5 Tips for Putting Powerful Words to Work at Your Wedding

Cecily Breaux

Putting the the World's Most Powerful Words to Work at Your Wedding

5 Tips for Success

I recently attended a wedding that I believe was the most memorable I have ever seen. And it was the words that did it. The bride used love poems in several key parts of the ceremony. It was her tribute to what love - what life - is all about.

As I listened I felt my husband's hand taking mine. In fact, looking around I could see couples all around the church hugging and leaning together as they listened - remembering and sharing. I still tear up when I think about it.

The wedding wasn't the most elaborate or expensive, but it was the most touching and beautiful. In fact, it was this experience that led to me to write these articles. Every bride deserves a wedding like that.

Tips to Using Poetry in Your Wedding

I cannot recommend using love poetry too highly. They can be powerful - and also witty, erotic, and funny. The only limit is your imagination... and the poems you can manage to assemble.

Here are some tips so you can use love poems in your wedding effectively:

1.	Observe Copyright Laws Strictly speaking, unless a poem is in the public domain or you have explicit permission to use it, reading it at your wedding or sending it out on your invitations is illegal. It is unlikely, of course, that you will be prosecuted. However, if you have any lawyers in your audience, they'll probably know all this. A lawyer at my friend's wedding was "kind enough" to point out her mistake at the reception hall. Needless to say, the bride found it quite embarrassing when the guests were talking about how she broke the law.
2.	Don't Write Your Own (I should say don't write your own unless you are very, very good.) Poetry is difficult to write, much harder than prose - like vows, for example. Few of us have much practice writing poetry. So unless you are the exception, I wouldn't experiment with an event as important as your wedding. Besides, you will find that choosing the right poem can be just as impressive as writing it yourself. It's also less likely to make people snicker.
3.	Watch the Tone You don't want to use a poem that is too light or cutesy for your ceremony or invitations. Likewise, pick something less formal for the reception or bridal shower - maybe even something a little bawdy.
4.	Consider Classics Nothing speaks tradition like using poems by Shakespeare or Whitman or Shelly. People are often moved to remember that our most cherished feelings are timeless. Finding the right selection might be more difficult, but certainly worth the effort.
5.	Understand What They Mean This may sound ridiculous, but be careful. Poetry is sometimes difficult to interpret. Mythological and historical allusions are often obscure. Archaic words - like betwixt and doth - appear. Then there's Yoda-speak. You know... twisting the order of verbs and nouns for poetic effect - like Yoda in the Star Wars movies. To read very difficult it is. Make sure your poem is saying what you think it's saying and not something else (which may be inappropriate!).

Finding Good Poems

There are lots of love poems scattered all over the Internet. You can buy books or just surf the Web from site to site to find some for free. There are sites that offer free poems - mostly to entice you to buy other things, like favors.

My experience has been that most are not well suited for the kind of search needed to find poems that are suitable for weddings... but they are out there and they are free.

If you would like to save lots of time and effort and dramatically increase the likelihood of finding something you like, then you may be interested in taking a look at the selections I have compiled for you.

To take a look, click here.

Continue to Next Page