t any wings. Some have found me floating on the open sea, yet I cannot
swim. Some have felt my warmth on cold nights, yet I have no flame. And though you cannot see me, I lay between
two lovers at the hearth of fireplaces. I am the twinkle in your child’s eyes. I am hidden in the lines of your mother’s
face. I am your father’s shield as he guards your home. And yet… Some say I am stronger than steel, yet I am as
fragile as a tear. Some have never searched for me, yet I am around them always. Some say I die with loss, yet I am
endless. And though you cannot hear me, I dance on the laughter of children. I am woven into the whispers of
passion. I am in the blessings of Grandmothers. I embrace the cries of newborn babies. And yet… Some say I am a
flower, yet I am also the seed. Some have little faith in me, yet I will always believe in them. Some say I cannot cure
the ill, yet I nourish the soul. And though you cannot touch me, I am the gentle hand of the kind. I am the fingertips
that caress your cheek at night. I am the hug of a child. I am love.
I Love You
Roy Croft
I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you, not only for what you have
made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you, for the part of me that you bring out. I love you, for
putting your hand into my heaped-up heart, and passing over all the foolish, weak things that you can’t help dimly
seeing there, and for drawing out, into the light, all the beautiful belongings that no one else had looked quite far
enough to find. I love you, because you are helping me to make of the lumber of my life, not a tavern, but a temple.
Out of the works of my every day, not a reproach, but a song. I love you, because you have done more than any
creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy. You have done
it without a touch, without a word, without a sign. You have done it by being yourself. Perhaps that is what being a
friend means, after all.
I Promise
Dorothy R. Colgan
I promise to give you the best of myself and ask of you no more than I can give.
I promise to respect you as your own person and to realize that your interests, desires and needs are no less
important than my own.
I promise to share with you my time and attention and to bring you joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.
I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you see through the window of my world into my innermost fears and
feelings, secrets and dreams.
I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad, with all I have to give and all I feel inside the only way I know how.
Completely and forever.
Looking For Your Face
Rumi
From the beginning of my life I have been looking for your face, but today I have seen it. Today I have seen the
charm, the beauty, the unfathomable grace of the face that I was looking for. Today I have found you, and those who
laughed and scorned me yesterday are sorry that they were not looking as I did. I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty, and wish to see you with a hundred eyes. My heart has burned with passion and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty that I now behold. I am ashamed to call this love human, and afraid of God to call it divine.
Your fragrant breath, like the morning breeze, has come to the stillness of the garden. You have breathed new life into
me. I have become your sunshine, and also your shadow. My soul is screaming in ecstasy. Every fibre of my being is
in love with you. Your effulgence has lit a fire in my heart, and you have made radiant for me the earth and sky. My
arrow of love has arrived at the target. I am in the house of mercy, and my heart is a place of prayer.
Love Is Friendship Caught Fire
Laura Hendricks
Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad
times. It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the
present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past. It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations,
problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals. If you have love in
your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not
enough.
Marriage Joins Two People In The Circle Of Its Love
Edmund O’Neill
Marriage is a commitment to life, to the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers
opportunities for sharing and growth that no other human relationship can equal; a joining that is promised for a
lifetime. Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life’s most important relationships. A wife and a
husband are each other’s best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener, and critic. There may come times when one
partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love of the other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a child.
Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller; memories are fresher; commitment is stronger;
even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly. Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life
is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences, and new ways of expressing love through
the seasons of life. When two people pledge to love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique to
themselves, which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential, made in
the hearts of two people who love, which takes a lifetime to fulfil.
On Love
Thomas a Kempis
Love is a mighty power, a great and complete good. Love alone lightens every burden, and makes rough places
smooth. It bears every hardship as though it were nothing, and renders all bitterness sweet and acceptable. Nothing
is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better
in heaven or earth; for love is born of God. Love flies, runs and leaps for joy. It is free and unrestrained. Love knows
no limits, but ardently transcends all bounds. Love feels no burden, takes no account of toil, attempts things beyond
its strength. Love sees nothing as impossible, for it feels able to achieve all things. It is strange and effective, while
those who lack love faint and fail. Love is not fickle and sentimental, nor is it intent on vanities. Like a living flame
and a burning torch, it surges upward and surely surmounts every obstacle.
Sonnet 17
Pablo Neruda
I don’t love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as certain
dark things are loved, secretly, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom, and
carries hidden within itself the light of those flowers, and thanks to your love, darkly in my body lives the dense
fragrance that rises from the earth. 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 know no 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 it is your eyes that
close.
Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou are more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade
Which in eternal lines to time thou grow’st
So long as men can breathe and eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
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Sooner Or Later
Author Unknown
Sooner or later we begin to understand that love is more than verses on valentines, and romance in the movies. We
begin to know that love is here and now, real and true, the most important thing in our lives. For love is the creator of
our favorite memories, and the foundation of our fondest dreams. Love is a promise that is always kept, a fortune
that can never be spent, a seed that can flourish in even the most unlikely of places. And this radiance that never
fades, this mysterious and magical joy, is the greatest treasure of all — one known only by those who love.
The Magic Of Love
Helen Steiner Rice
Love is like magic, and it always will be,
For love still remains life’s sweet mystery.
Love works in ways that are wondrous and strange,
And there’s nothing in life that love cannot change!
Love can transform the most commonplace
Into beauty and splendor and sweetness and grace.
Love is unselfish, understanding and kind,
For it sees with its heart, and not with its mind.
Love is the answer that everyone seeks;
Love is the language that every heart speaks.
Love can’t be bought, it is priceless and free.
Love, like pure magic, is life’s sweet mystery!!
Time In A Bottle
Jim Croce
If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I’d like to do, is to save every day ‘till eternity passes away, just to
spend them with you. If I could make days last forever; if words could make wishes come true; I’d save every day
like a treasure and then, again, I would spend them with you. If I had a box just for wishes, and dreams that had
never come true; the box would be empty, except for the memory of how they were answered by you. But there
never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do, once you find them. I’ve looked around enough to
know that you’re the one I want to go through time with.
The Prophet
Love one another, but make not a bond of that love. Let it rather be like a moving sea between the shores of your
souls. And stand together, and yet not too near together. For even the pillars of the temple must stand apart; and the
oak tree and the cypress will not grow in each other’s shadow. Remember that love gives nothing but from itself. Love
possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love. And think not that you can direct the course
of love. For love, if it finds you worthy, will direct your course.