35 Wedding Poems to Include Throughout Your Celebration
Whether romantic, heartfelt or witty, poetry is a unique, and often powerful, way to express love. As you plan your wedding, consider one or two wedding poems to include in your ceremony reading, program or during a wedding speech. Ask a loved one or your wedding officiant to read a classic love poem, a short verse from your favorite poet or a cute rhyme that represents your goofy side. Many poems about marriage also fit in with a religious or non-religious ceremony. From love poems that have stood the test of time, to works from modern-day writers, we compiled the best wedding poems for your big day.
The Best Poems for a Wedding: Love Poems | Short | Funny | Modern
Love Poems for a Wedding
These wedding poems about love include classic works from Shakespeare, Browning, Neruda and more. Include a romantic wedding poem in your ceremony reading, during a speech or anywhere throughout your day.
1. "To Love Is Not To Possess," by James Kavanaugh
"To love is not to possess/ To own or imprison/ Nor to lose one's self in another/ Love is to join and separate/ To walk alone and together/ To find a laughing freedom/ That lonely isolation does not permit/ It is finally to be able/ To be who we really are/ No longer clinging in childish dependency/ Nor docilely living separate lives in silence/ It is to be perfectly one's self/ And perfectly joined in permanent commitment/ To another--and to one's inner self/ Love only endures when it moves like waves/ Receding and returning gently or passionately/ Or moving lovingly like the tide/ In the moon's own predictable harmony/ Because finally, despite a child's scars/ Or an adult's deepest wounds/ They are openly free to be/ Who they really are--and always secretly were/ In the very core of their being/ Where true and lasting love can alone abide."
2. "Love Sonnet 17," by Pablo Neruda
"I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz/ or the arrow of the carnations the fire shoots off/ I love you as certain dark things are to be loved/ in secret, between the shadow and the soul/ I love you as the plant that never blooms/ but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers/ thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance/ risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body/ I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where/ I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride/ so I live you because I know no other way/ than this: where I does not exist, nor you/ so close that your hand on my chest is my hand/ so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep."
3. "Touched by an Angel," by Maya Angelou
"We, unaccustomed to courage/ exiles from delight/ live coiled in shells of loneliness/ until love leaves its high holy temple/ and comes into our sight/ to liberate us into life/ Love arrives/ and in its train come ecstasies/ old memories of pleasure/ ancient histories of pain/ Yet if we are bold/ love strikes away the chains of fear/ from our souls/ We are weaned from our timidity/ In the flush of love's light/ we dare be brave/ And suddenly we see/ that love costs all we are/ and will ever be/ Yet it is only love/ which sets us free."
4. "Love Song," by Henry Dumas
"Beloved/ I have to adore the earth/ The wind must have heard/ your voice once/ It echoes and sings like you/ The soil must have tasted/ you once/ It is laden with your scent/ The trees honor you/ in gold/ and blush when you pass/ I know why the north country/ is frozen/ It has been trying to preserve/ your memory/ I know why the desert/ burns with fever/ It was wept too long without you/ On hands and knees/ the ocean begs up the beach/ and falls at your feet/ I have to adore/ the mirror of the earth/ You have taught her well/ how to be beautiful."
5. "On Marriage," by Kahlil Gibran
"…Love one another, but make not a bond/ of love/ Let it rather be a moving sea between/ the shores of your souls/ Fill each other's cup but drink not from/ one cup/ Give one another of your bread but eat/ not from the same loaf/ Sing and dance together and be joyous/ but let each one of you be alone/ Even as the strings of a lute are alone/ though they quiver with the same music/ Give your hearts, but not into each/ other's keeping/ For only the hand of Life can contain/ your hearts/ And stand together yet not too near/ together/ For the pillars of the temple stand apart/ And the oak tree and the cypress grow/ not in each other's shadow."
6. "[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]," by e.e. Cummings
"i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)/ i am never without it(anywhere/ i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done/ by only me is your doing my darling)/ i fear/ no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet) i want/ no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)/ and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant/ and whatever a sun will always sing is you/ here is the deepest secret nobody knows/ (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud/ and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows/ higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)/ and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart/ i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)"
7. "How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)," by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways/ I love thee to the depth and breadth and height/ My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight/ For the ends of being and ideal grace/ I love thee to the level of every day's/ Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light/ I love thee freely, as men strive for right/ I love thee purely, as they turn from praise/ I love thee with the passion put to use/ In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith/ I love thee with a love I seemed to lose/ With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath/ Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose/ I shall but love thee better after death."
