24 Wedding Poems to Add More Joy to the Big Day

Poetry has a powerful way of capturing our attention and describing emotional moments in the most touching way. It’s no wonder wedding poems remain a popular choice for speeches, vows, and toasts. The right wedding words can inspire tears of joy and have everyone feeling the love. But how do you choose the perfect love poem for the big day? We’re glad you asked.

How to Find the Perfect Wedding Poem

Whether you’re the person getting married or someone the newlyweds have asked to share a few words, there are a few things to consider before you choose a wedding poem. Keep in mind that wedding poems are a great idea for wedding vows, wedding readings, toasts, cards, and digital invitations.

Think About the Tone

Some wedding poems are traditional and formal in nature, while others are much more modern and unusual. Look for a poem that matches the tone of the event and the moment when you’re actually sharing the poem. Consider whether you want a traditional sonnet as part of the wedding ceremony or a few quirky lines for a toast to the happy couple on their special day.

Consider the Couple’s Favorite Figures

If you’re choosing a wedding poem as part of a speech or toast, ask the happy couple if there are any particular poets or writers they love. You can then choose a poet they relate to or admire as a special way to honor their own personal connection.

Practice Saying It Aloud

To avoid stumbling over your words on the big day, choose a poem that you feel confident saying out loud. Reciting the poem aloud is also a good way to see if it’ll fit within the moment — you might find it’s too long and complicated for your vows, or it’s too short for your wedding ceremony reading. You might also discover that a traditional poem doesn’t suit you and opt for something more contemporary or casual instead.

Personalize It

Once you’ve found the perfect poem, don’t be afraid to experiment with it a little. Add a few personalized lines to the start or end of the poem, or ground it by telling a story about the two soulmates beforehand. This works great as part of a ceremony speech or a wedding day toast, where you can lead the audience on a journey.

9 Traditionally Romantic Wedding Poems

We love these traditional wedding poems that are truly timeless. These classics are favorites among couples and speech givers alike for their romance, depth, and familiarity. These traditional poems work great for a more formal ceremony or toast, and would also look wonderful printed and displayed at the reception venue as decor.

1. I Carry Your Heart by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

2. How Do I Love Thee? 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 candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love with a 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.

3. Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

4. This Marriage by Rumi

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.

5. Touched by An Angel by Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love’s light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

6. Love Is A Place by E. E. Cummings

love is a place

& through this place of

love move

(with brightness of peace)

all places

yes is a world

& in this world of

yes live

(skilfully curled)

all worlds

7. Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

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 prov’d,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

8. To Be One With Each Other by George Eliot

What greater thing is there for two human souls

than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen

each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow,

to share with each other in all gladness,

to be one with each other in the

silent unspoken memories?

9. To Love Is Not to Possess by James Kavanaugh

To love is not to possess,

To own or imprison,

Nor to lose one’s self in another.

Love is to join and separate,

To walk alone and together,

To find a laughing freedom

That lonely isolation does not permit.

It is finally to be able

To be who we really are

No longer clinging in childish dependency

Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,

It is to be perfectly one’s self

And perfectly joined in permanent commitment

To another–and to one’s inner self.

Love only endures when it moves like waves,

Receding and returning gently or passionately,

Or moving lovingly like the tide

In the moon’s own predictable harmony,

Because finally, despite a child’s scars

Or an adult’s deepest wounds,

They are openly free to be

Who they really are–and always secretly were,

In the very core of their being

Where true and lasting love can alone abide.

10 Beautifully Unusual Wedding Poems

Fancy something a little more unusual for your speech, toast, greeting, or vows? These quirky, offbeat, and more contemporary wedding poems could be perfect for you. With modern poems often being shorter than their traditional counterparts, these are ideal for contemporary ceremonies and elopements.

1. Excerpt from First Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke

Understand, I’ll slip quietly away from the noisy crowd

when I see the pale stars rising, blooming, over the oaks.

I’ll pursue solitary pathways through the pale twilit meadows

with only this one dream: You come too.

2. Roads Go Ever Ever On by J. R. R. Tolkien

Roads go ever ever on,

Over rock and under tree,

By caves where never sun has shone,

By streams that never find the sea;

Over snow by winter sown,

And through the merry flowers of June,

Over grass and over stone,

And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on

Under cloud and under star,

Yet feet that wandering have gone

Turn at last to home afar.

Eyes that fire and sword have seen

And horror in the halls of stone

Look at last on meadows green

And trees and hills they long have known.

3. Excerpt from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

Love is a temporary madness.

It erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.

And when it subsides, you have to make a decision.

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together

that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because this is what love is.

Love is not breathlessness,

It is not excitement,

It is not the promulgation of eternal passion.

That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,

And this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,

And when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,

They find that they are one tree and not two.

4. Chemistry by Nayyirah Waheed

chemistry

is

you

touching my arm

and

it

setting fire to my mind.

