The Wedding Poem
Tongue-tied and need to say something at a wedding? Here’s some sparkle to sprinkle on your speech.
Written for a family wedding, and posted here so you – best man, maid of honour, father of the bride, or just a random tearful drunk – can use some/all of it to calm your “I don’t know what to say” wedding-speech panic.
We bear the flame, ignite your dreams
of happiness for life.
These flower petals gently stream
around you: husband, wife.
Your friends form an outstanding scene,
our families are strong, serene,
confetti’s thrown, the drinking’s keen,
the cake’s under the knife.
Two words: “I will”,
but there’s much more
beyond that affirmation.
For two of you, a lifted weight,
you leave behind the churchyard gate
you gather here, new chapter’s fate
in honeyed adoration.
Abandon all your self-protection,
lay your soul in an outstretched hand.
Do not sway from close affection,
it’s time to trust, laugh, understand.
Your love for each other, so evergreen,
grows hand in hand, a king, a queen.
The secret’s out, hear the nightingale’s song:
you’ve found the home where your hearts belong.
I HAVE READ VERSIONS OF THIS at a couple of weddings. It’s heartfelt, but bear in mind that I get earnest and soppy at these things, so it may be a bad fit if you’re more of a dirty-limerick fan. Hopefully it has the sincere beat of fervent emotion, before things get bacchanalian and the dancing starts.
If you’ve found this poem because you’re at a loose end and Googled “wedding poem”, you’re very welcome to snaffle it. It pairs well with champagne.
It’s geared to male/female coupling, but if husband/wife and king/queen are inappropriate then maybe switch the second and third verses to become:
These flower petals gently stream
round friends and family, strong, serene,
confetti’s thrown, the drinking’s keen,
the cake’s under the knife.
…which may be better anyway. And “a king, a queen” can be replaced with “so true, pristine”.
Have a lovely day, and go easy on the free bar.
(If you need more, here’s a joke I found incredibly funny at the first wedding I attended. Probably because I was twelve, a little sheltered and shocked at its rudeness: “Why is marriage like a kitchen table?”… “Four legs, no drawers!” B’dum-TISH!)
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Illustration modified by me from a shot by Asad Photo on Pexels.
This is lovely and I can see how well it would work at a wedding. I have a lot of experience at weddings, mostly playing piano and/or singing. And I married a couple once before gay marriage was legal here. Once, a friend had me write a poem for her daughter's wedding. Let's just say, yours would have been the better choice.
This is lovely. I wrote my sister's vows and officiated her wedding and this makes me nostalgic. Really beautifully done.