8. "Fate," by Carolyn Wells
"Two shall be born the whole world wide apart/ And speak in different tongues, and pay their debts/ In different kinds of coin; and give no heed/ Each to the other's being. And know not/ That each might suit the other to a T/ If they were but correctly introduced/ And these, unconsciously, shall bend their steps/ Escaping Spaniards and defying war/ Unerringly toward the same trysting-place/ Albeit they know it not. Until at last/ They enter the same door, and suddenly/ They meet. And ere they've seen each other's face/ They fall into each other's arms, upon/ The Broadway cable car – and this is Fate!"
9. "To You," by Kenneth Koch
"I love you as a sheriff searches for a walnut/ That will solve a murder case unsolved for years/ Because the murderer left it in the snow beside a window/ Through which he saw her head, connecting with/ Her shoulders by a neck, and laid a red/ Roof in her heart. For this we live a thousand years/ For this we love, and we live because we love, we are not/ Inside a bottle, thank goodness! I love you as a/ Kid searches for a goat; I am crazier than shirttails/ In the wind, when you're near, a wind that blows from/ The big blue sea, so shiny so deep and so unlike us/ I think I am bicycling across an Africa of green and white fields/ Always, to be near you, even in my heart…"
10. "Sonnet 116," by William Shakespeare
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds/ Admit impediments; love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds/ Or bends with the remover to remove/ O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark/ That looks on tempests and is never shaken/ It is the star to every wand'ring bark/ Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken/ Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks/ Within his bending sickle's compass come/ Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks/ But bears it out even to the edge of doom/ If this be error and upon me proved/ I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
11. "To my Dear and Loving Husband," by Anne Bradstreet
"If ever two were one, then surely we/ If ever man were loved by wife, then thee/ If ever wife was happy in a man/ Compare with me, ye women, if you can/ I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold/ Or all the riches that the East doth hold/ My love is such that rivers cannot quench/ Nor ought but love from thee give recompense/ Thy love is such I can no way repay/ The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray/ Then while we live, in love let's so persever/ That when we live no more, we may live ever."
12. "I Love You Without Knowing How," by Pablo Neruda
"I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz/ or arrow of carnations that propagate fire/ I love you as one loves certain obscure things/ secretly, between the shadow and the soul/ I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom but carries/ the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself/ and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose/ from the earth lives dimly in my body/ I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where/ I love you directly without problems or pride/ I love you like this because I don't know any other way/ to love/ except in this form in which I am not nor are you/ so close that your hand upon my chest is mine/ so close that your eyes close with my dreams."
13. "Married Love," by Kuan Tao-Sheng
"You and I/ Have so much love/ That it/ Burns like a fire/ In which we bake a lump of clay/ Molded into a figure of you/ And a figure of me/ Then we take both of them/ And break them into pieces/ And mix the pieces with water/ And mold again a figure of you/ And a figure of me/ I am in your clay/ You are in my clay/ In life we share a single quilt/ In death we will share one bed."
14. "Love's Language," by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
"How does Love speak?/ In the faint flush upon the telltale cheek/ And in the pallor that succeeds it; by/ The quivering lid of an averted eye--/ The smile that proves the parent to a sigh/ Thus doth Love speak/ How does Love speak?/ By the uneven heart-throbs, and the freak/ Of bounding pulses that stand still and ache/ While new emotions, like strange barges, make/ Along vein-channels their disturbing course/ Still as the dawn, and with the dawn's swift force--/ Thus doth Love speak…"
15. "Before You Came," by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
"Before you came/ things were as they should be/ the sky was the dead-end of sight/ the road was just a road, wine merely wine/ Now everything is like my heart/ a color at the edge of blood/ the grey of your absence, the color of poison, of thorns/ the gold when we meet, the season ablaze/ the yellow of autumn, the red of flowers, of flames/ and the black when you cover the earth/ with the coal of dead fires/ And the sky, the road, the glass of wine?/ The sky is a shirt wet with tears/ the road a vein about to break/ and the glass of wine a mirror in which/ the sky, the road, the world keep changing."
Short Wedding Poems
When you want a brief verse for your program, a wedding blessing or a poem for a wedding ceremony, check out these options that keep it short and sweet.
16. "Love Comes Quietly," by Robert Creeley
"Love comes quietly/ finally, drops/ about me, on me/ in the old ways/ What did I know/ thinking myself/ able to go/ alone all the way."
