You can be overwhelmed with thoughts on dresses and cakes and flowers but don’t forget to consider if you are going to have readings at your ceremony, and if so, who will give them. Readings are often a very important part of the service. They are a great way to punctuate the ceremony, to break it up and add interest. They can be sentimental or light-hearted. Asking someone to do a reading is also a good way to involve friends and family members who are important to you, particularly if they don’t have any other duties, such as making a speech, to carry out.
But choose wisely; can you see him/her getting very anxious beforehand? You want this to be an honour, enjoyable for the reader, not stress them out. Have they got a good strong voice that can easily project to the back of the room? (Microphones can help, but the reader still needs a clear voice). It’s easy to underestimate the amount of time it can take to choose something that feels right for both of you – especially if you’re not keen on the more traditional, heartfelt types of passages that tend to keep popping up as suggestions, or if you don’t want anything religious.
A good place to start is your celebrant, who will normally supply you with a selection of readings in some form or another. You could always ask the person/people doing the readings to choose something they like of course, but don’t leave it as a surprise for the day! And consider whether you would feel awkward if you had to tell them you didn’t like their suggestion. If you’re looking for inspiration you will find plenty of readings online, and Youtube can be really helpful. It helps to narrow down what you’re looking for into subjects like love or friendship for example. Or perhaps there’s a writer whose work you both love and you might wish to start looking through extracts from his/her texts? Films can also be a great source – who can forget Cameron Diaz reading ‘I Carry Your Heart With Me‘ by EE Cummings in the film In her Shoes. This was recently read at a wedding we coordinating with the string quartet playing Des’ree ‘Kissing You‘ (the love theme from Romeo & Juliet) – there wasn’t a dry eye in the castle! Or how about lyrics from a favourite song?
Try to choose something that fits the tone of the ceremony, if you’re going for a very formal service then a jokey reading may seem out of place for example – however, you might just decide a light-hearted passage is exactly what’s needed to break the tension. Once you are happy with your reading and reader, consider printing the words out for your guests as this can be easier to follow than just listening to a voice.
Recently at a wedding we coordinated, there was a reading in Gaelic, and a translation of it into English was printed in the order of service. Whatever you choose in the end, bear in mind that a reading is also a good opportunity to express something from the heart that you, for whatever reason, just wouldn’t feel comfortable standing up and saying yourself. Remember you can edit your reading, shorten it or take out parts of a poem etc, if you don’t like the whole thing/parts aren’t relevant, or you need to shorten it. Another lovely idea is for you and your partner to write a passage to one another. You don’t need to necessarily read it yourselves, a friend could do this for you. It’s also worth asking your minister or registrar to look over any readings well before the actual wedding, just to make sure they agree that it’s appropriate. This is particularly important if you’re having a civil wedding as you’re not allowed to include anything with religious connotations. If in doubt, check – some people are stricter than others.
Remember, Premier Wedding Planners can help coordinate your dream wedding. Contact us for a free consultation.
Lucy
Tags: highland weddings, scottish weddings, wedding planners, wedding reading