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My older sister has given me a TON of advice throughout my life, no less so throughout the process of planning my wedding. I want to find a poem or reading to ask her to read that expresses how important this advice has been without being too sappy or evoking God's perspective too much or too bluntly. A lot of readings I come across are more specifically about the couple committing to one another, and I'd like something more along the lines of seeing a new couple through this life stage and supporting them as they beginning their journey as married folk.
17 wedding readings from literature for bookish couples
Bookish couples: we know you and we love you. So we're sharing a whole new batch of killer wedding readings just for you. We've got... Read more
Yes! This is an amazing way to thank you sister for all her advice and love. The trick is, of course, finding that one reading. When it comes to non-lovely-dovey readings, there are tons to choose from in the vein of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. And then there are always funny readings and even more children's books from which to pull.
We'll never know exactly what your sister means to you, but here are a few readings, excerpts, and poems for a sister (or any family or community member) to read at the ceremony…
“I Rely on You,” by Hovis Presley
I rely on you
like a camera needs a shutter
like a gambler needs a flutter
like a golfer needs a putter
like a buttered scone involves some butterI rely on you
like an acrobat needs ice cool nerve
like a hairpin needs a drastic curve
like an HGV needs endless derv
like an outside left needs a body swerveI rely on you
like a handyman needs pliers
like an auctioneer needs buyers
like a laundromat needs driers
like The Good Life needed Richard BriersI rely on you.
From On Beauty by Zadie Smith
“People talk about the happy quiet that can exist between two loves, but this, too, was great; sitting between his sister and his brother, saying nothing, eating. Before the world existed, before it was populated, and before there were wars and jobs and colleges and movies and clothes and opinions and foreign travel — before all of these things there had been only one person, Zora, and only one place: a tent in the living room made from chairs and bed-sheets. After a few years, Levi arrived; space was made for him; it was as if he had always been. […] He did not consider if or how or why he loved them. They were just love: they were the first evidence he ever had of love, and they would be the last confirmation of love when everything else fell away.”
From The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
“It never takes longer than a few minutes, when they get together, for everyone to revert to the state of nature, like a party marooned by a shipwreck. That's what a family is. Also the storm at sea, the ship, and the unknown shore. And the hats and the whiskey stills that you make out of bamboo and coconuts. And the fire that you light to keep away the beasts.”
From All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulgham
All of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned…
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Give them to someone who feels sad.
Live a balanced life.
Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day.
Take a nap every afternoon.
Be aware of wonder.Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
“I Love My Family So Much” by Filoi Hemopo
To be apart of a family like mine
is so divine
where love is shown
hurt is shared
our love for each other is never impairedwe talk
we laugh
we cry
but we are a family
and we do it all together
for as a family we do it all as onefor we are family
a family full of strength
a family full of love
a family no one can touch
that's why I love my family so much
my family is my life and always will be forever
From Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
“What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed there, regardless.”
“Family Comes Together” by Glaedr the poet
Family comes together
For always and forever
In sickness and in health
In poverty or in wealth
Family comes together
For always and forever
Without any reason
Anytime or any season
Family comes together
For always and forever
In death or in life
In happiness or in strife
Family comes together
For always and forever
In anger or in kindness
Whether all seeing or in blindness
Family comes together
For always and forever
Whether for work or for play
They somehow find a way
For family to come together
Because families are forever
About the Author: Catherine Clark
Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.