17. "The Sun Never Says," by Hafiz
"Even/ After/ All this time/ The Sun never says to the Earth/ 'You owe me'/ Look/ What happens/ With a love like that/ It lights the whole sky."
18. "Yours," by Daniel Hoffman
"I am yours as the summer air at evening is/ Possessed by the scent of linden blossoms/ As the snowcap gleams with light/ Lent it by the brimming moon/ Without you I'd be an unleafed tree/ Blasted in a bleakness with no Spring/ Your love is the weather of my being/ What is an island without the sea?"
19. "The Wine of Love," by James Thomson
"The wine of Love is music/ And the feast of Love is song/ And when Love sits down to the banquet/ Love sits long/ Sits long and ariseth drunken/ But not with the feast and the wine/ He reeleth with his own heart/ That great rich Vine."
20. "It is Here," by Harold Pinter
"What sound was that?/ I turn away, into the shaking room/ What was that sound that came in on the dark?/ What is this maze of light it leaves us in?/ What is this stance we take/ To turn away and then turn back?/ What did we hear?/ It was the breath we took when we first met/ Listen. It is here."
21. "A Love Song for Lucinda," by Langston Hughes
"Love/ Is a ripe plum/ Growing on a purple tree/ Taste it once/ And the spell of its enchantment/ Will never let you be/ Love/ Is a bright star/ Glowing in far Southern skies/ Look too hard/ And its burning flame/ Will always hurt your eyes/ Love/ Is a high mountain/ Stark in a windy sky/ If you/ Would never lose your breath/ Do not climb too high."
22. "Defeated by Love," by Rumi
"The sky was lit/ by the splendor of the moon/ So powerful/ I fell to the ground/ Your love/ has made me sure/ I am ready to forsake/ this worldly life/ and surrender/ to the magnificence/ of your Being."
Funny Wedding Poems
Love doesn't have to be serious all of the time, especially if you're a couple who loves to laugh together. These witty wedding poems will give you and your guests a cute chuckle.
23. "Yes, I'll Marry You My Dear," by Pam Ayres
"Yes, I'll marry you, my dear/ And here's the reason why/ So I can push you out of bed/ When the baby starts to cry/ And if we hear a knocking/ And it's creepy and it's late/ I hand you the torch you see/ And you investigate/ Yes I'll marry you, my dear/ You may not apprehend it/ But when the tumble-drier goes/ It's you that has to mend it/ You have to face the neighbour/ Should our labrador attack him/ And if a drunkard fondles me/ It's you that has to whack him/ Yes, I'll marry you, my dear/ You're virile and you're lean/ My house is like a pigsty/ You can help to keep it clean/ That sexy little dinner/ Which you served by candlelight/ As I do chipolatas/ You can cook it every night…"
24. "How Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog," by Taylor Mali
"…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 out for a nice long walk/ Because love loves exercise. It will run you around the block/ and leave you panting, breathless. Pull you in different directions/ at once, or wind itself around and around you/ until you're all wound up and you cannot 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."
25. "Candy Love," by Terra Mobley
Fly away with me, my dove/ To a forbidden place where the skittles meet the rainbow/ Lay under the Milky Way with me/ And lets gaze at the star burst together/ Just you and me, sweet bliss/ When the moon begins to eclipse, we'll be in each other's arms/ I never knew how much of a sweet tart you could be/ There are zero people like you/ You're my lifesaver in this unforgiving world/ I love all your little snickers/ And I feel safe when you wrap your butterfingers around me/ I want to share all of your kisses/ Now and later, always and forever/ You're all the payday I'll ever need/ I wouldn't trade you for 100 grand/ All because I love my sweet gummy bear."
26. "Kiss Me," by Jim Ellis
"Kiss me kiss me if you dare/ I really doubt you'll do it/ Kiss me kiss me I don't care/ There's really nothing to it/ Pucker up those lips of yours/ Place them on my own/ Come find out just what's in store/ I'll chill ya to the bone/ Love me love me if you can/ It makes the kissing nicer/ A kiss like yours just can't be planned/ It makes things really nice here/
Wed me wed me take me away/ Fulfill my fondest wish/ Then kiss me every single day/ And at night, hey, how about a kiss."
27. "Loving an Xbox vs. Me," by Sarah Allen
"I don't have a controller/ And I don't have a screen/ I don't need to be plugged in/ I'm not grey and green/ I can't make sound effects/ Or visuals that are fantastic/ You can't put me on a shelf/ Because I'm not made of plastic/ However, I do have curves/ Will keep you entertained all the same/ You can't insert a disc/ But we can make our own little game."
