Fun wedding readings that deal with adoption?

March 30, 2016 5:43 PM

My fiance and I are getting married, and he'll be officially adopting my 6-year-old son immediately afterwards. We'd like to incorporate the (impending) adoption into the wedding ceremony. The officiant will adjust the language, but we're also hoping to find a great reading that addresses parent-child relationships or adoption in some way. Ideas?

We're looking for something short and secular, skewing towards silly rather than serious. We've loved some of the general suggestions here and here on the green. In case it's relevant, kiddo is thrilled to be able to officially call his dad "Dad" - no mixed feelings.

posted by cogitron to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

This is all I've got, but it's maybe too serious, or not wedding appropriate?

“I don't care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching--they are your family.”
― Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty
posted by gudrun at 6:36 PM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

This one is an oldie, very popular in the 1970's. "He" is mentioned but other than that, it's fairly secular and the point is that children come through us but not from us... well, just give it a read and see if you think it's appropriate for your situation. Oh and congratulations!
posted by Lynsey at 10:22 PM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Maybe too silly, but how about Dr Seuss, Oh the Places You'll go, and substitute "we'll" for the you"ll. It's a bit long but maybe just some quotes.
posted by starfish at 5:20 AM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Something we did at our wedding for my young stepson---instead of a guest book, we got a Lego house and made a small display with some of the pieces, and a black sharpie. We had all the guests sign a Lego piece and we used them to build the house together after the wedding. The house came with a man and woman Minifig---we bought a child Minifig for him off eBay and at the moment during the speeches where we explained the Lego house guestbook, we called him up to ceremonially add the child Minifig to the box.

He was 5 at the time, but fwiw he got it right away---saw the house, saw the tiny people---that one is Daddy, that one is Jo---where's me? And when we built the house after, he was giddy to find the perfect spot to put his guy. We still have that little house displayed and he comments on it every time he walks by.
posted by JoannaC at 5:51 AM on March 31, 2016 [7 favorites]

Drawing a blank on the reading so far, but a friend married a guy with a son, and during the ceremony they presented him with a meaningful charm on a chain as a symbol of his bond with her. It was really sweet.
posted by BibiRose at 6:06 AM on March 31, 2016

The Animal Family, by Randall Jarrell.

It's a children's book, written by a poet. I loved it as a child, I love it now; I have read it, over the phone, to another adult, who also loved it.

A hunter lives by the sea. He woos a mermaid; they are fascinated by each other's differences. One day the hunter brings home a bear cub. Later, a lynx. After a bad storm, the lynx finds a lifeboat on the shore: inside is a drowned woman, and a boy. Eventually, when the boy is older, he likes to tell the story of how the lynx found him; but he believes that really, he has always lived with the hunter and the mermaid. The mermaid and the hunter enjoy replying that he has lived with him always, and he says "no -- the lynx found me."

You might try the book out, just as a book. (The drowned woman is barely mentioned, but obviously you'll want to screen the book first.) If your son likes it too, perhaps you can pick out a paragraph together.
posted by feral_goldfish at 12:41 PM on March 31, 2016