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No matter what kind of wedding you're planning, I've compiled a list of the best non-traditional, unique and alternative wedding readings just for you. There's plenty of choice for you to find one that suits your religious, civil or celebrant led ceremony.
Things to think about and ask yourself before choosing a reading:
-How many do you need? One or two is the norm.
-Does the reading suit your personalities?
-Are the sentiments of the reading reflected in your every day views?
-Does the reading fit in with the plans and vibe of the day?
-Pick something easy to read and not too long, two minutes max!
-Who will read it? Is it someone that means something to you both? Will they be OK to read in front of an audience? Choose a back up too in case they say no.
-Check with your registrar, officiant or celebrant whether it's OK [eg you can't have a religious reading for a civil ceremony].
Image by Jenny Appleton
For poetry lovers
Love by Roy Croft [I read this to my husband as part of my speech at my own wedding]
I love you Not only for what you are, But for what I am When I am with you.
I love you, Not only for what You have made of yourself, But for what You are making of me.
I love you For the part of me That you bring out;
I love you For putting your hand Into my heaped-up heart And passing over All the foolish, weak things That you can’t help Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out Into the light All the beautiful belongings That no one else had looked Quite far enough to find
I love you because you Are helping me to make Of the lumber of my life Not a tavern But a temple.
Out of the works Of my every day Not a reproach But a song.
I love you Because you have done More than any creed Could have done To make me good. And more than any fate Could have done To make me happy.
You have done it Without a touch, Without a word, Without a sign.
You have done it By being yourself. Perhaps that is what Being a friend means, After all.
Image by Matt Horan
You deserve a lover by Frida Kahlo
You deserve a lover who wants you dishevelled, with everything and all the reasons that wake you up in a haste and the demons that won’t let you sleep.
You deserve a lover who makes you feel safe, who can consume this world whole if he walks hand in hand with you; someone who believes that his embraces are a perfect match with your skin.
You deserve a lover who wants to dance with you, who goes to paradise every time he looks into your eyes and never gets tired of studying your expressions.
You deserve a lover who listens when you sing, who supports you when you feel shame and respects your freedom; who flies with you and isn’t afraid to fall.
You deserve a lover who takes away the lies and brings you hope, coffee, and poetry.
Image by Daniel Ackerley
The giraffe and the monkey by Daniel Thompson
Wherever we go Whatever we do Whenever there’s me I hope that there’s you.
Now Money is Funny, it can make people odd. You forget to be happy, and you live for your job And fashion, is a passion, beset with a flaw You can dress to excess, but you’ll always need more.
And a muscle toned body, may sound like a dream But no body is better, than chocolate ice cream.
What I’m trying to say, is that happiness grows Not through your wages, or body or clothes.
But in laughter and love, and in sharing your life. In the arms of another as husband and wife.
So when you find someone who’s weird just like you Who laughs when you’re stupid and who makes you laugh too.
When you sit on the sofa, not hiding your flaws. As imperfectly perfect, as the hand that holds yours. When the fortune of kings, or purse of a beggar. Won’t change how it feels, just being together.
When a cuddle and cuppa is all that you need….
Well then… you’ve found something quite special indeed.
Wherever we go Whatever we do Whenever there’s me I hope that there’s you.
Image by Your Choice Photography
All I know about love by Neil Garmin
This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing. This is everything I’ve learned about marriage: nothing. Only that the world out there is complicated, and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain, and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes, is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze, and not to be alone.
It’s not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it’s what they mean.
Somebody’s got your back. Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn’t want to rescue you or send for the army to rescue them.
It’s not two broken halves becoming one. It’s the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home because home is wherever you are both together.
So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: nothing, like a book without pages or a forest without trees.
Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them. Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials. Because nobody else’s love, nobody else’s marriage, is like yours, and it’s a road you can only learn by walking it, a dance you cannot be taught, a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.
And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand, not knowing for certain if someone else is even there. And your hands will meet, and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.
And that’s all I know about love.
