Help me find a shared wedding reading!

March 26, 2010 8:07 AM

Help me find readings that two people can read together on my wedding day!

I'm really struggling to find a wedding reading or poem that lends itself to being read by two people. Does anyone have any ideas? Ideally I'd like something not too soppy, and if possible slighly light-hearted or that could be said in a comic way, but having trawled through so many threads on here and countless poem books, I'm stuck!

posted by farfaraway to writing & language (7 answers total)

I have recommended this before, but I like John Ciardi's "Most Like an Arch This Marriage." It's written in a single voice, but I think it could be read as two. And it is short and pretty easy to memorize.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:25 AM on March 26, 2010

You know what are usually written for 2+ people? Plays. Romeo & Juliet is an obvious place to look. I'm partial to Cyrano de Bergerac. Our town has some good stuff too.
posted by craven_morhead at 8:26 AM on March 26, 2010

High school forensics material might be a place to look for good two-character, short segments of theater or fiction that don't rely on props or a lot of physical movement (competitors have no props and are pretty limited in terms of the movements they're allowed to make, so pieces are chosen accordingly). Competitors typically perform pieces that are under 10 minutes, and you might find something you could trim down further. Start with terms like "duo interpretation," "duet acting," or "humorous interpretation." Keep in mind that some of the individual categories have students performing pieces with multiple characters. You could start with something like this forum, or see if you can find a hard copy of a theater/forensics anthology at the library (like this one).
posted by Meg_Murry at 8:59 AM on March 26, 2010

There's some good stuff in Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas - some of it funny, some of it sad, almost all of it utterly, terribly, wonderfully romantic:

MR EDWARDS
Myfanwy Price!

MISS PRICE
Mr Mog Edwards!

MR EDWARDS
I am a draper mad with love. I love you more than all the
flannelette and calico, candlewick, dimity, crash and merino,
tussore, cretonne, crepon, muslin, poplin, ticking and twill
in the whole Cloth Hall of the world.

I have come to take you away to my Emporium on the hill, where
the change hums on wires. Throw away your little bedsocks and
your Welsh wool knitted jacket, I will warm the sheets like an
electric toaster, I will lie by your side like the Sunday roast.

MISS PRICE
I will knit you a wallet of forget-me-not blue, for the
money, to be comfy. I will warm your heart by the fire so
that you can slip it in under your vest when the shop is
closed.

MR EDWARDS
Myfanwy, Myfanwy, before the mice gnaw at your bottom drawer
will you say

MISS PRICE
Yes, Mog, yes, Mog, yes, yes, yes.

MR EDWARDS
And all the bells of the tills of the town shall ring for
our wedding.

[Noise of money-tills and chapel bells]

Goddam, if someone had read that at my wedding, we'd have happily drowned in salty tears.
posted by Jofus at 9:08 AM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

We had someone read Taylor Mali's "Falling in love is Like Owning a Dog" at our wedding. It's light hearted and sweet and easily read by two people.

Here's a bonus pic of a dog in a tuxedo dancing at a wedding.
posted by mrsshotglass at 9:19 AM on March 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

Oh, this could be done by 2 people. Love You Like That, by Shane Hawley:

Be patient
Because I love you a lot
But I want to love you
Like the weight of a freight train crashing into your chest
Like a slow motion sunrise on rewind
Like the valentine’s time bomb that I mailed to your address
I want to love you like spam
So mushy that it’s gross yeah
I wanna love you like that

I wanna love you like spiderman
All sticky and clingy and shit
And like batman all hardcore and repressed
And like wolveriene
Which I should not have to spell out for your people
And I wanna love ya gently
Like ducks

I wanna love ya like water is wet
Like martinis are dry
Like when limbos get low
And when skaters get high yeah
I wanna love ya like that

I wanna love ya like anything in old English
Amazing but impossible to understand
I wanna love you til it freaks you out
Like the church of scientology or Michael Jackson’s Face

I wanna love ya hard like calculus
Easy like cheerleaders
Soft like chinchillas
And sensitive like hair triggers

I wanna love like when the heavens open up
And the stars start to dance on a pitch black tapestry
And the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie

I wanna love ya
Like the abominable snowman loves his little bunny rabbit
Like Mr. T loves gold chains and pittying fools

I wanna love ya like dogs love Frisbees
Like pyramus loves thisbee
Like santa claus does chimneys
And like my dad loves whiskey
Yeah, I wanna love you like that

I wanna love ya gorgeous like a beauty queen
Psycho like a drama queen
And fabulous like a drag queen yeah
I wanna love ya like that

I wanna love ya like the one couple in this room who had really great sex last night
Mixed
With the one couple in this room who fell asleep in front of the tv last night
So that for the rest of our lives
During every commercial break
We go at it like animals
I wanna love ya like that

I wanna love ya like Christina agulierra is dirty
Like M&M is white
Like carson daily is lame
And like paris Hilton sucks
Or at least how I imagine she sucks

I wanna love you like tom cruise
All types of crazy baby I wanna love ya like Jessica Simpson
Hot
And really slow yeah
I wanna love ya like that

I wanna love ya like bears give hugs
Like windchimes slow dance
Like raindrops kiss foreheads
And like hands read braile

I wanna love you broken like morse code
Humble like pie
Always like taxes
And perfect
Like the distance from your eyelashes to my glasses

I wanna love ya like driving in a Minnesota winter
A little scary because its impossible to stop so be patient
Because I love you a lot
But one day I’m gonna love ya like that
posted by craven_morhead at 9:34 AM on March 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

Our officiant read an excerpt from I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg.

It's written in the first person and could totally be read to each other. Full text here.
posted by misskaz at 10:18 AM on March 26, 2010