SCL

Yes, we had this passage, because my husband absolutely insisted, and it was read in three languages by the three fathers in their respective native languages–my father-in-law in German, my father in English, and my host father (from an exchange program when I was a teenager) in Spanish. We also had the “cord of three strands” passage read in all three languages, English and German by very close friends, Spanish by the pastor.

This is exactly how it went down at my wedding. My wife’s ‘silver medal’ friend read 1 cor 13, and mine read from Eph 5.

At my wedding no one read it though the preacher did quote part of it. My husband and I just had to read it at my sister's wedding Saturday but, I wasn't the silver medal friend I was also the Matron of Honor.

i was a silver medal friend.

yesssssss.

I think it was read by the pastor.

I however was the "silver metal friend" at my brother's wedding a few months ago.

I am so late to the game, but just started following SCL, and perhaps this will give future bridegrooms and brides a new verse to consider for their ceremony.

My husband and I did not use 1 Corinthians 13, but a much more sultry passage one of our favorites!). We printed it on the back of our program, curious to see who read it and who didn't – see if any eyebrows raised. The verse… The Song of Songs 7:9&10 "May your mouth be like the best wine,flowing smoothly for my beloved,gliding gently over our lips as we sleep together. I am my beloved’s,and he desires me!"

yep, I was the silver-medal sister-in-law who wasn't in the wedding party. I doubt they realized how over-used the passage is. The bride actually told me, "well, we don't know anyone else religious to read it but you, and this is important to the groom to include some Bible reading–not me." (!!!)

1) So, is John 3:16 a cliche, too?… If something is beautiful and true, and there are millions of people having weddings, and way less than millions of scriptures about love, why is it a "cliche" to use the verse? And even if it's not talking specifically about married love, the only way to have a successful marriage is to have 1 Cor. 13 love for your spouse; the sex is just the icing on the cake. 1Cor. 13 is very apropos for a Christian wedding, and when my at-least-30-years-overdue future husband finally materializes, I fully intend to proudly use this verse in our ceremony!

2) There are benefits to being the "silver-medal friend"… you get to be part of the ceremony, but don't have to spend a gi-normous amount of money on an ugly unflattering gown that you can never wear again, (or a fortune to rent a tux for a few hours), you don't have to mortgage your house to buy 10 shower/ Jack+Jill/ Bachelorette party gifts plus a wedding gift, plus if you live far away, you don't have to spend a fortune and use up vacation days travelling to the wedding area for picking out gowns/tuxes, getting fittings, etc. (And no, I'm not just cheap… it's obscene how much money Americans spend on weddings… often more than the total that 50+ people in 3rd world countries can earn in a year…)

Not only have I been married for 15 years and am about to renew my vows (in September) but I have sung in a Church choir since the age of 5 and can honestly say that I have possibly attended approximately 10,000 (counted!!!) weddings in the past 27 years…….how many of you would like to place a bet on how many times I have heard that PARTICULAR passage????????

I shall NOT be including it in our ceremony…..

My husband and I are Anglicans, so in our services, including weddings, we have scripture readings coming out our ears. Count on Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Gospel. I think at our wedding we had Song of Solomon ("many waters cannot quench love"), 1 John 4 ("we love because he first loved us") and John 15 ("love each other as I have loved you"). I was pretty proud of us for avoiding 1 Corinthians 13.

Even though that wasn't the context of the passage, I think 1 Cor 13 has some great stuff to say to married people. How many conflicts would we potentially avoid if we were more patient, kind, kept no record of wrongs, etc? How many of us can honestly say that we're even good at doing those things? I've certainly found it helpful in my marriage – not on rosy days, but on days when it's a struggle – it reminds me of what I have promised to do, when I promised to love.

I was the "silver medal" aunt at my niece's wedding. I was given the option of choosing what was going to be read at her wedding since she did not read scripture. I chose Ephesians 6:10. What better way, in my opinion, to enter a marriage but fully equipped to stand against satan and what he throws at married couples. Well, the pastor would not allow me to read this passage and guess what I ended up reading?

I hate when this verse is used at weddings because this love is talking about how God loves the church not the erotic kind of love…every wedding I go to and it is read I cringe a little bit in my pew.

