Romantic Wedding Readings

These 25 beautiful and romantic wedding readings, drawn from classic literature and poetry, span centuries yet remain timeless in their expression of love. Featuring works by renowned authors like William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, these readings speak to the enduring nature of love in all its forms. Whether celebrating the passion, devotion, or quiet companionship between two people, each selection captures the essence of romance and commitment, making them perfect choices for couples looking to add depth and meaning to their wedding ceremony. These readings highlight love's eternal and universal power, ideal for making your special day truly memorable. 

 1. "Sonnet 116" by William Shakespeare (1609)

Author Bio: William Shakespeare, one of the most renowned poets and playwrights in history, wrote extensively about love, including his famous sonnets.

Reading: 

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds 

Admit impediments. Love is not love 

Which alters when it alteration finds, 

Or bends with the remover to remove: 

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 

That looks on tempests and is never shaken; 

It is the star to every wandering bark, 

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. 

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickle's compass come: 

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 

But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 

If this be error and upon me proved, 

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

 2. "To Be One with Each Other" by George Eliot (1869)

Author Bio: George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, an English novelist and poet. Her works often focused on human relationships and moral dilemmas.

Reading: 

"What greater thing is there for two human souls, 

Than to feel that they are joined for life— 

To strengthen each other in all labor, 

To rest on each other in all sorrow, 

To minister to each other in all pain, 

To be one with each other 

In silent, unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?"

 3. "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron (1814)

Author Bio: Lord Byron was a leading figure in the Romantic movement and is regarded as one of the greatest British poets.

Reading: 

"She walks in beauty, like the night 

Of cloudless climes and starry skies; 

And all that’s best of dark and bright 

Meet in her aspect and her eyes; 

Thus mellowed to that tender light 

Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 

One shade the more, one ray the less, 

Had half impaired the nameless grace 

Which waves in every raven tress, 

Or softly lightens o’er her face; 

Where thoughts serenely sweet express, 

How pure, how dear their dwelling place. 

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, 

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, 

The smiles that win, the tints that glow, 

But tell of days in goodness spent, 

A mind at peace with all below, 

A heart whose love is innocent!"

 4. "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns (1794) 

Author Bio: Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist, widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland.

Reading: 

"O my Luve is like a red, red rose 

That’s newly sprung in June; 

O my Luve is like the melody 

That’s sweetly played in tune. 

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, 

So deep in luve am I; 

And I will luve thee still, my dear, 

Till a’ the seas gang dry. 

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, 

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; 

I will love thee still, my dear, 

While the sands o’ life shall run. 

And fare thee weel, my only Luve! 

And fare thee weel, awhile! 

And I will come again, my Luve, 

Though it were ten thousand mile." 

 5. "Bright Star" by John Keats (1819)

Author Bio: John Keats was an English Romantic poet whose works are celebrated for their vivid imagery and sensuous language.

Reading: 

"Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art— 

Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night 

And watching, with eternal lids apart, 

Like nature's patient sleepless Eremite, 

The moving waters at their priestlike task 

Of pure ablution round earth's human shores, 

Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask 

Of snow upon the mountains and the moors— 

No—yet still steadfast, still unchangeable, 

Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast, 

To feel forever its soft fall and swell, 

Awake forever in a sweet unrest, 

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath, 

And so live ever—or else swoon to death."

 6. "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare (1609)

Author Bio: William Shakespeare needs little introduction as one of the greatest writers in the English language.

Reading: 

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? 

Thou art 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 owest; 

Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade, 

When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, 

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

 7. "Love’s Philosophy" by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1820)

Author Bio: Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets, known for his radical views on social reform and for his lyrical poetry.

Reading: 

"The fountains mingle with the river 

And the rivers with the ocean, 

The winds of Heaven mix forever 

With a sweet emotion; 

Nothing in the world is single, 

All things by a law divine 

In one another’s being mingle— 

Why not I with thine? 

See the mountains kiss high Heaven 

And the waves clasp one another; 

No sister-flower would be forgiven 

If it disdain’d its brother; 

And the sunlight clasps the earth, 

And the moonbeams kiss the sea— 

What are all these kissings worth, 

If thou kiss not me?"

 8. "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe (1599)

Author Bio: Christopher Marlowe was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era.

Reading: 

"Come live with me and be my Love, 

And we will all the pleasures prove 

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, 

Woods, or steepy mountain yields. 

And we will sit upon the rocks, 

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, 

By shallow rivers to whose falls 

Melodious birds sing madrigals. 

