Ceremony Readings for Your Elopement — and How to Choose One That Actually Fits

Photography by Chelsea Abram Photography.

CEREMONY SERIES: PART 2 OF 6  |  SEA TO SKY ELOPEMENTS

So your officiant, parents, friends, planner, significant other…reccomended you have a special reading for your ceremony and YOU ARE LOST on where to find one. This blog post is for you!

A ceremony reading is a piece of writing — prose, poetry, a passage from a book or letter — that someone reads aloud during your ceremony. It can be two minutes long or two paragraphs. It can be ancient or contemporary. It can be read by your officiant, a guest, or one partner to the other.

What makes a reading work in a ceremony isn't how literary it is or how famous the source is. It's whether it's true — whether it says something real about love, or about your specific relationship, in a way that lands in the room.

Here are some of the readings I love most for elopement ceremonies, with thoughts on what kind of couple each one suits.

For couples who think deeply about what love actually is

From Captain Corelli's Mandolin — Louis de Bernières

This is one of the most requested readings in contemporary wedding ceremonies, and it earns the reputation. It reframes romantic love not as a permanent state of feeling but as a choice you make after the initial intensity has settled — and it uses one of the most beautiful metaphors in modern literature to do it.

“Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.”— Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Best for: couples who value honesty over romance, who've been together long enough to know what this means, or who want a reading that acknowledges the full reality of commitment rather than idealising it.

From Gift from the Sea — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

A quieter, more contemplative reading about the nature of love over time. Lindbergh writes about the ebb and flow of relationships with a clarity that feels ahead of its time, and the image of relationships as islands — surrounded by sea, visited and left by tides — is extraordinarily well-suited to a coastal BC elopement.

“The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now.”— Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

Best for: couples who want something reflective and calm, who are drawn to the ocean, or who want their ceremony to feel grounded and present rather than swept up in emotion.

From The Bridge Across Forever — Richard Bach

This one is warmer and more romantic than the Lindbergh, with a concept of soulmates that feels genuine rather than saccharine. The image of two balloons whose shared direction is upward is simple and memorable — the kind of line couples quote back to each other years later.

“A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we're pretending to be.”— Richard Bach, The Bridge Across Forever

Best for: couples who believe in the idea of finding the right person, who want warmth alongside depth, or who don't want to read something too heavy.

Photography by Unspoken Photography.

For couples who want something with weight and beauty

From Letters to a Young Poet — Rainer Maria Rilke

Rilke's writing on marriage is among the most beautiful and most honest in any language. The idea that love is not about merging but about each partner guarding the other's solitude — protecting their separateness — is unusual and profound. This reading works best for couples who are genuinely independent people who have chosen each other, not as completion, but as companions.

“A good marriage is one in which each partner appoints the other to be the guardian of their solitude, and thus they show each other the greatest possible trust. A merging of two people is an impossibility... But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side by side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky.”— Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Best for: thoughtful couples, writers, readers, those who want a ceremony that says something true rather than something beautiful. Not for everyone — but for the right couple, nothing else comes close.

Marriage Joins Two People in the Circle of Its Love — Edmund O'Neill

This is one of the most-used ceremony readings for a reason: it's warm, clear, and covers the full arc of what marriage means without being clichéd. It works well read aloud and lands well with a variety of guests.

“Marriage is a commitment to life, the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other relationship can equal... When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique unto themselves, which binds them closer than any spoken or written words.”— Edmund O'Neill

Best for: couples who want something accessible and warm, or who have guests with varying emotional registers. A reliable, genuinely good choice.

Photography by Unspoken Photography.

For couples who want something nature-inspired or spiritual

Prayer Honouring the Four Directions

For ceremonies held outdoors — which is most of what I plan — there's something genuinely moving about a reading that acknowledges the landscape you're standing in. Versions of the four directions blessing appear in many Indigenous traditions, and when used thoughtfully and with appropriate acknowledgement of their origins, they can ground a ceremony in place in a way that nothing else does.

The version below draws from a non-denominational adaptation and works particularly well for mountain or coastal ceremonies where you can literally turn to face each direction.

“Oh Great Spirit of the North, we come to you and ask for the strength and the power to bear what is cold and harsh in life... Oh Great Spirit of the East, we turn to you where the sun comes up, from where the power of light and refreshment come... Oh Great Spirit of the South, spirit of all that is warm and gentle and refreshing... Oh Great Spirit of the West, where the sun goes down each day to come up the next, we turn to you in praise of sunsets and in thanksgiving for changes.”— Non-denominational adaptation

Best for: couples who want their ceremony to feel rooted in the land they're standing on, outdoor and nature-focused ceremonies, those with spiritual leanings that aren't tied to a specific religion. Use with genuine intention and acknowledgement.

Photography by Unspoken Photography.

For couples who want something straightforward and true

Not every great reading comes from a famous source. Some of the most effective ceremony readings are short, clear, and say something simple and true. A few lines from a letter. A paragraph from a book one of you loves. Something your grandmother said about love. Something you read once and kept.

If a piece of writing has stayed with you — if you find yourself returning to it — that's a sign it might have a place in your ceremony. It doesn't have to be famous. It just has to be true to you.

A few practical notes on ceremony readings

One reading is usually enough for an intimate elopement ceremony. Two can work if there's a natural pause in the ceremony and the readings are different in tone. More than two tends to break up the flow.

If you're asking a guest to read, choose someone who is comfortable speaking in front of others, give them the text well in advance, and let them know the context — where in the ceremony it falls, how it should feel. A well-prepared reader makes a huge difference.

Read your chosen piece aloud to yourself before committing to it. Some readings look beautiful on the page and feel stilted when spoken. The best ceremony readings are the ones that sound natural out loud.

This is Part 2 of a 6-part series on personalising your elopement ceremony.

Sea to Sky Elopements plans full-service elopements across BC. Ceremony design — including reading selection and officiant briefing — is part of every package.