28. "Our Love," by Martin Dejnicki
I'm truly grateful/ I can't complain/ The love that we share/ has infected my brain/ Precious sweet love/ others can't find/ But we managed to find it/ it's crazy and blind/ I'm not saying at all/ that our love is weird/ But if it was alive/ it'd have horns and a beard/ The bottom line is/ I love you and care/ We certainly make/ a wacky old pair/ You kiss like a monkey/ allow me to share/ When you get upset/ you scream like a bear/ All jokes aside/ I love you my dear/ I know you shall serve me/ for the rest of the year.
29. "Stuck On You," by Kenneth J. Miller
"You're sucrose, you're glucose/ You're fructose and more/ From your head to your feet…/ Which are stuck to the floor/ You're Hershey's, you're Snickers/ You're sweet English Toffee/ If you spit in my cup/ You'll just sweeten my coffee/ I love you so much
That I'm getting frenetic/ But I can't even kiss you/ 'cause I'm diabetic."
30. "Sweet Misery," by Susanna Rose
"When I fell in love with you/ it made a wreck of me/ I feel so dazed and dizzy/ that it's hard for me to see/ I get too hot and sweat a lot/ I hardly eat a bite/ My pulse beats like a kettle drum/ and keeps me up at night/ My stomach hurts, and I go down
as if I've got the bends/ Love's causing me sweet misery–/ I hope it never ends!"
Modern Wedding Poems
Find a fresh take with poetry written for your generation. These wedding poems for couples offer a modern take on love and romance.
31. "Our Souls Are Mirrors," by Rupi Kaur
"god must have kneaded you and I/ from the same dough/ rolled us out as one on the baking sheet/ must have suddenly realized/ how unfair it was/ to put that much magic in one person/ and sadly split that dough in two/ how else is it that/ when i look in the mirror/ i am looking at you/ when you breathe/ my own lungs fill with air/ that we just met but we/ have known each other our whole lives/ if we were not made as one to begin with"
32. "My Lips Have Kissed Her," by David D. Irby
"My lips have kissed her lips. Now I know why/ the timid sun arises with each day/ I understand what moves the birds to fly/ and why the trees within the breezes sway/ My lips have kissed her lips. I can't deny/ that it has moved me to my very soul/ The rules of intellect do not apply/ One kiss, and I have lost all self-control/ My lips have kissed her lips. I must comply/ with wishes that my heart cannot ignore/ My feelings now can surely justify/ that I go back and ask her lips for more."
33. "L O V E…," by Susan Jarvis Bryant
"It's not a dozen scentless hothouse roses/ It's not a chocolate-box of sweet cliché/ It's not the scorching kiss that lust imposes/ To lead the fired and fevered flesh astray/ It's not an aphrodisiacal dinner/ Or sighs in dizzy highs of fine Champagne/ It's not a pricy pledge placed on a finger/ If Always means till youth and fervor wane/ It's words all selfless souls have thought and spoken/ It's songs that soar above the spinning sphere/ It's heaven's gift, a glorious golden token/ That shines its rays when days are dark and drear/ It's ears that hear the fear beneath our laughter/ It's eyes that warm us when our world is cold/ It's hands that hold us here and ever after/ Beyond the age when bones and hope grow old…"
34. "My Undeniable Miracle," by John Mark Green
"In you/ I have finally found all I/ never dared dream I could/ deserve or have – the kind/ of love that is rare/ Being known in a way that/ touches the deepest parts/ of me. Accepted in a way/ that blows my mind/ In you/ the love I have always / desired to give now has a / place to call home. I have/ been a skeptic but you are my undeniable miracle/ The questions don't matter/ anymore. We have finally/ found each other, and that/ is enough."
35. "Atlas," by U.A. Fanthorpe
"There is a kind of love called maintenance/ Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it/ Which checks the insurance, and doesn't forget/ The milkman; which remembers to plant bulbs/ Which answers letters; which knows the way/ The money goes; which deals with dentists/ And Road Fund Tax and meeting trains/ And postcards to the lonely; which upholds/ The permanently rickety elaborate/ Structures of living, which is Atlas/ And maintenance is the sensible side of love/ Which knows what time and weather are doing/ To my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring/ Laughs at my dryrotten jokes; remembers/ My need for gloss and grouting; which keeps/ My suspect edifice upright in air/ As Atlas did the sky."