Ceremony Reading: Excerpt from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

Anyone been to Greece this summer and revisited the beautiful 1993 novel by Louis de Bernières' Captain Corelli's Mandolin from the sunlounger? When I re-read the chapter at the end, when the protagonist (Captain Corelli) returns to the Ionian island of Kephalonia many decades later, revealing to the love of his life (Pelagia) that he stayed away after misinterpreting a scene with another man, it just gets me everytime! After a heartfelt reunion and forgiveness with Pelagia, of course the couple finally ride away into the sunset together - on a motorbike - reunited at last!

While that image abides in my memory, the passage below is the one most usually selected for weddings and it is from the words spoken by Dr Iannis, the village doctor and father of Pelagia. Pelagia is distressed about her growing feelings for Captain Corelli and her father is aiming to help her understand that the overwhelming, painful obsession she is feeling right now is just "being in love," and that real, enduring love is something entirely different.

The reading works well as it rejects some of the fairy-tale notions of love and marriage and paints a more mature and grounded view of long-term commitment. So it is insanely romantic yet entirely realistic. And if you ask us, isn't that what wedding readings are all about?

We've also created a useful and pretty print and go download of this poem below.

An Excerpt from 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.

Still looking for the perfect wedding ceremony reading? See our Essential List of Ceremony Readings. Be sure follow us on Instagram for more!