Five alternative wedding readings for your non-traditional wedding ceremony
April is National Poetry Month in the US! The UK’s got National Poetry Day on the first Thursday of October every year but a single day seems kind of measly compared to a whole month 😔 So as a poetry lover, I’ve always adopted National Poetry Month from across the pond.
Wedding readings can often seem kind of samey and generic. For LGBTQ+ nearly-weds and/or those planning a ceremony that’s a little bit different, you might be stuck for inspiration when a quick Internet search only seems to yield very heteronormative or blandly cheesy results with little personality!
As a queer wedding celebrant who loves poetry, I’m always armed with plenty of suggestions for my to-be-weds if they want help choosing a unique reading that fits their personalities and their relationship. Here are five of my favourite love poems which I think make for incredible wedding readings!
Photo by Wallace Chuck
Five love poems to read at your alternative wedding ceremony
For LGBTQ+ weddings & folks who want to take pride in their love and declare it with defiance
Our often-misunderstood kind of love deems dangerous.
How it frightens and confounds and enrages.
How strange, unfamiliar.Our love carries all those and the contrary.
It is most incandescent.So, I vow to be brave.
Clear a path through jungles of shame and doubt and fear.
I’m done with silence. I proclaim.
Excerpt from Joseph O. Legaspi, “Vows (for a gay wedding)”
I read this poem at my own wedding ceremony. It never fails to make my heart swell and tears come to my eyes. It’s a deeply sentimental poem, and also unabashedly, proudly queer.
Choose this reading if you’re also done with silence. If you want to proclaim your love to the world. 🏳️🌈
For the cottagecore sapphics
Her breast is fit for pearls,
But I was not a "Diver" -
Her brow is fit for thrones
But I have not a crest.
Her heart is fit for home -
I - a Sparrow - build there
Sweet of twigs and twine
My perennial nest.
Emily Dickinson, “Her breast is fit for pearls”
That’s it, that’s the whole poem - short and sweet! I love how cosy this poem feels, with a little flirty wink to it because of the innuendo in the pearl-diving image. 🦪 It’s such a domestic poem, sprinkled with a love of nature. If you dream of cuddling with your sapphic sweetheart in a little thatched cottage by a roaring fire, this poem is for you!
For people who want to celebrate the resilience of their relationship and also fully weep at their wedding
Come believing we can heal it all, even everything
Even everything that has ever been done
I know how much the pain of this world weighs
But I can still tip the scales in light's direction
Whenever I have your name on my tongue
Whenever you say, "Love is a ladder to our highest selves"
I say, "May our falling be the most beautiful climb"
"May the rings of our ladder shine on our hands"
"In the good light, and in the lightning strike"
My love, come become beside me
'Til I find your first silver hair in our tub
'Til I find your last silver hair in our tub
Come love, come love, come love
Excerpt from Andrea Gibson, “Good Light”
I challenge you to listen to this poem or try and read it out loud without crying! This poem is a fantastic choice for lovers who have been through some tough times together, who want to acknowledge how hard and miserable life can be - but how love endures, and how it can lift you above all of the darkness.
For the post-apocalyptic vibe
[…] Under a down comforter
or by a trash fire, I want to be where
you are. You know how poorly I dig holes,
how angry I get when I’m cold, how twice
I’ve accidentally maced myself, and still
you’d take me with you down into the earth,
give me more than my fair share of caterpillar.
Excerpt from Julie Danho, “I Want to Eat Bugs With You Underground”
This is the perfect poem for you if you’re into your post-apocalyptic stories and your wedding has a bit of a darker theme! It’s such a vivid, unusual, and romantic poem about the end of the world.
Would you give your partner more than their fair share of caterpillar? 🐛
For seaside elopements and ocean-themed weddings
[…] Bow: a knot
of two loops, two loose ends, our bodies on either side of this shore where we
will dip our hands to feel what can’t be seen. Horseshoe crabs whose blue
blood rich in copper will reach for cover, hinged between clouds and
sea. It will never be enough, the bull kelp like a whip coiling in tender hands,
hands who know to take or be taken, but take nothing with them: I will marry you.
I will marry you. So we can owe what we own to every beautiful thing.
Excerpt from Diana Khoi Nguyen, “Vow”
If you love nature, if you love the beauty of the seashore, and all the teeming, wondrous life you can find at the beach - this poem will leave you breathless. Simply gorgeous 🌊
Want more inspiration? Work with a celebrant who’ll take your wedding ceremony to the next level!
Photo by Caitlin Wilder
Hi! 👋 I’m Holden (they/them), a queer wedding celebrant specialising in inclusive, authentically romantic ceremonies that are all about what makes you swoon with joy, and I’ve got loads more ideas for how you can make your wedding ceremony feel like a true reflection of you!
Get in touch today using my enquiry form
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