8 min
Updated: Oct 28, 2023
Are you looking for something a bit different? Are you bored of seeing, reading, and hearing the same old wedding poems and readings? Have a look at these gems, you may well find what you're looking for (you'll also see some of my favourite venues!)
Everything I know About Love
I know that love can be loud and jubilant…
It can be dancing in the swampy mud and the pouring rain at a festival and shouting “YOU ARE AMAZING” over the band.
It’s introducing them to your colleagues at a work event and basking in pride as they make people laugh and make you look lovable just by dint of being loved by them.
It’s laughing until you wheeze.
It’s waking up in a country neither of you have been in before.
It’s skinny-dipping at dawn.
It’s walking along the street together on a Saturday night and feeling an entire city is yours.
It’s a big, beautiful, ebullient force of nature.
I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing.
It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee.
It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting.
It’s hanging up their laundry when they leave the house having moronically forgotten to take it out of the washing machine.
It’s saying ‘You’re safer here than in a car’ as they hyperventilate on an EasyJet flight to Dublin.
It’s the texts: ‘Hope your day goes well’, ‘How did today go?’, ‘Thinking of you today’ and ‘Picked up loo roll’.
I know that love happens under the splendour of moon and stars and fireworks and sunsets but it also happens when you’re lying on blow-up airbeds in a childhood bedroom, sitting in A&E or in the queue for a passport, or in a traffic jam.
Love is a quiet, reassuring, relaxing, pottering, pedantic, harmonious hum of a thing; something you can easily forget is there, even though its palms are outstretched beneath you in case you fall.
by Dolly Alderton
Happiness Is You
Way down the mountain I chased a moonbeam
On the beach I built sand castles too
My moonbeams faded my castles tumbled
All of this was meaningless cause happiness is you
No more chasing moonbeams or catching falling stars
I know now my pot of gold is anywhere you are
My heart won’t miss you my heart goes with you
Loneliness is emptiness but happiness is you
I tried to doubt you and live without you
Tried to deny but I love you like a do
But I realise now and I’ll admit it
You’ll always be a part of me cause happiness is you
No more chasing moonbeams or catching falling stars
I know now my pot of gold is anywhere you are
My heart won’t miss you my heart goes with you
Loneliness is emptiness but happiness is you
by Johnny Cash
I’ve Fallen in Love with my Wife
The doorbell used to say ding dong, but now it breaks out into song
If I’m forlorn it ain’t for long, could I be wrong or have I -
Fallen in love with my wife?
Fare thee well my fairy fey, we cared so slightly anyway
Call me Krazy with a Kapital K - I’ve fallen in love with my wife
I’ve fallen in love with my wife, she populates my days
With marital breakdowns running rife, I have to keep her under my gaze
If you love somebody - set them free, that don’t make no sense to me
I’m keeping her under lock and key - I’ve fallen in love with my wife
Rainbows and butterflies, occupy the summer skies
Imagine my surprise - I’ve fallen in love with my wife
Every time I talk I mumble, every time I walk I stumble
I’m dancing like a drunken uncle - I’ve fallen in love with my wife
I’ve fallen in love with my wife, she populates my days
She’s not that far from a carving knife - I have to keep her in my gaze
I don’t swear but what the hey, I’m all right and she’s OK
Get out of our f***ing way - I’ve fallen in love with my wife
I’m her fella, she’s my mate, she steals the chips right off my plate
No wonder I’m losing weight - I’ve fallen in love with my wife
I steal a kiss, she takes the piss, we lived a life of ignorant bliss
All that and now this - I’ve fallen in love with my wife
by John Cooper Clarke
Perfect Day
Today my travel card expired,
I got soaked through, and then got fired,
I lost my wallet and my phone,
But you’ll be there when I get home.
A pigeon crapped upon my head,
All we have in is mouldy bread,
I lost a tooth, and broke a bone,
But you’ll be there when I get home.
My Lottery numbers came up today,
But sadly, I’d forgot to play,
I’ve got to pass a kidney stone,
But you’ll be there when I get home.
The icecaps melt some more each year,
A new world war will soon be here,
But today’s the most perfect day I’ve known,
‘Cause you’ll be there when I get home.
by Brian Bilston
The Wedding Poem
This for you, for both of you,
a small poem of happiness
filled with small glories and little triumphs
a fragile, short cheerful song
filled with hope and all sorts of futures
Because at weddings we imagine the future
Because it’s all about “what happened next?”
all the work and negotiation and building and talk
that makes even the tiniest happily ever after
something to be proud of for a wee forever
This is a small thought for both of you
like a feather or a prayer,
a wish of trust and love and hope
and fine brave hearts and true.
