Fun, Different, and Quirky Wedding Readings: Part III

For the third part of this series on wedding readings I look at inspiring songs that make for great wedding readings. I will admit that it was only at a good friend’s wedding that I was first exposed to the idea of using song lyrics as a wedding reading. I had only ever thought that songs were meant to be played as background music, but not any longer!

You can use them in place of readings (using all or part of the song), the couple can perform them (one of my favorite wedding the bride and her maids of honor walked up playing ukuleles and performed a song for the groom), have them preformed by any of your musically inclined guests, or even start a group sing-a-long!

If you use it as a reading, my recommendation is to not read the song as it would be sung. It can be tempting to read at the rhythm of the song, but don’t. Read it like a poem with deliberate pauses between lines so that everyone can fully appreciate the beautiful lyrics.  However, if you are singing then go all out!

From The Movie The Wedding Singer Adam Sandler

I wanna make you smile,

Whenever you’re sad.

Carry you around when your arthritis is bad.

All I wanna do,

Is grow old with you.

 

I’ll get you medicine,

When your tummy aches.

Build you a fire if the furnace breaks.

Oh it could be so nice,

Growin’ 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 when you’ve had too much to drink.

Oh I could be the man,

Who grows old with you.

I wanna grow old with you.

 

 

“Forever” by Ben Harper

Not talkin’ ’bout a year

No not three or four

I don’t want that kind of forever

In my life anymore

Forever always seems

to be around when it begins

but forever never seems

to be around when it ends

So give me your forever

Please your forever

Not a day less will do From you

 

People spend so much time

Every single day

Runnin’ ’round all over town

Givin’ their forever away

But no not me

I won’t let my forever roam

and now I hope I can find

my forever a home

So give me your forever

Please your forever

Not a day less will do

From you

 

Like a handless clock with numbers

An infinite of time

No not the forever found

Only in the mind

Forever always seems

to be around when things begin

but forever never seems

to be around when things end

So give me your forever

Please your forever

Not a day less will do

From you

 

“Make You Feel My Love” by Adele

When the rain is blowing in your face,

And the whole world is on your case,

I could offer you a warm embrace

To make you feel my love.

 

When the 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 will 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,

And I’d go crawling down the avenue.

No, 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

To make you feel my love

 

 

“Better Together” by Jack Johnson

There is no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard

No song that I could sing, but I can try for your heart

Our dreams, and they are made out of real things

Like a, shoebox of photographs

With sepia-toned loving

Love is the answer,

At least for most of the questions in my heart

Like why are we here? And where do we go?

And how come it’s so hard?

It’s not always easy and

Sometimes life can be deceiving

I’ll tell you one thing, it’s always better when we’re together

 

Mmm, it’s always better when we’re together

Yeah, we’ll look at the stars when we’re together

Well, it’s always better when we’re together

Yeah, it’s always better when we’re together

 

And all of these moments

Just might find their way into my dreams tonight

But I know that they’ll be gone

When the morning light sings

And brings new things

For tomorrow night you see

That they’ll be gone too

Too many things I have to do

But if all of these dreams might find their way

Into my day to day scene

I’d be under the impression

I was somewhere in between

With only two

Just me and you

Not so many things we got to do

Or places we got to be

We’ll sit beneath the mango tree now

 

Yeah, it’s always better when we’re together

Mmm, we’re somewhere in between together

Well, it’s always better when we’re together

Yeah, it’s always better when we’re together

 

I believe in memories

They look so, so pretty when I sleep

Hey now, and when I wake up,

You look so pretty sleeping next to me

But there is not enough time,

And there is no, no song I could sing

And there is no combination of words I could say

But I will still tell you one thing

We’re better together.

 

“In My Life” by John Lennon

There are places I’ll remember

All my life though some have changed

Some forever not for better

Some have gone and some remain

All these places have their moments

With lovers and friends I still can recall

Some are dead and some are living

In my life I’ve loved them all

 

But of all these friends and lovers

There is no one compares with you

And these memories lose their meaning

When I think of love as something new

Though I know I’ll never lose affection

For people and things that went before

I know I’ll often stop and think about them

In my life I love you more

 

Though I know I’ll never lose affection

For people and things that went before

I know I’ll often stop and think about them

In my life I love you more

In my life I love you more