Non-mushy ceremony readings for intelligent people!

I adore Tina Fey and 30 Rock. We're using the same reading from Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I actually found that reading on this link. I don't know if this will help or not.

http://www.glamour.com/weddings/2013/12/wedding-readings-great-wedding-speeches-and-famous-quotes/1

I know you said no poems but check out "square root of three" from Harold and Kumar. It's sweet, romantic, and "intelligent".

Go right now to my pinterest page (it has 10 officiants contributing to it....). It has David Sedaris, Augustan Burroughs, Anne Lamott, Steve Jobs, Carl Sagan and about 500 readings. Some of them are admittedly mushy, but most of them are not.

Corelli's Mandolin has been very popular this year (and I love it); so has a reading by Michael J Fox and another one from Steve Jobs.

I know you'll find a lot of great stuff.

http://www.pinterest.com/Celiamilton/wedding-vows-and-readings/

I have said it a few times. I really really loved the readings from this link...they fit my sensibility...maybe they would work for you. I am not religious and ended up picking a handful of readings to be done during our wedding. http://www.firstunitarianottawa.ca/uploads/2/1/0/6/21068182/newest_wedding_booklet_130909.pdf

http://www.pinterest.com/joffocake/secular-non-religious-humanist-atheist-wedding-rea/

http://blog.suzymccanny.com/humanist-ceremony-poems-and-readings/

We are also using Captain Corelli's Mandolin...

It's a little sappy, but I love the Mr. Rogers wedding reading. Because if you think about the context of it being mr. rogers, it's a lot less sappy

http://www.itakeyou.co.uk/wedding-ideas/wedding-readings-poems/it's-you-i-like.htm

One of our readings is a Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh - it's on this page here

http://weddings.about.com/od/yourweddingceremony/a/NovelReadings.htm

Fabulous! You guys are quick! The "square root of three" poem is fabulous (sincerely with thanks for ignoring my dictum of no poems, hehe) -- for future reference, the original author is a Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor also named David Feinberg.

I love how even though I feel like I've read every weddingwire and weddingbee post on this topic, you guys still manage to find more. Thanks!!

“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, 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."

2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage:

Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support.

Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family. Because it fulfills yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life's momentous acts of self-definition.

It is undoubtedly for these concrete reasons, as well as for its intimately personal significance, that civil marriage has long been termed a "civil right." Without the right to choose to marry one is excluded from the full range of human experience.

@Celia- I love your pinterest page. I've found lots of useful tidbits and quotes on it.

Thank you! I just used the 'Friendship caught on fire' last weekend. great stuff. And the couple included a fireman, so it was perfect!

Nancy T we are using a version of the 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage as one of our readings. I really like it!

Jnissa is this the poem from mr. rogers you were speaking of? the link didn't seem to work for me.

it’s you I like,

It’s not the things you wear, it’s not the way you do your hair–

But it’s you I like

The way you are right now, the way down deep inside you–

Not the things that hide you, not your toys–

They’re just beside you.

But it’s you I like–

Every part of you, your skin, your eyes, your feelings

Whether old or new.

I hope that you’ll remember, even when you’re feeling blue

That it’s you I like, it’s you yourself, it’s you,

It’s you I like.

~ a Mr. Roger’s song {listen}

Our opening: Today we celebrate love. Love is about supporting and accepting each other, through the good the bad and the weird. Dr Suess once said, “we are all a little weird, and life is a little weird. When we find someone whos weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up and fall in mutual weirdness, and we call it love”

These two people have been wrapped up in their own version of weird for a while now and today we are here to show our support & encouragement for them as they begin their next adventure as husband and wife.

also, random, not included, Marriage is the chance to annoy one special person for the rest of your life.

That reading from the MA supreme court is one that a LOT of my couples, gay and straight, pick. It's a fabulous comment on the choice to marry. I love it.

That weird reading is actually not Dr. Seuss, it's Robert Fulgham.

“Life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of loving moments that take our breath away.

You can have those moments. You just have to get over the jitters and let the dreams show you the way. Tie your kite to reality… check your gut whenever it says “hey, wait”… take action when the time is right… remember and treasure what life shows you… but don’t ever stand in the way of what you really love.

As far as we can tell, dreams are nothing more than love trying to take wing and soar. Imagine for just a moment, the thrilling, distracting, wonderful, odd, unusual sensation of new love. You immediately begin dreaming of life together… of where you will go… of what life will mean for the two of you. Live in that moment every day. Fall in love with new ideas, new opportunities, and new places all the time. Trust it, live it, don’t say no to love or crush a dream that wants to live. It isn’t that hard to give yourself over to it. You just have to say yes to life and love. Love will never lead you astray.

Will you live an unusual life together? Will you live the life you love? We all hope so. Anyone with a heart filled by dreams is already halfway there. So breathe deep. Jump in. Swim, or just float on the rivers of life, of laughter and love. “ Paraphrased from Melinda and bob Blanchard, authors and entrepreneurs

“You cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots that come your way will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust something; your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. That approach will never let you down and it will make all the difference in your lives.” Steve Jobs

Oh my goodness, thanks for the Mr. Rogers piece.

I must be feeling emotional this morning, because I definitely had to suppress a teary fit.

Love these!!

Celia you just blew my mind. why is it always credited to damn Dr Suess!!!!

Yes - that's the one!

We actually had three readers at our wedding and we told them we didn't want to know what they were reading so that we could enjoy it in the moment. The first wrote and original piece and then read the Mr. Rogers one...the second did Neruda and the third....

He read some pieces and then busted into singing these lyrics from Diamonds and Pearls (he knows I LOVE me some Prince):

This will be the day

That u will hear me say

That I will never run away

I am here for u

Love is meant for two

Now tell me what u're gonna do

If I gave u diamonds and pearls

Would u be a happy boy or a girl

If I could I would give u the world

I love all the contributions here.........have you heard of Love is like owning a dog? That is a cute one as well....thank you to all who are sharing, it helps us officiants to be able to offer more ideas to our couples!