The most romantic wedding readings for a non-religious ceremony
The most romantic reading isn’t necessarily the most famous one. It’s the one that sounds like something you’d actually say to each other. A poem you both know by heart. A passage from a book on your bedside table when you first said ‘I love you’. Something one of you wrote in a quiet moment that felt too private to say out loud until the day it was exactly right.
Non-religious ceremonies give you the freedom to choose readings that really feel like you, and that can feel both wonderful and overwhelming. We’ve gathered some of the readings we come back to again and again. From the quietly tender to the wonderfully bold. There’s something here for every kind of love. We hope one of them feels like yours.
You can pin the readings that resonate most on your wedding readings Pinterest board.
Romantic Non-Religious Wedding Readings
How Do I Love Thee — Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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.
Extract from Jane Eyre — Charlotte Brontë
I have for the first time found what I can truly love - I have found you.
You are my sympathy - my better self - my good angel; I am bound to you with a strong attachment.
I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wraps my existence about you - and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.
Extract from Les Misérables — Victor Hugo
You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.
The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. We pardon to the extent that we love.
Love is knowing that even when you are alone, you will never be lonely again. And great happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.
Loved for ourselves. And even loved in spite of ourselves.
I Carry Your Heart With Me — E.E. Cummings
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)
She Walks in Beauty — Lord Byron
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!
Sonnet 116 — Shakespeare
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 ever wand'ring 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.
He's Not Perfect — attr. Bob Marley
He’s not perfect.
You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect.
But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can.
He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break.
Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give.
Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had.
Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.
I fell in love with her courage — F. Scott Fitzgerald
I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it's these things I'd believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn't all she should be. I love her, and it is the beginning of everything.
Blessing of the Hands — Rev. Daniel L. Harris
These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.
These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future.
These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.
These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.
These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy.
These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children.
These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one.
These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.
And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.
"His Hello" from Sex and the City — Carrie Bradshaw
His hello was the end of her endings,
Her laugh was the ir first step down the aisle,
His hand would be hers to hold forever,
His forever was as simple as her smile,
He said she was what was missing,
She said instantly she knew,
She was a question to be answered,
And his answer was 'I do'.
A Dedication to My Wife — T.S. Eliot
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.
The Amber Spyglass — Philip Pullman
I will love you forever; whatever happens.
Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead,
I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again.
I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment.
And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart.
Every atom of me and every atom of you. We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams.
And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me.
The Bridge Across Forever - Richard Bach
A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks.
When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are;
we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be.
Each unveils the best part of the other.
No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise.
Our soul mate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction.
When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person.
Our soul mate is the one who makes life come to life.
These I Can Promise — Mark Twain
I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.
But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.
FAQs: Romantic Non-Religious Wedding Readings
How romantic is too romantic?
Honestly? There’s no such thing as long as it feels true to you. We’ve seen couples read the most sweeping declarative love poetry and own every word of it. We’ve also seen people choose something quiet and understated and make the whole room tear up. It’s not about the volume of the emotion. It’s about whether it sounds like you.
How long should a romantic reading be?
Somewhere between one and three minutes tends to feel just right. Long enough to land and short enough to leave you wanting more. If you find a reading you love but it feels a little long it’s usually fine to shorten it. Just let your officiant know.
Can we split a reading between us?
You can and it can be genuinely beautiful. Reading to each other, alternating lines or verses, turns the reading into its own small ceremony within the ceremony. Guests tend to find it very moving.
What if we are worried about it feeling cheesy?
Read it out loud first. Not in your head but actually out loud, to each other or to yourself in the mirror. If it makes you want to smile or cry you’ve found the right one. If it makes you wince, keep looking. Words that mean something to you will never feel cheesy when you mean them.
Do romantic readings work in civil ceremonies?
Absolutely. That’s actually one of the things we love most about civil ceremonies. You have complete freedom. No expectations, no required format. Just you, the person you love and the words that say it best.
One Last Thing
Whatever you choose, the reading is just a small part of something much bigger. But it matters. It’s one of those moments where the day slows down and everyone in the room is thinking about love at exactly the same time.
We hope you find something here that feels like it was written with you in mind. If you’re still not sure trust the reading that made you feel something the first time you read it. That reaction usually tells you everything you need to know.
If you’d like to keep exploring we have guides to shorter readings, funny favourites and more modern writing or you can head back to our main guide, the best non-religious wedding readings: your complete guide. Wherever you end up we hope your day is full of exactly the kind of love these words are trying to describe.
