Weddingbee Blog

In November we will be meeting with the minister who will be marrying us (my uncle) to finalise the ceremony details, so by then Mr E and I need to have a fairly good idea of how we want everything to go. We have always wanted to write a large portion of the ceremony ourselves, so we have designated an hour every Sunday afternoon from now until November to focus solely on that. That way we can take our time, and really just enjoy the process without stress.

We had our first “date” for it this last Sunday, and we had so much fun talking about our ideas! I think it was the moment when we both realised, “wow, we’re really getting married soon…how awesome is that?!”

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Anyway, the first “bits” of the ceremony we have managed to settle on are the readings.

We chose three: one that is very “me” that I will read to Mr E, one that is very “Mr E” for him to read to me, and one that is very “us” that a friend of ours will read at the end of the ceremony.

I chose “i carry your heart with me” by e e cummings. I fell in love with it when I first heard it in an English class years ago and it still makes me all warm and fuzzy:

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 the 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)

*happy sigh* Yup, I still can’t get enough of it, after reading it a million and one times.

Mr E chose a reading that ties in with his love of music: a portion of “Love Song” by The Cure.

Whenever I’m alone with you

You make me feel like I am home again

Whenever I’m alone with you

You make me feel like I am whole again

Whenever I’m alone with you

You make me feel like I am young again

Whenever I’m alone with you

You make me feel like I am fun again

How ever far away, I will always love you

How ever long I stay, I will always love you

Whatever words I say, I will always love you

I will always love you

Our final reading will be a slightly modified (for length and the substitution of plural pronouns where there were originally singular ones) version of “Oh! The Places you will go!” by Dr. Seuss. We figure this will end our ceremony on a fun note, and is a bit of a break from all our sappiness. I haven’t included that reading in this post because of its length but if you want to read it you can easily find via our good friend Google.

It seems like we have quite a few readings to include, but we won’t be including much else in the way of traditions (such as the unity candle or handfasting), because we just haven’t “clicked” with any of those traditions and choosing readings we love seems (for us) like a more meaningful way to express ourselves and our feelings.

The last two excerpts I want to share with you are shorter pieces that we will try to slot in somewhere (perhaps as part of the vows):

Song of Solomon 8:6-7a

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love; neither can the floods drown it.

and

I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and after your death I will still protect you. I am stronger than Depression and I am braver than Loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.

- Elizabeth Gilbert (from Eat, Pray, Love)

I love the intensity and passion that is captured in these last readings, balancing nicely with the more “lovey” tone of the first two.

What readings have you chosen/ did you choose for your ceremony?