Like a tower, or a house made all of bones and dreams
and tomorrows and tomorrows and tomorrows
by Neil Gaiman
The Book of Love
The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
And instructions for dancing.
But I, I love it when you read to me
And you, you can read me anything
The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from.
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb
But I, I love it when you sing to me
And you, you can sing me anything.
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know.
But I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings
I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings
by The Magnetic Fields
Extract from ‘Big Questions from Little People and Simple Answers from Great Minds’
You don't fall in love like you fall in a hole.
You fall like falling through space. It’s like you jump off your own private planet to visit someone else’s planet. And when you get there it all looks different: the flowers, the animals, the colours people wear.
It is a big surprise falling in love because you thought you had everything just right on your own planet, and that was true, in a way, but then somebody signaled to you across space and the only way you could visit was to take a giant jump. Away you go, falling into someone else’s orbit and after a while you might decide to pull your two planets together and call it home.
And you can bring your dog. Or your cat. Your goldfish, hamster, collection of stones, all your odd socks. (The ones you lost, including the holes, are on the new planet you found.)
And you can bring your friends to visit. And read your favourite stories to each other. And the falling was really the big jump that you had to make to be with someone you don’t want to be without. That’s it.
P.S. You have to be brave.
by Jeanette Winterson
A Vow
I cannot promise never to be angry;
I cannot promise always to be kind.
You know what you are taking on, my darling –
It’s only at the start that love is blind.
And yet I’m still the one you want to be with
And you’re the one for me – of that I’m sure.
You are my closest friend, my favourite person,
The lover and the home I’ve waited for.
I cannot promise that I will deserve you
From this day on. I hope to pass that test.
I love you and I want to make you happy.
I promise I will do my very best.
by Wendy Cope
If I am your Celebrant...
I have put together a compilation of texts, extracts, lyrics, blessings and poems which I will offer to send to you.
I do warn you that it is quite a long list (there are currently over 150 - and I am still adding to it!) but it is intended to be an optional resource - I only ever aim to help, never to overwhelm!
Some couples choose from the list, others find (or write) their own or choose not to have any at all – and all of those things are absolutely fine.
If you do choose to include readings, I provide printed copies on good quality paper or parchment – so that they are easy to read and look good on the photos! I do a similar thing for your vows, should you choose to read them.
If you have a wedding theme, colour scheme, logo or favourite font I try to incorporate those preferences when I print them out (not that I’m suggesting you have to have any of those - but if you do, I take them into account).
Readings are just one of the elements that can personalise your wedding ceremony, there are many others. I will listen to you, discuss all of your ideas and support you in any way that you wish, to ensure that you have the wedding ceremony that is personal to, and perfect for, you.
Contact Me...
If you are planning your wedding and having a personal and personalised ceremony is important to you, please call, message or email me to check my availability, or for more information about how I can help you have the ceremony that you truly want.
To contact me please email: lorraine@liverpoolcelebrant.co.uk or call: 0744 932 3988
Hi, I am Lorraine Hull, an award-winning Celebrant, based in Liverpool.
I am most usually asked to conduct ceremonies in North-West England and North Wales but I am happy to travel anywhere within the U.K. or abroad.
At the risk of shouting (and sounding extremely cheesy) "I LOVE MY JOB!".
I really love getting to know the couples and families that ask me to be part of their special celebration, whether that is for a Wedding/Civil Partnership, Renewal/Reaffirmation of Vows, Naming/Welcoming, or Celebration of Life/Funeral
I love hearing, writing and telling love and life stories (and also finding out about hopes and dreams - which are the stories of the future!)
I love to create and conduct unique, meaningful ceremonies that are perfect for each couple, individual, and/or family.
I love helping to create and celebrate happy and poignant moments, which form memories that will last a lifetime (that also includes the memories that I get to keep too - what's not to love?)
I believe that ALL people (and animals) should all be treated kindly, fairly and with respect.
I think for myself and act for others. I advocate anti-racism, the appreciation and celebration of diversity, dignity, justice, equity and equality for ALL through everything that I say and do: Love is Love, Family is Family, Life is Life.
You may like to know that I was trained to the highest level as a Celebrant and have continued my professional development. I hold Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance. I adhere to a strict code of conduct and I am committed to identifying, developing and sharing best practice with my Celebrant colleagues, so that we can all be the best Celebrants that we can possibly be.
To contact me please email: lorraine@liverpoolcelebrant.co.uk or call: 0744 932 3988
#Readings #Poems #Enhancements #Vows #weddingideas #Wedding #LorraineHull #LiverpoolCelebrant #BigDay #Ceremony