FINDING THE RIGHT WORDS:

Most celebrants amass a vast collection of wedding readings, poems and vows to share with clients; these collections are as varied as the clients themselves, catering to all tastes, and can range from the verses of William Shakespeare and George Eliot to Pam Ayres and Edward Lear ... along with verses from greetings cards and chocolate boxes.

We've asked our committee members to choose a favourite, and we share this collection with you:

From Jill MacKinnon:
I WILL BE HERE
If in the morning when you wake
If the sun does not appear
I will be here.

If in the dark we lose sight of love
Hold my hand and have no fear
I will be here.

I will be here
When you feel like being quiet
When you need to speak your mind I will listen
Through the winning, losing and trying we'll be together.

And I will be here
If in the morning when you wake
If the future is unclear
I will be here.

As sure as seasons were make for change
Our lifetimes were made for years
I will be here.
Stephen Curtis Chapman

Rei Hagan uses this reading as a point of focus at the beginning of a ceremony:

LOVE IS LIFE'S most beautiful mystery
it often comes as a surprise
filling the heart with sudden joy.
selfless and giving
love places the happiness of another
before one's own.
It inspires with its passion,
nurtures with its generosity
and enriches with its spirit
there is no limit to its magic
Love is eternal.
Anon

Kerril Cooper's suggestion for a wedding:

HINTERHOF

Stay near to me and I'll stay near to you
As near as you are dear to me will do,
Near as the rainbow to the rain,
The west wind to the windowpane,
As fire to the hearth, as dawn to dew.

Stay true to me and I'll stay true to you
As true as you are new to me will do,
New as the rainbow in the spray,
Utterly new in every way,
New in the way that what you say is true.

Stay near to me, stay true to me. I'll stay
as true to you as heart could pray.
Heart never hoped that one might be
Half of the things you are to me
The dawn, the fire, the rainbow and the day.

James Fenton (1949-)

Yvonne Foreman chose this senuous poem:

BEFORE DAWN, BEFORE DARK (for Peter)

Do not go with the dark,
Lie with me a little longer
Skin to skin,
My hands resting here
In the valley of your shoulders

Take my mouth with your mouth
Breathe my breath
As your own
With passion protesting
Surely we are now as one.

Until a wintry-eyed sun
Stands up and stares you down.
Do not leave with the light
Walk with me a little while,
Side by side.
My heart resting here,
In the haven of your hand.

Match my thoughts with your thoughts,
Ease my hurt
As your own,
With tenderness caring
To make us as truly one
Until our short day is ended
And long night's begun.
J C Sturm

The late and much loved Hamilton celebrant
Annie McGregor often used these lines
from a poem by Lauris Edmond to
open a wedding ceremony:

"Marriage is an act of intuition, a glimpse
of something longer, more resonant, more
compassionate than love - yet it is love
that hovers over it, like the sparkle on a web
caught in the light of the rising morning sun

Look, it's yours, ours too, for a day,
as we stand with you, hold, touch,
acknowledge you, pausing here together
on a mellow autumn afternoon."