How to choose civil ceremony readings

All the inspiration you need for choosing fabulous civil ceremony readings

You don’t necessarily have to have a reading as part of a civil ceremony, but most couples usually include at least one… and the world is pretty much your oyster when it comes to choosing it!

Ideally you want something that explains how much you love your husband or wife-to-be… but without being too cheesy or making people laugh for the wrong reasons!

The best way to find a suitably romantic reading that will make all your wedding guests green with envy at how clever and in love you are, is to raid your bookshelves, head for the library, or look online for inspiration.

You could use an extract from your favourite book or poem, some lyrics from a song, a specialist wedding reading or some words especially written for the day, it doesn’t really matter.

The only rule is that your reading can contain no religious or spiritual references at a civil ceremony and you must make sure you have had your chosen reading approved by your registrar beforehand.

For a huge selection of over 100 poems, readings and biblical passages see our Wedding Readings Poems & Vows book.

First find your reading...

Before you start wildly flicking through your chick lit books or playing your entire back catalogue of Coldplay albums in a desperate search for a reading… ask your registrar how many readings you are allowed and then think about these pointers to get you started:

• Get together and have a think about whether either or both of you have a favourite poet/author/passage of writing that might be suitable.
• Head for the library and look in books of quotations, under sections such as 'love' and 'marriage'’ to see if anything takes your fancy.
• Have a scan through our wedding readings, poems and vows book, that contains a huge selection of appropriate things you could use.
• Take a look at our suggestions for non-religious wedding readings, non-religious wedding readings, and more non-religious wedding readings.

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