Choosing Your Perfect Ceremony Readings at The Woods at Oakley (Featuring our Team’s Favourite Readings)
Nestled in the serene Wiltshire countryside in the UK, The Woods at Oakley offers an enchanting setting for your woodland wedding. With its magical canopy of ancient trees and tranquil ambience, our ceremony area, the Hazel Bower, is the perfect place to say your vows and marry the love of your life. The readings you choose for your woodland wedding ceremony hold a special place, setting the tone for your vows and adding a deeply personal touch to your day. Below is advice on how to choose the perfect ceremony readings to complement the beauty of The Woods at Oakley and our team’s favourite readings to give you inspiration.
Reflect on Your Relationship
Your ceremony readings should be a reflection of your journey together. Think about your shared experiences, values, and the things that brought you closer as a couple. Are you drawn to adventure, or is your love rooted in quiet, enduring support? If The Woods at Oakley’s natural beauty is a metaphor for your relationship—steady, grounding, and organic—then choose readings that echo those sentiments. From classic love sonnets to modern prose, the right reading will resonate with both of you and make your guests feel connected to your love story.
Match the Reading to the Setting
The Hazel Bower, our outdoor ceremony space at The Woods at Oakley, gives you the opportunity to align your readings with nature. Selections that invoke imagery of trees, growth, and rooted connections can echo the woodland surroundings beautifully. Consider pieces like Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, which can emphasize the journey and choices that have brought you together. With your woodland wedding ceremony taking place under a canopy of ancient trees, passages that honour strength and resilience can feel particularly poignant. Bible verses, such as Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, can emphasize partnership and enduring love, resonating deeply against this breath-taking backdrop.
Balance Sentimentality and Uniqueness
While classics are beloved for a reason, adding a touch of uniqueness can make your woodland wedding ceremony unforgettable. If you and your partner have a favourite book, movie, or song, consider incorporating a passage from it. For example, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Not all those who wander are lost” resonates with couples who value adventure and destiny.
For those seeking a modern twist, look into contemporary poets like Lang Leav or Tyler Knott Gregson. Their work often combines heartfelt simplicity with profound meaning, appealing to many couples who want something fresh yet deeply emotional. Excerpts from children’s literature, like The Velveteen Rabbit or Winnie the Pooh, can also add whimsical yet profound notes about love and companionship.
Your ceremony readings at The Woods at Oakley are more than just words; they’re the essence of your love shared with your closest family and friends. Thoughtfully chosen, they will weave seamlessly into the magic of your woodland setting, leaving a lasting impression on all who gather to witness your vows. Take your time, let your hearts guide you, and choose readings that feel like home—just like The Woods at Oakley does.
Below we’ve included The Woods at Oakley team’s favourite ceremony readings:
Rachel – Venue Coordinator:
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-fixèd 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 proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
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 blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.
Lindsay – Director:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
Us Two by AA Milne
Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,
There’s always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
“Where are you going today?” says Pooh:
“Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.
Let’s go together,” says Pooh, says he.
“Let’s go together,” says Pooh.
“What’s twice eleven?” I said to Pooh.
(“Twice what?” said Pooh to Me.)
“I think it ought to be twenty-two.”
“Just what I think myself,” said Pooh.
“It wasn’t an easy sum to do,
But that’s what it is,” said Pooh, said he.
“That’s what it is,” said Pooh.
“Let’s look for dragons,” I said to Pooh.
“Yes, let’s,” said Pooh to Me.
We crossed the river and found a few-
“Yes, those are dragons all right,” said Pooh.
“As soon as I saw their beaks I knew.
That’s what they are,” said Pooh, said he.
“That’s what they are,” said Pooh.
“Let’s frighten the dragons,” I said to Pooh.
“That’s right,” said Pooh to Me.
“I’m not afraid,” I said to Pooh,
And I held his paw and I shouted “Shoo!
Silly old dragons!”- and off they flew.
“I wasn’t afraid,” said Pooh, said he,
“I’m never afraid with you.”
So wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,
There’s always Pooh and Me.
“What would I do?” I said to Pooh,
“If it wasn’t for you,” and Pooh said: “True,
It isn’t much fun for One, but Two,
Can stick together, says Pooh, says he. “That’s how it is,” says Pooh.
Jayne – Accommodation Manager:
The Art of Marriage by Wilferd Arlan Peterson
Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.
A good marriage must be created. In marriage the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner; it is being the right partner.
Click here to explore ideas for eco-friendly woodland wedding favours.