21 Wedding Poems Short and Easy to Read

If you’re searching for short wedding poems with heartfelt meaning, look no further. Whether you’re the Maid of Honour, Mother of the Bride, or simply a nervous speaker, a brief and beautiful verse for a wedding reading can add warmth and personality to the wedding ceremony, without the pressure of memorising a long passage.

We’ve handpicked a thoughtful collection of wedding poems short and easy to read, yet deeply meaningful enough to bring everyone to tears. These verses span romantic, spiritual, classic, and whimsical tones, perfect for readings, vows, or wedding day keepsakes.

Romantic and Timeless Wedding Poems

She Walks In Beauty by Lord Byron

Printable version

Perfect for romantic ceremonies, this classic captures the grace of a bride with lyrical charm. You can read the full poem during a moment of reflection or as the bride enters for a variant on the traditional walk out songs.

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Okay, so this might not be the easiest and best wedding love poem to read if you struggle with words. The best advice is to read it aloud first, and see how you get on.

How do you pronounce o’er?

The word “o’er” is a poetic contraction of “over”, commonly used in older or more lyrical forms of English. You pronounce “o’er” the same as “o-ver”, just without the “v” sound.

So it sounds like “or” (like in “more” or “door”)

It’s typically used for rhythm or rhyme in poetry, like in the above “waves in every raven tress, / Or softly lightens o’er her face”, which adds to the classic or romantic tone to the line.

The One by Cheryl J. Barclay

Printable version

A heartfelt, modern take on soulmates and shared futures that is ideal for close family or best friends reading at the reception or ceremony. The One is a popular short wedding poem at all types of services.

When the one whose hand you’re holding
Is the one one who holds your heart
When the one whose eyes you gaze into
Gives your hopes and dreams their start,
When the one you think of first and last
Is the one who holds you tight,
And the things you plan together
Make the whole world seem just right,
When the one whom you believe in
puts their faith and trust in you,
You’ve found the one and only love
You’ll share your whole life through.

Sentimental Verses for Speeches and Readings

Promise (Author Unknown)

Printable version

A gentle, rhythmic poem ideal for those who want a sweet but simple reading that still has enough romance.

A marriage is a promise
That two hearts gladly make
A promise to be tender
To help, to give and take

A marriage is a promise
To be kind and understanding
To be thoughtful and considerate
Fair and undemanding

A marriage is a promise
To share one life together
A love-filled promise meant to be
Kept lovingly forever

Spiritual and Blessing-Inspired Poems

Wedding Prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson

Printable version

A spiritual and timeless blessing that suits traditional union or faith-based ceremonies.

Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
for the love that unites us,
for the peace accorded us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow,
for the health, the work, the food,
and the bright skies that make our lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth.

May This Marriage Be Blessed (Attributed to Rumi)

Printable version

A poetic, spiritual blessing rich in imagery and commitment meaning.

May these vows and this marriage be blessed.
May it be sweet milk,
this marriage, like wine and halvah.
May this marriage offer fruit and shade
like the date palm.
May this marriage be full of laughter,
our every day a day in paradise.
May this marriage be a sign of compassion,
a seal of happiness here and hereafter.
May this marriage have a fair face and a good name,
an omen as welcomes the moon in a clear blue sky.
I am out of words to describe
how spirit mingles in this marriage.

Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley (often mistaken for Elizabeth Bishop)

Printable version

A romantic metaphor for love’s natural connection, affection and partnership.

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean…

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever,
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine
In one another’s being mingle:-
Why not I with thine?

See! the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
Now sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:-
What are all these kissing’s worth,
If thou kiss not me?

Whimsical and Light-Hearted Wedding Poems

Us Two by A.A. Milne (from Winnie the Pooh)

Printable version

A charming, playful poem that works beautifully for childhood sweethearts.

Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,

There’s always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do too,

“Where are you going today?” says Pooh:
“Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.
“Let’s go together,” , says he.
“Let’s go together,” says Pooh.

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,
We can stick together, says Pooh, says he. “That’s how it is,” says Pooh.

Verses That Celebrate Enduring Love

True Love (Author Unknown)

Printable version

A universal and heartfelt declaration of love.

True love is a sacred flame
That burns eternally
And none can dim its special glow
Or change its destiny
True love speaks in tender tones
And hears with gentle ear
True love gives with open heart
And true love conquers fear
True love makes no harsh demands
It neither rules nor binds
And true love holds with gentle hands
The heart that it entwines

poems for your wedding should show your love and devotion to each other

Short Poems About Marriage and Living Together

This Day I Married My Best Friend (Author Unknown)

Printable version

Short marriage poems for the bride to be or groom, especially during vows.

This day I married my best friend.
The one I laugh with as we share life’s wonderous zest,
As we find new enjoyments and experience all that’s best.
The one I live for because the world seems brighter,
As our happy times are better and our burdens feel much lighter.
The one I love with every fibre of my soul.
We used to feel vaguely incomplete, now together we are whole

Habitation (Margaret Atwood)

Printable version

A raw and real portrayal of what long-term love looks like.

Marriage is not
a house or even a tent
it is before that, and colder:

the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcorn

the edge of the receding glacier
where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this far

we are learning to make fire

Reader submitted recommendations

Well, thanks for the deluge of suggestions by email. I’ve added some here.

A Blessing for The Journey (by Sensei Wendy Egyoku Nakao)

Perfect for non-religious or interfaith weddings.