And I will make thee beds of roses 

And a thousand fragrant posies, 

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle 

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle; 

A gown made of the finest wool 

Which from our pretty lambs we pull; 

Fair lined slippers for the cold, 

With buckles of the purest gold; 

A belt of straw and ivy buds, 

With coral clasps and amber studs: 

And if these pleasures may thee move, 

Come live with me, and be my Love."

 9. "The Good-Morrow" by John Donne (1633)

Author Bio: John Donne was an English poet and cleric in the Church of England, renowned for his love poetry and metaphysical explorations.

Reading: 

"I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I 

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then, 

But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? 

Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den? 

'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be; 

If ever any beauty I did see, 

Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee. 

And now good morrow to our waking souls, 

Which watch not one another out of fear; 

For love, all love of other sights controls, 

And makes one little room an everywhere. 

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone; 

Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown; 

Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one."

 10. "Love" by Emily Dickinson (1862)

Author Bio: Emily Dickinson was an American poet known for her innovative and unique style, which often dealt with themes of love, death, and immortality.

Reading: 

"Love—is anterior to Life— 

Posterior—to Death— 

Initial of Creation, and 

The Exponent of Earth."

11. "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by Francis William Bourdillon (1899)

Author Bio: Francis William Bourdillon was a British poet and translator, best known for this short poem and his work on medieval French literature.

Reading: 

"The night has a thousand eyes, 

And the day but one; 

Yet the light of the bright world dies 

With the dying sun. 

The mind has a thousand eyes, 

And the heart but one; 

Yet the light of a whole life dies 

When love is done."

 12. "How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1850)

Author Bio: Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet and one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her "Sonnets from the Portuguese" is one of the best-known collections of love poetry in English literature.

Reading: 

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height 

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 

For the ends of being and ideal grace. 

I love thee to the level of every day's 

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. 

I love thee freely, as men strive for right; 

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. 

I love thee with the passion put to use 

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. 

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose 

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, 

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, 

I shall but love thee better after death."

 13. "A Birthday" by Christina Rossetti (1862)

Author Bio: Christina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote romantic, devotional, and children's poems, and was known for her vivid and symbolic style.

Reading: 

"My heart is like a singing bird 

Whose nest is in a watered shoot; 

My heart is like an apple-tree 

Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit; 

My heart is like a rainbow shell 

That paddles in a halcyon sea; 

My heart is gladder than all these 

Because my love is come to me. 

Raise me a dais of silk and down; 

Hang it with vair and purple dyes; 

Carve it in doves and pomegranates, 

And peacocks with a hundred eyes; 

Work it in gold and silver grapes, 

In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys; 

Because the birthday of my life 

Is come, my love is come to me."

 14. "O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns (1794)

Author Bio: Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist, known for his songs and poems celebrating love, nature, and Scottish heritage.

Reading: 

"O my Luve’s like a red, red rose 

That’s newly sprung in June; 

O my Luve’s like the melodie 

That’s sweetly played in tune. 

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, 

So deep in luve am I; 

And I will luve thee still, my dear, 

Till a’ the seas gang dry. 

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, 

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; 

I will love thee still, my dear, 

While the sands o’ life shall run. 

And fare thee weel, my only Luve! 

And fare thee weel awhile! 

And I will come again, my Luve, 

Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!"

 15. "Love and Friendship" by Emily Brontë (1846)

Author Bio: Emily Brontë was an English novelist and poet best known for her only novel, *Wuthering Heights*. Her poems often explored themes of love, nature, and death.

Reading: 

"Love is like the wild rose-briar, 

Friendship like the holly-tree— 

The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms 

But which will bloom most constantly? 

The wild rose-briar is sweet in spring, 

Its summer blossoms scent the air; 

Yet wait till winter comes again 

And who will call the wild-briar fair? 

Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now 

And deck thee with the holly's sheen, 

That when December blights thy brow 

He still may leave thy garland green."

 16. "Song of the Open Road" (excerpt) by Walt Whitman (1856)

Author Bio: Walt Whitman was an American poet and essayist who is often referred to as the father of free verse poetry. His work celebrates the individual, nature, and the human spirit.

Reading: 

"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, 

Healthy, free, the world before me, 

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. 

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune, 

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, 

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms, 

Strong and content I travel the open road. 

The earth—that is sufficient, 

I do not want the constellations any nearer, 

I know they are very well where they are, 

I know they suffice for those who belong to them. 

Still here I carry my old delicious burdens, 

I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go, 

I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them, 

I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return."

17. "Love" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1828)

Author Bio: Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and co-founder of the Romantic Movement in England.

Reading: 

"All thoughts, all passions, all delights, 

Whatever stirs this mortal frame, 

All are but ministers of Love, 

And feed his sacred flame. 

Oft in my waking dreams do I 

Live o'er again that happy hour, 

When midway on the mount I lay, 

Beside the ruined tower. 

