Weddings / Getting married / Forming a civil partnership

Listed below are a selection of the teams favourite readings.

Every care has been taken in sourcing this information, however, you may find that the selection of readings below may be worded differently on other source sites. The selection of our favourite readings are for information and guidance only and as part of the service we as Registrars offer. There are of course many others you can choose from on the internet.

Please ensure you send us a copy beforehand so we can make sure we have a spare copy with us!.

The Art of Marriage by Wilfred Arlan Peterson

A good marriage must be created.
In a marriage, the little things are the big things
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together to face the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.

It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful
It is not only marrying the right person, it is being the right partner.

I Promise by Dorothy R. Colgan

I promise to give you the best of myself and to ask of you no more than you can give.
I promise to respect you as your own person and to realize that your interests, desires and needs are no less important than my own.

I promise to share with you my time and my attention and to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.
I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you see through the window of my world into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting.
I promise to love you in good times and bad, with all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how,

Completely and forever.

Words from the Native American Marriage Ceremony

May the sun bring you new strength by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
And the breeze blow new strength into your being,
And then, all the days of your life together,
May you walk gently through the world and know it’s beauty.

Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter for the other,
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other,
Now there is no more loneliness,
For each of you will be company for the other,
Now you are two persons,
But there is only one life before you.

Go now to your dwelling,
Enter into the days of your life together
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

On Your Wedding Day (author unknown)

Today is a day you will always remember
The greatest in anyone's life
You'll start off the day just two people in love
And end it as husband and wife.

It's a brand new beginning, the start of a journey
With moments to cherish and treasure
And although they'll be times when you both disagree
These will surely be outweighed by pleasure.

You'll have heard many words of advice in the past
When the secrets of marriage were spoken
But you know that the answers lie hidden inside
Where the bond of true love lies unbroken.

So live happy forever as lovers and friends
It's the dawn of a new life for you
As you stand there together with love in your eyes
From the moment you whisper ‘I do'
And with luck all your hopes and your dreams can be real.

May success find its way to your hearts
Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys
But today is the day it all starts.

What I learned about love, I learned from my dog (author unknown)

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride together.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
When loved ones come home always run to greet them.
When you want treats, practice obedience.
Let others know when they've invaded your territory.
Take naps together and stretch before rising.
Run, romp and play daily.
Be loyal.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
Thrive on the attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting, when a simple growl will do.

When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout- Run right back and make friends.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk together.
Love each other unconditionally.

Love is Friendship Caught Fire by Laura Hendricks

Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times.

It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past.

It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals.

If you have love in your life, any kind of love, it can make up for a great many things you lack.

If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough.

Love is friendship caught fire.

All I Know About Love by Neil Gaiman

This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing.
This is everything I've learned about marriage: nothing.

Only that the world out there is complicated,
and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,
and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,
is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze, and not to be alone.

It's not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it's what they mean.
Somebody's got your back.
Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn't want to rescue you
or send for the army to rescue them.

It's not two broken halves becoming one.
It's the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home
because home is wherever you are both together
So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage:
nothing, like a book without pages or a forest without trees.
Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.
Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials.
Because nobody else's love, nobody else's marriage, is like yours,
and it's a road you can only learn by walking it,
a dance you cannot be taught,
a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.

And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,
not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.
And your hands will meet,
and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.

And that's all I know about love.

Where I’ll Always Be by Ms Moem

I could never hope to find
Someone who fits me better.

I swear I made a wish and it
Was answered to the letter.

I hope that you feel just the same.
I think I know you do.

I swear I had a dream one night
And now it’s coming true.

You’re all I ever wanted
And you’re all I ever will.

My love in its happy place
And growing greater still.

As every day I spend with you
I see more that I like.

You could make the greyest day
Feel sunny, warm and bright.

You’re such a special person
And you mean the world to me.

So any time or place you are,
That’s where I’ll always be.

Chapter One of One Thousand by O. J. Preston

For two people this dawn brought on a magical day
Now husband and wife they head on their way
As a boat setting sail may their journey begin
With calmest of waters, most helpful of wind
And if they should stumble upon turbulent sea
May it pass them unharming – leave them be.

