Just the Right Words: How to Select Wedding Quotes

You've written your own vows. You know just what the person presiding over your wedding will say. But you may want some wedding quotes to accent your ceremony and wedding materials. Here's how to pick some heartfelt quotes and readings that will make your wedding day unforgettable.

It is fairly easy to find wedding quotes, since love and romance are timeless subjects and there are millions of books about both. If you have a certain quote or poem that you especially like pertaining to love, see how this will fit into the ceremony. You may even choose not to recite the poem out loud-using an excerpt from a poem on your wedding invitations or wedding programs is a very nice touch.

If you do choose to read a wedding quote aloud at your wedding, you should choose where this will fit in the ceremony. You don't have to read the quote yourself; you can ask family members or friends who are not already in the wedding party to read a passage during a time when there may be other activity going on, such as after the prayer, when the bride and groom are still kneeling at the altar, or during the lighting of the candles. There's not really a time limit on wedding quotes or readings, but you'll want to keep the passage on the short side, since most people have short attention spans, you don't want to make the ceremony unnecessarily longer.

Traditional wedding quotes are also a good choice. Bible verses in the Old and New Testaments concerning love and marriage can be found in Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Genesis, and Hosea. Jewish families usually include the Seven Blessings (Sheva B'rachot) in their wedding ceremony. This is a series of blessings thanking God for man and woman, the gift of marriage, the promise of children, and the voices of the couple's future children. In most cases, the bride and groom ask seven friends or seven members of the family to read one blessing each. If you or your fiancé is Buddhist, there is a marriage homily that can be repeated either at the ceremony or during the reception. You can also use African proverbs, Native American chants, or a poem by Shakespeare as your wedding quote. While you may read the whole song, chant, or poem in your ceremony, you can use an excerpt from the larger piece to accent your wedding programs and invitations.

If you want to be especially creative in conveying the wedding quotes you've chosen to the congregation, you may think of setting your selected passage to music, or having a friend or family member recite the wedding passage as part of one of the song performed in the ceremony. You could also ask the minister presiding over your wedding to recite the quote to the congregation, or you and your mate could recite the quote to another, alternating lines or verses.