Let us vow to bear witness to the wholeness of life,
realizing the completeness of each and every thing.
Embracing our differences, I shall know myself as you,
and you as myself.
May we serve each other for all our days,
here, there, and everywhere.​

Let us vow to open ourselves to the abundance of life.
Freely giving and receiving, I shall care for you,
for the trees and stars, as treasures of my very own.
May we be grateful for all our days,
here, there, and everywhere.​
Let us vow to forgive all hurt, caused by ourselves and others,
and to never condone hurtful ways.
Being responsible for my actions, I shall free myself and you.
Will you free me, too?
May we be kind for all our days,
here, there, and everywhere.​

Let us vow to remember that all that appears will disappear.
In the midst of uncertainty, I shall sow love.
Here! Now! I call to you:
Let us together live
The Great Peace that we are.
May we give no fear for all our days,
here, there, and everywhere.​

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

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W. B. Yeats

Very fitting for short readings by a friend or family member.

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.​

How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever

All I Know About Love (Neil Gaiman)

Warm, humorous, and full of real-world heart.

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.

Object Permanence (Nicole Sealey)

Poignant and elegant, about the constancy of love. Good for modern couples seeking an emotionally intelligent voice.

We wake as if surprised the other is still there,

each petting the sheet to be sure.

 

How have we managed our way

to this bed—beholden to heat like dawn

indebted to light. Though we’re not so self-

important as to think everything

has led to this, everything has led to this.

 

There’s a name for the animal

love makes of us—named, I think,

like rain, for the sound it makes.

 

You are the animal after whom other animals

are named. Until there’s none left to laugh,

days will start with the same startle

and end with caterpillars gorged on milkweed.

 

O, how we entertain the angels

with our brief animation. O,

how I’ll miss you when we’re dead.

The Confirmation (Edwin Muir)

An under-the-radar gem; simple, grounded, and sincere. Lovely for vows or a reading from a parent or elder.

Yes, yours, my love, is the right human face.
I in my mind had waited for this long,
Seeing the false and searching for the true,
Then found you as a traveller finds a place
Of welcome suddenly amid the wrong
Valleys and rocks and twisting roads. But you,
What shall I call you? A fountain in a waste,
A well of water in a country dry,
Or anything that’s honest and good, an eye
That makes the whole world seem bright. Your open heart,
Simple with giving, gives the primal deed,
The first good world, the blossom, the blowing seed,
The hearth, the steadfast land, the wandering sea.
Not beautiful or rare in every part.
But like yourself, as they were meant to be.

Sonnet 116 (William Shakespeare)

A classic that’s stood the test of time. Elegant and ideal for traditional or formal weddings.

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-fixed 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.

What is a Sonnet?

A sonnet is a type of poem that traditionally has 14 lines, follows a specific rhyme scheme, and is often written in iambic pentameter (a rhythm with 10 syllables per line, alternating unstressed and stressed syllables).

A Shakespearean Sonnet Structure is 3 quatrains (4-line stanzas) and 1 couplet (2-line stanza)

A Red, Red Rose (Robert Burns)

A Scottish classic full of passion and promise. Especially lovely for cultural weddings or romantic themes.

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

As fair are thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my Dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve!
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!

Chaos Theory (Clint Smith)

A unique and modern love poem built on the butterfly effect. Ideal for couples who appreciate a poetic yet philosophical approach.

If twenty million years ago
the butterfly flew in a different
direction do you think
we would have met, maybe
we wouldn’t have even been
people, maybe we wouldn’t
have even been us, you know,
maybe you would have
been a tortoise and I would
be a raspberry,
maybe we would both be plants
on opposite sides of the same
coral reef, so that we could
have been connected without
ever having met,
maybe I would be an oak cut
down to be the home that held
you, maybe I would have never
been, maybe the butterfly’s wings
would have blown the seed
into the river
and away from the soil
which otherwise would have
become a bush of blueberries
which otherwise would have
been eaten by a squirrel or
some other prehistoric rodent
which otherwise
would have died
in a field of milkweeds
which otherwise would have
been carried by the wind
to another place
which otherwise might have
gotten caught in the feathers
of the bird which otherwise
might have flown to the other
side of the sea I could go on
but what I mean to say
is that it would have been
such a tragedy
if something happened
that would have prevented me
from meeting you
like a butterfly
who didn’t realize it was flying
in the wrong direction.

Love Sonnet XVII – Pablo Neruda

Sensual and full of devotion. Best for intimate, romantic moments.

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.

Note: A Petrarchan (or Italian) Sonnet Structure is 1 octave (8 lines) and 1 sestet (6 lines)

Honourable Mentions

• “Wedding Toast” – James Bertolino
• “Lines Depicting Simple Happiness” – Peter Gizzi
• “Before You Came” – Faiz Ahmed Faiz
• “La Vita Nuova” excerpt – Dante Alighieri (“Here begins a new life”)

We hope that one of these verses captures your imagination, just print them out for a reading during the wedding speeches or the arrival at your wedding reception. If you have any poems to read at a wedding for a newly married couple, just let us know.

How to Use These Poems

• Include one in the ceremony as a reading by a loved one.
• Print them on your order of service or menus.
• Use as vows or during reception speeches.
• Share them with guests as part of your wedding keepsake.

Tip: Save or print these poems in a booklet for your officiant, bridal party, or guests who may be doing a reading. Short, sweet, and meaningful, the perfect ingredients for a lasting memory.

Whether you favour poetic classics or modern declarations of love, there’s a short wedding poem here to suit every style and setting.