Looking for ideas for a non-religious ceremony reading? How about the beloved children's classic The Velveteen Rabbit? If you aren't already acquainted with the iconic children's book, it was first published as a short story in Harper's Bazaar magazine in 1922 and quickly gained popularity in the inter-war period. Written by English-American author Margery Williams, the parable centers on a stuffed toy rabbit who longs to become real through a child's love.

You might ask what it's relevance is to weddings, but over the last 100 years it has remained very popular among new readers, and often used for wedding readings because it offers a mature, realistic definition of love disguised as a simple children's story. Instead of presenting love as a flawless fairy tale, for instance, it describes it as a transformative, lifelong process that requires vulnerability, patience, and weathering the passages of time together.

We've taken an excerpt from the book that would work perfectly as an alternative ceremony reading - especially if you're looking for a reading for a child or young person. We've also created a useful and pretty print and go download of this excerpt below.

Ceremony Reading Excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nanna came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

There are lots more ideas for ceremony readings here, and do follow us on Instagram to keep updated!