You might want to include a reading or poem in your ceremony read by a young person. You might even want to get them to write something specifically for the occasion. There are lots of options out there, but these are some of my favourite child friendly readings.
You have some artistic licence with all of these if you want to change a few words to make it more personal to you or to better suit your circumstances. For example with this first poem if you are a blended family you could change the names to better suit what they call you.
Some Advice For Mum and Dad
Mum and Dad Get married today,
I’d like to help them on their way.
So here’s some special advice from me,
To help them with our family.
Keep our house filled with laughter
Let’s have fun forever after.
Keep the drawer filled up with sweets,
And give us children lots of treats.
Make sure you spend time together,
To keep your happiness forever.
Make sure you spend lots on us,
And then us kids won’t make a fuss.
But the most important thing for you,
Is to show your love in all you do.
A caring word, a kiss, a touch,
And those family cuddles that mean so much.
The Recipe For Happy Marriage
Combine two caring hearts
Melt into one
Add a lot of love
Mix well with respect, and trust
Add gentleness, laughter, faith, hope, and joy
Pour in lots of understanding (Don’t forget patience)
Sprinkle with kisses, and a dash of hugs
Bake for a lifetime
Result: One Happy Couple
Getting Married Means You’ll Have By Nicholas Gordon
Getting married means you’ll have
Someone’s hand to hold,
Even when you’re feeling sick,
Even when you’re old.
It means when you sit down to eat,
Someone will be there,
So you won’t have to tell your day
To an empty chair.
It means that when you need some help,
Someone will help out,
Someone always near to you
So you won’t have to shout.
But best of all is when it’s time
To turn out all the lights:
You won’t have to be alone
Those long and scary nights.
So even though you don’t have toys,
You don’t have to care:
Once you’re married you can be
Each other’s teddy bear!
On Your Wedding day by Anon
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 there’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.
Love is Giving by Anon
Love is giving, not taking, mending, not breaking, trusting, believing, never deceiving,
patiently bearing and faithfully sharing each joy, every sorrow, today and tomorrow.
Love is kind, understanding, but never demanding.
Love is constant, prevailing, its strength never failing.
A promise once spoken for all time unbroken,
Love’s time is forever.
A Family is Like a Circle by Nicole M O’Neal
A family is like a circle.
The connection never ends,
and even if at times it breaks,
in time it always mends.
A family is like the stars.
Somehow they’re always there.
Families are those who help,
who support and always care.
A family is like a book.
The ending’s never clear,
but through the pages of the book,
their love is always near.
A family is many things.
With endless words that show
who they are and what they do
and how they teach you so you know.
May this… by Anon
May this be the start of a happy new life
That’s full of special moments to share
May this be the first of your dreams come true
And of hope that will always be there…
May this be the start of a lifetime of trust
And of caring that’s just now begun…
May today be a day that you’ll always remember
The day when your hearts become one…
A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton
The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, HIS cage.
Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kind words and loving thoughts.
I like this Dinosaur, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.
I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur. She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit, which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.
But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
He is also overly fond of Things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of Things?
But her mind skips from here to there so quickly, thought the Dinosaur. She is also uncommonly keen on Shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?
I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for Things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.
I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur. For she fills our life with beautiful thought and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.
Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old. Look at them.
Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.
And that, my friends, is how it is with love. Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.
For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place…
An idea for what you could ask children to write about for your ceremony.
What is love?
If there are a few of them you could ask them all what they think love is, and these could be collated and read out by one of them or passed to your celebrant to read. There are usually some really cute answers, like red hearts, holding hands and kissing.
