Secular Wedding

[Viracocha]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone help me find a reading for a seular wedding? My girlfriend and I will be getting married in a little over a month. We have a great non-religious ceremony, but I would like to add a reading. I have researched some, but I keep running into bible readings and such. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[MzNeko]

Well, I don't know it this is long enough for a reading, but I like it really well and included it in my wedding program when I got married.

Companionship, partnership, mutual reassurance,
someone to laugh with and grieve with,
loyalty that accepts foibles,
someone to touch, someone to hold your hand—
these things are “marriage”.
—R. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love

[missus_gumby]

Our very own Bill Shultz (http://www.iidb.org/vbb/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=1) has written an article about Secular Weddings (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/bill_schultz/weddings.html) in the library (http://www.infidels.org/library/index.shtml). It has all sorts of links which I think you will find most helpful!

Martin

[never been there]

I suppose it's got a couple of mentions of G_d in it here and there, but you should be able to find some nice suitable passages in Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. Like many of us, it's "not so much religious, but spiritual" (whatever that means).

The chapter "Love" isn't quite giddy enough and has too many G_d references. "Marriage" can work:
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance togethr and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

You could also read the chapter "On Children" as a tribute to your parents.

[Hypatia]

I'm not sure if I can add much to those suggestions, but I'm going through the same process myself. My boyfriend and I found an excellent JoP in New Hampshire who's putting together a ceremony for us, based on our suggestions and reading ideas. We're hitting him up for suggestions to supplement what we have, and if he sends along anything useful I'll pass it along to you on this thread. So far he's sent the Gibran quote already mentioned, plus one by Gothe and one by Edna St.Vincent Millay. When's the big day? Ours is Sept. 20.


This is the true measure of love,
When we believe that we alone can love,
That no one could ever have loved so before us,
And that no one will ever love in the same way after us.
-- Gothe

No one can ever take your place to me. We know each other in such a terrible, certain, windless way. You and I have almost achieved that which is never achieved: We sit in each other's souls.
--Millay

[Anti-Creedance Front]

Relate it to your heathen heritage, without referral to gods or goddesses. I want my wedding to be Celtic style, out in a clearing with wreaths instead of rings, and Celtic dishes and drinks. I don't hold anything against my ancestors for believing in Dagda and Danu, so I'm honored, and exhilirated, to be able to do something like that. I mean, my wedding's not for quite a while yet, but I'm already thinking of ideas. Ha ha. Women should love me for that.

[Viracocha]

Thanks for all the help!

Hypatia - Our wedding day is Sep. 19th.....getting close....

[never been there]

Viracocha, does your handle imply you speak Spanish? I was going to suggest something by Pablo Neruda, but in looking for something I realized that it's not so much romantic as sexy.

You could read some to your bride after you leave the reception, though. Hot stuff.

[Viracocha]

Yes, I do speak spanish and I see what you mean about Pablo Neruda...maybe too hot for the ceremony. I do like the suggestion from your previous post and so does my girlfriend. Thanks.