songs quotes and poems
The following are a few suggestions for wedding, engagement, or just romantic use. I add and change this short list as I find new suggestions. I would appreciate additional information on these suggestions, or suggestions of your own, to pass along to other couples. Feel free to contact me at: [email protected]
Quotations
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"...what do I owe to Heaven for blessing me with such a piece of exalted excellence as you! I call over your idea, as a miser counts over his treasure.... How rich am I who have such a treasure as you...!"-- Robert Burns
"I have for the first time found what I can truly love-- I have found you...a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my center and spring of life, wraps my existence about you-- and, kindling in pure powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.' Charlotte Bronte, from Jane Eyre
"Love of man for woman--love of woman for man. That's the nature, the meaning, the very best of life itself." --Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage.
"Long, long be my heart with such memories fill'd! / Like the vase in which roses have once been distill'd: / You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, / But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." --Thomas Moore, Farewell! But Whenever...
"It is the man and woman united that makes the complete human being. Separate she lacks his force of body and strength of reason; he her softness, sensibility and acute discernment. Together they are most likely to succeed in the world." -- Benjamin Franklin
"All the pictures that hung in my memory before I knew you have faded and given place to our radient moments together. Now I cannot live apart from you.... Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me."-- Sarah Bernhardt
"The entire sum of existence is the magic of being needed by just one person."-- Vi Putnam
"The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we can never give enough of is love."-- Henry Miller
"I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections, and the truth of imagination." John Keats, (Nov. 1817)
"We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities." Jacques Maritain, Reflections on America, ch. 3 (1948).
"Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. . . . It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more." Erica Jong, in How to Save Your Own Life, (1977).
"He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses." Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Method of Nature," oration, 11 Aug. 1841
"Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness; the truth more first than sun, more last than star." -e.e. cummings
Immature love says: "I love you because I need you." Mature love says: "I need you because I love you." Erich Fromm , The Art of Loving, ch. 2 (1956).
"Oh, hasten not this loving act,
Rapture where self and not-self meet;
My life has been awaiting you,
Your footfall was my own heart's beat." -- Paul Valery
"Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction." Antoine de Saint-Exup�ry, Wind, Sand, and Stars, ch. 8 (1939)
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You can find some nice additional resources at:
www.lovepoemsandquotes.com
The Quotations Archive at: www.aphids.com/quotes/index.shtml
Love Quotes at Lovingyou.com
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"Every day I am away from you, I keep imagining you as I last saw you. I keep remembering how wonderful, how truly wonderful, you are. Then I meet you again, and you look the way you do, and you speak, and your eyes light up for me; and I realize that when I was thinking of you, wanting you, I never had imagined how wonderful you really are. You are better than any dreams of you."
Helen MacInnes, Friends and Lovers
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"And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite."
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II
Poems and Readings
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The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ("Come live with me and be my love...") by Christopher Marlowe
Melody of Love, lyrics by Tom Glazer
A Red, Red Rose, by Robert Burns
Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms, by Thomas Moore
The Beatitudes, Matthew 5: 3-12
Psalm 121 ("I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills...)
Proverbs 31: 10-31 ("Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies...")
I Corinthians 13: 3-13 (Faith, hope and charity)
Ruth 16-17 ("Whither thou goest, I will go....)
"On Marriage" from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
The Wives of Weinsberg, adapted from a retelling by Charlotte Yonge, in The Moral Compass by William J. Bennett. A story of women who valued their husbands above all, and used their wits to save them.
The minister's message at the wedding during the last half hour or so of the movie, "Woman of the Year", starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
Selected poems of Ron Wilson
The Hands of the Bride and Groom
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet
Ultimate Wedding Guide's poem page
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For a special touch of charm and humor, commission a personalized poem or toast by Amy Gumley of Poems To Go. Amy specializes in poetry for weddings, vow renewals, anniversaries, toasts, birthdays and friendship. Here's an example of her work, for couples who met over the internet.
You make my heart glow
And put a twinkle in my eyes
Why this feeling must be love
Because it satisfies.
How did I get so lucky
To meet the likes of you?
I think it must be fate
That made us a two!
Whoever would have thought
That we would meet this way
For we were miles apart
The Internet saved the day!
On this special day
My heart glows like the sun
For I'm marrying my true love
My life has just begun!