Image by Jo Greenfield
You are the bubbles by Rachel Bright
Together, you are the bubbles in one another’s champagne The morning sun through a window The breaking of a smile.
Together, you are the one doughnut in the bag with more jam than all the others. That photo where everybody looks great. The know-all-the-words, sing-out-of-tune chorus of your favourite song.
Together, you are the beginnings of a big idea. The twinkly bits that hang in the sky after the firework goes bang. The cold, thin air at the top of a mountain. The only two people in a crowded room.
Together, you are that unforgettable day of the holiday. An accidental adventure. Chocolate chip. The last two pages of your favourite book. A BBQ with friends. The spray of the sea. The nose of the cheese. A kiss. A hug. A hold-my-hand. A decision which, looking back, will seem to be the most excellent one you’ve ever made.
Together you are bubbles. The unburstable bubbles of the very best things in life. The only things any of us ever really need.
Image by Jenny Appleton
I wanna be yours by John Cooper Clarke
I wanna be your vacuum cleaner breathing in your dust I wanna be your Ford Cortina I will never rust If you like your coffee hot Let me be your coffee pot You call the shots I wanna be yours
I wanna be your raincoat for those frequent rainy days I wanna be your dreamboat when you want to sail away Let me be your teddy bear take me with you anywhere I don’t care I wanna be yours
I wanna be your electric meter I will not run out I wanna be the electric heater you’ll get cold without I wanna be your setting lotion hold your hair in deep devotion Deep as the deep Atlantic ocean that’s how deep is my devotion.
Image by Roshni Photography
Union by Robert Fulghum [I had this one during my own wedding ceremony]
You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way.
All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late-night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.
The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”
Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.
For after today you shall say to the world –
This is my husband. This is my wife.
Image by Eclectachrome
A marriage by Mark Twain
A marriage makes of two fractional lives a whole;
It gives two purposeless lives a work,
And doubles the strength of each to perform it.
It gives to two questioning natures a reason for living
And something to live for.
It will give new gladness to the sunshine,
A new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth
And a new mystery to life.
I'll be there for you by Louise Cuddon
I’ll be there my darling, through thick and through thin When your mind’s in a mess and your head’s in a spin
When your plane’s been delayed, and you’ve missed the last train. When life is just threatening to drive you insane
When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page When somebody tells you, you’re looking your age
When your coffee’s too cool, and your wine is too warm When the forecast said “Fine”, but you’re out in a storm
When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum And your holiday photos show only your thumb
When you park for five minutes in a resident’s bay And return to discover you’ve been towed away
When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste Just stick on your hips and don’t reach around your waist
When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes
So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear… When you break a rule, when you act the fool When you’ve got the flu, when you’re in a stew When you’re last in the queue, don’t feel blue ’cause I’m telling you, I’ll be there.
Image by Leesha Williams
Love me when I'm old by Bee Rawlinson
Love me when I’m old and shocking
Peel off my elastic stockings
Swing me from the chandeliers
Let’s be randy bad old dears.
Push around my chromed Bath Chair
Let me tease your white chest hair
Scaring children, swapping dentures
Let us have some great adventures
Take me to the Dogs and Bingo
Teach me how to speak the lingo
Bone my eels and bring me tea
Show me how it’s meant to be
Take me to your special places
Watching all the puzzled faces
You in shorts and socks and sandals
Me with warts and huge love-handles
As the need for love enthrals
Wrestle with my damp proof smalls
Make me laugh without constraint
Buy me chocolate body paint
Hold me safe throughout the night
When my hair has turned to white
Believe me when I say it’s true
I’ve waited all my life for you.
Image by Chris Giles
For Book lovers
Us too by AA Milne
Wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
"Where are you going today?" says Pooh:
"Well, that's very odd 'cos I was too.
Let's go together," says Pooh, says he.
"Let's go together," says Pooh.
"What's twice eleven?" I said to Pooh.
("Twice what?" said Pooh to Me.)
"I think it ought to be twenty-two."
"Just what I think myself," said Pooh.
