Choosing The Love Poem For Your Wedding

People have expressed love through the words of others for centuries, through letters, songs, and artistic creations. Words are one way people may show love for those in their lives, and some couples may choose to read verses at their wedding. When searching for a reading for your ceremony, it may be beneficial to consider the history of these poems, as well as the factors to consider when finding one that fits your relationship. 

Is it common to read love poems at a wedding?

Romantic verses are often read at weddings as a formal yet creative way to celebrate the beginning of marriage, an important and exciting new relationship phase. A survey conducted by the Poetry Foundation found that over 90% of Americans have heard a poem read at a ceremony of matrimony. 

With only about 12% of adults regularly reading poetry, knowing how to find and pick the right poem might be difficult to do. People getting married often want their special day to be memorable and to reflect their own unique tastes, but they might not know where to begin. However, if you’ve chosen this tradition, you’re not alone. 

Think back to your earlier favorites

Ask family and friends

Browse love poetry books and websites

If you're struggling to find the perfect reading, Robert Hass and Stephen Mitchell may be helpful resources. These editors compiled Into the Garden: A Wedding Anthology, which has 240 pages of "poetry and prose on love and marriage." The book came out in 1994, however, so it might not be the best source for those seeking the most modern poetry. 

Some reputable poetry websites have also compiled love passages. Poets.org has a page that lists dozens of popular classic wedding poems, and PoetryFoundation.org has a page that lists dozens of love poems of all types. . 

Think beyond the poems

Write your own 

You don’t have to read a verse that was already written to celebrate your love. Some couples may write them for one another and share them during their vows, whereas others may read a verse during speeches. Find what works for you and personalize your ceremony with words that come from the heart. 

Inspiration to help select your passage

We’ve curated of some of the most popular poems and readings used in ceremonies. Read through these options to see if any strike a chord with you. Select one of these as a reading or incorporate a verse of one into your vows. 

"I'll Be Here for You" by Louise Cuddon

I’ll be there, my darling, through thick and through thin

When your mind’s in a mess and your head’s in a spin

When your plane’s been delayed, and you’ve missed the last train.

When life is just threatening to drive you insane

When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page

When somebody tells you, you’re looking your age

When your coffee’s too cool, and your wine is too warm

When the forecast said, “Fine,” but you’re out in a storm

When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum

And your holiday photos show only your thumb

When you park for five minutes in a resident’s bay

And return to discover you’ve been towed away

When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste

Just stick on your hips and don’t reach round your waist

When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes

When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes

So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear…

When you break a rule, when you act the fool

When you’ve got the flu, when you’re in a stew

When you’re last in the queue, don’t feel blue

’cause I’m telling you, I’ll be there.

"I carry your heart with me(I carry it in" by 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)

Sonnet 43 by 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

"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.

"Touched by an Angel" by Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love's light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

"Our Souls are Mirrors" by Rupi Kaur

god must have kneaded you and i

from the same dough

rolled us out as one on the baking sheet

must have suddenly realized

how unfair it was

to put that much magic in one person

and sadly split that dough in two

how else is it that

when I look in the mirror

I am looking at you

when you breathe

my own lungs fill with air

that we just met but we

have known each other our whole lives

if we were not made as one to begin with

"The Earth Turned to Bring Us Closer" by Eugenio Montejo

The earth turned to bring us closer,

it spun on itself and within us,

and finally joined us together in this dream

as written in the Symposium.

Nights passed by, snowfalls and solstices;

time passed in minutes and millennia.

An ox cart that was on its way to Nineveh

arrived in Nebraska.

A rooster was singing some distance from the world,

in one of the thousand pre-lives of our fathers.

The earth was spinning with its music carrying us on board;

it didn’t stop turning a single moment

as if so much love, so much that’s miraculous

was only an Adagio written long ago

in the Symposium’s score.

When to consider individual or couples counseling

Planning a wedding can be exciting, but it may also create some stress. Both individual counseling and couples counseling are available to help people cope with the stress of preparing for such a big event and major life change. However, because event planning can be busy work, some couples may prefer to try therapy from home. 

Receiving remote counseling from home or any location you choose can make the process easier, since it doesn't require you to travel to a different physical location. Online platforms like BetterHelp for individuals or ReGain for couples allow clients to choose between phone, video, or live chat sessions and select a weekly session time that fits their schedule. 

Research shows that couples counseling conducted via videoconferencing produces positive results comparable to those seen in face-to-face couples counseling. Specifically, couples who underwent video couples counseling experienced increased relationship satisfaction and improved mental health.