Unusual Readings
This story is about readings for your wedding ceremony. As an example let’s look at the wedding Danielle and Karim, married at Tiffany’s looking out over the Glasshouse Mountains.
But first let’s glimpse their wedding day….
Meeting your love
It is one of life’s richest surprises when a chance meeting of two people on a stairway leads them to love. It is one of life’s finest experiences when this love grows into a permanent relationship. It is a sacred day when these two people realise that they wish to make it forever in a marriage.
And it is joyous day when the wedding arrives and family gather from all over the world to marry on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in the presence of spectacular views from the Maleny Range.
This meeting and this growing are what led to the wedding day for Danielle and Karim, who indeed met by chance five years ago on a stairway in a hostel in Scotland. The pipes may have played for them that day, or the angels sang, for they both knew that they had met someone special. Through being ruthlessly and wonderfully themselves, they fell in love and chose to get married, to begin the journey and ride the waves of life together.
A wedding ceremony in French
Now being French, Karim wished to make sure his mother could understand the service. So when this couple came to me it was with a special request, that their ceremony be in English AND French.
I am always happy to include other languages in a ceremony, and indeed speak French and Indonesian. However I have been known to get training to use other languages in a wedding ceremony.
Readings are often a part of a marriage ceremony. You can choose to have a close friend or relative to read, or indeed ask your wedding celebrant to read for you.
A reading can expand on your reasons for marriage, or describe the feeling of love in a way we may never be able to find the words to say out loud. A reading is a moment to pause in the ceremony and and reflect.
For this wedding, Karim’s mother, Nelly chose a poem for this special day. And of course it was in French! AND of course it is about love (l’amour)!
A Poem in French
Éloge de l’amour par Jean de La Fontaine
Tout l’Univers obéit à l’Amour ;
Belle Psyché, soumettez-lui votre âme.
Les autres dieux à ce dieu font la cour,
Et leur pouvoir est moins doux que sa flamme.
Des jeunes coeurs c’est le suprême bien
Aimez, aimez ; tout le reste n’est rien.
*****
Sans cet Amour, tant d’objets ravissants,
Lambris dorés, bois, jardins, et fontaines,
N’ont point d’appâts qui ne soient languissants,
Et leurs plaisirs sont moins doux que ses peines.
Des jeunes coeurs c’est le suprême bien
Aimez, aimez ; tout le reste n’est rien.
A Reading from Bob
The second reading they chose is from Bob Marley, in English this time:
Only once in your life, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more.
You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful.
There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life. A phone call during the day always brings a smile to your face.
Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and soul mate, who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they will be part of your life, forever.
There are so many beautiful texts to help illustrate a wedding ceremony. I keep a folio of ideas and samples for my couples. I also have several books with unusual readings and quotes.
You may find something from a song lyric, a film script, or written on a graffiti wall that inspires you.
Thank you to Focus Films for the images of Danielle and Karim’s English/French Wedding ceremony.
For other stories on French Weddings:
Something Very French
With a French touch
Totally in French
More French wedding inspiration
Creative writing
This story will be about a dance, eventually. But it starts as a story about creative writing, something as a marriage celebrant I do all the time for my couples. Every wedding ceremony is unique and new written just for two people. Often I seek ways to hone my writing craft.
Creative writing is key to a great wedding ceremony. As your celebrant, I practise writing to hone my skills for your wedding.
Recently I attended a creative writing workshop with marvellous teacher, Glenda O’Sullivan.
Writing Workshop
A few months ago, a dear friend of mine and an inspiring workshop queen, ran a creative writing day. Glenda invited several budding writers to gather. She invited us to open our minds and let loose our pens.
I don’t usually call myself a writer. Perhaps I imagined one has to be pumping out novels, or contracted to a magazine to claim that title. Of course there are many more writers in the world than one would imagine.
On reflection, I realised I do write. Every day in fact. I write this. A blog, a collection of stories really.
I write wedding ceremonies. I write eulogies. I write for couples. I write for families. I write for people.
Yes, I write every day.
So, with a little trepidation, I went along.
The gift of writing
Glenda gave the group a wonderful gift that day. She took us along the road to writing creatively. She began with simple tasks to get our pens sliding over the paper. Then she upped the ante, interrupting our train of thoughts with unusual stimuli; a gesture, a flower, or a compulsory word or two. As the day progressed we played word games, wrote lists, turned the lists into prose, the prose into poetry, and back again. Each time we had to produce a piece of writing on the spot, on paper, and on time!
I’d like to present some of the pieces I wrote that day.
Word Games
We played a word game. The game produced a list of words.
Write, she said, using all the words on your list … and she gave us 10 minutes…. Speed writing is very creative writing!
So I wrote.
my darling, my darling, my love
A necklace for your sanity … my darling, my darling
Your neck will just surrender … my love
Relegate sizing to your tailor … my darling, my darling
Measure your team of suitors … my love
__
I salivate with surprise … my darling, my darling
Your tears send a sinuous shiver … my love
Lean to my sincerity … my darling, my darling
Tenuous yet necessary … my love
__
Undulate, manipulate .. my darling, my darling
Ululate the timing … my love
Sing your man a lullaby … my darling, my darling
Be my eager minstral … my love
__
Round and round the duckpond … my darling, my darling
Mad as a team of yabbies … my love
Eat my words on Sunday … my darling, my darling
And tell me that you love me … my love
*****
Writing wedding ceremonies
Some couples might wonder just how I create unique wedding ceremonies. I draw on creative writing skills to achieve a perfect marriage ceremony for you. I chat with you and we laugh. I get to know you. We talk about life, meaning and wedding wishes; about family and feelings. You tell me your stories. I tell you mine. You get to know me, and feel comfortable with me as the person who will conduct the ceremony on your wedding day.
From all this I weave a tapestry about you, your love story and your wedding day. You also get chances to alter and change, delete and add.
Creative writing workshop
The poem above, is by no means part of a marriage ceremony. It was written within a different context; a creative writing workshop.
If your wedding celebrant can write creatively, you know you can expect a truly unique ceremony, all about you, and your ideas on your marriage. Not just any old ceremony with your names slotted into the gaps.
You want something that is a reflection of you.
Something meaningful, to you.
Something memorable for your family and friends.
Something just a little different, pitched right. Your style in words.
Contact me if you’d like a ceremony written just for you.
And to finish this article, here is another piece I wrote under time pressure that day…. about the dance.
*****
Tango Lily
The floor is smooth. Wooden floor boards polished by feet. Slide together after every step. Bring the left together with the right, across the boards. Smooth the timber. Caress the wood. Foot does not leave floor. Slide… together…slide … together. Ready for whatever may come. There is no past. No future. Just now. Just this moment. Just this step. Then that step. That’s Tango.
She tucked a lily behind her left ear. Not the right ear. It would get in the way. She wore a flower on the right once. Never do that again. Well it was a fake rose anyway. But it tickled and scratched his face when he took her into the close embrace. He fluffed and blew it. She had to throw it away; out of her hair, onto a chair, to dance.
The flower was on the left. A lily; simple, plain, a tiny bit jaunty. Like the tango. She was the lily. And the lily was the dance. Subtle but with intent.
This year I have begun to learn Tango. I may never finish learning Tango. I relish the opportunity to let go of control; to release, to stop helping, to simply allow someone else to lead the way. To follow the lead, to rest my head on a shoulder and allow my steps to follow.