The moonshine, stealing o'er the scene, 

Had blended with the lights of eve; 

And she was there, my hope, my joy, 

My own dear Genevieve!"

18. "When You Are Old" by William Butler Yeats (1892)

Author Bio: W.B. Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. His works range from love and mysticism to politics.

Reading: 

"When you are old and grey and full of sleep, 

And nodding by the fire, take down this book, 

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look 

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; 

How many loved your moments of glad grace, 

And loved your beauty with love false or true, 

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, 

And loved the sorrows of your changing face; 

And bending down beside the glowing bars, 

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled 

And paced upon the mountains overhead 

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars."

19. "The More Loving One" by W.H. Auden (1957)

Author Bio: W.H. Auden was an Anglo-American poet, considered one of the greatest of the 20th century. His poetry often addresses themes of love, politics, and existential questions.

Reading: 

"Looking up at the stars, I know quite well 

That, for all they care, I can go to hell, 

But on earth indifference is the least 

We have to dread from man or beast. 

How should we like it were stars to burn 

With a passion for us we could not return? 

If equal affection cannot be, 

Let the more loving one be me. 

Admirer as I think I am 

Of stars that do not give a damn, 

I cannot, now I see them, say 

I missed one terribly all day. 

Were all stars to disappear or die, 

I should learn to look at an empty sky 

And feel its total dark sublime, 

Though this might take me a little time."

20. "I Carry Your Heart" by E.E. Cummings (1952)

Author Bio: E.E. Cummings was an American poet and writer known for his innovative use of language, punctuation, and form. His poems often touch on love, individuality, and nature.

Reading: 

"I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) 

I am never without it (anywhere 

I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done 

by only me is your doing, my darling) 

I fear 

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) I want 

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true) 

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant 

and whatever a sun will always sing is you. 

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows 

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud 

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows 

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) 

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart 

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)."

21. "A Dedication to My Wife" by T.S. Eliot (1957)

Author Bio: T.S. Eliot was a modernist poet, essayist, and playwright. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948 for his profound influence on poetry.

Reading: 

"To whom I owe the leaping delight 

That quickens my senses in our wakingtime 

And the rhythm that governs the repose of our sleepingtime, 

The breathing in unison 

Of lovers whose bodies smell of each other 

Who think the same thoughts without need of speech 

And babble the same speech without need of meaning: 

No peevish winter wind shall chill 

No sullen tropic sun shall wither 

The roses in the rose-garden which is ours and ours only. 

But this dedication is for others to read: 

These are private words addressed to you in public."

 22. "Marriage" by Kahlil Gibran (1923)

Author Bio: Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist. His most famous work, *The Prophet*, is a collection of poetic essays, including a popular passage on marriage.

 Reading: 

"You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. 

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. 

Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. 

But let there be spaces in your togetherness, 

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. 

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 together 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."

 23. "Sonnet 29" by William Shakespeare (1609)

 Author Bio: William Shakespeare was a legendary English playwright and poet, best known for his comedies, tragedies, and sonnets.

Reading: 

"When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, 

I all alone beweep my outcast state, 

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, 

And look upon myself and curse my fate, 

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 

Featured like him, like him with friends possess’d, 

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, 

With what I most enjoy contented least; 

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 

Haply I think on thee, and then my state, 

Like to the lark at break of day arising 

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate; 

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings 

That then I scorn to change my state with kings."

24. "Love's Language" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1883) 

Author Bio: Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet who gained fame for her sentimental and inspirational writings.

Reading: 

"Love’s language is the same in every tongue, 

The chaste and simple meaning cannot lie. 

One line may differ from another line, 

Yet every word is written in the heart. 

It cannot be mistook, and Love is blind 

To errors in the phrase when passion speaks. 

And every lover reads aright, the thought 

Behind the stammering lips that hide the sense 

Of burning words, but dare not show their fire. 

Love’s tongue is ever one in that it means 

The blessed union of kindred souls, 

The perfected bliss that is marriage, 

And makes a paradise of human life."

 25. "Sonnet 75" by Edmund Spenser (1595)

 Author Bio: Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for *The Faerie Queene*, one of the longest and most famous epic poems in English literature.

Reading: 

"One day I wrote her name upon the strand, 

But came the waves and washed it away: 

Again I wrote it with a second hand, 

But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. 

'Vain man,' said she, 'that dost in vain assay, 

A mortal thing so to immortalize, 

For I myself shall like to this decay, 

And eke my name be wiped out likewise.' 

'Not so,' quod I, 'let baser things devise 

To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: 

My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, 

And in the heavens write your glorious name; 

Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue, 

Our love shall live, and later life renew.'"