Readings x 2

As we are having a civil ceremony we are not allowed to have anything with religious content, including the readings. Civil ceremonies are notoriously short (10 mins?) which is over just too quick! So we are allowed to interject the ceremony with readings and poems.

I looked high and low - Googling contemporary wedding readings, wedding poems, civil ceremony readings.... found lots but none that struck a cord - they were either all too gushy and mushy or too vomit inducing!

I then stumbled upon an extract from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. I've never read the book, and the only reason I know about it is because of that episode of Friends where Chandler buys a 1st edition copy for Joey's girlfriend for her birthday...

Here is the extract:

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

It's not glaringly obvious what it is about (IMO) but I *got* it and LOVE it. I can't read it aloud with out a shake in my voice. It's a go! The last line gets me every time...

My Chief Bridesmaid (CBM), my gorgeous sister will be reading this on - she *got* it too! (’-’*)

Our second choice is a poem which I found - I don't know where, or what website, or even who wrote it - by that point I was pulling out my hair trying to find something that made me say "that's it". This one will be read by my 10 year old son, who is also our Pageboy.

The Loving Heart
Someone may love you because you are clever
Someone may love you because you are wise
Someone may love you for beauty or humour
The fun in your heart or the light in your eyes.
But if there is one who discovers your failings
And love all the good and bad that is you
This is the love that will last you forever
This is the love that will always be true.

And yes, I cried at this one too!!

I really am gonna be an emotional wreck on the big day!!

TTFN xx