Looking for ideas for a non-religious ceremony reading? What about something from a beloved children's classic? The Velveteen Rabbit is a popular choice for wedding readings, and with good reason. This book by Margery Williams is all about a toy rabbit who wants to become real through the love of its owner. You're crying already, right?

We've taken a beautiful 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.

Ceremony Reading Except 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.”

Get more ideas for wedding readings with our handy downloadable guide