"It wasn't an easy sum to do,
But that's what it is," said Pooh, said he.
"That's what it is," said Pooh.
"Let's look for dragons," I said to Pooh.
"Yes, let's," said Pooh to Me.
We crossed the river and found a few-
"Yes, those are dragons all right," said Pooh.
"As soon as I saw their beaks I knew.
That's what they are," said Pooh, said he.
"That's what they are," said Pooh.
"Let's frighten the dragons," I said to Pooh.
"That's right," said Pooh to Me.
"I'm not afraid," I said to Pooh,
And I held his paw and I shouted "Shoo!
Silly old dragons!"- and off they flew.
"I wasn't afraid," said Pooh, said he,
"I'm never afraid with you."
So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said: "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two,
Can stick together, says Pooh, says he. "That's how it is," says Pooh.
Image by Laura Rhian
Everything I know about love by Dolly Alderton
I know that love can be loud and jubilant…
It can be dancing in the swampy mud and the pouring rain at a festival and shouting “YOU ARE AMAZING” over the band.
It’s introducing them to your colleagues at a work event and basking in pride as they make people laugh and make you look lovable just by dint of being loved by them.
It’s laughing until you wheeze.
It’s waking up in a country neither of you have been in before.
It’s skinny-dipping at dawn. It’s walking along the street together on a Saturday night and feeling an entire city is yours.
It’s a big, beautiful, ebullient force of nature.
I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing.
It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee. It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting.
It’s hanging up their laundry when they leave the house having moronically forgotten to take it out of the washing machine.
It’s saying ‘You’re safer here than in a car’ as they hyperventilate on an EasyJet flight to Dublin.
It’s the texts: ‘Hope your day goes well’, ‘How did today go?’, ‘Thinking of you today’ and ‘Picked up loo roll’.
I know that love happens under the splendour of moon and stars and fireworks and sunsets but it also happens when you’re lying on blow-up airbeds in a childhood bedroom, sitting in A&E or in the queue for a passport, or in a traffic jam.
Love is a quiet, reassuring, relaxing, pottering, pedantic, harmonious hum of a thing; something you can easily forget is there, even though its palms are outstretched beneath you in case you fall.
Image by Leesha Williams
Wild awake by Hilary T Smith
People are like cities: We all have alleys and gardens and secret rooftops and places where daisies sprout between the sidewalk cracks, but most of the time all we let each other see is a postcard glimpse of a skyline or a polished square. Love lets you find those hidden places in another person, even the ones they didn't know were there, even the ones they wouldn't have thought to call beautiful themselves.
The lovely dinosaur by Edward Monkton
The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, HIS cage.
Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kind words and loving thoughts.
I like this Dinosaur, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.
I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur. She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit, which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.
But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
He is also overly fond of Things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of Things?
But her mind skips from here to there so quickly, thought the Dinosaur. She is also uncommonly keen on Shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?
I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for Things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.
I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur. For she fills our life with beautiful thought and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.
Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old. Look at them.
Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.
And that, my friends, is how it is with love. Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.
For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place…
Image by Leesha Williams
I like you by Sandol Stoddard Warburg
I like you and I know why I like you because you are a good person to like I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it’s special And you remember it a long, long time
You say, Remember when you told me something special And both of us remember
When I think something is important you think it’s important too
We have good ideas When I say something funny, you laugh I think I’m funny and you think I’m funny too Hah-hah!
I like you because you know where I’m ticklish And you don’t tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too You know how to be silly - that’s why I like you If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag, then you are getting ready to jump HOORAY
I like you because when I am feeling sad You don’t always cheer me up right away Sometimes it is better to be sad You can’t stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute You want to think about things It takes time
I like you because if I am mad at you Then you are mad at me too It’s awful when the other person isn’t They are so nice and oooh you could just about punch them on the nose
I can’t remember when I didn’t like you
It must have been lonesome then
Even if it was the 999th of July Even if it was August Even if it was way down at the bottom of November I would go on choosing you And you would go on choosing me Over and over again And that’s how it would happen every time
Image by Gavin Dickson
Your personal penguin by Sandra Boynton
I like you a lot You’re funny and kind So let me explain What I have in mind.
