Reading suitable for a wedding

That was sad Peter. He probably did not know much about it though, so did not suffer unduly.

There is no way I am going to sing anything as there would be a mass exodus from the curch and I don’t think my granddaughter would be very impressed.

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It was a sad story Elizabeth,
Briefly, He, a geordie engineer and his wife an Irish nurse came to France in the 80s full time to work. They retired and found they were drifting apart. Both devout Catholics he decided he would walk to Compostella in Spain and after a few days he topped off in one of the prescribed overnight stays avalable to pilgrims about 100kms further south. He said he walked into the hostel and set his eyes on ‘the most beautiful woman he had ever seen’ and vowed he would spend the rest of his life with her. They both did the walk and when he returned home he asked his wife for a divorce. They put the house on the market and he moved in with the new lady and his wife moved to Bordeaux with one of the children. My friend and his new partner spent about three year together in a ‘blissful existence’ in Périgueux near to the river and they couldn’t be happier. His new compagnon then called me out of the blue to explain his disappearence. Apparently he had requested the Pilgrim hymn ('He who would valant be ‘gainst all disaster…’) in the evet of anything happening to him. Yes, very sad and yes, his new lady, in her early seventies really is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

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It was good that he experienced true happiness before his demise. So few people seem to these days, fortunately, I am one of the lucky ones still happy with my husband of 55 years.

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Hi Elizabeth
I’m a celebrant and you’re doing all the right things already. You can think of the couple and their interests but also the message you’d like to pass on to them.
You’re also quite right in that there are certain poems we just can’t read as they are too emotive. The Internet has lots but sometimes more is just more confusing. If you’d like to give me your email address I can send you a file I have of readings I offer as suggestions to my couples.
We’ve just moved here recently and my main work back in Scotland was funerals so I have a few suggestions about how to read. If you want that I’m happy to share.
Either way, good look. Having you do a reading will be so special for your granddaughter and her new husband. xx

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Hi Gaynor,

Did you get my reply to the message above as I cannot find it. I thought I sent my e-mail address as a PM.

Good morning Elizabeth

Sorry but this is the first email from you. Let me know how I can help

Kind regards

Gaynor

“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone". Ronald Reagan

Hi Gaynor,

I used the return to sender arrow on your post as I did not want to put my e-mail address on the public site but that obviously did not work.

I thanked you for your kind offer and was asking you to send me the info you had. Since then I have scrolled through quite a lot of suggested readings and dismissed the majority of them. However, I am quite happy with one of the very first ones I read and will be using that. It is going to be a lot easier than the funeral readings I made as it is a poem which flows and is so light hearted that I will not be overcome by any emotion.

Thanks again for your interest and offer.

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Hi Elizabeth

It sounds like you’ve got it nailed. Good luck and enjoy.

Gaynor

“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone". Ronald Reagan

We had "About Marriage’ from Kahlil Gibrans ‘The Prophet’ at our civil wedding in Australia. Beautiful reading, and not too long; Should be able to find it on youtbe I would think?

Hi Norman,

Thanks for the info. Glad you enjoyed the reading you had and I will bear it in mind if I ever get asked to do another marriage reading in the future. The one I read went down very well as it was not very long and summed up quite nicely the sentiment of a loving marriage. We have been married 56 years now and are still very happy and contented, so I hope the example we have given our grandchildren will help them too.

56 years! Crikey that’s some sort of record! I have staggered and stumbled up to 44 years, and can’t claim the net result you have found - but then again I am not the most pleasant person to live or deal with, so I suppose the 44 is not so bad in reality.

Hi Norman,

You can’t be all that bad to live with if you have notched up 44 years. That is a good record in this day and age.