Most people land on this page holding something — a pen over a wedding card, a ceremony program with a blank line marked 'Reading,' a toast that needs one true sentence. Couples and officiants search for bible verses for weddings because scripture wrote the words this occasion keeps borrowing, and one passage has earned the top spot: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). As a reading it takes under a minute. As a marriage it takes the rest of your life — which is exactly why couples keep putting it at the start.
The other perennial ceremony reading is from Ecclesiastes, and it earns the slot with plain arithmetic: "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). The passage builds to the line whole ceremonies are now built around: "a cord of three strands is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Some couples braid three cords at the altar to make it visible — two people, and God as the strand that keeps the whole thing from snapping.
What does the Bible say about weddings themselves? It starts at the first one, officiated in a garden: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). Leaving and uniting — a wedding is both at once, which is why the day carries joy and ache in the same hour. Scripture keeps its eye on the vow, not the venue: two people binding their futures in front of witnesses, before God.
For the card, two lines punch far above their length. "Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away" (Song of Solomon 8:7) is a promise about durability, written as poetry. And Colossians 3:14 works as a one-sentence blessing over everything on the registry: "And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity."
Whether you are officiating, doing a reading, or just signing your name near the ribbon, pick the verse you actually want the couple to live — and pray it for them as you write it. See also marriage, love, and family.
Verses
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Genesis 2:24
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Colossians 3:14
And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.
Song 8:7
Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.
1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
Reflection
Which phrase of 1 Corinthians 13 will be hardest for you to live out — and what would practicing it this week look like?
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