5. You Came, Too by Nikki Giovanni

I came to the crowd seeking friends

I came to the crowd seeking love

I came to the crowd for understanding

I found you

I came to the crowd to weep

I came to the crowd to laugh

You dried my tears

You shared my happiness

I went from the crowd seeking you

I went from the crowd seeking me

I went from the crowd forever

You came, too

6. Dress by Tyler Knott Gregson

I would rather be

the loneliest dress

of all the dresses

hanging in the back

of your closet,

than the most loved

most worn

and most gorgeous dress

in the front

of anyone

else’s.

7. Untitled by R. M. Drake

You will be the clouds

And I will be the sky.

You will be the ocean

And I will be the shore.

You will be the trees

And I will be the wind.

Whatever we are, you and I

Will always collide.

8. Our Souls Are Mirrors by Rupi Kaur

god must have kneaded you and i

from the same dough

rolled us out as one on the baking sheet

must have suddenly realized

how unfair it was

to put that much magic in one person

and sadly split that dough in two

how else is it that

when i look in the mirror

i am looking at you

when you breathe

my own lungs fill with air

that we just met but we

have known each other our whole lives

if we were not made as one to begin with

9. The Day Sky by Hafiz

Let us be like

two falling stars in the day sky.

Let no one know of our sublime beauty

as we hold hands with God

and burn

Into a sacred existence that defies –

that surpasses

Every description of ecstasy

and love.

10. Falling Stars by Rainer Maria Rilke

Do you remember still the falling stars

that like swift horses through the heavens raced

and suddenly leaped across the hurdles

of our wishes–do you recall? And we

did make so many!

For there were countless numbers

of stars: each time we looked above we were

astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,

while in our hearts we felt safe and secure

watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,

knowing somehow we had survived their fall.

5 Fun and Funny Wedding Poems

Want to make your loved ones laugh instead of cry? Here are some of our favorite funny wedding poems that are sure to get people smiling. (There’s even a “poem” from a hilarious romantic comedy.)

1. To My Valentine by Ogden Nash

More than a catbird hates a cat,

Or a criminal hates a clue,

Or the Axis hates the United States,

That’s how much I love you.

I love you more than a duck can swim,

And more than a grapefruit squirts,

I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,

And more than a toothache hurts.

As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,

Or a juggler hates a shove,

As a hostess detests unexpected guests,

That’s how much you I love.

I love you more than a wasp can sting,

And more than the subway jerks,

I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,

And more than a hangnail irks.

I swear to you by the stars above,

And below, if such there be,

As the High Court loathes perjurious oaths,

That’s how you’re loved by me.

2. I’ll Be There For You by Louise Cuddon

I’ll be there my darling, through thick and through thin

When your mind’s in a mess and your head’s in a spin

When your plane’s been delayed, and you’ve missed the last train

When life is just threatening to drive you insane

When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page

When somebody tells you, you’re looking your age

When your coffee’s too cool, and your wine is too warm

When the forecast said “Fine”, but you’re out in a storm

When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum

And your holiday photos show only your thumb

When you park for five minutes in a resident’s bay

And return to discover you’ve been towed away

When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste

Just stick on your hips and don’t reach round your waist

When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes

When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes

So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear…

When you break a rule, when you act the fool

When you’ve got the flu, when you’re in a stew

When you’re last in the queue, don’t feel blue

’cause I’m telling you, I’ll be there.

3. Grow Old With You from The Wedding Singer

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 your medicine when your tummy aches

Build you a fire if the furnace breaks

Oh, it could be so nice, growing 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.

4. I Rely On You by Hovis Presley

I rely on you

like a camera needs a shutter

like a gambler needs a flutter

like a golfer needs a putter

like a buttered scone involves some butter

I rely on you

like an acrobat needs ice cool nerve

like a hairpin needs a drastic curve

like an HGV needs endless derv

like an outside left needs a body swerve

I rely on you

like a handyman needs pliers

like an auctioneer needs buyers

like a laundromat needs driers

like The Good Life needed Richard Briers

I rely on you.

5. Yes, I’ll Marry You by Pam Ayres

Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear,

And here’s the reason why;

So I can push you out of bed

When the baby starts to cry,

And if we hear a knocking

And it’s creepy and it’s late,

I hand you the torch you see,

And you investigate.

Yes I’ll marry you, my dear,

You may not apprehend it,

But when the tumble-drier goes

It’s you that has to mend it,

You have to face the neighbour

Should our labrador attack him,

And if a drunkard fondles me

It’s you that has to whack him.

Yes, I’ll marry you,

You’re virile and you’re lean,

My house is like a pigsty

You can help to keep it clean.

That sexy little dinner

Which you served by candlelight,

As I do chipolatas,

You can cook it every night!

It’s you who has to work the drill

and put up curtain track,

And when I’ve got PMT it’s you who gets the flak,

I do see great advantages,

But none of them for you,

And so before you see the light,

I do, I do, I do!

Create an Unforgettable Moment With These Wedding Poems

Capture the power of words and use these wedding poems to bring your vows, speech, or toast to life. Find a poem that suits the ceremony or reception’s atmosphere, formality, and audience. You can customize your reading with anecdotes of the couple’s moments together, or use these wedding poems to make your ceremony vows feel perfectly you. For more ways to personalize this momentous event, combine your wedding poems with other lovely wedding words and you’ll have a celebration you and your guests will always remember.