As I mentioned in my last post, our reason for doing our ‘legal bit’ separately was to give us the freedom to have exactly the day we wanted on our main wedding day; this included the ceremony itself being conducted by one of our best friends as well as writing our own wedding vows and choosing wedding readings special and personal to us.
Vows
Technically we more adapted our own vows than wrote them from scratch. We found these vows on Pinterest which struck a chord and used them as a basis. We changed wording that didn’t work for us and then added our own few lines at the end. This is certainly a technique I would recommend as a starting point for anybody who might like to write their own but is apprehensive – it’s an incredibly daunting task!
When I was wedding planning I became pretty obsessed with finding examples of what real people had chosen (opposed to Buzzfeed-style lists!); so I’ve included both our vows and wedding readings in full for anyone who is doing their own research or just fancies reading some pretty words.
Our Vows
C: I can’t promise you that dark clouds will never hover over our lives,
or that the future will bring us only sunny days.
W: I can’t promise you that tomorrow will be perfect or that life will be easy.
C: I can promise you my everlasting devotion, my loyalty, my respect, and my unconditional love for a lifetime.
W: I can promise that I’ll always be there for you, to listen and to hold your hand, and I’ll always do my best to make you happy, and make you feel loved.
C: I can promise that I’ll see you through any crisis, and laugh with you, dream with you, build with you, and always cheer you on and encourage you.
W: I’ll willingly be your protector, your advisor, your counsellor, your friend,
your family, your everything.
C: I will promise to try my best not to make us late, to find the ‘funny’ in all situations, and make you tea every morning.
W: I can promise that I’ll try not to rush you, I’ll go to gigs with you on a Monday night, be your kitchen companion and accept that there is no such thing as watching Buffy too many times.
***
Yep, that’s confirmation in our vows right there ^^^ that I can watch as much Buffy as I like for the rest of my life! 😆
Readings
We really wanted to have readings from that rang true to our passions and geeky nature. I think researching words from the worlds of literature, cinema and music was one of my favourite tasks when wedding planning. I even found myself delving through our cookery bookshelve wondering if a reading of a favourite recipe would be appropriate! We decided against that, but it was fun to analyse unusual sources in the context of being read aloud as a wedding reading.
In the end, we chose readings from my favourite film, Will’s favourite book and a song from a favourite band of ours. These were ‘Come What May‘ taken from Moulin Rouge which was read (rather emotionally) by Will’s mum, an amazing acoustic performance of ‘Sunday’ by Bloc Party by one of my cousins and an extract from ‘The Amber Spyglass‘ by Philip Pullman, read beautifully by another cousin.
Wedding reading number 1. ‘Come What May’ taken from the film Moulin Rouge
Never knew I could feel like this
Like I’ve never seen the sky before
Want to vanish inside your kiss
Every day I love you more and more
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing?
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change, winter to spring
But I love you until the end of time
Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn’t seem such a waste
It all revolves around you
And there’s no mountain too high, no river too wide
Sing out this song and I’ll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide
But I love you,
Until the end of time
Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day
Wedding reading (song) number 2. Cover of ‘Sunday’ by Bloc Party
Heavy night it was a heavy night
Feels like we come back from the dead
Heavy night it was a heavy night
I cannot remember what I said to anyone
If we get up now we can catch the afternoon
Watch the under 15s playing football in the park
Let’s sit in St. Leonard’s in this alcoholic day we’re doing the best with what we’ve got
I love you in the morning,
When you’re still hung-over
I love you in the morning,
When you’re still strung out,
I love you in the morning,
I work hard all week, and so do you
We deserve to let off some steam
Less orthodox creeping when we need to rage through this life
There might be ones who are smarter than you
That have the right answers
That wear better shoes
Forget about those melting ice caps, we’re doing the best, with what we’ve got
I love you in the morning,
When you’re still hung-over
I love you in the morning,
When you’re still strung out,
I love you in the morning,
With you I am calm
A pearl in your oyster
Head on my chest and a silent smile, a private kind of happiness
You see giant proclamations are all very well
But our love is louder than words
Wedding reading number 3. Taken from The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
She sat down slowly, and he sat down beside her.
“Oh, Will,” she said, “what can we do? Whatever can we do? I want to live with you for ever. I want to kiss you and lie down with you and wake up with you every day of my life till I die, years and years and years away. I don’t want a memory, just a memory…
“No,” he said, “memory’s a poor thing to have. It’s your own real hair and mouth and arms and eyes and hands I want. I didn’t know I could ever love anything so much. Oh, Lyra, I wish this night would never end! If only we could stay here like this, and the world could stop turning, and everyone else could fall into a sleep…”
“Everyone except us! And you and I could live here for ever and just love each other.”
“I will love you for ever, whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead I’ll drift about for ever, all my atoms, till I find you again…”
“I’ll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you…
We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we’ll be joined so tight.”
Hope this may have been interesting or even useful. I’d love to know what you chose / are choosing / would choose!? Let me know!