I want to be Your Personal Penguin I want to walk right by your side I want to be Your Personal Penguin I want to travel with you far and wide
Wherever you go, I’ll go there too Here and there and ev’rywhere
And always with you highlight lyrics to add meaning… I like you a lot You’re funny and kind So let me explain What I have in mind.
I want to be Your Personal Penguin I want to walk right by your side I want to be Your Personal Penguin I want to travel with you far and wide
Wherever you go, I’ll go there too Here and there and ev’rywhere
And always with you I want to be Your Personal Penguin From now on.
Image by Jenny Appleton
The bridge across forever by Richard bach
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. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soul mate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soul mate is the one who makes life come to life.
The velveteen rabbit by Margery Williams
“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.”
Image by Jessica Hill
For music lovers
Everybody's Free by Baz Luhrman
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself, and recall in a way you can’t grasp now, how much possibility lay before you, and how fabulous you really looked…
You’re not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind… the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life… the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can… don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy,
but, be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
Image by Steph Butt
Nothing else matters by Metallica
So close, no matter how far Couldn’t be much more from the heart Forever trusting who we are And nothing else matters
Never opened myself this way Life is ours, we live it our way All these words, I don’t just say And nothing else matters
Trust I seek and I find in you Every day for us something new Open mind for a different view And nothing else matters
Never cared for what they do Never cared for what they know But I know
I never opened myself this way Life is ours, we live it our way All these words, I don’t just say And nothing else matters
Trust I seek and I find in you…
Make you feel my love by Bob Dylan
When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer a warm embrace
To make you feel my love
When evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love
I know you haven’t made your mind up yet
But I would never do you wrong
I’ve known it from the moment that we met
No doubt in my mind where you belong
I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue
I’d go crawling down the avenue
And oh, there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love
The storms are raging on the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet
I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn’t do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel my love
Image by Emily Rose
Absolute Beginners by David Bowie
I’ve nothing much to offer There’s nothing much to take I’m an absolute beginner But I’m absolutely sane As long as we’re together The rest can go to hell I absolutely love you But we’re absolute beginners With eyes completely open But nervous all the same
If our love song Could fly over mountains Could laugh at the ocean Just like the films There’s no reason To feel all the hard times To lay down the hard lines It’s absolutely true
Nothing much could happen Nothing we can’t shake Oh, we’re absolute beginners With nothing much at stake As long as you’re still smiling There’s nothing more I need I absolutely love you But we’re absolute beginners But if my love is your love We’re certain to succeed
The wedding song by Angus & Julia Stone [this was my first dance song at my own wedding]
We are gonna build a life together You and I for ever and ever
And we'll, we'll make babies on the beach Under the stardust And I'll hear your voice come through the door A thousand times, maybe more And I'll smile inside to know you're mine Completely
Do you know how lovely you are? In the starlight, in the starlight of my heart Do you know how lovely you are? In the moonlight, in the moonlight of my heart
We're gonna build a home together You and I for ever and ever And we'll, we'll make babies on a beach Under the stardust
And I'll hear your voice come through the door A thousand times, maybe more And I'll smile inside to know you're mine Completely
And I'll wind up every day Thinking about the way you make me feel When your lips touch my lips And I'd crawl inside a cave
Or live somewhere strange As long as I'm with you I have got what I need
We are gonna build a life together You and I for ever and ever And we'll, we'll make babies on the beach Under the stardust
And I'll hear your voice come through the door A thousand times, maybe more And I'll smile inside to know you're mine Completely mine
Image by Sarah Gamble
Everlong by Foo Fighters
Hello I've waited here for you Everlong
Tonight, I throw myself into And out of the red Out of her head, she sang
Come down and waste away with me Down with me Slow, how you wanted it to be I'm over my head Out of her head, she sang
And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever be this real forever If anything could ever be this good again The only thing I'll ever ask of you You've got to promise not to stop when I say when She sang
Breathe out So I can breathe you in Hold you in And now I know you've always been Out of your head Out of my head, I sang