Just discovered this site. Well done. Re wedding readings – what about the use of Psalm 139 – without the hard to hear verses at the end? all sugar coated stuff until we get the the bit that counts – loving what God loves and 'hating' what God hates.

i dont think we have that reading scheduled, our wedding is the 30th, yes of january.

Yeah, my wife and I had her uncle read it. Pretty much because his voice sounds like the voice of God.

I was the silver medal family member. My aunt didn't see it necessary to be a bridesmaid. Thanks for the heartache.

We did use it–and I'm still happy we did! This passage really meant a lot to us before we were even picking what verses were to be used in our wedding (and printed on the programs). My (now) husband felt very strongly that he needed to show me that he loved me by following this passage before he said it–since we'd both been quick to say it in our pasts. It's still a big part of our marriage. We also used Ephesians 5:33–the Love and Respect verse.

My husband and I made sure this wasn't read at our wedding. We stayed away from all the cliche Christian wedding things. I also refused to walk down the aisle to Pachebel's Canon in D.

as you said, it's an integral part of a christian wedding, right? so of course we had it there! we had my hubby's sister read it since i didn't really know her well enough to consider her my "friend" and thus a part of my wedding party. funny, thinking about that now because she's a great friend now to me.

I would feel stupid if I used 1st Corinthians 13 at my wedding, because if your know who Paul was writing to and what the church in Corinth was struggling with, you know that 1st Corinthians 13 is about GOD Love, also known at Agape(unconditional love) not about exotic love or Eros!

I was the silver medal friend, but was asked to read the Nicene Creed.
I was proud to be asked, though. Why not want to be the silver medal friend? It is an honored position to read scripture (or creeds) in my book.
:]

interestingly enough my wife (fiancee at the time) specifically asked that this not be read at our wedding. The minister took it upon himself to read it anyway. Standing hand in hand we rolled our eyes at each other.

Yes, we had it read at our wedding. What can I say? We were 16 and 17 (Yes, read that again. Yes, we're from the Southern part of the U.S. No, we're not cousins.) By the way I'm using "we," you can tell it's lasted…32 years and counting. The way our hormones were raging, probably should have picked something from Song of Solomon. As Father Mulcahy from M*A*S*H said (in a rather hesistant voice with a thin veil of dew on his face), "Well, Solomon certainly had a lot to sing about."

Yes. In my wedding we read ALL the chapter 13, because my girfriend (now wife) and me usually read this together.

22 years ago had it read by the brother-in-law-ordained on Wed-performed wedding on-Saturday. Pretty close to silver medal friend.

Had it read at my first wedding, instead of vows. The pastor just read that passage and then asked us if we took each other as husband/wife.

We clearly told the people who planned our wedding for us that we did NOT want a Christian wedding, as he was Christian but I'm not..They didn't listen. The marriage didn't last even a year.

Really? I have been to SO many Christian weddings and none of them have ever read that chapter in the Bible…

Jon,

I know you’ve asked for comments from people who have had 1 Cor 13 read at their weddings, but my wife-to-be and I decided not to opt for that one at our upcoming nuptials for the very reasons you’re talking about.

As an alternative, I proposed reading John 2 — the only time in the Bible Jesus appears as a wedding guest, with a whole lot of other great stuff in tow — but that idea has been thus far thrown into question on the grounds that some of the congregants might get offended at the mention of alcohol. Leave it to some denominations to say that the mention of Jesus in scripture is not welcome in church.

“Bless their hearts.”

right on! it just happened this weekend at a wedding i went to. the silver medal friend, who was a childhood friend of the bride, read 1 Cor 13:)

The Love is patient passage was posted on the wedding chapel wall, so when my dad spoke at our wedding, he had the whole congregation read it with him. Turned out to be a nice interactive moment. I've never noticed that the passage was used at most weddings (I tend to zone out at weddings, including my own) but I'm hardly surprised.
We joked about having the "better to marry than burn with lust" verse (or at least the reference) printed on our program, but didn't.

We broke the mold and did NOT read 1 Cor 13 for this exact reason – we heard it at EVERY single wedding we attended. Instead we read our two favorite verses – Hebrews 11:6 (mine) and Romans 8:28 (his).

Of course, we also walked out to the theme from Rocky, so maybe we're not all that normal to begin with.

We actually had it sung! Should get extra points for that.