10 of the Best Non-Religious Wedding Readings and Poems for 2026

Choosing a reading for your wedding ceremony sounds like it should be one of the easy decisions. Then you start searching and suddenly find yourself scrolling through hundreds of poems, quotes and readings that either feel a little too sentimental, a little too traditional, or simply not very you.

As a wedding celebrant, I hear a lot of readings. Some make everyone laugh, some bring a tear, and every now and then I hear one and immediately think, I need to remember that one.

So, from the ceremonies and couples I’ve worked with during 2026, alongside a few favourites I think deserve to be rediscovered, these are ten of my favourite non-religious wedding readings and poems.

Some are romantic. Some are funny. And some are simply about the wonderful ordinariness of sharing your life with another person.

1. Dust — Harry Baker

This has to be one of my favourites.

I love a wedding reading that acknowledges that lasting love isn't really about champagne, grand romantic gestures and perfect Instagram moments. It's about the ordinary Tuesday mornings, the shared food, the cups of tea and choosing the same person over and over again.

Dust does exactly that, with plenty of humour along the way.

“It’s not the dreaming, it’s the waking up with you;
I want to be here long enough to gather dust with you.”

It feels contemporary, warm and real — and it is particularly lovely read by a sibling or close friend.

2. Everything I Know About Love — Dolly Alderton

This is such a brilliant choice for a modern wedding because it captures both sides of love.

There is the exciting, adventurous, can't-believe-I-found-you kind of love. And then there is the much quieter version: sitting together drinking coffee, doing the washing, checking how someone's day went and remembering to buy the loo roll.

And actually, isn't that where so much of a relationship happens?

Dolly Alderton describes love as both a huge force of nature and a quiet, reassuring presence beneath everyday life.

Perfect for couples who want something romantic without becoming overly sentimental.

3. The Prophet — Kahlil Gibran

A very different kind of reading and one I particularly love for couples who have strong lives and identities of their own.

Gibran writes beautifully about togetherness without losing yourself within a relationship.

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of heavens dance between you.”

The idea is that marriage isn't about becoming inseparable or identical. You stand alongside one another while still giving each other the space to grow.

Beautiful, reflective and timeless.

4. Here’s to Right Now — Ms Moem

There is something particularly lovely about this one during a wedding ceremony.

We spend so much time talking about the future when people marry — the adventures they'll have, the home they'll create and all those years stretching ahead.

This poem reminds everyone to stop for a moment and appreciate what is happening right now.

The people you love are gathered together. You've made it to this day. You're standing beside the person you've chosen.

Before rushing towards everything that comes next, soak this bit up.

A wonderful reading for bringing everyone in the ceremony back into the moment.

5. Love Is a Temporary Madness — Louis de Bernières

One for couples who don't want anything remotely sugary.

This famous passage from Captain Corelli's Mandolin explores the difference between falling in love and actually loving someone.

The fireworks and excitement at the beginning of a relationship inevitably change. What replaces them can be something much deeper: two lives and two people becoming entwined through everything they've experienced together.

I particularly like this for couples who have already shared quite a bit of life before deciding to marry.

6. Love Is Friendship Caught Fire — Laura Hendricks

This one manages to describe an enormous subject very simply.

Love isn't presented as perfection. Instead, it is friendship, loyalty, forgiveness, compromise and accepting each other's very human weaknesses.

And that makes it feel particularly appropriate for marriage.

“Love is content with the present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past.”

Short enough to work beautifully within a ceremony and very easy for a friend or family member to read.

7. The Beauty of Union — George the Poet

If you want something contemporary and powerful, this is a wonderful choice.

The Beauty of Union explores what it really means to create a partnership: two independent people choosing to consider each other in the decisions they make and the lives they build.

There is a rhythm to it that also makes it wonderful when spoken aloud — something I always think about when choosing a ceremony reading.

Modern, meaningful and definitely not your traditional wedding poem.

8. The Art of Marriage — Wilferd A. Peterson

An oldie, but still a goodie.

What I like about The Art of Marriage is that it isn't really telling us how wonderful marriage is. It tells us something much more useful: a good marriage is something you create.

It's found in holding hands, saying thank you, having patience, maintaining a sense of humour, allowing each other to grow and not expecting perfection.

One line particularly sums it up:

“It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.”

Perhaps not the most modern reading on this list, but its message certainly hasn't dated.

9. The Irrational Season — Madeleine L’Engle

This is for anyone who wants something more thoughtful and a little less traditionally romantic.

L'Engle talks about marriage as a risk because genuinely loving another person requires courage.

Marriage isn't described as possession or giving up freedom, but as participation: making the decision to enter fully into another person's life while continuing to learn about them.

There is something wonderfully grown-up about this reading.

It recognises that choosing another person for life is enormous and that perhaps we never completely finish discovering the person we've chosen.

10. Maybe — Author Unknown

And finally, something simple, warm and very accessible.

Maybe is about meeting the person who changes your understanding of what love can be.

It isn't about finding somebody flawless. In fact, its loveliest message is almost the opposite: true love isn't finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

It works particularly well if you're looking for something that feels romantic and meaningful without being too formal.

How Do You Choose a Wedding Reading?

My advice is always the same: don't choose something simply because it sounds like a wedding reading.

Choose something that sounds like you.

Perhaps you're the couple who constantly tease each other and would feel completely uncomfortable listening to three minutes of earnest poetry. Choose something funny.

Perhaps you've been together for fifteen years, raised children, changed careers, moved countries and already weathered a few storms together. Choose something that acknowledges what lasting love actually looks like.

And don't be afraid to look beyond traditional wedding readings altogether. I've used extracts from novels, song lyrics, children's books, poetry and pieces discovered completely by accident.

The best readings add something to your ceremony rather than simply filling a space in it.

And if you are having a celebrant-led wedding ceremony, we can also think about where the reading sits. Sometimes a reading immediately after your love story can be incredibly powerful. At other times it works beautifully just before your vows.

There really are no rules.

Your story, your people, your ceremony.