For here are two people whom love has well bitten
Here opens their book which has yet to be written
As the first page unfolds and their life inks its path
May it write a true story where forever love lasts
Let their journey be happy till death do they part
Of one thousand chapters may this be the start.

To Love Is Not To Possess by James Kavanaugh

To love is not to possess,
To own or imprison,
Nor to lose one's self in another.
Love is to join and separate,
To walk alone and together,

To find a laughing freedom
That lonely isolation does not permit.

It is finally to be able
To be who we really are
No longer clinging in childish dependency
Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,

It is to be perfectly one's self
And perfectly joined in permanent commitment
To another--and to one's inner self.

Love only endures when it moves like waves,
Receding and returning gently or passionately,
Or moving lovingly like the tide
In the moon's own predictable harmony,
Because finally, despite a child's scars
Or an adult's deepest wounds,

They are openly free to be
Who they really are--and always secretly were,
In the very core of their being
Where true and lasting love can alone abide.

Marriage Fulfills the Dreams and Love Two People Share by Glenda Wilm

Everyone searches for one special person
They can share their lives with.

The other half who makes them whole,
Like two notes blending together to make a beautiful song,
Or the colours that complement
Each other to form a rainbow.

It is everyone’s wish to have a lifetime of sunny days,
A rainbow after every storm;
A lifetime of loving and living and growing and giving,
Of sharing and caring; a lifetime of days together,
Learning from the bad times and cherishing the good times.

Marriage is everything your heart desires
And the strength, courage and determination to work for it.

In marriage you take care of each other’s heart
And hold on to what you share.

You hold it gently so it doesn’t smother
And firmly so it doesn’t slip away.

Hold it so that it can grow
And you can grow together
And live and laugh and love together always.

I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg

I like you and I know why
I like you because you are a good person to like
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it’s special
And you remember it a long, long time
You say, “Remember when you told me something special?”
And both of us remember

When I think something is important
You think it’s important too
We have good ideas
When I say something funny, you laugh
I think I’m funny and you think I’m funny too

You know how to be silly
That’s why I like you
If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag,
then you are getting ready to jump

I like you because when I am feeling sad
You don’t always cheer me up right away
Sometimes it is better to be sad

You want to think about things
It takes time
And that’s how it would happen every time
I like you because if I am mad at you
Then you are mad at me too
It’s awful when the other person isn’t

I can’t remember when I didn’t like you
It must have been lonesome then
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me
Over and over again
And that’s how it would happen every time.

The Meaning of Love by Krina Shah

To love is to share life together,
to build special plans just for two,
to work side by side,
and then smile with pride,
as one by one, dreams all come true.

To love is to help and encourage
with smiles and sincere words of praise,
to take time to share,
to listen and care
in tender, affectionate ways.

To love is to have someone special,
one on whom you can always depend
to be there through the years,
sharing laughter and tears,
as a partner, a lover, a friend.

To love is to make special memories
of moments you love to recall,
of all the good things
that sharing life brings.

Love is the greatest of all.
I've learned the full meaning
of sharing and caring
and having my dreams all come true;
I've learned the full meaning
of being in love
by being and loving with you.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like volcanoes and then subsides and when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your root was so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because that is what love is?

Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

Yes, I’ll Marry You by Pam Ayres

Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear.
And here’s the reason why.

So I can push you out of bed
When the baby starts to cry.

And if we hear a knocking
And it’s creepy and it’s late,
I hand you the torch you see,
And you investigate.

Yes I’ll marry you, my dear,
You may not apprehend it,
But when the tumble-drier goes
It’s you that has to mend it.

You have to face the neighbour
Should our labrador attack him,
And if a drunkard fondles me
It’s you that has to whack him.

Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear,
You’re virile and you’re lean,
My house is like a pigsty
You can help to keep it clean.

That sexy little dinner
Which you served by candlelight,
As I do chipolatas,
You can cook it every night!!!

It’s you who has to work the drill
And put up curtain track,
And when I’ve got PMT it’s you who gets the flak,
I do see great advantages,
But none of them for you,
And so before you see the light,
I DO, I DO, I DO!!

Extract from Les Miserables by 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 loved in spite of ourselves.