And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever If anything could ever be this good again The only thing I'll ever ask of you You've got to promise not to stop when I say when She sang
And I wonder
If everything could ever feel this real forever If anything could ever be this good again The only thing I'll ever ask of you You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
The book of love by Magnetic Fields
The book of love is long and boring No one can lift the damn thing It's full of charts and facts and figures And instructions for dancing
But I, I love it when you read to me And you, you can read me anything
The book of love has music in it In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental Some of it is just really dumb
But I, I love it when you sing to me
And you, you can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring And written very long ago It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes And things we're all too young to know
But I, I love it when you give me things And you, you ought to give me wedding rings I, I love it when you give me things And you, you ought to give me wedding rings
Image by When Charlie met Hannah
Falling in love is like owning a dog by Taylor Mali
First of all, it’s a big responsibility, especially in a city like New York So think long and hard before deciding on love. On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security: when you’re walking down the street late at night and you have a leash on love ain’t no one going to mess with you. Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable. Who knows what love could do in its own defence?
On cold winter nights, love is warm. It lies between you and lives and breathes and makes funny noises. Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs. It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.
Love doesn’t like being left alone for long. But come home and love is always happy to see you. It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life, but you can never be mad at love for long. Is love good all the time? No! No! Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.
Love makes messes. Love leaves you little surprises here and there. Love needs lots of cleaning up after. Sometimes you just want to get love fixed. Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper and swat love on the nose, not so much to cause pain, just to let love know Don’t you ever do that again!
Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk. Because love loves exercise. It runs you around the block and leaves you panting. It pulls you in several different directions at once, or winds around and around you until you’re all wound up and can’t move.
But love makes you meet people wherever you go. People who have nothing in common but love stop and talk to each other on the street.
Throw things away and love will bring them back, again, and again, and again. But most of all, love needs love, lots of it. And in return, love loves you and never stops.
Image by Jade Maguire
For Film + TV lovers
Hot priest speech from Fleabag
It turns out it’s quite hard to come up with something original about love, but I’ve had a go. Love is awful. It’s awful. It’s painful. It’s frightening. It makes you doubt yourself, judge yourself, distance yourself from the other people in your life. It makes you selfish. It makes you creepy, makes you obsessed with your hair, makes you cruel, makes you say and do things you never thought you would do.
It’s all any of us want, and it’s hell when we get there. So no wonder it’s something we don’t want to do on our own. I was taught if we’re born with love then life is about choosing the right place to put it. People talk about that a lot, feeling right, when it feels right, it’s easy. But I’m not sure that’s true. It takes strength to know what’s right. And love isn’t something that weak people do. Being a romantic takes a hell of a lot of hope. I think what they mean is, when you find somebody that you love, it feels like hope.
Love [Ted's speech] from How I met your mother
Love doesn’t make sense. You can’t logic your way into or out of it. Love is totally nonsensical. But we have to keep doing it, or else we’re lost and love is dead and humanity should just pack it in. Because love is the best thing we do. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s just true… It doesn’t have to make sense, to make sense.”
I want to grow old with you from The wedding singer
I want to make you smile whenever you’re sad. Carry you around when your arthritis is bad. All I want to do is grow old with you. I’ll get your medicine when your tummy aches. Build you a fire if the furnace breaks. Oh it could be so nice, growing old with you. I’ll miss you, Kiss you, Give you my coat when you are cold. Need you, Feed you, Even let you hold the remote control. So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink. Put you to bed if you’ve had too much to drink. I could be the man who grows old with you. I want to grow old with you.
I do from Sex and the city
His hello was the end of her endings Her laugh was their first step down the aisle His hand would be hers to hold forever His forever was as simple as her smile
He said she was what was missing She said instantly she knew She was a question to be answered And his answer was “I do”.
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