� www.poemstogo.tv
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"Apache Marriage Blessing"
Now you will feel no rain
for each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold
for each of you will be warmth for the other.
Now there is no more loneliness;
now you are two persons
but there is only one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling - to enter into the days of your life together -
and may your days together be good
and long upon the earth.
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The following "Marriage Prayer" was once printed up by Reflections Pocket Cards, a division of Antioch Publishing Company. I don't know if the cards are still available, but the prayer is nice.
"Marriage Prayer"
Lord, help us to remember when we first met
And the strong love that grew between us.
Help us to work that love into practical things
So nothing can divide us.
We ask for words both kind and loving,
And for hearts always ready to ask forgiveness,
As well as to forgive.
Dear Lord, we put our marriage into Your hands.
Amen.
--Author unknown
Songs
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Instrumentals--
"Casadh An tSugain", from Celtic Dance by Casadh An tSugain
"Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Opus 27", Third Movement--Adagio, by Rachmaninoff
(tune from the pop music song, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again")
"Spring Song", by Sibelius
"Concerto Grosso in B-Flat", by G. F. Handel
"Concerto #2 in E Major", by J. S. Bach
"Sonata Op. 13 in C Minor: Pathetique, Adagio Cantablile", by L. von Beethoven
( tune from the pop music song, "Midnight Blue")
"Unchained Melody" instrumental, (or vocal), also "End Credits", from the Ghost movie soundtrack
"Outlawed Tunes on Outlawed Pipes", "Prima Noctes", "Vision of Murron", from the More Music from Braveheart movie soundtrack.
Several other beautiful tracks have dialogue in them, but might (?) be used with careful/creative editing, or if played by live musicians. I don't know if sheet music is available for all tracks.
Vocals--
"Millionaire" and "Daily Bread", by Chris LeDoux from the album, After the Storm
"Unbroken", by Tim McGraw
"It's a Love Thing" --- can someone tell me who sings this cute country song!?!
"How Do You Fall In Love", by Alabama
"Valentine" by Martina McBride
"The Love of My Life", by Sammy Kershaw, from the album, Labor of Love
"No Doubt About It", Neal McCoy, from the albums, No Doubt About It and Greatest Hits
"I Do (Cherish You)", by Mark Wills
"Ordinary People", by Clay Walker
"From This Moment On", by Shania Twain and Bryan White
"Amazed" by Lonestar
"The Best Day", "Carried Away" and "Blue Clear Sky" by George Strait, from the album latest greatest straitest hits
Music Lists/ Recordings--
Cleveland Bride's Top 20 Wedding Music Selections (recordings and lyrics)
Susan Tolbert's wedding music and other wedding suggestions
Need song lyrics? There are a number of lyric sites, but this is an interesting one--Dexxus. I found lyrics I needed for a couple of different songs.
Don't miss the "more favorites page", too.
Gourd Music--A great variety of quality distinctive recorded music!
THANK YOU, to site visitor Pamela Gill for finding the "Daddy" song that I was looking for for a bride who contacted me. You were so kind to help complete strangers!
For any bride out there looking for a father-daughter dance song option to "Butterfly Kisses" and some of the others we see so commonly, let me suggest this pretty song Pamela got me the information for.
"Daddy's Little Girl", by Steve and Annie Chapman
For more information, visit: www.steveandanniechapman.com
Let me finish with this poem first printed in 1936 on the front page of the bridal section of the Chicago Tribune. The author, Dinky Goodwin, went on to write songs for 1950's artists including Mickey Gilley, Frankie Ford and Jimmy Clanton. She also enjoyed a long, happy and romantic marriage. I wish the same for you.
"The Prayer of a Bride to Be", by Miss Dinky Goodwin
Dear Father who art in Heaven if it be they will,
On my blessed wedding day bid me to fulfill,
Each vow I take with humble heart and grant me to intrust
This man I choose forever more, until the earth's in crust.
Please give me understanding and the power to forgive,
And add consideration to this new life I must live.
Help me o'er the rough roads for rough roads there must be,
Making the joy of happiness live 'til eternity.
If I try and try I will, dear God I shan't forget,
Your helping hand has guided me past the word regret.
So once again I ask dear Lord, please linger by my side,
The day I change from a silly girl to a woman and a BRIDE!